Seven Teams The Dallas Cowboys Just Can’t Beat

Dec 28, 2014; Baltimore, MD, USA; Cleveland Browns cornerback Joe Haden (23) looks on during the game against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

Cleveland Browns (15) vs. Dallas Cowboys (12)
Postseason: Cleveland (2) vs. Dallas (1)
Last Meeting: November 18, 2012

I know, you might be wondering just how the Cleveland Browns and the Cowboys could have so much history despite being in separate conferences and having never met in the Super Bowl. If you’re under under the age of 25, give or take, you probably have no memory of the Browns ever beating Dallas, right?

Well, the Browns were actually in the NFL prior to the NFL-AFL merger in 1966 and didn’t actually move to the AFC until 1970. So, that slim edge in postseason meetings all took place outside of an AFC or AFL playoff bracket between 1967-1969, with Dallas losing the final two contests in the divisional round.

Many of Cleveland’s regular season wins over America’s Team came because of one guy: Jim Brown.

Enough on that.

No, it wasn’t just Lombardi’s Packers that were keeping the Cowboys away from potential championship game appearances against either Joe Namath and the New York Jets in Super Bowl III or the Lamar Hunt-owned Kansas City Chiefs, formerly the Dallas Texans, in Super Bowl IV.

However, in the modern era there’s a much smaller sample size to analyze between these two storied franchises, and it’s rather lopsided in favor Dallas.

Cleveland’s last win over the Cowboys came at Texas Stadium in 1994, a head coach named Bill Belichick pulling a most unlikely upset over the two-time defending Super Bowl champs in their own back yard. While the Browns won 11 of their first 12 games against Dallas from the expansion year of 1960 all the way to 1966, the gears have definitely shifted.

In the modern era, Cleveland has just three wins against the Cowboys, one in 1979 and the other during Tom Landry’s final season as head coach, a 3-13 debacle in 1988.

Since moving to Baltimore to become the Ravens in 1996, but then being reinvented as an expansion franchise in 1999, the Browns have no victories in three tries against the Cowboys.

These two teams last played a forgettable affair in 2012 and will not meet again until 2016, presumably in Ohio.

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