The Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins meet on this week’s NFL schedule, and we’ll feature a game played in the past between these two teams for this week’s Throwback Thursday post. We’ve featured a lot of past Super Bowl games this year as throwback games with Super Bowl 50 approaching, and the Cowboys and Dolphins once played in one. However, with Thanksgiving coming up soon, let’s go back to a Turkey Day clash played between the two in Dallas, in an unexpected snow storm, that saw a Dallas player, defensive lineman Leon Lett, commit a major gaffe that cost his team the game.
The game was played on Thanksgiving Day in 1993, with both teams fighting for playoff spots. Miami was 8-2 entering the game and leading the AFC East, while the Cowboys had a 7-3 mark. The city of Dallas was hit with the rare snow storm, which also included sleet and made for slippery playing conditions for the game. The Cowboys, behind a pair of touchdowns from Kevin Williams, one on a punt return and another on a pass from Troy Aikman, led 14-7 at halftime. Miami’s offense struggled, not only because of the field conditions, but also because their star quarterback, Dan Marino, was sidelined with an Achilles tendon injury, leaving aging veteran Steve DeBerg to guide them. They managed only a pair of Pete Stoyanovich field goals and trailed 14-13 when DeBerg, who had thrown 2 interceptions in the game, led them on a drive to set up another field goal attempt by Stoyanovich. It was a 41 yard attempt to take the lead but the kick was blocked. That’s when Lett stepped in to help Miami’s cause. While most of his Cowboy teammates began celebrating, Lett attempted to recover the ball. He slipped on the ice as he tried to pick up the football, and Miami recovered on the Dallas one-yard line. Had Lett simply done nothing, the Cowboys would have automatically received possession and could have run out the clock. By touching the ball and then failing to hold onto it, Lett enabled the Dolphins to take possession and then try another field goal with three seconds left on the clock. Given another chance, Stoyanovich’s second attempt was good, giving the Dolphins a 16–14 victory as time expired.
Oddly, both teams’ fortunes changed dramatically after this epic contest. Dallas won all their remaining games on their way to a Super Bowl title, while Miami never won another game the rest of the season.
Leon Lett kicks some snow after his Thanksgiving Day blunder