DMN Blog: Five unforgettable Thanksgiving games

[Angus]

Five unforgettable Thanksgiving games

Todd Archer wrote about Tony Romo's five-TD Thanksgiving Day performance, which pretty much vaulted No. 9 into the national limelight. It got me thinking about the most memorable Turkey Day games in Cowboys' history.

Follow the jump for the best top-five list you'll see on Cowboys Blog this week.

5. Leon Lett's Winter Blunderland: The Cowboys had seemingly pulled out an ugly win over the Dolphins in the rain and sleet ... until Leon Lett made perhaps the dumbest play in team history. A blocked field goal should have sealed the Cowboys' victory, but Lett decided for reasons still unknown to slide in the snow in an attempt to recover the dead ball. He gave the Dolphins another chance, and Pete Stoyanovich took advantage by making a chip shot on the game's final play, handing the Cowboys what ended up being the final loss of Jimmy Johnson's tenure.

4. Moss makes Jerry pay: Jerry Jones decided to pass on Randy Moss in the draft because of character issues. Moss made Jerry regret that decision by humiliating a Deion Sanders-less secondary with three catches for 163 yards and three TDs. Troy Aikman passed for a career-high 455 yards to keep it interesting, but the Vikings walked out of Texas Stadium with a 46-36 win.

3. Red Baron to the rescue: Injuries to Aikman and Rodney Peete forced the Cowboys to start brainy third-stringer Jason Garrett. He responded by outdueling a young buck named Brett Favre in a 42-31 win over the Packers. Garrett threw for 311 yards and two TDs, leading the Cowboys to 36 second-half points. "If this is a fairy tale, so be it," Garrett said after the game.

2. Bounty Bowl: The 1-11 Cowboys were embarrassed to get their butts kicked, 27-0, by the Eagles. They were enraged that Philly coach Buddy Ryan put bounties on certain Cowboys. The reported bounties: $200 on kicker Luis Zendejas and $500 on Aikman. Ryan retreated on the sideline when Zendejas, an ex-Eagle, went hunting for him after getting cheap-shotted. Jimmy wanted to give Ryan a piece of his mind and maybe a bit more postgame, but Ryan "put his fat rear end into the dressing room," as Jimmy gently put it.

1. Mad Bomber's Moment: The Commanders knocked Roger Staubach out of the game, setting the stage for rookie QB Clint "Mad Bomber" Longley to pull off the most amazing comeback in team history. Longley erased a 13-point second-half deficit by throwing for 203 yards and two TDs, hitting Drew Pearson with a bomb in the final minute to pull out a 24-23 win.

Posted by Tim MacMahon at 2:15 PM

http://cowboys.beloblog.com/archives/2007/
11/five_unforgettable_thanksgiving_games.html#comments

After Longley's game, Blyne Nye, I think, said the win was the triumph of an uncluttered mind.

 

[Doomsday101]

Five unforgettable Thanksgiving games

Todd Archer wrote about Tony Romo's five-TD Thanksgiving Day performance, which pretty much vaulted No. 9 into the national limelight. It got me thinking about the most memorable Turkey Day games in Cowboys' history.

Follow the jump for the best top-five list you'll see on Cowboys Blog this week.

5. Leon Lett's Winter Blunderland: The Cowboys had seemingly pulled out an ugly win over the Dolphins in the rain and sleet ... until Leon Lett made perhaps the dumbest play in team history. A blocked field goal should have sealed the Cowboys' victory, but Lett decided for reasons still unknown to slide in the snow in an attempt to recover the dead ball. He gave the Dolphins another chance, and Pete Stoyanovich took advantage by making a chip shot on the game's final play, handing the Cowboys what ended up being the final loss of Jimmy Johnson's tenure.

4. Moss makes Jerry pay: Jerry Jones decided to pass on Randy Moss in the draft because of character issues. Moss made Jerry regret that decision by humiliating a Deion Sanders-less secondary with three catches for 163 yards and three TDs. Troy Aikman passed for a career-high 455 yards to keep it interesting, but the Vikings walked out of Texas Stadium with a 46-36 win.

3. Red Baron to the rescue: Injuries to Aikman and Rodney Peete forced the Cowboys to start brainy third-stringer Jason Garrett. He responded by outdueling a young buck named Brett Favre in a 42-31 win over the Packers. Garrett threw for 311 yards and two TDs, leading the Cowboys to 36 second-half points. "If this is a fairy tale, so be it," Garrett said after the game.

