How Tom Landry's Flex Defense Countered Vince Lombardi's Run To Daylight Concept! War Stories! 

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There's a strange twist of irony to this. When Tom Landry became head coach of the Cowboys and Vince Lombardi went to the Packers the Giants had to chance to hire either one of them and let them get away. The Giants might have been what the Packers were in the 60s and the Cowboys were in the 70s.

One of the greatest coaches all time and an innovator on all levels!

Great job explaining the Flex. Tom was a master coach. Of course, having great players always helps.

Landry is a legend. all time great.

"Vince Lombardi won 5 championships without ever using sarcasm. He just yelled and shoved people." Hank Hill

Thank you for being a Cowboys fan and for sharing your gift with us. Excellent job!

My man, Landry may have been the Mad Scientist, but you are proving yourself to be the Mad Analyst. Great video once again!!

Lifelong Packer fan here. And this is ANOTHER great video. The play at 2:30 (Note that Forrest Gregg is playing RG. And a great block by Paul Hornung on the OLB) is the best example of how the sweep looked drawn up on the board. I have Lombardi's "playbook." A book he wrote while coaching. He was running what today would be the Zone play. QB gives to the FB and the OL man blocks the defense where ever they want to go. RB runs to you know what. In the 66 game the Packers were about to take a 35-20 (3 scores needed by Dallas) and some guy named Bob Lilly blocked the PAT. On 3rd and 20 GB blew a coverage and gave up a 68 yd TD pass to Frank Norman. So both teams made mistakes, not just Dallas. In the Ice Bowl on the drive to win the game, GB gets down to about the 13. Starr calls what he later described as "the best call of my career." Fuzzy Thurston pulls right, Lilly follows him, and Chuck Mercein bursts down inside the 3. Starr had called the sucker play and used Dallas' rules against them. I think your point about how the real matchup was GB's defense vs Dallas' offense is a great one. I have never seen it presented like that before. 👍👍👍

Thank you for all of your videos. Brings me back to when I was a boy, sitting by the fireplace watching the Cowboys with my Dad.

Different eras of football are interesting. Coaches developed concepts and they worked until someone else developed a counter-concept. Its not that Landry was "better" than Lombardi, its just that he studied Lombardi's offense and figured out a defense to slow it down. This process is never ending. Another key is finding the right mix of players to run your game plan.

This channel is criminally underrated. Always a pleasure when I get a notification of a new video. Keep up the great work!

I just watched Superbowl XIII...Dallas - Pittsburgh. What a great game 35-31...one of the great Superbowls. I was on active duty in the Army in 1979 so I did not get to see the game live and only recently watched it for the first time. The announcers kept talking about the "flex" defense, but I was not familiar with it. Watching the game I was impressed with Dallas' flex defense and how effective it was against the Pittsburgh/Franco Harris run game. Thanks for making the video.

Tom Landry was an offensive and defensive genius. 😊

Tom Landry's famous 40 Defense coming up this Friday! Thanks for watching guys!

Tom Landry demeanor is so cool. It's like nothing in this world bothers him.

The counter-trey of the Redskins also is a huge reason the Flex was figured it out. It was slower to develop allowing the Oline to climb to the backers. It also trapped the the DL playing off the ball . The Rams killed the Flex in the playoffs a couple of times with Dickerson.

Wow! The Logical Cowboy’s explanation of description of these systems & concepts is the best I’ve ever seen.

That was a fantastic piece Of history i'm a Pittsburgh Steeler, die hard. And you must respect Foot Ball presented the way you did.👍🏾👍🏾

My favorite Cowboy is Tom Landry, flex defense, 40 defense, shotgun offense. A true football guru!

Another great video. I subscribe to several Cowboy channels. Your channel is by far my favorite. I really like the audio of the greatest coaches in NFL history. Maybe you could put together a video of the great coaches and their football knowledge.

I can watch this a thousand times.

