When the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins kick off on Thanksgiving Day, the game will mark the continuation of a tradition that has become as much a part of the holiday as pumpkin pie and uncomfortable moments with one’s relatives. With a couple of exceptions in the mid-1970s, Dallas has played on every Thanksgiving Day since 1966.
Most of those games have brought smiles to the faces of the Cowboys faithful - Dallas is 31-18-1 on Thanksgivings. However, the legions of football fans around the country who loathe the Cowboys have had occasion to enjoy some holiday schadenfreude - who can forget Leon Lett’s snowy absurdities against the Dolphins or the humiliating “Bounty Bowl” drubbing by the Eagles?
The most memorable Dallas Thanksgiving game of all, though, involves an improbable comeback against the same opponent featured this year, the hated rival Washington Redskins. And although it occurred during the era of Roger Staubach, the Hall of Fame quarterback renowned for his success in the two-minute offense, “Captain Comeback” himself was on the sidelines when Dallas made its rally. Instead, it was an unknown youngster from Abilene Christian University who saved the day for Dallas and caused anger and indigestion in otherwise happy households from Virginia to Maryland.
The 1974 Cowboys were a good, but not great, football team. Dallas was transitioning from the early-70s squad that rolled over Miami in Super Bowl VI to the late-70s powerhouse that pounded Denver in Super Bowl XII. Dallas entered the ’74 Thanksgiving game with a 6-5 record, trailing the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington in the NFC East. The Cowboys had lost to Washington just 12 days earlier.
Redskins defensive end Diron Talbert said before the game that he’d like to see Staubach try some his signature scrambling against Washington so the ’Skins “D” could get a crack at Longley, a rookie who had inherited the backup job in Dallas after the capable Craig Morton had been traded to the New York Giants in the offseason.
“We put Staubach out and all they’ve got is that Longley kid,” Talbert said.
The game started poorly for Dallas. Efren Herrera opened the day’s scoring with a field goal for the Cowboys, but Washington’s Mark Moseley kicked three of his own to give the Redskins a 9-3 halftime lead. Dallas running back Walt Garrison fumbled to open the third quarter, and soon after that, former Cowboy (and former West Texas State Buffalo) Duane Thomas caught a touchdown pass from Billy Kilmer that padded the visitors’ lead to 16-3.
Talbert’s words seemed as prophecy when later in the quarter, Washington’s Dave Robinson’s crushing hit of Staubach sent the Cowboys’ leader hobbling, with help, to the sidelines and out of the game.
The game seemed to be degenerating into a stuffing-flavored nightmare for Dallas, whose hopes now lay with a youngster wearing an unfamiliar No. 19 jersey in his first pro appearance. Longley’s claim to fame at that point in his Cowboy career was receiving the nickname “The Mad Bomber” in training camp after a pass intended for a teammate instead nailed Tom Landry’s coaching tower.
Longley, a Wichita Falls native, might not have had former Dallas signal-caller Don Meredith’s country charm, but he did have a measure of Cowboy cool.
“He was a very poised cat,” recalled Dallas offensive tackle Rayfield Wright. “He came in as if he’d started the game. When Garrison was in the huddle and was trying to explain which way and what the formation was, Longley told him to shut up, that he was calling the game and knew what to do. I think that’s the sign of a poised quarterback.”
Longley brought Dallas downfield and soon tossed a 35-yard touchdown pass to tight end Billy Joe DuPree to close the gap to 16-10. On their next possession, the Longley-led Cowboys scored again on a drive capped by a one-yard run by Garrison. Dallas 17, Washington 16, third quarter.
That lead didn’t hold. Early in the fourth, Thomas burned his former teammates again with a 19-yard run that put the Redskins up by six. And after a fumble recovery, Washington lined up for a 24-yard field goal that would have made the game a two-score contest.
Ed “Too Tall” Jones got a hand on the kick and Dallas got the ball back. But when normally sure-handed Drew Pearson coughed up the ball for yet another Cowboys fumble, the mood in Texas Stadium turned grim again.
