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Troy Aikman, Deion Sanders, and Jimmy Johnson share favorite stories from Cowboys’ Thanksgiving games

Dallas legends took a trip down memory lane ahead of Dallas’ annual Thursday matchup.

There are so many memories of Thanksgiving Day games for the Cowboys. We talked to six people associated with that annual game to get their thoughts on playing on Turkey Day.

Troy Aikman

The Hall of Fame quarterback talked about his two standout Thanksgiving games, and learning after one of them from The Dallas Morning News that a teammate wasn’t going to get released.

“Probably the game in our second year, 1990, where we played Washington, and that game we’d just come off a win against the Rams the week before. We were 4-7, [and] that period was kind of a turning point for me and that era, and then we won four in a row and we had a chance to make it into the postseason and it didn’t happen. And then we go into ’91 and go 11-5 and make the playoffs. That Thanksgiving game against Washington [a 27-17 win] stands out.”

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Aikman was asked about the 1993 game against the Miami Dolphins.

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“I think the reason it stands out, it was a bizarre game the way it ended, but that’s the only game I ever played in the snow and we played in Dallas, Texas. That was kinda fun. You feel like you always dream of it as a kid playing out in the snow and what would that be like.

“We heard the weather might get bad, it may get a little icy or something. We went in after pregame warmups, and we come out for kickoff and all of sudden there’s all this snow on the ground, and Holy Cow! Those are the two Thanksgiving games that stand out for me.”

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The 1993 game was the one in which defensive lineman Leon Lett cost the Cowboys a victory by attempting to recover a blocked Miami field goal attempt in the closing seconds, leading to the Dolphins being awarded possession and kicking a field goal for a 16-14 win.

“I give my apologies to Leon Lett for bringing that one up,” Aikman said. “After that game, I was catching a flight that Friday to go out of town, and I pick up The Dallas Morning News and the headline was [Lett was staying]. I just figured Leon Lett was going to be released.

“That’s the way Jimmy [Johnson] operated, and Jimmy wanted to win that game against the Dolphins, against Don Shula and all that. And the headline said Jimmy was going to keep Leon Lett, and Leon was a seventh-round pick. He wasn’t a starter for us, he was a situational guy. So when I saw [the headline] I remember thinking to myself, ‘Wow, Jimmy must really think Leon Lett is a helluva player. He must really like this guy, because Jimmy would cut a guy for less than that.’

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“And obviously Leon Lett goes on to be an All Pro player, and I never forgot that, Jimmy must have known then this guy is going to be something special, yeah, it made a mark on me.”

Deion Sanders

Sanders’ favorite Thanksgiving Day story is from when defensive backs coach Mike Zimmer kissed him for getting two interceptions in 20-0 victory in 1999 against the Dolphins. Sanders had two of the five interceptions thrown by Dan Marino that day.

“My fondest memory is Mike Zimmer. Zim is one of my best friends, even to this day, and I lean on him for coaching advice to this day. I think we played Miami. I might have had two picks, and I told him I was going to do that before the game started, and he was going to kiss me on the cheek or jaw. He had to kiss me on the jaw during the game, because we made a bet.

“That’s one of my fondest memories of playing on Thanksgiving. Just the ability to be blessed to play on Thanksgiving. It was only at that point in time, two games on Thanksgiving, and we were one of those. You’ve got to be thankful to be playing on Thanksgiving, and I think a lot of players take that for granted.”

Jimmy Johnson

As coach of the Cowboys, Jimmy Johnson was 3-2 on Thanksgiving Day. The 1993 loss to Miami sticks out for him as well as for Aikman.

“The only memory is the game we lost,” Johnson said. “The coaching staff made a mistake. Leon Lett was normally not on special teams, and since it snowed, we put him [out] there, which was our fault. When he touched the ball, [on the blocked field goal attempt], not knowing the rule, again we should have told him the rule. But he wasn’t on special teams.

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“The positive thing about that was, No. 1, I told him I’m not going to cut him, he’s part of the team. People were afraid I was going to cut him, which I wasn’t. That was the last game I ever lost in Dallas. We went ahead and won out and won the Super Bowl. Ironically that was the last game that Don Shula won [in 1993]. That was my last loss with the Dallas Cowboys.”

DeMarcus Ware

“It wasn’t a traditional Thanksgiving,” the former outside linebacker said. “I had to have a Thanksgiving meal the night before because we stayed in the hotel the night before [a game]. So when I got home I didn’t have the typical pregame meal.

“The pregame meal was the Thanksgiving meal, and after the game, I knew all of the family that came to the game, and half of them stayed at home because I couldn’t pay for [all the] tickets. It was like 30-40 people down for Thanksgiving, half of them stay at home, half of them will come to the football game. But I knew I’d see everybody after the football game and have my third Thanksgiving meal. It was a great memory for me to have three meals with my family.”

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Remember any big games?

“Every game on Thanksgiving was big because I had my family. It was always a sack or two sacks. My football audience was my family. It was 50 of them, so it was like a home game. I knew everybody was watching, so I had to at least talk some trash when I got back home.”

Barry Church

The former Cowboys safety wasn’t a big fan of playing on Thanksgiving Day.

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“It was always a Sunday [game] and turnaround on Thursday. All the players used to hate that because of that quick turnaround. You’re starting to feel good on Wednesday and boom, [a game]. We hated not being around our family on Thanksgiving, so for me I always hated the game. The young rookies were always into it. ‘Oh yeah, it’s Thanksgiving, we get to show what we can do.’ But for veterans, we always hated it. It was a rough one for us.”

Ed “Too Tall” Jones

“No. 1, during my era, Washington was our biggest rival,” said the former defensive end, who’s considered one of the franchise’s all-time greats. “Playing them at home was an advantage for us, I think.

“Knowing family, friends, fans from all over world would have a chance to watch that game, I always believed those games, during a time, not at the level it is now, our No. 1 sport, it took football to another level, whether you were a Cowboys or a Washington fan or not.

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“Normally during my career, we won the majority of those games, and the biggest thing we would have some extra time off [before the next game]. That was so important. Thanksgiving falls in the middle of the season, and those extra days off meant a lot. I played with coach [Tom] Landry and Jimmy Johnson; they believed you had to be the best-conditioned team in the league, and we worked extremely hard.”

Family come to town?

“My family would come in, and they’re all Cowboys fans,” Jones said. “It gave them an excuse to come to Dallas, and so they would attend the game, and after we’d have a nice Thanksgiving, especially if we won.”

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