A Preview of Tomorrows 1982 NFC Title Game on NFL Network

A while ago I put together an e-book covering the Niners' entire 1981 season, game by game, with box scores, game descriptions, and a few essays. You can buy that product over at Lulu.com. Since the NFL Network is re-broadcasting the full Niners-Cowboys '82 title game tomorrow night, I thought I should pull together some excerpts from the e-book to re-create a preview of the game. At the time the Cowboys were the top dogs of the NFC, while the Niners were also-rans who'd surprised pretty much everybody by going 13-3 and beating the Giants in a divisional playoff to set up the game at Candlestick on January 10, 1982

There were considerable doubts about whether a San Francisco team that had lost to the Cowboys in the ’70, ’71, and ’72 playoffs could win. If D.D. Lewis, the Cowboys' weakside linebacker and 13-year veteran, was any sign, Dallas certainly didn’t think it would happen. Instead of worrying about Joe Montana, Bill Walsh, and Ronnie Lott, he talked to the New York Times about his plans for life after his retirement following the season’s end. Lewis explained away a 45-14 blowout loss to the 49ers at Candlestick in October of '81 by saying, “We were thinking too much.” He shared this vision of his final game: “I’ve been visualizing things, the way I want them to happen. I can see interceptions, the winning touchdown, everything. I can even see me smoking a big cigar in the locker room after we win the Super Bowl. I am going out in a blaze of glory.”

However, Lewis said of the Niners offense: “They really pose a problem. They got all the formations in the world and use every one of them and they’ve got all kinds of motion. We were standing back on our heels, wondering whether we were in the right defensive formation for their formation.”

After the Giants game, their coach, Ray Perkins, predicted: "But next Sunday the Cowboys will win. The Cowboys are a better football team. That’s nothing against the 49ers, but the Cowboys have been in this situation before and they’re a better football team.”

In talking to his team before the game, Bill Walsh said: “They can’t keep their mouths shut. They’re doing the same thing again this week…. They’re so arrogant, down there in the sports empire of the world… We’re going to knock them all over the field.”