The NFL on Thanksgiving is a tradition as old as the league itself. Games were played on Thanksgiving in 1920, the league’s first season, and with few exceptions, have been played every year since.
In 1998, the NFL was still several years away from adding a third Thanksgiving game to the calendar. But it’s hard to imagine any three games being as memorable as these two. These games were simply unforgettable, albeit for entirely different reasons. A pair of future Hall of Famers were front-and-center — again for entirely different reasons.
And in a strong reversal of Thanksgiving fortunes (particularly in recent years), Thanksgiving 1998 was great for the Detroit Lions, while the Dallas Cowboys had a day they’d like to forget.
Game No. 1: Detroit Lions 19, Pittsburgh Steelers 16
After trailing 13-3 late in the third quarter, the Lions came back to take a 16-13 lead. Pittsburgh quarterback Kordell Stewart led the Steelers on a lengthy possession ending with a game-tying Norm Johnson field goal in the final seconds of the fourth quarter. Then, things got weird and a highly competitive game became famous — or if you’re a Steelers fan — infamous.
Each team sent two captains to midfield for the overtime coin toss. Jerome Bettis, one of Pittsburgh’s two captains, made his selection when the coin was in the air, as was the standard at the time. After flipping the coin, referee Phil Luckett said, “Heads is the call.” As the coin came to rest, Luckett restated, “he said heads.” It was tails.
The Lions quickly announced that they wanted to receive the kickoff. Bettis and co-captain Carnell Lake continued to argue with Luckett, who could be heard telling Bettis, “You changed it.” He later reiterated that point to Steelers coach Bill Cowher, saying that heads was the call because it’s what Bettis said first.
This was not the first controversy of its kind. The 1962 AFL Championship Game between the Dallas Texans and Houston Oilers (now Kansas City Chiefs and Tennessee Titans, respectively) went to overtime. There was a strong wind at Houston’s Jeppesen Stadium, which the Texans wanted in their favor, even if it meant foregoing the first possession in sudden death overtime. But after Dallas won the toss, captain Abner Haynes said that the Texans would “kick to the clock,” which was an error.
The team that wins the coin toss chooses either who gets the ball or which way the teams go. The other team chooses whichever question still lingers. So, when Haynes said, “We’ll kick to the clock,” the only thing that mattered to the officials was what he said first, “We’ll kick.” So, Houston got to receive the kickoff and choose the direction the teams would play. Naturally, that gave the Oilers a favorable wind, in addition to the ball.
There were two clear differences between the Haynes and Bettis situation.
One, Haynes’ mistake did not cost the Texans the game. Even though the Oilers got first possession and a favorable wind, they did not score in overtime. The game went into double-overtime, where Dallas won. In 1998, the Lions took full advantage of the first possession. After a short kickoff from Johnson to start overtime, Detroit marched down the field for a field goal. With the NFL still more than a decade away from modifying its overtime rules, that field goal ended the game.
Two, it could be argued that the officials were too strict with the enforcement of what Haynes said, much like it could be argued that giving someone a speeding ticket for going 26 in a 25 is too rigid. That aside, he clearly said, “Kick to the clock.” That was not disputed. The Bettis/Luckett controversy was (and still is) more debatable.
Bettis clearly said something before “tails” became audible. Whether that was “heads-tails,” “hea-tails” or “uh-tails” is harder to definitively identify. Years later, Bettis claimed he said, “Huh-tails.”
There was plenty of humor to be had with this controversy. That Sunday and for the remainder of the season, some visiting captains would bring a sign saying “heads” or “tails” to the coin toss. Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan even joked, “We’ve got a sign” when an official asked him who would call the toss before that season’s Super Bowl, before saying that Terrell Davis would do it.
It also had a significant impact moving forward.
While coin tosses are not reviewable, this was one of a few controversies from the 1998 season that helped spark the offseason decision to reinstate a replay review system. It also triggered some immediate changes to how coin tosses were conducted. One change was that multiple officials were now required to be present for the coin toss. Another was that the visiting team would no longer choose heads or tails in the air, but before the coin was tossed.
As is often the case with controversies, this one triggered some significant changes.
Game No. 2: Minnesota Vikings 46, Dallas Cowboys 36
Marshall wide receiver Randy Moss fell to No. 21 in the 1998 NFL Draft. With 851 receiving yards and eight touchdowns through the first 11 games of his rookie season, Moss was already making that draft position look comically low. The Cowboys were one of the teams to pass, a decision he made them pay for on this day.
The good news for Dallas was that Moss caught only three passes. The bad news was that he gained 163 yards on those three catches. And if three catches for 163 yards doesn’t sound impressive enough, all were touchdowns.
Less than two minutes into the game, the Vikings got tricky. Randall Cunningham handed the ball off to Robert Smith, who flipped it back to Cunningham. Dallas cornerback Kevin Smith, who was guarding Moss on the play, briefly bit on the flea-flicker. So, when Cunningham threw the ball down the field to Moss, the receiver was wide open. He caught the ball at the 10-yard line and went in untouched for the touchdown.
Later in the quarter, Cunningham again went deep for Moss. Smith had tighter coverage on Moss this time, even drawing a flag for pass interference. It made absolutely no difference. Moss caught the pass and fought Smith off for a few yards, not getting brought down until he crossed the goal line.
For his third touchdown, Moss got to show off what he could do after the catch. Cunningham threw a quick pass to Moss, who fought off a tackle attempt from Dallas’ Charlie Williams. Terry Billups looked like he had an angle to at least force Moss out of bounds, but the receiver stutter-stepped and then blew by the defensive back, sprinting in for his third touchdown of the game.
It’s not as though the Vikings were a one-man show offensively. Moss’ teammate and fellow future Hall of Famer Cris Carter caught seven passes for 135 yards with one touchdown. The Cowboys also had some strong offensive performances. Emmitt Smith ran for a modest 44 yards but had three rushing touchdowns. Michael Irvin, meanwhile, caught 10 passes for 137 yards while Patrick Jeffers had three catches for 92 yards.
But Moss was the unquestioned star of the show in Dallas.
If we asked NFL fans what their favorite NFL on Thanksgiving memories were, we’d probably get a variety of responses. The responses would likely be personal, as well, related to who played, who the game was watched with or some combination of the two.
But if we’re asking people to list the most memorable NFL on Thanksgiving games, it likely wouldn’t take long for either of these games to be mentioned.
[Photo Credit: CBS/NFL on YouTube]
