Clint Longley enjoyed less than a half of fame in his NFL career. It came at the Redskins’ expense.
On Nov. 28, 1974, Thanksgiving Day, the Dallas quarterback delivered one of the most astonishing performances in the history of the Redskins-Cowboys rivalry. Longley directed three second-half TD drives and threw two scoring passes, including a 50-yarder to receiver Drew Pearson with 28 seconds left that hoisted the Cowboys to a 24-23 victory.
Here’s the irony: The rookie had never thrown a pass in the NFL. A one-time small college All-American at Abilene Christian in Texas, he warmed the bench behind future Hall of Fame inductee Roger Staubach for the first 11 games of the `74 campaign.
Defensive tackle Diron Talbert, a master at making controversial remarks about the Cowboys, thought he knew of a way for his Redskins to win their fifth straight game. “If you knock (Staubach) out, you’ve got that rookie facing you,” Talbert told the press. “That’s one of our goals. If we do that, it’s great. He’s all they have.”
Talbert got his wish. With the Redskins leading, 16-3, early in the third period, linebacker Dave Robinson knocked Staubach out of the game. Enter Longley, who had moved up to second string a few weeks earlier after Dallas traded veteran Craig Morton. Longley quickly threw a 35-yard scoring pass to tight end Billy Joe Dupree. He later steered a four-play, 64-yard drive that ended on fullback Walt Garrison’s 1-yard TD run. The Redskins regained the lead, 23-17, on running back Duane Thomas’ 19-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
Upon recovering Pearson’s fumble with 2:29 left, the Redskins seemed en route to a joyous Thanksgiving dinner. “We could smell the turkey,” Redskins receiver Charley Taylor said.
But Longley was calm and in control when Dallas regained possession on their 40 with 1:45 to play and no timeouts. He even told Garrison to “shut up” after the fullback brought a play into the huddle and began explaining it. On 4th-and-6, Longley completed a pass to receiver Bob Hayes just past the first-down marker. Two plays later at midfield, the quarterback, nicknamed the “Mad Bomber” for his tendency to go for broke in practice, went for it all. With good protection, he spotted an open Pearson racing downfield past rookie nickel back Ken Stone. Pearson hauled in Longley’s perfect strike inside the 5 and scored.
The conversion put the Cowboys up, 24-23. Redskins quarterback Billy Kilmer fumbled on the next possession, and Dallas ran out the clock before 63,000 delirious fans at Texas Stadium.
The post-game cameras were glued to Longley, who completed 11 of 20 passes for 203 yards and two touchdowns. “I wasn’t nervous, but I sure was excited,” he said at the time. He said he was aware of the inflammatory comments by Talbert, who also was the focus of media curiosity.
“Reporters came up to Diron and said, `What did you think of that Longley kid?’ ” Redskins defensive end Ron McDole recalled. “He said, `Who in the hell is Longley?’ We didn’t know who he was, we didn’t know his name or anything. They said, `The guy who just beat you.’ He said, `Pretty good.’ ”
Talbert: “I don’t think Longley caught us by surprise. The worst thing about it is that Staubach was having a bad day. We said we were going to knock him out and, sure enough, we did. We just made a mistake or two in being lined up in the wrong defenses. Could have been we didn’t know (Longley) had an arm that strong, but if you’re a good defensive team it doesn’t make any difference who the quarterback is.”
Longley turned out to be a one-game wonder. He returned to the bench and stayed there through the `75 season before being traded to San Diego, where he played one year as a backup and retired from the NFL. One of the nine career games he played in, though, will forever haunt the Redskins.
