November is one of the best months of the year in these parts. The weather is often perfect. Even though the days are shorter, the time spent outside leaves you neither hot nor cold. In some parts of the country, there is a risk that November will bring with it a winter chill, but around here November is fall. Lots of things fall this time of year. The temperatures fall, the leaves fall, the Cowboys fall out of contention.
That feeling that you get when you realize that even if the Cowboys can figure out a way to win the wretched NFC East, they will not be able to compete with the elite teams in the conference.
Believe me when I tell you that once upon a time it was just the opposite. Many of you remember those days, weeks, months, years when you just knew the Cowboys were going to win. At the beginning of the season in those days, there was a Super Bowl or bust mentality. In other words, if the Cowboys did not win the Super Bowl, then the season was a bust. Not so these days.
In those days, there were two things that were absolutely certain in November. First, the Cowboys would play on Thanksgiving. Secondly, the Cowboys would win on Thanksgiving. They started playing on turkey day in 1966. For three straight decades – the 70s, 80s, and 90s – they had a 7-3 record on the fourth Thursday of November. During the first twenty years of the 2000s, they were 10-10. Although they are 4-2 in the last six years, and they play the hapless Eagles on Thanksgiving this year, so there’s that.
There are so many games that are so memorable too. Like in 1974 when Roger Staubach got hurt with Dallas trailing Washington 16-3. In came little-known Clint Longley, who led three touchdown drives. When he hit Drew Pearson with a 50-yard touchdown pass, the 24-23 victory was secure. After the game, Cowboys guard Blaine Nye delivered one of the great quotes in sports history. When asked about how Longley pulled off that miraculous win, Nye deadpanned, “It was a triumph of the uncluttered mind.”
Twenty years later, the starting quarterback was Troy Aikman, but he was injured, so his backup, Jason Garrett, started the game. It was against Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers. The guy his teammates called Red Ball threw for 311 yards and two TDs, one to Michael Irvin and one to Alvin Harper. After the game, it was Garrett eating a Turkey Leg on the field while being interviewed by the network. After only one or two bites, he took the drumstick home, wrapped it in foil, and put it in the freezer. There it stayed for some 15 years, Garrett later admitted. It was his crowning moment as a player and one of the most memorable Thanksgiving Day games in Cowboys history.
There have been games at the end of November that are memorable for the wrong reason. Like November 25, 1993. Just a year before the Garrett game, the Cowboys and fans and media endured the ever-so-rare Thanksgiving Day ice storm. So yeah, the aforementioned winter chill is possible here.
The ice and snow were not the worst of it. Because of the weather, this was a low-scoring affair. The Cowboys lead 14-13 with 15 seconds left. Miami Dolphins kicker Pete Stoyanovich lined up for a 41-yard field goal. The kick was blocked by Jimmie Jones. By rule, a blocked field goal is a dead ball as long as no one on the defending team touches it. If the ball had been left alone, the Cowboys would have won the game. But Leon Lett chased the ball, fell on it, fumbled it, and the Dolphins recovered. With three seconds left, Stoyanovich got another chance from 19 yards, and the Dolphins beat the Cowboys 16-13. Worst of all, every windshield in the parking lot was covered with a thick sheet of ice. The normal 20-minute trip home took an hour and a half. That was a great example of adding insult to injury.
All that being said, I can’t wait for Thanksgiving. There is so much for which I am truly thankful, and I hope and pray this Thanksgiving is great for you.
Sports columnist John Rhadigan is the host of
The Rangers Podcast on DLLS Sports.
