Landry Shift Explained

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Published Oct 10, 2016

This video explains what the Landry Shift was and how it worked followed by clips from very early games in the Cotton Bowl, before there was a Texas Stadium. My idea here is to show the mechanics of the Shift, who started in a 2 point stance, who stood up, who didn't (wide receivers), who shifted, who dropped to 3 point stance (all), who was sent in motion, audibles, etc.

This is not a highlight reel of great plays, this is simply to show the Shift.

In the first three Cotton Bowl seasons, the Cowboys won 13 games, lost 38 games and tied 3. This was before the days of flying cameras and HD, so with that and their losing record, it is extremely rare to find a clear early example of the Shift AND get a great play. Usually the cameras were in tight on the quarterback or center and you could just see a shoulder shift. In fact, my opening with Craig Morton’s scramble was about the best I could find.

Dallas Cowboys were the only team to do the shift, so as their popularity rose it gave their play some class, a little savoir-fare if you will. The legendary Tom Landry, always serious on the sidelines in his coat, tie, & hat invented the shift to confuse the defenses and help snap their losing streak. The Cowboys were marketed in Mexico City and other places abroad which gave them arguably the largest fan base during Landry's tenure. A broadcaster labeled them "America's Team" and the moniker stuck. The other stroke of marketing genius was when the new Texas Stadium was finally built it was designed with a hole in the roof. They said it was so God could watch his favorite team play football! (never-mind God's Xray vision) Announcers for years always pointed out "There's Tom Landry, the only coach the Cowboys have ever had" -a great source of pride for Cowboys fans. They were indeed a class act (although one Pittsburgh Steeler lamented before a game "they walk into the stadium like their S*** don't stink.")

In 2015 the Cowboys were valued at $4 billion, #1 in the world of sports. Back in 1958, when Texas millionaire Clint Murchison tried to form the expansion team, it was stopped by Redskins owner George Preston Marshall. Any expansion required the approval of all team owners. At the time, Marshall also had a falling out with the Redskins band leader Barnee Breeskin. Breeskin had written the music to the Redskins fight song "Hail to the Redskins" and Marshall’s wife had penned the lyrics. Breeskin owned the rights to the song and was aware of Murchison’s plight to get an NFL franchise. Angry with Marshall, Breeskin approached Murchison’s attorney to sell him the rights to the song before the expansion vote in 1959. Murchison purchased "Hail to the Redskins" for $2,500. Before the vote to award franchises in 1959, Murchison revealed to Marshall that he owned the song and Marshall could not play it during games. After a few Marshall expletives, Murchison gave the rights to "Hail to the Redskins" to Marshall for his vote, the lone one against Murchison getting a franchise at that time, and a rivalry was born.

The 2015 Cowboys are doing the Shift in the closing moments to honor coach Landry. Fans have reacted with thousands and thousands of YouTube hits so I have included two examples here. The music in the original version was properly credited and the copyright owners were compensated but nevertheless, the video was doomed to be blocked and I lost my view counts. So, here it is sans music (except for the opening classical music). I hope you enjoy this bit of nostalgia, the Landry Shift, with a Charlie Waters fumble recovery thrown in for good measure (and because the announcer said “there’s Charlie Waters, the Cowboy’s latest HERO”.)

Category: PARANORMAL VIDEOS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES

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