December 28, 1975: The Cowboys' Hail Mary, Full of Disgrace

December 28, 1975: The Minnesota Vikings host the Dallas Cowboys in an NFC Divisional Playoff game at Metropolitan Stadium, in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Each team had dominated, and would continue to dominate, its respective Division through the 1970s: The Vikings, the NFC Central; the Cowboys, the NFC East. The Cowboys had lost Super Bowl V and won Super Bowl VI; the Vikings had lost Super Bowls IV, VIII and IX, and were going for their 3rd straight NFC Championship.

The game's 1st half was relatively quiet, with only one score, a touchdown by the Vikings in the 2nd quarter that made it 7-0. The Cowboys tied it with a touchdown in the 3rd quarter. So the game was dominated by each team's defensive unit, the Cowboys' "Doomsday Defense" and the Vikings' "Purple People Eaters."

Early in the 4th quarter, Toni Fritsch, the Cowboys' Austrian-born placekicker, kicked a 24-yard field goal, and they led 10-7. But quarterback Fran Tarkenton, named the NFL's Most Valuable Player that season, led a touchdown drive that gave Minnesota a 14-10 lead with 5:24 left in regulation.

The Cowboys could not gain a 1st down on their next drive, so the Vikings got the ball with 3:12 left. With Tarkenton as a running quarterback, known as "Fran the Scrambler" -- as was the Cowboys' Roger Staubach, a.k.a. "Roger the Dodger" -- the Vikings kept the ball on the ground to run out the clock, forcing the Cowboys to use up all their timeouts.

But on a 3rd & 2 play, Charlie Waters sacked Tarkenton for a 3-yard loss, with the clock stopping for the 2-minute warning. Tarkenton later said, "That play cost us the game. It wasn't the Hail Mary pass. We had the game in control, but didn't make the play."

The Vikings punted, and the Cowboys got the ball back on their 15-yard line, with 1:51 left, and no timeouts, including the already-used 2-minute warning. Staubach got to the Cowboys' 31, then took a low snap and fumbled it, resulting in a 4th & 16 from the 23. He threw a pass to Drew Pearson, who was pushed out of bounds by Nate Wright before he caught it. Under the rule of the time, this counted as a reception. The rule was changed in 2008. The rule might not have been fair, but it was in place.

Staubach got the Cowboys to the 50-yard line with 32 seconds left. Staubach threw a long pass, usually called a "bomb" in those days. Being Catholic, he called it a "Hail Mary," putting that expression into the football lexicon.

The pass was intended for Pearson, who was again covered by Wright. Pearson pushed Wright, which should have resulted in a penalty for offensive pass interference. No penalty was called, and Pearson caught the pass, and took it in for a touchdown. The Cowboys led, 17-14.

To make matters worse for Tarkenton, he found out that his father -- named, with retroactive irony, the Reverend Dallas Tarkenton -- died while watching the game on television, back in their hometown of Athens, Georgia.

The Cowboys went on to beat the Los Angeles Rams for the NFC Championship, before losing Super Bowl X to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Vikings rebounded to win the NFC Championship the next year, but lost Super Bowl XI to the Oakland Raiders. That made them 0-4 in Super Bowls, a total that would later be matched by the Denver Broncos and the Buffalo Bills. Through the 2021 season, the Vikings haven't even been to a Super Bowl since 1977. The Bills are still 0-4, but the Broncos have improved to 3-5.)

Viking fans have had to put up with a lot, but they still fume over the penalty that was not called on Staubach's pass. It wasn't a "Hail Mary, full of grace": It was full of disgrace. It remains the most infamous moment in the history of sports in the State of Minnesota.

The question needs to be asked, though: What if the penalty had been called? The Cowboys could still have won the game, anyway. Not for nothing was Staubach known as "Captain Comeback." And if the Vikings still won? They would have had to face the Rams in the NFC Championship Game, in Los Angeles. And if they'd won that, they would have had to face the Steel Curtain.

In this counterfactual scenario, I don't like their chances. They went to 4 Super Bowls between the seasons of 1969 and 1976, and they weren't the better team in any of them, and lost them all. So maybe their grievance over this game is bigger than it should be.

In hindsight, though, Pearson paid a price: It took until 2021 for him to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, his 33rd year of eligibility. For years, fans have speculated that there is a general bias against the Cowboys for the Hall: Mel Renfro had to wait 14 years; Rayfield Wright, 22 years; Bob Hayes, 30 years (and died before being elected); Cliff Harris, 36 years. Some are still waiting to get in: Don Meredith and Don Perkins have been eligible since 1974 (and both are dead), Chuck Howley since 1979, Lee Roy Jordan since 1981, Charlie Waters since 1987, Jay Novacek since 2001, and Darren Woodson since 2010. (UPDATE: Howley was elected in 2023, his 45th year of eligibility. He was 86 years old, but at least he was still alive. Jordan died in 2025.)

