On November 10, 1963 the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers hooked up in a contest at San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium. With the Cowboys and Niners matched up on this week’s NFL schedule, that’s the game we’ll highlight for this week’s Throwback Thursday post. Both clubs were in the midst of dismal losing seasons as they entered this week 9 game, with Dallas owning only 2 wins and San Fran only a single one, having gotten their coach fired earlier in the year and now being led by interim coach Jack Christiansen. Cowboy coach Tom Landry was in his fourth year at the helm, and would eventually build the franchise into a consistent winner, but they hadn’t quite reached “America’s Team” level yet. In fact, they regressed from where they had finished in 1962. A few weeks prior to this game, Landry made a decision that in upcoming seasons would turn the team’s fortunes around. He scrapped his quarterback shuffle plan between Eddie LeBaron and Don Meredith and installed Meredith as full time starter.
San Francisco, meanwhile, had lost starting quarterback John Brodie to a season-ending injury in October, and were being led by veteran journeyman Lamar McHan. The 2 signal callers matched each other in the first half. Meredith sandwiched touchdown passes of 15 and 24 yards to the Cowboys’ best receiver, Frank Clarke, around a 27 yard McHan to Don Lisbon scoring toss. Meredith continued his hot first half, throwing his third TD pass to Billy Howton from 15 yards out. 49er kicker Tommy Davis cut Dallas’ lead to 21-10 at halftime with a late field goal. It was McHan’s turn to shine in the second half. He led a pair of third quarter touchdown drives, ending in a 1 yard plunge by J.D. Smith and a second scoring pass to his running back Lisbon from 46 yards out. The Niners now found themselves with a 24-21 lead. McHan completed the comeback with a 20 yard scoring strike to future actor Bernie Casey, while Dallas could only muster a late field goal and wound up on the short end of a 31-24 final score.
Bernie Casey, Gargoyle and Nerd mentor
Despite the loss, Meredith had an amazing day. He completed 30 of 48 passes for 460 yards and 3 TDs (in the NFL’s 3 yards and a cloud of dust era), while 3 of his receivers, Clarke, Howton and Lee Folkins, each amassed over 100 yards. Despite 1963 being a disappointing year, making Meredith the full time starter paid dividends for coach Landry in upcoming years. The Cowboys became consistent winners and Meredith led them to the NFL title game twice, where they lost heartbreakers to Green Bay. Landry ran into the same problem in the early 1970s when he platooned Craig Morton and Roger Staubach as his QBs, only to finally reach the pinnacle of the sport with 2 Super Bowl wins going with Staubach full time.
Meredith pitches out