Anti-Dynasty #56: 1960-64 Dallas Cowboys

Peak Anti-Dynasty Points: 34
Record: 18-46-4 (.294)
Average DVOA: -14.2%
Bottom-Five DVOA: -14.2%
One last-place finish in the NFL
Head Coach: Tom Landry
Key Players: QB Don Meredith, RB Don Perkins, E Frank Clarke, T Bob Fry, DT Bob Lilly, LB Jerry Tubbs, CB Don Bishop
Z-Score: -6.97

Expansion teams aren't expected to be good right away, seeing as they start as the cast-offs of other teams before they can build a talent pool of their own. With that in mind, there was some thought given to giving expansion teams a bit of a pass in this study, discounting their records for a few seasons, in order to let the playing field somewhat equalize. However, even without a discount, half of the modern-era expansion teams missed the list anyway. The quick success of teams like the Panthers and Jaguars goes to show that while expansion can be a reason for poor performance, it is not an excuse. We're comfortable calling the expansion Cowboys the sixth-worst expansion franchise in the modern NFL.

By 1962, the Cowboys were a run-of-the-mill below-average team, running up a string of four- and five-win seasons as they gradually developed the roster that would make them the NFL's bridesmaids during the late 1960s. But those first two squads were legendarily terrible. While not technically the first winless team we've encountered on this list, the 0-11-1 1960 Cowboys are the first winless team of the modern era we've stumbled across.

The Cowboys weren't officially formed until after the 1960 draft. The NFL showed no interest in expanding at all until the AFL announced they were putting a team in Dallas in August 1959, and even then they had to convince Washington owner George Preston Marshall that it would be OK to have a team further south than his, splitting that financially juicy market. And by "convince," I mean Cowboys owner Clint Murchison bought the rights to Washington's fight song and threatened to prevent them from playing it at games. The Washington-Dallas rivalry predates the Cowboys.

Anyway, that all took so long to work out that the draft was already done by the time the Cowboys were enfranchised. Not-yet-legendary head coach Tom Landry had to make do with a motley collection of has-beens and never-wases. Oh, they had a couple tricks up their sleeve—they had signed Don Meredith and Don Perkins to personal services contracts to circumvent the draft, and ex-Washington quarterback Eddie LeBaron had a couple Pro Bowls under his belt—but mostly, this was a disaster of a team. They finished with below -20% in DVOA in each of those first two seasons, and honestly, weren't even as competitive as that would indicate. It turns out that essentially skipping a year of college talent isn't great for a new team, especially when you consider who the Cowboys had doing the scouting.

The powerhouse front office of Landry, Tex Schramm, and Gil Brandt did a great job turning the team around quickly, but the Cowboys were bad enough in those early years that it took Landry nearly forever to dig his career record out of the hole. Landry finally got above .500 in 1968 after coaching for 137 games, an NFL record by a nearly ridiculous margin. More importantly from an NFL perspective, the Cowboys chased the AFL out of Dallas by 1963, an early win in the battle between the two leagues. The NFL brand was strong enough to survive some truly terrible football.