The Dallas Cowboys have suffered plenty of embarrassing losses over the years, one such defeat coming at the hands of the Houston Texans.
Yeah, you know the one.
Playing the first-ever game in franchise history on September 8, 2002, in front of a capacity crowd of 69,604 at what was then called Reliant Stadium, the Texans became just the second expansion franchise in NFL history to win its regular-season debut, taking a 19-10 victory over the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football, which was then aired on ESPN.
For those wondering, the 1961 Minnesota Vikings were the first expansion team to win its debut, beating the Chicago Bears.
Now, it's not as if the 2002 version of America's Team was all that great, as the days of dominance were long gone. While a few pieces of those Super Bowl-winning teams from the '90s remained, most notably Emmitt Smith, whose '02 campaign with Dallas was his last, this Cowboys roster wasn't strong by any stretch of the imagination. When your QB battle involves Chad Hutchinson and Quincy Carter, that's a problem.
Nevertheless, the Cowboys were still expected to win this game. But that obviously didn't happen. And it apparently hit Jerry Jones hard. In fact, he later admitted that this particular loss was one of the only times the outcome of a football game brought him to tears.
Jerry Jones once admitted the Cowboys' loss to the Texans in 2002 made him cry
The embarrassment began early for Dallas that night in Houston.
On the very first play from scrimmage, No. 1 overall pick David Carr launched a pass down the field toward Texans wideout Corey Bradford, who was pulled to the ground by Cowboys defensive back Bryant Westbrook before the ball reached him, resulting in a 43-yard penalty for defensive pass interference.
Just three plays later, Carr hit Billy Miller with a 19-yard touchdown pass. Kris Brown tacked on the extra point to give the Texans a 7-0 lead just 17 seconds into the game.
Houston took a 10-3 lead into halftime, but Dallas tied the game midway through the third quarter on a 46-yard touchdown run from Michael Wiley. But those were the last points the Cowboys would get.
Carr and Bradford connected for a 65-yard touchdown early in the fourth, and the Texans ended the scoring with a safety sack on Quincy Carter with 2:42 remaining, thus securing a 19-10 win.
In early 2014, Jones admitted that the loss to the Texans was one of three times a football game made him cry.
""Any loss kills you," Jones said. "I was the leading proponent of getting Houston the team. I wanted those fans to have their own team, even though I knew at the time half of them were Cowboys fans. To go down and get beat on opening night by an expansion team was absolutely a low point."
The other two instances were after the NFC Championship Game of the '94 season, where the San Francisco 49ers ended the Cowboys' hopes of a Super Bowl three-peat, and the Divisional Round loss to the New York Giants at the end of the 2007 season.
Dallas was the No. 1 seed in the NFC in '07 after going 13-3. Those Eli-Manning-led Giants, of course, went on to pull off an even bigger upset two games later, taking down the undefeated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
Don't worry, Jerry; you're not alone. Cowboys fans everywhere have cried at plenty of the decisions you've made over the years.