Sports

Faceoff: Cowboys or Steelers: Who has the better franchise?

Before we get started, let me make one thing clear.

Yes, the Steelers have six rings and the Cowboys only have five.

In the minds of most Pittsburgh fans, the argument stops there.

We are debating who the better franchise is, not how many championships have been won.

When someone asks me what makes a great franchise, I say consistency, and the Cowboys are shoulders above the rest.

In only their fifth season, the Cowboys made their first playoff appearance.

I must also mention that the Cowboys’ first victory was against the Steelers in 1961; count it!

The Steelers however, took 14 years to breach the playoffs and it wouldn’t happen again for another 25 years.

As of right now, the Cowboys share the record for the most playoff appearances with the Giants at 30, topping the Steelers by four.

So that makes four more playoff appearances in 27 less years.

I cannot tell you how many times I hear that there are Steelers bars in every state and in several countries around the world.

I just don’t care. Give me a worldwide head-count of Steelers fans to Cowboys fans, and then we will talk.

The Cowboys have consistently sold the most merchandise ever since the 1970s.

Because of the great following the Cowboys gained, they were labeled “America’s Team” in 1978 by Bob Ryan, the vice president and editor-in-chief of NFL Films.

He coined the Cowboys this because of the amount of fans he saw with Cowboys gear at away games and the amount of times they were nationally televised.

I find it amusing that people want to take the nickname away from the Cowboys.

It is not going to change, and it is a fitting title.

The Cowboys are also the only team to record 20 consecutive winning seasons from 1965 to 1985.

I must also mention they reached the playoffs in all but two of those years.

The Cowboys still hold the record for consecutive home sell-outs at 160, and they also hold the record for most road sell-outs at 81.

The Dallas Cowboys have consistently sold the most merchandise amongst every NFL team including the 2000s when they have struggled somewhat.

They appear on nationally televised games constantly and have played the second most Monday Night Football games, behind the Miami Dolphins.

What more can a team do to be named the best franchise?

They have been to the conference championship game in four of the five decades they have been around.

The Dallas Cowboys have been marked as the most valuable sports franchise in the U.S. according to Forbes Magazine and second in the world.

It is amazing that people will despise a team because of how much money it has.

Why can’t we just congratulate someone for becoming successful financially and carrying a winning tradition?

The Cowboys are “America’s Team,” the most valuable sports franchise in the country and sell the most merchandise of any team as well as countless NFL records.
What more do they have to do?

This is where a Steelers fan says, “We got six.”

Consistency; the Cowboys have proven it more than the Steelers.

This Faceoff on whether the Pittsburgh Steelers dynasty is greater than the Dallas Cowboys dynasty isn’t even an argument.

There is no question that the Steelers are one of the NFL’s greatest teams, let alone dynasty.

The 1974-79 Steelers played in an era of football that is in no comparison to any other era.

This was a period of football when we didn’t have all these penalties and restrictions on how football is played.

Football players of this time were rough and tough.

Players from the ‘90s and the new millennium wouldn’t be able to play back then at all without getting injured or crying for flags.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were the kings of this era with their ground-and-pound game and with a defense that still sits atop the NFL even today as one of the
NFL’s greatest defenses.

They won not one, two, three but four Super Bowls in six years, which is unheard of.

This still has yet to ever be repeated by any team in any era.

Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, the Steelers rank first in wins, winning percentage, winning seasons, division titles and All-Pro nominations.

Most importantly the Steelers have more Super Bowls than any team in NFL history and along with Dallas the team also has been to the most Super Bowls.

I also have to state that two of the Steelers Super Bowl victories came over the Cowboys, one in 1976 and another in 1979.

Winning is the measuring stick for how teams are remembered, and Pittsburgh has done that more than anyone.

The Steelers didn’t only win in the 1970s; they dominated every team every year.

This team consisted of 10 future Hall of Famers all on one team.

No other team in the NFL has ever had that many potential Hall of Famers playing on the same team at once.

Ex-49ers Coach Bill Walsh who led the 49ers during their dynasty even said that.

“The Steelers had the best grouping of players in the history of the game.”

What is also important to remember is that, unlike the Dallas Cowboys ,who were only on top of the NFL from 1992-1995, is that the Pittsburgh Steelers have
continued their success into this era of football under quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Roethlisberger has led the Steelers to three Super Bowls since getting the starting spot in Pittsburgh, winning two of them.

The first came in his second year in 2006, and his second came in 2009.

With one more Super Bowl win, you can easily consider this new Steelers team a dynasty, something that the Dallas Cowboys are far from under quarterback Tony
Romo.

To wrap things up, I have to say that when it comes to football dynasties the 1970 Steelers stand alone.

There is no competition when it comes down to their style of play, and the era they did it in which was one of the toughest.

Any team past or present dreams, wishes, and prays that it can even come close to the success the Pittsburgh Steelers have had through the years.

Hands-down, one of the NFL’s most storied franchise is the Steelers.