PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — There have been many highlights and lowlights of the storied rivalry between the Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. One of the most memorable is a 1989 game that became known as the "Bounty Bowl."
Former Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan was vilified after he was accused of offering $100 to any of his players who would knock out a place kicker he had recently released.
But a member of that Eagles squad now says Ryan was not to blame.
"He kinda brought what he got upon himself," said All-Pro linebacker Seth Joyner. Joyner, a special teams demon, told KYW Newsradio's sister station Sportsradio WIP, how Cowboys kicker Luis Zendejas became a marked man before the now-infamous Thanksgiving Day game.
"We go into a special teams meeting on Wednesday morning and someone holds up a paper and Luis Zendejas is down in Dallas giving away family secrets," he recounted.
Eagles secrets. Joyner says the players took matters into their own hands.
"Someone in the meeting said, 'You know, that damn Luis Zendejas, we're gonna teach him a lesson.' And somebody put a $100 bounty on him and before you know it it was up in the thousands. So it was game on from there," he said.
Linebacker Jesse Small claimed the prize after Zendejas kicked off.
"He just makes a beeline for Zendejas and just clocks him," Joyner remembered. "Just knocks him silly. And he's just so disoriented that he's stumbling over to our sideline."
At which point, Joyner says a couple players shoved him back onto the field toward the Cowboys sideline.
"And I mean, the whole sideline just erupted," he said.
