Flashback Fridays: The Cowboys Got “Mossed” on Thanksgiving Day
LeeAnn Lowman
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The 1998 season was off to a near-perfect start for the Minnesota Vikings. By the time Thanksgiving Day rolled around the Vikings were 10-1 and their rookie wide receiver, Randy Moss, was turning heads with 8 touchdown catches in 11 games. On November 28, 1998, the Vikings traveled to Texas to play the Dallas Cowboys for the Thanksgiving Day game. This game would go down in the record books as one neither team would ever forget.
Appetizer
The Vikings seemed to forget it wasn’t Halloween as they served up tricks and treats on their opening drive. Vikings quarterback, Randall Cunningham, handed the ball off to running back, Robert Smith, who faked a run and flicked it back to Cunningham. Cunningham found Moss for a 51 yard TD pass. The Cowboys QB, Troy Aikman, led the Cowboys to a field goal. The Vikings were determined to put this game out of reach quickly, so on the next possession Cunningham connected with Cris Carter for a 54 yard TD pass. Once again Dallas was held to a field goal.
Entrée
The Cowboys just did not have an answer for this high-powered Vikings offense. Prior to the half, Moss got to show the Cowboys just exactly what they had missed out on with a 56-yard TD catch. Moss grew up a Cowboys fan and dreamed of being drafted by them; he felt the team had indicated interest and was hurt when they passed him up on draft day. After that, he never missed an opportunity to get a little payback. In that play, Moss showed everyone exactly the kind of speed he had. He blew past cornerback Kevin Smith and caught the ball on the 10-yard line and took it in for the score.
The Cowboys (and many other teams to follow) could not effectively stop Moss. He was not only incredibly fast, he was smart. He could read defender’s eyes and use misdirection to fake them out. Once they took a single misstep in the wrong direction he was able to capitalize on it and use his speed to blast past them.
Dessert(s)
During the 3rd quarter, both teams alternated scoring drives and Dallas started to get some hope they might be able to come back and win. The score was 32-22. The Vikes quickly squashed that hope. Near the end of the 3rd quarter Cunningham and Moss teamed up again for Moss’s 3rd reception; you heard that right, he only caught the ball 3 times that game. This one was for 56 yards with Moss catching an easy-out route pass near the 50-yard line. Moss was able to slip away from defensive back Charlie Williams before turning on the gas. The only defender to even get close was Terry Billups but Moss faked him out and all Billips got was to touch the back of his jersey as he ran for the end zone. This gave the Vikings a 17-point lead to start the 4th quarter. During the 4th quarter, Leroy Heard ran the ball 50 yards for a touchdown for the Vikings final touchdown.
Digestion
The final score of the game was 46-36. The statistics do not do justice to how soundly the Cowboys were defeated by the Vikings. Cunningham threw for 359 yards and 4 TD, with a passer rating of 111.5. Aikman had a respectable game with 455 yards and a passer rating of 90.9. Cowboys star RB, Emmitt Smith, struggled to get much going against the Vikings defense he had 4 receptions for 30 yards and 18 rushing attempts for only 44 yards. Dallas possessed the ball for about 17 minutes longer than Minnesota and had 11 more 1st downs and greater net yardage. The Cowboys defense was just unable to stop this high octane offense and the longest Minnesota drive was 2 minutes and 28 seconds.
The Vikings went onto a 15-1 season that ended with a devastating loss to Atlanta in the playoffs. Moss was named the NFL Rookie of the Year. He had two then-rookie records: 17 touchdown catches and 1,313 receiving yards and was given All-Pro Honors. That game put the whole NFL on notice – Randy Moss was going to be a superstar.
Moss was able to serve one up to Dallas that Thanksgiving and let them know, “you got MOSSED!”
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