The Dallas Cowboys (2-7), as they have done almost every year since 1966, will play on Thanksgiving. They host Washington (2-6) on Nov. 26 at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Afterward, both teams will likely eat turkey – which wasn’t a guarantee when Roger Staubach played.
“Well, on Thanksgiving, my wife said, ‘If you win, we’ll have turkey, and if you lose, we’ll have a couple hamburgers,’” the two-time Super Bowl champion and Hall of Famer said on The DA Show. “So we won on most of the Thanksgivings.”
Staubach, who played for Dallas from 1969 to 1979, started seven Thanksgiving games for the Cowboys, but he only finished six. In 1974, he exited with a concussion against Washington.
In came rookie quarterback Clint Longley.
“One of them I got knocked out,” Staubach said, “and we had a young quarterback in Clint Longley. He came in, and of course we had this great receiver, the unbelievable Drew Pearson. So they took over for me in that game.”
Longley helped the Cowboys overcome a 16-3 deficit, connecting with Pearson for a 50-yard touchdown pass that gave Dallas a 24-23 win.
“We mostly had some turkeys,” Staubach said of his Thanksgiving games. “Not hamburgers.”
Staubach, of course, was an All-American and won the Heisman Trophy at Navy. After graduating, he served four years active duty.
“I can’t say enough about what our veterans do for us,” he said on Veterans Day. “I will do anything for our veterans.”