When Tom Landry was fired by the Dallas Cowboys in 1989, Dan Reeves picked up the phone to offer encouragement to his friend and former boss. Landry returned the favor when Reeves was fired by Denver after last season.
“Both of us having the faith we have, we realized things happen you can’t control, and there is a reason why things happen,” Reeves said. “It’s not the end of the world, and we talked about how something good was going to come from this. Every time a door closes, a door opens.”
Landry never really allowed himself to get too close his players. But he made exceptions. Roger Staubach was one. Reeves was another.
The reason was simple: Landry saw himself in Reeves. An overachiever as a player. A unique understanding of the game.
“In a sense, Dan and I were a whole lot alike as players,” said Landry, who finally relented and will be inducted Sunday in the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor when Reeves and the Giants visit. “We didn’t have great speed, so we had to make up for our shortcomings mentally.”
Landry signed Reeves as a free-agent running back in 1965. He had doubts Reeves could be a top player, but after trying him on defense, he moved him to offense, where he became very productive.
“He could get open so easily because of his knowledge,” Landry said. “He became our No. 1 pass-receiving back in those days.”
When Calvin Hill arrived in 1969, Landry knew Reeves’ days as a major contributor were ending. So the next year he made Reeves, 26, a player-coach, much like Landry was a player-coach for the Giants from 1954 to ’59.
“Very few players had his type of understanding of what’s going on. He was a great competitor,” Landry said. “He and Mike (Ditka) were the strongest competitors I had, which gave them a little bit of an edge.”
Reeves still has a lot of Landry in him. Most important, the Giants’ new multiple offense came from Dallas. Until this season, Reeves was using Landry’s numbering system on offense, the opposite of every other team in the league.
“Everything I’ve really accomplished as far as coaching is concerned is definitely related to what I learned from him,” Reeves said. “I had no ambitions of coaching until I got to Dallas. He had experience with player-coaches, and I knew my career was basically coming to an end. My initial reaction was it might be a way for me to stay around.”
Reeves has tinkered with the Landry offensive system. He hasn’t adopted Landry’s famed flex defense, not as aggressive as the system Reeves has used with the Giants.
“Every coach has his own style of play,” Landry said, “but when you spend your whole life as a Cowboy, you have to be influenced by what we did. I watched his team in Denver, and sure, they were using multiple sets, but they were doing different things. If he didn’t do that, he would be behind the times.”
The Giants’ offense is basically the Cowboys’ offense under Landry.
“You make changes every year, but we are running the same plays we ran back then,” Reeves said. “You just disguise it a little differently.”
Reeves observed everything Landry did. He saw, as a player and then as an assistant, that Landry kept an emotional distance from his players.
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“I thought you didn’t have to be that removed from players. I wanted to be considered more of a players’ coach,” Reeves said. “When I got the coaching job at Denver, I could see that you had to make so many decisions that affect so many lives that you can’t let your personal feelings get in the way of being objective.
“That was a problem I had in Denver. You realize there does have to be a separation, whether you like it or not.”
Landry and Reeves have been talking regularly. They plan to see each other on the Giants’ trip to Dallas. All of Landry’s former assistants have remained loyal to him.
Reeves left Landry in 1980 when the Broncos hired him. Strangely, this will be his first trip to Dallas as a head coach. Landry, the main man during Reeves’ 16 years with the Cowboys, will be watching.
So who does Landry root for Sunday? His friend or his former team?
“I hated to see the Giants lose to the Jets,” Landry said, “but I won’t take sides Sunday.”