Another huge win for the logical cowboy. Once coach Landry and Lombardi left the Giants, they exchanged playbooks. Coach Landry shelved Lombardi's but Lombardi used Toms throughout his entire career.

Bro I love your break downs and delivery in your videos. Keep it going bro. I would love to see a video on Eugene the hitting machine Lockhart. He was my favorite linebacker in the 80’s.

I know many felt Landry was out of touch and the game had left him behind but I think the biggest issue was the aging talent and lack of talent .

I learn something new every time I view your videos. Thanks.

Love the Dallas Cowboys and, Thelogicalcowboy channel

Entertaining and informative. Keep em coming

Man, whew, what great analysis, answered some of my questions. Thank you!

Very good video! As clearly explained as I've ever seen!

LC, The second time is as good as the first. Thanks for this awesome review of Coach Landry and Coach Lombardi. And they changed the game.

Great series. Appreciate the hard work.

Just ran across this video by accident. This was fantastic. Now I have to go watch more of your work.

Other than the boilerplate opening ( "but to understand [fill-in-the-blank] we have to go back to the beginning" ) this is a great video. Well done.

What an exceptional video. Great content, analysis, and editing. Need more videos like this in my life

Great research and presentation. I learned a lot. 🙌

This was brilliant. You did an amazing job, breaking down the flex. I sort of knew what it was but I really didn’t quite understand it but now I have a much better understanding thanks to your tutelage.

Thorough and well explained video ! Thanks

Not a Cowboys fan, or a hater for that matter, but this was awesome. Thanks!

Great job buddy. Great video.

This was very insightful. Goes to show how strategic football can be.

Great research and narration. Very well explained. Nice!

By 1965, the GB Packer offense had transitioned to a more pass oriented offense. In 1965 & 1966, Green Bay only averaged 3.5 yards per carry against the entire league. Taylor and Hornung were suffering from the effects of six to seven years of wear and tear, and were showing their age. They just weren’t as effective overall in their ground game. That’s not to say that the flex wasn’t a good run defense. It was. But shutting down the Packer run game wasn’t the accomplishment that it would have been from 1960-1963.

Really cool video, thank you.

Thank you, Logical Cowboy.

Good stuff TLC, as always!

Great job as always! You also show that as I believe. Football is the greatest TEAM sport!! All 11 on Offense, Defense, and Special Teams must do their jobs and any breakdown of one can cost you a game.

You explain this very well, Sir! Great video!!!

Outstanding! A must for Cowboys and Football purists!!

Legendary coach!

Absolutely fantastic video. Keep tightening up your editing chops and you're going to be one of the best NFL channels out there.

That's because they worked together as the offensive and defensive coordinators of the New York Football Giants before getting their own head coaching gigs. They knew each other's systems perfectly as they scrimmaged against one another during practices.

You do a great job on these

Here in Texas some of the smaller HS still run the 'T'....

Outstanding video analysis of early football; especially of my Cowboys

👍 Excellent!

Great video

Another very interesting video. Here's another comment about the Packers vs. the flex. I remember listening to Bart Starr as a color commentator doing a Cowboys game not long after he retired. His partner asked him how the Packers had managed to beat the Cowboys. "Well," he said, "one way is to throw on first and second down, because in that flex defense only two men are in good position to rush the passer." As Johnny Unitas said, every defense gives you something!

Sorry your video was taken down. I liked it the first time and I like it again. 😁👍🏾

I grew up in the '70s hating the Cowboys, and, well, some things never change. :) But boy do I remember watching Pat Summerall call Cowboy games and talking constantly about the Flex defense. And I gotta admit, it worked. Landry was a real genius.

Lombardi was ahead of his time. Like many coaches to this day they have plays vs odd fronts and even fronts. Lombardi taught how to block vs different fronts for his run plays. With that flex d look at how many guys are near the line. So quick tosses or straight ahead runs with some traps would work better.

