text: 1972 The 1972 season was another winning one for the Cowboys, but their 10–4 record was only good for them to make the playoffs as a wild-card team. In the divisional playoffs they faced the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers had a 28–13 lead and seemed to have avenged their playoff losses to Dallas in the two previous seasons. But after Landry benched Morton, Staubach threw two touchdown passes with less than two minutes remaining—including the game-winner to Ron Sellers—for a 30-28 Dallas win, the first of several dramatic comebacks led by Staubach during the 1970s.  However, they were defeated by their archrival Washington Redskins 26–3 in the NFC Championship Game.
  The Cowboys were now beginning to grow in popularity not just in Dallas, but nationwide. Their televised appearances on Thanksgiving Day games beginning in 1966 helped bring the Cowboys to a nationwide audience. Under Coach Landry, the so-called "Doomsday Defense" became a dominating force in the NFL. Dallas had also established several off-the-field innovations. The team was the first to use computers in scouting, the first to have a modern cheerleading squad performing sophisticated choreographed routines, and the first to broadcast games in Spanish. General manager Schramm became the most powerful GM in the NFL; it was he who pushed the league to adopt changes such as relocating the goal posts to the back of the end zone and (after the 1974 season) the use of instant replay. While Pittsburgh won more Super Bowls in the 1970s, Dallas emerged as the "glamour" team of the decade.  The 1979 film North Dallas Forty, based on a book written by former Cowboys wide receiver Peter Gent, presented a veiled portrayal of the team's on-and-off field culture during this time.