The Dallas defense held and the Cowboys got the ball back with 1:45 to play and no time outs. And there was Longley under center. Sure, he could score in the third quarter, but this was Staubach time, no place for a rookie, right?
With Dallas facing fourth-and-six, the spirit of Cowboys present connected with the spirit of Cowboys past, as Longley completed a pass to longtime Dallas wideout Bob Hayes to give the home team a first down at the 50. The game clock showed 35 seconds remaining.
A little creative insubordination by Drew Pearson led to the next play’s call. Landry had sent Pearson into the huddle with instructions for a 20-yard, down-and-in pattern. Instead, Pearson suggested tweaking the play to have his route go down - and down some more. Washington’s backfield in that series was swarming with defenders, as the ’Skins were in the “prevent” mode, but Pearson felt he could beat the coverage.
And he did. Longley launched a Staubach-looking pass to Pearson, who hauled in the football at the four-yard line and trotted into the end zone with the game-tying score. Herrera’s point-after sealed the win.
“I tried to guess with them,” Longley said after the game. “I knew what I would do to a rookie quarterback if I was the Redskins. On that last pass, when the ball was halfway there, I saw Drew had got the defensive back turned around, and I knew we had a shot at it. Well, after all, this is what I’ve been training for.”
Longley finished with 203 yards passing in about a quarter and a half of play. Dallas guard Blaine Nye had the postgame quote of the day when explaining how he thought Longley’s lack of experience gave the rookie a Zen simplicity in his approach to the game.
“It was the triumph of the uncluttered mind,” Nye said.
Redskins defensive end Deacon Jones was less philosophical.
“No (expletive) rookie is supposed to beat us,” Jones said.
The loss lingered for years in the memory of Washington fans, who remembered Longley as bitterly as Boston Red Sox fans would later recall New York Yankees shortstop Bucky Dent. Veteran Washington Post sportswriter Thomas Boswell is among many who rue the day.
“I still remember my late father’s grief-stricken look that day: the rotten, lucky, undeserving Cowboys, always heaving some brainless bomb when they should be beaten,” Boswell wrote.
Former Washington Post staffer Tony Kornheiser has a similar view.
“The legacy of that game is that the first cuss word you’re taught by your neighbors when you come to live in Washington is Dallas. The second and third words are Clint Longley. Longley is passed down from generation to generation in Washington like a hideous heirloom,” Kornheiser said.
Longley’s NFL career went downhill after his debut. He served in the backup role through the 1975 season, but was suspended and later traded to the San Diego Chargers after allegedly sucker-punching Staubach during 1976 training camp.
Former Dallas Cowboys personnel director Gil Brandt said the friction between Staubach and Longley began after competitive tension between the two turned ugly.
“Roger always could bounce the football off the ground to come right back to him,” Brandt said. “He’d do it over and over. They’d have contests, and Clint couldn’t do it. Longley challenged Roger to a fight. Roger told him they were going to meet on another field after practice.” So they did, according to Brandt.
“They got after it. Roger beat the hell out of him,” Brandt said, adding that assistant coach Dan Reeves broke up the fight. Later, Brandt said, a frustrated Longley sucker-punched Staubach in the dressing room.
?(Dallas Cowboys president and general manager) Tex (Schramm) had enough,” Brandt said. “He told me to get rid of Longley immediately, so we traded him to San Diego for a first-round pick we used to help us get (running back) Tony Dorsett in the next draft.”
Longley did indeed fall far. He didn’t stick with the Chargers, flailed around in the Canadian league for a while and eventually dropped out of the game.
In a 2007 NFL Films production, a curly-mulleted Longley sported an appearance and demeanor disturbingly similar to the fictional character Kenny Powers from HBO’s Eastbown & Down.
“The last thing we heard, (Longley) was selling carpet remnants out of the back of a van in Marfa, Texas,” said NFL Films’ Steve Sabol in that same video.
An ignominious ending to Longley’s run as a Cowboy, to be sure. But for one autumn afternoon, he was the toast of Texas.