This is amazing content. Real ones know this is a re upload

It's crazy how these thing evolve and then get phased out as weaknesses in the various schemes are found. I can see a team with especially good OLBs and CBs playing the Flex Defense to defend against the run in today's RPO schemes. RPO Quarterbacks would have to choose the run more with really good DBs and outside LBs playing really close to the line, jamming the receivers and TE. The flex works so well against the run too because it forces the offensive linemen to tip their hand about where the play is going before they make contact with the defensive linemen in the flex. On a sweep, that keeps the guards from being able to create the famous Lombardi "seal" to create the running lane; the Defensive guys in the flex just go to where they can't get sealed off. If you run right at the defensive lineman in the flex, the defensive linemen on the line just collapse in and the play goes for 2, maybe 3 yards tops. If it's a pass play, the the defensive linemen in the Flex get to accelarate those first 2 or 3 steps before they make contact with the guard or tackle and that added speed enables them to beat the guard or tackle and get to the Quarterback faster. With the right mix of players I can see the Flex Defense working today. You'd just have to vary it up a lot and give different looks at different points in the game, like having the interior 2 guys in the flex or even dropping a guy back into coverage, things like that.

Good video

Bro please just make historical nfl vids for all 32! These are amazing for football history dudes!!! Please make more content!!!!!

good video

Could Lombardi Coach winning teams today? Absolutely with out question. Because Lombardi was a Hall of Fame Teacher first and foremost. Lombardi was the greatest teacher ever.

Imagine that Lombardi didn't die in 71. Lasted another 10 years. Lombardi Landry 2 times a year for 10 years. Would've been football heaven.

Lee Roy Jordan should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Another GREAT video, Brother. Seriously, you do amazing work, man. That Coach Landry was a football genius is a given. The one thing he did wrong, which we all know about now but did NOT know back then, was breaking Roger of his habit of running, period. Not curb it or tailor-make some running plays JUST FOR Roger but let him use his God-given gifts fully. That was a common belief back then, that keeping a QB inside the Pocket was a smart move. And for most QBs, it was true. But Staubach’s game would have been so much better IF he had been allowed to run more. He probably would’ve one of those SBs vs the Squeelers, and then Dallas would have been the Team of the ‘90s, instead of Arm Pittsburgh.

Wow! Landry was the football genius who eventually outsmarted himself? Proves that football started as a sport. It’s evolved into a science.

Brother your videos are the best. I think you need to be on tv.

Landry's Flex Defense was legendary, but the Acilles heel was definitely the weak side,because you couldn't always defend against the wide runs off pitchouts, the short passes to receivers in the flat, and screens where defensive ends and outside linebackers couldn't always pursue to the ball carrier/ recei er and offense would get big gains. A number of NFL teams then we to the 3-4, where the inside backers could plug both the A & B gaps, could stunt to co fuse offensive linemen, then come in behind the defensive tackles on a red dog blitz call. The ouside backers were very effective in pass coverage and be assigned to cover tight ends, or wideouts on short pass plays. They effectively gave defenses 5 man secondaries on passes, with one OLB staying home to stop the run or blitz off the edge. Bill Parcell's 3 - 4 he installed in the Giants defense was among the best of all time. And look who was at OLB, Lawrence Taylor, probably the best all timeOLB, and on the inside, Harry Carson, Jim Burt, and I believe it was Gary Reasons as the other OLB.

My #1 game the Cowboys should have won was the Super bowl against the colts

Man they were so close to winning a championship I can still remember

Fun fact, Lombardi was a high school football and baseball coach before his Fordham days

Think about it during the New York Giants era, Lombardi and Landry were going up against each other in practice! Talking about high standards!

