Adrian Fedkiw
The questions didn’t stop pouring in from reporters, would Wilbert Montgomery be ready to go for Dallas?
“We’re one win away from the Super Bowl,” Montgomery said via The New Eagles Encyclopedia. “It’s time to suck it up.”
Suck it up he did, and then some.
Montgomery ran for 194 yards, which included that famous 42-yard touchdown down the right sideline, and the Philadelphia Eagles pulled away in the second half for a 20-7 win over the Dallas Cowboys in the 1980 NFC Championship Game.
The sixth-round Abilene Christian product missed seven games during the regular season due to various ailments, but he was out there when it mattered and put up one of the best performances in Eagles playoff history. He had rushed for 74 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries the week prior in a 31-16 NFC Divisional Playoff victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
The 194 yards were only two shy of Steve Van Buren’s postseason record of 196 set in the 1949 NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams.
“The knee felt pretty good. Not 100 percent, but good enough. I knew once I got the adrenaline flowing, it could overcome a lot of things,” Montgomery said.
The Eagles’ defense overwhelmed Dallas’ offense all afternoon, forcing four turnovers and limiting them to 206 total yards and 11 first downs. The great Tony Dorsett gained just 41 yards on the ground for Dallas, which was playing in its third NFC title game in five seasons. With Roger Staubach retiring the year prior, Danny White was the new Cowboys quarterback, but he struggled, completing just 12-of-31 passes for 131 yards and an interception.
Philadelphia and Dallas each posted 12-4 records during the regular season, but the Eagles won the tiebreaker and the conference’s No. 2 seed. The game was played in Philly after the Cowboys beat the top-seeded Atlanta Falcons 30-27 in the divisional round.
Despite some special teams and offensive miscues which kept the Cowboys hanging around in the first half, the Eagles defense helped them finally start to create separation during the middle to late stages of the third quarter after forcing turnovers on consecutive Dallas possessions.
Carl Hairston’s strip-sack set up a Tony Franklin 26-yard field goal. Roynell Young then forced a Dorsett fumble when he attempted to bounce a run to the outside and Jerry Robinson picked up the loose ball and returned it 19 yards to the Dallas 42. Leroy Harris rumbled up the middle from nine yards out to give the Eagles a 17-7 advantage.
Earlier, after a poor punt helped give the Eagles fantastic field position, Montgomery took their second play from scrimmage to the house. Philadelphia moved the ball into Dallas territory on its next two possessions, but were unable to capitalize due to poor special teams play. Franklin had a field goal blocked and a poor snap on the next attempt kept it a one-score game.
Dallas tied the score at 7-7 midway through the second quarter when Dorsett capped a 10-play, 68-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown off right guard. He also picked up 22 yards on a swing pass along the left flat and White fired a 12-yard completion to Preston Pearson, who ran a curl.
More self-inflicted wounds kept the Eagles off the scoreboard on their ensuing series. Harold Carmichael appeared to score a 25-yard touchdown along the right sideline, but an illegal use of the hands penalty on Woody Peoples took the Eagles out of field-goal range.
Ron Baker pried the ball loose from James Jones following a punt with a big hit from behind and Billy Campfield pounced on the loose ball to give the Eagles prime field position early in the third. Anthony Dickerson, however, picked off Jaworski a few plays later to keep the game tied.