All of Washington’s Thanksgiving games against the Cowboys, ranked
Washington and Dallas have met nine times on Thanksgiving — with the Cowboys winning all but one of those matchups — but never quite like this. Here’s a subjective ranking of their previous Turkey Day tussles, based on the entertainment value and competitiveness of each game.
The days leading up to this showdown between 8-4 teams featured some good old-fashioned trash talk, with Cowboys linebacker Thomas Henderson referring to Jack Pardee’s squad as turkeys and Washington running back John Riggins responding by calling Henderson a hot dog.
“If all 45 of them want to come after me instead of playing football, that’s fine,” Henderson told reporters. “I’ll run into the bleachers if I have to, but I can handle myself.”
Washington apparently couldn’t handle the pressure, falling behind 20-0 at halftime en route to its most lopsided defeat on the holiday. “No Thanksgiving turkey ever got plucked quicker or more cleanly,” Washington Post columnist Ken Denlinger wrote.
At his introductory news conference, Washington Coach Steve Spurrier promised to present owner Daniel Snyder a game ball the first time he beat the Cowboys. After all, Washington’s most recent win in the series had come in 1997, two years before Snyder purchased the team.
“They’ve beaten us nine straight,” Spurrier said before the game at Texas Stadium. “It’s a team we need to beat — there’s no question about it.”
In this Thanksgiving meeting — the teams’ only previous one in which they both entered with losing records — Danny Wuerffel threw three touchdown passes and three interceptions for 5-6 Washington, while Emmitt Smith ran for 144 yards for the 4-7 Cowboys. At least the game was competitive.
Emmitt Smith rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns, while Washington managed only 36 rushing yards. Dallas, which came in with a 4-7 record, scored the final 17 points after Washington took a seven-point lead in the third quarter.
“We’re going to have to do it the tough way now — and against teams rated a lot better than us,” Joe Gibbs said after Washington fell to 6-5. “It’s still out there for us. We’re going to have to find out about ourselves.”
Washington won four of its final five games to make the playoffs as a wild-card team before losing to the 49ers in the divisional round.
In its first game after Alex Smith suffered a gruesome leg injury, Washington allowed 404 yards and saw its NFC East lead evaporate in a disheartening loss.
Dallas wide receiver Amari Cooper burned Washington with eight catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns, and the Cowboys turned a 13-10 deficit into a 31-13 lead to pull even in the NFC East race at 6-5. Colt McCoy, who started in place of Smith, threw a pair of touchdown passes and three interceptions.
Washington would lose four of its final five games and miss the playoffs for a third straight year.
Washington arrived in Dallas with an 8-4 record and a one-game lead in the division over the defending Super Bowl champions. Norv Turner’s team left bruised, battered and with its fourth loss in five games.
Leslie Shepherd caught a third-quarter touchdown pass from Gus Frerotte to give Washington a 10-7 lead before leaving the game with an injury. Emmitt Smith’s second and third rushing touchdowns of the day provided the final margin.
Washington wide receiver Michael Westbrook was also injured during the game, and running back Terry Allen managed only 34 yards on 12 carries.
Washington allowed a touchdown on Dallas’s opening drive and was chasing the 9-1 Cowboys all afternoon. Kirk Cousins and Co. fell behind 17-3 in the first half but pulled within five on two occasions in the fourth quarter.
Dallas prevailed despite being outgained 505-393 as Washington, which fell to 6-4-1, managed only two touchdowns on five trips to the red zone.
Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 97 yards and two touchdowns for Dallas, while Cousins threw for 449 yards and three touchdowns. Josh Norman and Dez Bryant had to be separated after a shoving match broke out after the game.
With Sonny Jurgensen sidelined by the flu, Jim Ninowski started at quarterback for Washington against the heavily favored Cowboys at the Cotton Bowl.
Washington erased a 17-0 first-half deficit and took a 20-19 lead in the fourth quarter but couldn’t hold it. In one of his two starts with Washington, Ninowski threw for 280 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions, one of which was returned by defensive back Larry Cole for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Cole had a fumble return for a touchdown in the Cowboys’ 44-24 win at D.C. Stadium two weeks earlier.
Dallas, which had lost five straight nationally televised games, improved to 10-2 with the win. Washington, which was looking to spoil the Cowboys’ division title hopes, fell to 4-8.
Die-hard fans of the burgundy and gold might rank this classic a distant last on the list of Washington-Dallas Thanksgiving matchups, but it featured by far the most stunning ending. That it prompted heartbreak and heartburn in D.C.-area dining rooms is the only thing keeping it out of the top spot.
“If we knock [Roger Staubach] out, you’ve got that rookie facing you,” Washington defensive end Diron Talbert said ahead of the game. “That’s one of our goals.”
Washington accomplished it when Staubach was carried off the field with the Cowboys trailing 16-3 after taking a brutal hit from linebacker Dave Robinson early in the third quarter. “That rookie,” Clint Longley, then went to work.
Making his NFL debut after starring at Abilene Christian, Longley led three scoring drives and threw the game-winning, 50-yard touchdown pass to Drew Pearson with 28 seconds remaining.
“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’, ” Tony Kornheiser wrote in 1996. “The second and third words are ‘Clint Longley.’ ”
“It was probably the toughest loss we ever had,” George Allen said after his Washington team fell to 8-4.
Washington rebounded to win its final two games before losing to the Los Angeles Rams in the first round of the playoffs.
In a return to the state where he won the Heisman Trophy at Baylor, rookie Robert Griffin III became the first Washington quarterback to throw four touchdown passes in consecutive weeks, fellow rookie Alfred Morris rushed for 113 yards and a score, and Washington beat Dallas on Thanksgiving for the first time in seven tries.
“Being back in Texas, I felt like I was back home, where I’ve spent so many years,” Griffin said after Washington moved into a tie with the Cowboys for second place in the division at 5-6. “But it didn’t charge me through the roof. It was a normal game, even though it was a Thanksgiving game. That’s how we approached it.”
Washington scored 28 points in the second quarter and took a 28-3 lead into halftime before holding off Tony Romo’s frantic comeback bid. The win was Washington’s second in a seven-game streak to end the regular season, culminating in a win over the Cowboys in prime time to clinch the NFC East title.
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