The 2011 season was the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

' 52nd in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), their third playing home games at

Cowboys Stadium AT&T Stadium is a retractable roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL), and was completed on May 27, 2009. It is also the home of the Cotton Bowl Classic ...

and their first full season under head coach

Jason Garrett Jason Calvin Garrett (born March 28, 1966) is an American former professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). He was most notably the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys from 2010 to 2019. Garrett played college f ...

. The team improved on their 6–10 record from

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, but missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season due to their week 17 loss to the eventual

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

champion

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

2011 draft class

Notes The Cowboys forfeited its original seventh-round selection after selecting

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

Josh Brent Joshua Aaron Price-Brent (born January 30, 1988) is an American former professional football defensive tackle who played in National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football for the Illinois Fighting Illini and wa ...

in the

supplemental draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

. *The Cowboys later acquired a new seventh-round selection in a trade that sent

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

Patrick Crayton Patrick Jamel Crayton (born April 7, 1979) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and San Diego Chargers. He played college football for the North ...

to the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

Schedule

Preseason

The Cowboys' preseason schedule was announced on April 12, 2011.

Schedule

Game summaries

Week 1: at New York Jets

Week 2: at San Francisco 49ers

Week 3: vs. Washington Redskins

Week 4: vs. Detroit Lions

With their second loss to the Lions at home in five years, the Cowboys fell to 2–2.

Week 6: at New England Patriots

The Cowboys' blue uniforms returned after a 1-year hiatus, and they blew a 3-point fourth quarter lead, and lost to the 2011 AFC champion New England Patriots.

Week 7: vs. St. Louis Rams

This game is notable for DeMarco Murray, in his first NFL start, setting the Cowboys single game rushing record.

Week 8: at Philadelphia Eagles

Week 9: vs. Seattle Seahawks

Week 10: vs. Buffalo Bills

Week 11: at Washington Redskins

Week 12: vs. Miami Dolphins

Thanksgiving Day game Coming off their thrilling overtime road win over the Redskins, the Cowboys went home, donned their throwback uniforms, and played a Week 12 interconference duel with the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

in the annual Thanksgiving game. Dallas trailed early in the first quarter with Dolphins kicker

Shayne Graham Michael Shayne Graham (born December 9, 1977) is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker for 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Virginia Tech Hokies. He made hi ...

getting a 26-yard field goal, yet the Cowboys would answer in the second quarter with a 26-yard field goal from kicker Dan Bailey, followed by quarterback

Tony Romo Antonio Ramiro Romo (born April 21, 1980) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football for the Eastern Illinois Pan ...

finding wide receiver Laurent Robinson on a 5-yard touchdown pass. Miami would close out the half with Graham making a 28-yard field goal. The Dolphins retook the lead in the third quarter with Graham booting a 27-yard field goal, followed by quarterback Matt Moore completing a 35-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver

Brandon Marshall Brandon Tyrone Marshall (born March 23, 1984) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 13 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the UCF Knights, and was selected by ...

. Afterwards, Dallas regained the lead in the fourth quarter with Romo connecting with Robinson again on an 18-yard touchdown pass. Miami struck back with Graham making a 23-yard field goal, but Bailey rescued the Cowboys by nailing the winning 28-yard field goal. With the win, Dallas improved to 7–4. Bailey (2/2 on field goal, including game-winning 28-yarder) and linebacker

DeMarcus Ware DeMarcus Omar Ware (born July 31, 1982) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Troy State Trojans and was selected by the Dallas Cowboys ...

(1 assist and a fumble recovery) were named

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

' All-Iron Award winners.

Week 13: at Arizona Cardinals

With seconds left in regulation with the score at 13-13,

called a time out before Dan Bailey was set to kick a 49-yard field goal that would have ended the game (commonly referred to as "icing the kicker"); Bailey ended up missing the field goal and the Cowboys lost the game in overtime.

Week 14: vs. New York Giants

Week 15: at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Week 16: vs. Philadelphia Eagles

Week 17: at New York Giants

With the loss, the Cowboys finished at 8–8 and missed the playoffs for a second consecutive year.

Standings

Staff

Rosters

Opening preseason roster

Week one roster

Final roster

References

External links

*
Pro Football Hall of Fame

Dallas Cowboys Official Site
{{2011 NFL season by team

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Dallas Cowboys seasons

2010s in Dallas