Don’t mess with Captain America

On Thanksgiving Day, 1974, the Dallas Cowboys faced off against the Washington Football Team (I’m not writing their name). The Cowboys were having a down season by the standards of America’s Team and needed every win they could get to make the playoffs. In the 3rd quarter, Dallas was losing 16-3 and to make matters worse, Roger Staubach, Captain American himself, went down with an injury and had to leave the game. The Cowboys had to rely on the arm of their backup, Clint Longley. A rookie that hadn’t played a snap in the NFL up to that point. Naturally, Washington fans were tasting the win while Cowboys’ fans were all doom and gloom. For whatever reason, Longley had no nerves. He proceeded to lead the Cowboys on a march back into this game. Prior to the change, Staubach had only completed 3 of his 11 passes for 32 yards and an interception. Clint Longley completed 11 of his 20 passes, accumulated 203 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a 50-yard bomb in the 4th to give Dallas the lead permanently as they won 24-23. Cowboys lineman Blaine Nye put it best. “It was the triumph of the uncluttered mind” If that was all that happened with Clint Longley, I would have saved this post for Thanksgiving. Apparently, after that game, Longley’s ego got massively inflated; to the point that he started thinking he should be the starter. Keep in mind, Staubach had won a Super Bowl at this point and was beloved in Dallas. It all boiled over at 1976 training camp. According to Staubach himself, Longley started camp by talking smack about him to teammates. Roger heard him, confronted him and basically said “Say that to my face next time”. It set the tone for a tense QB room. Longley later told reporters that he hated Roger Staubach, desperate to either make Roger snap or to get a trade. When neither happened, he decided to escalate. A few days later, Longley snuck up on Roger, hit him from behind, causing Roger to hit his head against a metal scale and get a cut above his eye. Longley immediately ran after throwing the punch. Staubach immediately went to go after him but teammates held him back and convinced him to go see the trainer as he had a cut that eventually required 10 stitches. Roger calmed down briefly, walked into the trainer’s room and then sprinted out to go look for Longley. In his words “I wanted to get him”. Unbeknownst to Roger, Cowboy officials found out about the incident and immediately cut Longley and had a driver get him away from the facility so Roger wouldn’t “physically kill him”, as one reporter put it. Longley’s retelling of the incident was very different. Staubach, Cowboys teammates and pretty much every media member disputes Longley’s version of events. Naturally, Staubach was asked why he didn’t get Longley back. His answer: “I wanted to. I would’ve gotten him in the next few days.” Don’t mess with Captain America.