1987 Dallas Cowboys season The Dallas Cowboys ended the 1987 season with a record of 7 wins and 8 losses , finishing second in the NFC East . The NFL players , unable to reach a contract agreement with the owners , went on strike for the second time in six seasons after the second week of games . Unlike the last strike , the owners replaced the striking players with free agents and veteran players who were willing to cross the picket line . The NFL cancelled all games for the week of September 27 , and began playing with the replacement players on October 4 . The strike ended on October 15 , but the replacement players played the next weekend as well . The replacement players participated in three weeks worth of games overall . After the Cowboys began the season by offsetting a tough 24 – 13 loss to St . Louis ( which saw the Cardinals erase a ten point deficit in the final two minutes by scoring three touchdowns ) with an upset over the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants , the majority of the Cowboys players went on strike . Players that crossed the picket line to play with the replacement players included quarterback Danny White , defensive tackle Randy White , running back Tony Dorsett , and defensive end Ed " Too Tall " Jones . Thanks to the veteran players and a few replacement players who would stay on with the team after the strike , the Cowboys fielded one of the better replacement teams . The replacement Cowboys easily defeated the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles , with the Eagles game being of particular note . The Eagles fielded a team completely made up of replacements , and were no match for the Cowboys , who played several of their veterans throughout the game . Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan was displeased with head coach Tom Landry for doing this , and afterwards made it clear that he was looking forward to playing the Cowboys in two weeks when the non - replacement Eagles returned . The following week the Cowboys missed an opportunity to take command in the NFC East when they suffered a devastaing loss to the Washington Redskins . Despite playing Danny White and Tony Dorsett the entire game against a Redskins team fielded entirely of replacement players , the Cowboys came up short 13 – 7 . The striking players returned the following week , and the Cowboys were beaten soundly by the Eagles , 37 – 20 , in a game that saw the Eagles score a touchdown on the game ' s final play , that served nothing more than to increase the Eagles margin of victory . The Cowboys were up and down the rest of the season , following another victory over the Giants with a loss to the woeful Detroit Lions . The Cowboys squandered a 5 – 4 record down the stretch with a 4 game losing streak , sandwiching heartbreaking losses to the Vikings and Redskins with an embarrassing home loss to the Falcons . After the Falcons game , Cowboys owner Bum Bright questioned coach Landry ' s play - calling , and Cowboys team president Tex Schramm said of the loss , " this is probably the lowest I ' ve been in my career . " The Cowboys rebounded in the last two games however , defeating the Los Angeles Rams and the St . Louis Cardinals , and eliminating both from the playoffs in the process . Danny White coached the Cowboys for a brief period during the Rams game when there was a threat against Tom Landry ' s life . Landry returned shortly from the locker room and coached the rest of the 29 – 21 Dallas victory . Running back Herschel Walker had another terrific season , leading the Cowboys in rushing and receiving , and leading the NFL in yards from scrimmage with 1606 , while former star running back Tony Dorsett posted career lows in rushing yards with 456 . Quarterback Danny White struggled with turnovers throughout the season , and was replaced by Steve Pelleur late in the season . The Cowboys offensive line had trouble with pass protection again , allowing 52 sacks , while the receiving corps was mediocre , with Mike Renfro leading the way with 662 yards on 46 catches . Defensively , the Cowboys really struggled against the pass , finishing 27th in passing yards allowed , despite posting 51 sacks and 23 interceptions . The Cowboys were solid against the run , finishing 6th overall and only allowing 3 . 5 yards a carry .