Pro Football History on the Internet

Even in the early days of the Internet, many fans created static web pages that served as monuments to their favorite professional sports teams and players. Some devoted quite a bit of time and attention on these sites, compiling statistics and other information and creating quality reference sources for fans to locate. The Dallas Cowboys History and Stats Pages is an example of one such site, though it has not been updated since 2000.

It came as no surprise that information about professional football would explode on the Internet, but what has become surprising is the amount of historical information that has continued to be added. Researchers can now locate detailed statistical information that was previously only available in football encyclopedias. Moreover, fans can locate summaries and box scores of games, many of which were completely unavailable just a few years ago.

As a demonstration of how easily historical information about pro football can be located, this article focuses on two games played in 1977. The first game has long been forgotten: a 30-24 win by the Dallas Cowboys over the St. Louis Cardinals on October 9, 1977. The second is much more widely known: the Cowboys' 27-10 win over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII.

1. NFL.com

The National Football League's website has continually added historical information, and the site currently allows users to locate team standings dating back to 1920, team schedules dating back to 1970, and team and player statistics dating back to 1932. Moreover, fans can track the game-by-game statistics of individual players, beginning with the 1970 season.

To find information about week 4 of the 1977 season, users can select the link to schedules. In the drop-down boxes, users can choose the appropriate year and week. A summary of week 4 of the 1977 season shows that the leading passer in the Dallas-St. Louis game was Cardinal quarterback Jim Hart, who had 186 yards. Tony Dorsett of the Cowboys was the leading rusher, as he gained 141 yards. The leading receiver was St. Louis wideout Mel Gray, who had 84 yards through the air.

Another feature of the site allows users to see team statistics for each season dating back to 1960. On this page, you can see the team and player statstics for the 1977. Each player's name is hyperlinked, taking you to pages showing individual statistics. On the individual player pages, one option allows users to review game logs, which show game-by-game statistics. The game log for Roger Staubach during the 1977 season shows that against the Cardinals, he completed 18 of 29 pass attempts for 153 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions.

Some players are featured on NFL.com's videos, but these are mostly limited to very well known players. A search for "Roger Staubach" found a video of Staubach featured as the #6 most mobile quarterback in NFL history. Super Bowl highlights are easily accessible, and highlights of Super Bowl XII can be found under the link to NFL Films on NFL.com's video site.

2. Pro-Football-Reference.com

Pro-Football-Reference.com is part of a network of sports reference sites. The site is meticulously researched, and the data is carefully entered. It has no frills, featuring only text without any graphics or video, but it rivals NFL.com in terms of overall content

The franchise index for the Dallas Cowboys provides a menu of the all-time leaders in franchise history in several categories. This page also provide a list of the records for every season in the history of the team, along with the annual team leaders in passing, rushing, and receiving. Moreover, this page summarizes how the team has ranking in the NFL on offense and defense. For instance, this page shows that the 1977 Cowboys ranked second in points scored, first in yards gained, eighth in points allowed, and first in yards allowed.

Individual season pages also provide a wealth of information. On the team page for the 1977 Cowboys, users can see that the Cowboys made 22 first downs against the Cardinals in week 4. Moreover, Dallas gained 388 total yards compared with 320 for St. Louis, and both teams had two turnovers.

Even more remarkably, the site provides the box score of the game, which shows who scored during the game, as well as the team and a few player statistics. These box scores were once compiled by some pro football history researchers, but they were only available in PDF form from a now-defunct website. These box scores are very useful for anyone researching games of the past.

3. SI Vault

In 2008, Sports Illustrated launched SI Vault, which allows users to read issues of the sports magazine dating back to its inception in 1954. Even better than the full text articles is the feature that allows users to see images of the actual magazine. Thus, if a user wants to read SI's coverage of Super Bowl XII, the user can see the artice along with ads for for Kent Golden Lights, a Kodak Ektaprint copier, Sebulex shampoo, the Fiat, and HBO (then touted as "The Great Entertainment Alternative").

(Interestingly, the January 23 issue of SI, which features the story Doomsday in the Dome, also includes two separate and unrelated stories featuring two young baskeball players named Earvin Johnson and Larry Bird).

Time Magazine also allows users to research its archives. A search for "Super Bowl XII" found an article entitled "It's Denver and Dallas," which was published on January 16, 1978.

4. Newspaper Sites

Websites of several newspapers, including the New York Times and Washington Post, provide free or inexpensive access to older articles. This is one means of locating pro football articles. In Dallas, the Dallas Morning News has provided the text of game stories for every game played in team history. This feature was once only available by purchasing a subscription, but these stories are now available for free to all registered users. To locate the game story of the 1977 matchup between Dallas and St. Louis, a user simply needs to browse the listing of games for 1977 and then click on the score to find the game story. A quick review of this story reveals that the week 4 matchup was played before a national television audience.

Some other newspapers provide helpful information. For instance, USA Today maintains static pages with the play-by-play summary of each Super Bowl.

5. Pro Football Hall of Fame

The website fo the Pro Football Hall of Fame has some interesting features, including lists of records and interesting facts. The site also has historical information for each individual team.

6. databaseFootball.com

databaseFootball.com is similar in many ways to Pro-Football-Reference.com, although the latter has added more features than what is available on databaseFootball. The site provides a summary of each season for every team along with player and team statistics. The site's listing for the 1977 Dallas Cowboys shows the draft picks for that season, the schedule, and team and player stats. However, the site provides little information about individual games.

7. Other Sources

Numerous blogs and discussion boards have stories focusing on NFL history. These discussions often focus on recollections and memories of fans. Although the information itself may not be entirely reliable, sometimes these postings provide tidbits of information that are not available elsewhere.