Fifty Thanksgivings ago – and exactly 50 years ago – the NFL was introduced to Clint Longley.
The Cowboys trailed Washington 16-3. Starter Roger Staubach suffered an injury. Enter Longley.
Longley led the Cowboys on three touchdown drives before finding receiver Drew Pearson for one 50-yard touchdown for the last-minute 24-23 victory.
For the game, Longley completed 11 of 20 passes for 203 yards and two touchdowns.
Legend has it that Longley was completely unprepared to play in the game. Cowboys guard Blaine Nye called the performance “The triumph of the cheerful mind.”
It was Longley’s only significant contribution to the NFL. He ultimately played in six games with one start for the Cowboys when Dallas Staubach was rested for the playoffs in the 1975 regular season finale.
The next year, Longley, a notorious sucker, hit Staubach during training camp. Staubach told the story at the timecalled it “premeditated” and “cowardly.”
The sucker punch came after a more formal fight between the two men. Pearson personally witnessed Staubach essentially kicking Longley’s ass.
“I saw Clint’s feet in the air and Roger knocked him to the ground,” Pearson said. ‘I don’t know what Roger did. He put one of those Vietnam holds on him, that kung fu fighting.”
Dan Reeves, then the Cowboys’ assistant coach, put an end to the fuss. For a very important reason.
“If I hadn’t gotten there, Roger probably would have killed him,” Reeves once said. “And I didn’t want my starting quarterback to end up in jail.”
The Cowboys didn’t send Longley to prison, they sent them to the Chargers. After a year in San Diego, Longley left the NFL after nine games, five touchdown passes and four interceptions.