In Pearson's case, it seemed as though the statistical case was there: 489 receptions, 7,822 yards, 48 touchdowns, all big numbers for a 1970s receiver. It was widely believed that one play was keeping him out: Nobody had ever punished the Cowboys for this unfair result, so the Hall voters punished Pearson as an individual. Regardless, he is in now. And, unlike Hayes -- and the still-not-in Meredith and Perkins -- he lived long enough to see it.

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December 28, 1975 was a Sunday. There was 1 other NFL Playoff game that day: The Oakland Raiders beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 31-28 at the Oakland Coliseum.

There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Buffalo Braves, 111-88 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio. Dick Snyder scored 36 points for the Cavs.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns, 88-85 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Kansas City Kings, 103-87 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 123-113 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Golden State Warriors, 96-92 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Houston Rockets, 116-106 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 2 games played in the American Basketball Association. The Denver Nuggets beat the Indiana Pacers, 110-105 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. And the Spirits of St. Louis beat the Virginia Squires, 102-97 at the St. Louis Arena.

There were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-2 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Buffalo Sabres and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a tie, 2-2 at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the Kansas City Scouts beat the California Golden Seals, 3-1 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

And there were 6 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The New England Whalers beat the Cleveland Crusaders, 4-0 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Toronto Toros, 6-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Cincinnati Stingers beat the Indianapolis Racers, 4-1 at the Riverfront Coliseum (now the Heritage Bank Center) in Cincinnati.

* The San Diego Mariners beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 2-1 at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The Phoenix Roadrunners beat the Denver Spurs, 5-2 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* And the Calgary Cowboys beat the Winnipeg Jets, 6-4 at the Stampede Corral in Calgary. 

November 28, 1974: The Clint Longley Game

November 28, 1974: For the last time, a football game is played at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Detroit Lions lose, 31-27 to the Denver Broncos. The Lions' 2 remaining regular-season games will be on the road. They split them, to finish 7-7, but, even if they'd won both, they still wouldn't have qualified for the Playoffs, much less gotten a home Playoff game.

The next season, the Lions began playing out in the suburbs, at the Silverdome in Pontiac. They move back into the city in 2002, at the new Ford Field.

But this milestone game is quickly forgotten by everyone outside Michigan. What happened that day at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas is still talked about.

The rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Commanders -- known from 1937 to 2019 as the Washington Redskins, and in the 2020 and '21 seasons as "The Washington Football Team" -- began in 1960, with the Cowboys' debut. The reason was personal. It wasn't based on proximity, that's for sure: The distance between the teams' respective stadiums is currently 1,367 miles. No, essentially, it is personal. And it's mostly Washington's fault.

But when Clint Murchison, leading the group that owned the Cowboys franchise, wanted entry into the NFL, a unanimous vote of the owners was required to admit them. The Redskins' owner, George Preston Marshall, refused. He also owned the team's radio network. (The NFL was already negotiating TV rights separately.) As the Southernmost team in the League at the time, he was marketing the 'Skins as the South's team. The Redskins were also the last NFL team that hadn't yet racially integrated. These facts are connected. Marshall didn't want to give up his Southern status.

So Murchison pulled a dirty trick: He bought the rights to the fight song, "Hail to the Redskins." He told Marshall that if he wanted the right to ever play the song at his games again, he would have to vote to admit the Cowboys. Certainly, as an oilman, Murchison could not be bought with mere money. (Marshall was rich, but not that rich.) Not wanting to lose the NFL's best-known fight song (even more than "Bear Down, Chicago Bears,"), Marshall caved.

In 1971, George Allen was named head coach of the Redskins. He knew that, in the newly-merged-and-realigned NFL, the Cowboys were well-positioned to dominate the NFC East -- in which, at least geographically, they didn't even belong. And, as a former coach of the Los Angeles Rams, he was already sick of the Cowboys for their success since 1966. So he made it his mission to beat the Cowboys, more than to win a title.

He made his players hate the Cowboys as much as he did. As Cowboy defensive end Harvey Martin said in an interview about the rivalry -- with some irony, given that the Cowboys played in the city where John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and that the Redskins' stadium was now named for JFK's assassinated brother, Robert F. Kennedy, "When you go to play the Redskins, you better have your guns on." The apotheosis of this was the Redskins' win over the Cowboys on New Year's Eve 1972, in the NFC Championship Game.

The biggest individual rivalry within the matchup was Allen vs. Cowboys head coach Tom Landry. Landry was always described as stoic, never using his face to betray his emotions. Allen was one of the most emotional head coaches in NFL history. In contrast, Landry and Joe Gibbs, who went on to coach the Redskins to 3 Super Bowl wins, 2 of them before Landry was finally forced out of the Cowboys' job, had a healthy respect for each other.

In the 1974 NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals drafted Howard Clinton "Clint" Longley, a quarterback from Abilene Christian University in Texas (now an NCAA FCS school). Seeking a backup to his All-Pro quarterback, Roger Staubach, Landry had the Cowboys trade for Longley.

