Lessons Learned From an Old Cowboy

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A Rivalry: The Final Installment at Texas Stadium

Take a look back at the longtime and often bitter Redskins-Cowboys rivalry at Texas Stadium in Dallas. The Redskins will play their final regular season game at Texas Stadium on Sunday.

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Landry asked him to stay in town in case another player was injured. Zorn said he briefly became a glorified errand boy for a wealthy Dallas executive and ardent Cowboys fan, L. Ron Fitts, before catching on as a backup that season with the Rams, under Coach Chuck Knox, his future coach in Seattle.

"I thought we were going to have a long-term relationship until Tom took me aside," Zorn said. "But, you know, I'm 22 years old at the time. Had I had some long vision, I might have stayed there regardless of who wants me."

Zorn said Landry, who died in 2000 at age 75, left an indelible impression on him during their one summer together.

"Awesome," he said. "He was really a guy who was thinking, who always had a plan. His whole staff had their jobs and their own authority and he trusted every one of them. I'm not trying to be Tom Landry, but when you can trust your staff it makes it so much better for you."

No regrets, Zorn said, as he prepared to return to where his NFL career began, in the same stadium with the hole in the roof where Landry let him take his first snap.

"I was so young, but Dallas is what made a difference for me," he said. "Going through a grueling training camp, beating out the quarterbacks I did to win the number three position, to be able to compete against Roger Staubach and Clint Longley. Gosh, we had all these really great football players. Before I was cut, I got to eat dinner with every one of the 43 players who made that team. To be on the team with those guys gave me so much confidence.

"Once I was done with the Cowboys, I knew I could play in the NFL."