2. Bounty Bowl: The 1-11 Cowboys were embarrassed to get their butts kicked, 27-0, by the Eagles. They were enraged that Philly coach Buddy Ryan put bounties on certain Cowboys. The reported bounties: $200 on kicker Luis Zendejas and $500 on Aikman. Ryan retreated on the sideline when Zendejas, an ex-Eagle, went hunting for him after getting cheap-shotted. Jimmy wanted to give Ryan a piece of his mind and maybe a bit more postgame, but Ryan "put his fat rear end into the dressing room," as Jimmy gently put it.

1. Mad Bomber's Moment: The Commanders knocked Roger Staubach out of the game, setting the stage for rookie QB Clint "Mad Bomber" Longley to pull off the most amazing comeback in team history. Longley erased a 13-point second-half deficit by throwing for 203 yards and two TDs, hitting Drew Pearson with a bomb in the final minute to pull out a 24-23 win.

Posted by Tim MacMahon at 2:15 PM

http://cowboys.beloblog.com/archives/2007/
11/five_unforgettable_thanksgiving_games.html#comments

After Longley's game, Blyne Nye, I think, said the win was the triumph of an uncluttered mind.

Some of those I would like to forget.

 

[Hostile]

Some of those I would like to forget.

You and me both.

No Leon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Doomsday101]

You and me both.

No Leon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I would have had a gun I would have stopped him before he got to the ball. As people around me was cheering I saw Lett moving towards the ball and was hollering no people thought I was crazy until it happened. Needless to say I went back to the hotel and really tied one on that night.

 

[Mavs Man]

In all that's been said about the Leon Lett game, I forgot that that was Jimmy Johnson's last loss as coach of the Cowboys. He won out the rest of the season, including the final, division-clinching game against the Giants, the playoffs, and the Buffalo Bill sequel.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

The Moss games(s) on Thanksgiving hurt the most.

Did we play him once or more on a Tday?

 

[AdamJT13]

Unless Romo ends up washing out, last year's game will go down in the top five.




And I still remember the 1979 game more than any of the losses in MacMahon's top five -- Earl Campbell dragging guys down the sideline and rushing for 195 yards and two scores; stinkin' Dan Pastorini doing almost nothing all game except for two long TD passes. It ruined Thanksgiving Day at Grandma's house for at least one 9-year-old kid, I'll tell you that.




Here's the DMN story from that game --



Dallas' number up; Oilers count' em out in 30-24 win

11/23/1979

By CARLTON STOWERS / The Dallas Morning News


Cowboy Cool came apart at the seams at the most inopportune time Thursday afternoon as a failure at simple addition opened the door for the Houston Oilers, suddenly the most explosive and winningest team in pro football, to knock a struggling, frustrated Dallas down yet another notch.

The Oilers won, 30-24, posting their first ever regular season victory over the Cowboys, and in doing so took a half-game lead, at 10-3, over defending world champion Pittsburgh in the AFC Central Division race.

Thus America's Team, now 8-5 and trailing Washington and Philadelphia by a half game in the NFC East; was not even able to claim the state professional championship on this bright, crisp Thanksgiving afternoon.

It was All-Pro running back Earl Campbell, rushing for 195 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries, who contributed the greatest damage during the day, but a fourth quarter mix-up on punt coverage when the struggling Cowboys were protecting a slim lead served as the final blow.

With the Oiler offense halted on fourth down at the Dallas 37, confusion replaced the usual Cowboy precision and there was evidently some mix-up as to whether the punt coverage or field goal coverage team should be in the game. What resulted was that tackle Dave Stalls was in when he wasn't supposed to be and Dallas drew a penalty, which kept the Oilers alive.

On the following play, quarterback Dan Pastorini rifled a shot over the middle to wide receiver Ken Burrough for a 32-yard touchdown, which would spell Dallas' undoing.

Oiler head coach Bum Phillips had the final word: "They may be America's Team," he said amidst the post-game celebration, "but we're Texas' team."

There is, for that matter, some question as to exactly how the Cowboys should now be recognized.

While head coach Tom Landry labeled it the best performance of his club in the past month; the defense was battered by Campbell and gave up a pair of long passes for touchdowns. And the offense remained the Roger Staubach Show, piling up 279 yards in the air but only 92 on the ground.

