Fifty Thanksgivings ago — and also 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 a 50-yard touchdown for the last-minute 24-23 win.
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 uncluttered mind.”
It was Longley’s lone contribution of any significance to the NFL. He ultimately appeared in six games with one start for the Cowboys, when Dallas rested Staubach for the playoffs in the 1975 regular-season finale.
The next year, Longley notoriously sucker punched Staubach during training camp. Staubach told the story at the time, calling it “premeditated” and “gutless.”
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 up in the air, and Roger slamming him to the ground,” Pearson said. “I don’t know what Roger did. He put one of them Vietnam holds on him, that kung fu fighting.”
Dan Reeves, a Cowboys assistant coach at the time, broke up the brouhaha. For one 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 in prison.”
The Cowboys sent Longley not to prison but to the Chargers. After one year in San Diego, Longley was out of the NFL after nine games, five touchdown passes, and four interceptions.
