1980 Dallas Cowboys season
Week Date Opponent Result Record Game Site Attendance Recap
1 September 8 at Washington Redskins W 17-3 1-0 RFK Stadium 55,045 Recap
2 September 14 at Denver Broncos L 20-41 1-1 Mile High Stadium 74,919 Recap
3 September 21 Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 28-17 2-1 Texas Stadium 62,750 Recap
4 September 28 at Green Bay Packers W 28-7 3-1 Milwaukee County Stadium 54,776 Recap
5 October 5 New York Giants W 24-3 4-1 Texas Stadium 59,126 Recap
6 October 12 San Francisco 49ers W 59-14 5-1 Texas Stadium 63,399 Recap
7 October 19 at Philadelphia Eagles L 10-17 5-2 Veterans Stadium 70,696 Recap
8 October 26 San Diego Chargers W 42-31 6-2 Texas Stadium 60,639 Recap
9 November 2 at St. Louis Cardinals W 27-24 7-2 Busch Memorial Stadium 50,701 Recap
10 November 9 at New York Giants L 35-38 7-3 Giants Stadium 68,343 Recap
11 November 16 St. Louis Cardinals W 31-21 8-3 Texas Stadium 52,567 Recap
12 November 23 Washington Redskins W 14-10 9-3 Texas Stadium 58,809 Recap
13 November 27 Seattle Seahawks W 51-7 10-3 Texas Stadium 57,540 Recap
14 December 7 at Oakland Raiders W 19-13 11-3 Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum 53,194 Recap
15 December 15 at Los Angeles Rams L 14-38 11-4 Anaheim Stadium 65,154 Recap
16 December 21 Philadelphia Eagles W 35-27 12-4 Texas Stadium 62,548 Recap
Schedule
The 1980 Dallas Cowboys season was their 21st in the league. The team improved their previous output of 11-5, winning twelve games. They qualified for the playoffs as an NFC Wild Card, but lost in the Conference Championship. The season featured a very unusual end to the regular season. Going into the final week of the season, Dallas (11-4) played Philadelphia (12-3) at Texas Stadium. Under the NFL's tiebreaking rules, if Dallas could beat the Eagles by 25 points, they would earn the NFC East title and the number two seed in the NFC playoffs while Philadelphia would be a wildcard team. However, if the Cowboys lost (or won by less than 25) then the roles would reverse. Atlanta (12-4) had the number one NFC seed over either team in any scenario since they beat Philadelphia head-to-head and enjoyed a better conference record (10-2 vs. 9-3) over Dallas. Dallas led the game 35-10 in the fourth quarter, but the Eagles rallied to lose only 35-27. This forced Dallas to play an extra week in the playoffs and a road game in Atlanta in the divisional round. Dallas ultimately lost at Philadelphia in the NFC Championship game.