Dandy Don was just cursed it seemed . And so was Craig Morton, and Danny White it's a damn shame even when they won it all I still think Thomas should have been the MVP but we've done been there before don't give up on me I'll have something soon I've been struggling with deciding but it will eventually happen

It should be noted that that 1960 matchup consisted of an established franchise (Packers) against an expansion team (Cowboys) that failed to win a game that season, so that can’t really be held against Landry

Great breakdown 4-3 flex D was great

The University of Arizona adapted the “Double Eagle Flex” defense and set records for lowest points and yards per game rushing in the 90’s. Desert Swarm virtually stopped the run and made teams 1 dimensional, and made Tedy Bruski a star.

Great video. Just my opinion but I don't think Landry needed Staubach in the 60s, but that Meredith needed the shotgun spread offense. Meredith was way better than people remember or give him credit for. Think that he could have had the success of Staubach with that offensive scheme

Old school flex

And it continues today! Packers 48 Cowboys 32 !!! Yea baby!

And Lombardi countered with the "give" play. Send a running back through the hole left by the pulling guard...nobody blocked the gap, but the defensive tackle wasn't there because he was chasing the guard. It wasn't called against big oaf DTs, just against excellent and quick DTs like Lilly. Starr's winning QB sneak was set up by "45 Give," with Chuck Mercein taking it from the 10 or so, down to the 2. Watch that play and see Lilly chase Gillingham, with Mercein going right through the hole created. Skoronski, LT, got a great block on the DE to keep the hole clean.

Good video. Landry said that everything in football was evolving. I wonder. Do you think he was scheming something new on the drawing board when Jones fired him? I guess we will never know. Thank you for this video. You did a great job breaking it down.

Tom's downfall was he was still trying to use it in the 80s.

Go Pack go!

Tom Landry was the giants defensive coordinator and Lombardi the offensive

For what it's worth, Landry's Cowboys did beat Lombardi's Redskins in the late 60s.

I know that this might not be a straight Cowboys , but would you consider doing an analyse on Dan Reeves ?

anyone notice that creepy mask at 10:01? 😂

Growing up in Texas I wondered what made it a Flex defense.

What is the source of the Bill belichick breakdown at 5:20 ? Thanks in advance

Just imagine if Tom Landry made adjustments 1980defense on pass game would still be early 1990s and draft better tom Landry my favorite coach. Because coach both offense and defense I wish better adjustments

As a lifelong redskin/commander fan i am a certified cowboy hater. But damn this vid is so informative and a job well done. I am now a subscriber whether you want me or not!😂😂😂

Google sucks. Keep up the good work!

Can you explain the 3-4 defense? Does it use a concept similar to the flex?

Also want to see How good was Harvey Martin

I don't think the defensive schemes were the downfall of the Cowboys during the '80s. I won't argue opposing coaches came up with ways to attack the flex, but the bigger picture is that the Cowboys drafts in the late '70s and '80s dropped off markedly from the previous decade and a half. After the 1975 draft that hauled in 12 players that made the team, including HOFer Randy White and many other starters like Hollywood Henderson, the rest of the 70s was meh -- only Tony Dorsett made the Hall and was joined in the starting lineup by guys like Tony Hill, Dennis Thurman, Doug Cosbie, Tom Rafferty, and at times, Ron Springs, Butch Johnson, and Aaron Kyle. That's not very many good players for a set of drafts that went 12+ rounds. In the '80s it was worse. For every Jim Jeffcoat, there was a Billy Canon (why???). Their best pick, Hershal Walker, was a player they traded to get enough players to win 3 Super Bowls in the '90s! Only Michael Irvin (of the Landry era in the '80s) made the HOF, though Landry's group would have also taken Troy Aikman like the Jones group did. Anyway, you can't replace Hall of Famers like Randy White, Cliff Harris, and guys that should be in the Hall like Charlie Waters, Harvey Martin and Too Tall Jones, with the players the Cowboys had in the mid-to-late '80s and expect not to miss a beat. If you don't realize how much better Cliff and Charlie made EVERYONE on that defense, you don't know much about Cowboys history. Charlie was the boss out there and belongs in the hall for that alone.