Moon Marooned

Today, in 1985, the Dallas Cowboys sacked Houston Oilers quarterback Warren Moon 12 times. It tied the all-time record for most team sacks in one game and was just the 5th time in NFL history that a team had recorded that many sacks in a single contest. The Cowboys won the game 17-10. While the feat is rare, that day in September was the second time in franchise history that the Cowboys had brought the opposing quarterback down that many times in one afternoon. The Cowboys recorded 12 sacks against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1966. Since that game in 1966, hundreds of NFL games have been played. And, as mentioned earlier, just five games in NFL history have featured 12 sacks. So for the same team to establish the sacks record and then later tie that record is remarkable. Diving in further, three players recorded two sacks in that game vs. Houston. Dallas defensive tackle John Dutton was one of them. In the entirety of the 1985 season, Dutton had four sacks. And in the nearly three remaining seasons after that afternoon in his career he recorded just seven sacks. Too Tall Jones also had two in the game, but his is not as much as a statistical oddity like Dutton. Before Jones was making Geico commericals, he was eating quarterbacks for lunch. Also, in the 1985 season, Moon was sacked 46 times. That means, outside of the Dallas game that season, he was sacked 34 times. That statistic averages out to Moon being taken down for a loss just two times per contest. So the Cowboys were able to sextuple the average amount of times Moon was sacked per game. Not only was the Cowboys feat a rarity in football, but it was also a rarity in terms of Warren Moon, a typically mobile quarterback. On that night in September, the Oiler offensive line was virtually nonexistent against Dallas. Sources for this article: http://www.todayinsport.com/day/september/29 http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198509290oti.htm http://www.nfl.com/history http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/D/DuttJo00.htm http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MoonWa00.htm Photo: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/slideshow/Former-Cowboys-greats-join-in-lawsuit-against-NFL-42029.php#photo-2855309