Pro Bowler Tony Dorsett, who did have the honor of scoring Dallas' first rushing touchdown in 23 quarters, left the field without his third 1,000 yard season, managing just 54 yards in only a dozen carries.

Campbell, meanwhile, was everything a million-dollar running back is supposed to be, getting the tough yardage up the middle and twice breaking for long-distance touchdowns, which saw him literally outrun the befuddled Dallas defenders.

Still, it was a day which held promise of a Cowboy turnaround, one on which the 63,897 on hand in Texas Stadium were treated to pingpong offensive explosions early. The Cowboys, in fact, went into the final 15 minutes of play with an unaccustomed lead and still owning the big-play threat it had displayed off and on throughout the afternoon.

In the final analysis, this one went down the tube on simple arithmetic error. Not because Too Tall is gone or Hollywood is retired or Charlie Waters is out for the season. Because, instead, in the snakebit state of defending NFC champion currently are dealing with, they were unable to count to 12.

"It was," Landry pointed out afterward, "a critical error. There was some confusion."

Specialty teams captain Bruce Huther, whose responsibility it is to count the players on the field, said, "I feel terrible. Coach Landry asked me when I came off why I hadn't called time out and I told him I wasn't aware that there were too many of us out there. It all happened so quickly."

"To lose it with 12 men on the field," said All-Pro wide receiver Drew Pearson, who had five catches for 118 yards and registered Dallas' first touchdown of the day, "is really frustrating."

Once again it was the arm of Staubach, which kept the Cowboy offense rolling as he hit on 21 of 36 for his 287 yards and two touchdowns. And while he noted that both the offense and defense were a tick away from a really fine day, he felt the stumbles might have ended; that Dallas may be ready to begin an upswing from the rut which now has seen it lose three in a row and four of its last five.

"I think we improved some today," he said, "and we're on an upbeat. Today was important if for no other reason that our play gave us a boost."

While a mental boost may indeed come from the overall play, Dallas failed in its two major objectives. "The first thing we wanted to do," said defensive end John Dutton, making his first start on an impressive note, "was stop Campbell. The second thing was to stop Pastorini. We did neither."

With no time wasted, the game quickly developed into the matchup the full house had anticipated: the lighting-bolt running of Campbell against the deadly arm of Staubach.

Roger got in the first lick.

On the fourth play of the game he sent Drew Pearson deep, allowed him time to sprint past Oiler cornerback J.C. Wilson and dropped a 56-yard touchdown pass into his arms after only a minute and 38 seconds had elapsed.

If it rattled the Oilers, the fact was well concealed.

Three plays deep into their first offensive drive and facing a third-and-1, they came up with a bomb of their own. Catching Dallas in a short-yardage defense, Campbell broke to his right and set sail on a 61-yard scoring dash to tie up things.

"The play," Campbell said, "was designed just to pick up a first down. Things popped, though, and we got a bonus."

Thus the tempo was set. By intermission both of the game's central figures had a full day's worth of statistics. Campbell had 122 yards rushing and two touchdowns while Staubach had 208 yards passing and two scoring tosses to his credit.

And therein lies one of the most noteworthy accomplishments of the first 30 minutes. A third Dallas touchdown, the one which provided its 21-17 intermission lead, was scored on the ground, the first since the Los Angeles game.

On the 11-play, 71-yard drive, Staubach went to tight end Jay Saldi for 17, wide receiver Tony Hill for 13, Newhouse for 15 and Dorsett broke for gains of 13 and 16 as the Cowboys quickly moved into a first-and-goal situation.

It took two shots, but the fact the Cowboys got it in on the ground as Dorsett powered into the end zone off right tackle set off a mild celebration on the Dallas bench. On the preceding play, Newhouse had been stopped for no gain.

Houston, meanwhile, refused to concede the upper hand to the defending NFC champions.

Pastorini came back with a 28-yard completion to wide receiver Rich Caster and hit Renfro for six as the Oilers made their way to the Cowboy 27 with just over two minutes remaining in the half.

At that point Campbell did his thing again, breaking through left tackle, running past Cliff Harris and into the end zone. Fritsch's conversion narrowed the Dallas lead to 21-17 before the bands came on.

