The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas, Texas metropolitan area, and play their home games in the suburb of Irving. The Dallas Cowboys are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League. Originally, the formation of an NFL expansion team in Texas was met with strong opposition by Washington Redskins owner, George Preston Marshall. Marshall's Redskins had enjoyed a monopoly as the only NFL team to represent the Southern States of the US for several decades, so a new team in Texas was unwanted competition.  The team was first known as the Dallas Steers, then the Dallas Rangers before settling on the name the Dallas Cowboys for the 1960 season.  The year 1961 also saw the Dallas Cowboys' first victory, a 27-24 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on September 17.  For their first years, the Dallas Cowboys were always playing second fiddle to Lamar Hunt's Dallas Texans of the AFL because the Texans were the more established team and had the better record. But in 1963 when the Texans moved to Kansas City and became the Kansas City Chiefs, the Dallas Cowboys became the only professional football draw in town. Texas Stadium in Irving, a Dallas County suburb, would be completed for the 1971 season. In 1967, the Dallas Cowboys finished with a 9-5 record and had their first playoff victory: a 52-14 affair over the Cleveland Browns. The Dalls Cowboys lost 21-17 on a one-yard quarterback sneak, but the game would forever be remembered as the Ice Bowl.  Led by quarterback Craig Morton, the Dallas Cowboys made it to their first Super Bowl, a mistake-filled Super Bowl V, where they lost 16-13 to the Baltimore Colts. The Dallas Cowboys won their last seven regular season games in 1971 before dispatching of the Minnesota Vikings and San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs to return to the Super Bowl. The Dallas Cowboys crushed the upstart Miami Dolphins, 24-3, to finally shake the moniker of Next Year's Champions.   The Dallas Cowboys would again taste Super Bowl victory, defeating the Denver Broncos 27-10 in Super Bowl XII. The glory days of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1970s were coming to an end. They would reach one final Super Bowl, Super Bowl XIII, losing once again at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers, 35-31.  In 1984, H.R. "Bum" Bright purchased the Dallas Cowboys from Murchison, but following seasons that were getting progressively worse: 1985: 10-6; 1986: 7-9; 1987: 7-8; 1988: 3-13, Bright sold the Cowboys to Jerry Jones on February 25, 1989. In 1990, the Dallas Cowboys drafted running back Emmitt Smith out of the University of Florida with the 17th overall pick in the first round, and the trifecta of quarterback Troy Aikman, and wide receiver Michael Irvin was now set. By 1991, the Dallas Cowboys finished with an 11-5 record, making the playoffs for the first time in six years. In 1992, the Dallas Cowboys finished with a 13-3 record, second best in the league, and finally avenged their 1981 NFC Championship Game loss to San Francisco by defeating the 49ers in the conference title game, 30-20, in a muddy Candlestick Park. The Cowboys went on to crush the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVII, 52-17. The Cowboys went 6-10 in 1997, with discipline and off-field problems becoming major distractions. The Dallas Cowboys became the surprise team of the 2003 season, posting a 10-6 record and a Playoff berth with the best overall defense in the NFL. However, the 2004 season was one of turmoil. Injuries and persistent penalty problems hobbled the Dallas Cowboys. The Dallas Cowboys improved their defense before the 2005-2006 season with the additions of first round draft picks Demarcus Ware and Marcus Spears.  The Dallas Cowboys finished an up-and-down 2005 season with a 9-7 record, and in 3rd place in the NFC East.