The following off-season was marked by the surprising resignation of Johnson, who departed the Cowboys due to a dispute with owner Jerry Jones about who deserved more credit for the back-to-back Super Bowl wins.
The team acquired veteran quarterback Bernie Kosar after his release from the Cleveland Browns as insurance for starting quarterback Troy Aikman, who suffered a severe concussion in the NFC Championship game versus San Francisco, and backup Steve Beuerlein signed with the Phoenix Cardinals.
In arguably his finest game as a professional, Emmitt Smith suffered a second degree separated shoulder in the regular season finale versus their NFC East division rival New York Giants, with the winner clinching home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Miami's Jeff Dellenbach recovered and Stoyanovich made the most of his shorter second chance, giving the Dolphins a most improbable 16–14 win.
Derrick Lassic, replacing Smith for the time being, rushed for 75 yards but the Cowboys offensive line, whose loyalty was to Smith, didn’t block for him with the same effort; safety James Washington called it “totally unfair to Lassic.” Before a home crowd frustrated by the Cowboys’ slow start and the continuing contract holdout by Emmitt Smith, the Cowboys fell behind the Bills 10–0, clawed back to tie the game, then fell on Steve Christie’s 35-yard field goal.
Lin Elliott missed two kicks (and was cut from the team), Troy Aikman was intercepted twice, and Derrick Lassic fumbled twice.
An enraged Charles Haley threw his helmet through the wall in the locker room demanding ownership to end the Emmitt Smith contract issue.
[5] Emmitt Smith rushed for 237 yards as the Cowboys broke open a close game in the fourth quarter to win, 23–10.
With both teams at 5–2, the battle for the NFC East was joined at Texas Stadium and this game became another Cowboys runaway, as Troy Aikman scored two touchdowns and Emmitt Smith added two more.
Jimmy Johnson decided to start rookie Jason Garrett, but after Garrett proved ineffective with just two completions, Johnson benched him for recently signed ex-Brown Bernie Kosar, who completed thirteen passes for 199 yards and a touchdown, this despite an end zone intentional grounding penalty that made the final score 20–15 Cowboys.
The kick landed beyond the line of scrimmage, and once the ball stopped moving the play would be declared dead and Dallas would gain possession.
However, the ball landed and began spinning on its tip, leading Cowboys lineman Leon Lett to try to gain possession.
Eddie Murray's game winning field goal earned the Cowboys the division title and a first-round playoff bye.