The Oilers kept their pace as the gained their first possession of the third period.

Four consecutive carries by Campbell afforded Houston a first-and-10 at the Dallas 47 and from that point Pastorini sent Renfro, son of former Cowboy coach Ray Renfro, down the left hand side. Harris, covering deep, broke to the inside and Renfro went to the outside and hauled in this first touchdown of the season after just three minutes had elapsed in the period.

Fritch then missed his second extra-point try of the season as the ball hit the right upright and caromed off.

That left the door open for Dallas to drive down in range for Rafael Septien to squeeze the Cowboys back into a 1-point advantage with a 14-yard field goal on the first play of the final period.

It would all go down the drain, however, with less than eight minutes remaining and the Dallas defense having forced the Oilers into a punting situation at the 37-yard line. But the Cowboys were charged with having 12 men on the field, affording the Oilers a first down and new life at the 32.

Pastorini drove in the spike at that point, hitting Burrough over the middle.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Buddy Ryan was such a coward. The running to the locker room and the sucker punch showed his character.

I always laugh when I hear him say he knows more about offense because he has been trying to stop them for years.

 

[ZeroClub]

After Longley's game, Blyne Nye, I think, said the win was the triumph of an uncluttered mind.

That's right.


Enjoyed the 1979 article, Adam. Thanks.

 

[Aikbach]

Buddy Ryan was such a coward. The running to the locker room and the sucker punch showed his character.

I always laugh when I hear him say he knows more about offense because he has been trying to stop them for years.

With that logic he should know more shepherding because he's been with sheep for years.

 

[lurkercowboy]

That 1979 game was terrible, just awful. Staubach had a late possession that went nowhere and Curly Culp manhandled Robert Shaw, Dallas' rookie center. I had to watch it with my Commander fan cousins. Just bad all around.

1987 was also a terrible game. Dallas came back twice from 14 point deficits only to lose in OT to the Vikings.

There have been plenty of bright spots on Thanksgiving as well. 1994 against the Packers stands out, as does 1990 versus the Commanders. That was the coming out party for the triplets and I watched it with those same Commander fan cousins. We talked plenty of trash back and forth but Emmitt shut them up in the end. Revenge!

 

[links18]

Anyone have the 94 game? I remember watching garret get sacked on the first play (i think) and thinking we were going to get killed, only to watch him heave a deep pass to Harper at which point I knew we were going to win.

 

[bbgun]

Anyone have the 94 game? I remember watching garret get sacked on the first play (i think) and thinking we were going to get killed, only to watch him heave a deep pass to Harper at which point I knew we were going to win.

Big E let Reggie White get loose a couple of times. Otherwise, he pretty much dominated that matchup over the years.

 

[poke]

Those are some forgettable and unforgettable games. Thanks for
posting them.
My worst Thanksgiving day game was 2003, the stinking Dolphins
beat us ( bad enough) BUT I was at the game and had to endure
a dolphin fan family sitting right in front of me !! aaggghhh

 

[Cbz40]

Those are some forgettable and unforgettable games. Thanks for
posting them.
My worst Thanksgiving day game was 2003, the stinking Dolphins
beat us ( bad enough) BUT I was at the game and had to endure
a dolphin fan family sitting right in front of me !! aaggghhh

You can say that again....

 

[bbgun]

1980 was my fave. We may never equal that again.

 

[lurkercowboy]

1980 was my fave. We may never equal that again.

That was a memorable game and one of my favorite Dallas teams.

 

[big dog cowboy]

4. Moss makes Jerry pay: Jerry Jones decided to pass on Randy Moss in the draft because of character issues. Moss made Jerry regret that decision by humiliating a Deion Sanders-less secondary with three catches for 163 yards and three TDs. Troy Aikman passed for a career-high 455 yards to keep it interesting, but the Vikings walked out of Texas Stadium with a 46-36 win.

Unfortunately I was at that game.

 

[bbgun]

Unfortunately I was at that game.

That's when I knew Kevin Smith was done.

 

[Aikbach]

That's when I knew Kevin Smith was done.

Well in his defense he tore his Achilles tendon and then came back just in time for them to change the rules on him, he lost some quickness and then the refs forbid him to be the aggressive bruiser he had been his first four years in the league.

Otherwise Kevin Smith and Deion Sanders may have ended up the greatest cornerback duo in club history.