The Cowboys went into their game on Thanksgiving Day 1974 at 6-5, while the Redskins went in at 8-3. Two Sundays earlier, the Redskins had beaten the Cowboys, 28-21 at RFK Stadium. In the Turkey Day rematch, the Redskins led 16-3 in the 3rd quarter, and Staubach, who already looked like he was headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (and he was), left the game with an injury. Longley had to step in. Redskin fans were feeling very confident.

Before that quarter could end, Longley threw a touchdown pass to Billy Joe DuPree, and led another drive that ended with a touchdown run by Walt Garrison, giving them a 17-16 lead.

The Redskins retook the lead in the 4th quarter, on a run by, oddly enough, Duane Thomas, who had been a Super Bowl hero for the Cowboys 3 seasons earlier, but had worn out his welcome. But with 28 seconds left, no timeouts remaining, and the ball on the Cowboys' 44-yard line, Longley made up a play in the huddle, something Landry would not allow Staubach to do. (Years later, in his media career, Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Terry Bradshaw, who beat the Cowboys in 2 Super Bowls, proudly said that his head coach, Chuck Noll, allowed him to call his own plays, but Landry wouldn't let Staubach do that.)

Drew Pearson took off, and got through the Redskins' talented defensive backfield including Hall-of-Famer Ken Houston and All-Pros Brig Owens, Mike Bass and Pat Fischer. Longley threw long, and Pearson caught it, for a 56-yard touchdown. Efren Herrera kicked the extra point to win it: Cowboys 24, Redskins 23.

Having just made his professional debut, and having played just a quarter and a half, Longley threw for 203 yards -- 147 yards even without the last bomb. Like former Oakland Raiders All-Pro quarterback Daryle Lamonica, he became known as "The Mad Bomber." That nickname would also later be given to San Diego Chargers Hall-of-Famer Dan Fouts.

The Cowboys missed the Playoffs anyway, the only time they did so between 1966 and 1983. Longley started only 2 games in his career, the 1975 regular-season finale, to give Staubach a rest before the Playoffs; and a game in 1976. That start would not be for the Cowboys: In their 1976 training camp, after nearly 2 years of telling Cowboy management, and Staubach, that he, rather than Staubach, should be the starter, Longley sucker-punched Staubach. Longley was traded, that very day, to the Chargers, for draft picks, one of whom turned out to be Heisman Trophy-winning and eventual Hall-of-Fame running back Tony Dorsett. 

Longley played 8 games with the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts in 1977, and was released. He was signed by the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals for 1978, but was cut in preseason camp. He played that season for the semi-pro Shreveport Steamer (no S on the end). He was not signed by anyone for the 1979 season. In 1980, he went back to Canada, signed by the Hamilton-Tiger Cats. They released him after 12 days.

Longley sat for an NFL Films interview with Steve Sabol about the Cowboys-Redskins rivalry in 1991, and talked about his sucker-punch of Staubach. Years after that, interviewed for an NFL Network special on "One-Shot Wonders," Sabol said that the last he'd heard of Longley, he was "selling carpet remnants out of the back of a van in Marfa, Texas," in the State's Big Bend region. As of November 28, 2022, all I can tell you about Longley's current situation is that he is listed as still being alive, at the age of 70.

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November 28, 1974 was, like all Thanksgiving Days, a Thursday. This was also the day of the Elton John concert at Madison Square Garden where John Lennon made his last concert appearance, and I have a separate entry for this event.

The Cowboys' Drew Pearson had played at South River High School in New Jersey. Ironically, as a sophomore there, his quarterback was future Redskin Joe Theismann. South River played New Brunswick at Rutgers on Thanksgiving every year from 1919 to 1976, first at Neilson Field, and then at Rutgers Stadium. The schools no longer play each other, due to New Brunswick now having a much higher enrollment. My Alma Mater, East Brunswick, next-door to South River (and to New Brunswick), did not play on Thanksgiving in 1974.

Also, 1974 was the 1st year that the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association played State Playoffs, and this would end up breaking up several longstanding rivalries.

Baseball was in the off-season. In recent times, the NBA and the NHL avoid scheduling games on Thanksgiving, to avoid trying to compete with football for television viewers.

But there were 2 games in the NBA that day. The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 110-103 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio. And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Phoenix Suns, 88-85 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. And there was 1 game in the American Basketball Association: The Kentucky Colonels beat the Virginia Squires, 108-95 at The Scope in Norfolk, Virginia.

There was 1 game in the NHL: The Buffalo Sabres beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. There were 4 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The Vancouver Blazers beat the Toronto Toros, 6-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Indianapolis Racers, 7-5 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Houston Aeros beat the Edmonton Oilers, 2-0 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston.

* And the Chicago Cougars beat the San Diego Mariners, 3-2 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).