Fans of a certain age know Jason Garrett only as the coach of the Dallas Cowboys, who has stayed on the job through some mediocre seasons and is rewarding owner Jerry Jones' faith this year.
But once upon a time, Garrett was a Cowboys quarterback. He wasn't great, but he had his moments. And his best moment came on Thanksgiving 20 years ago against Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers.
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Leading up to the Cowboys' 1994 Thanksgiving game, Troy Aikman was out with a sprained knee and Garrett wasn't even the second choice. Rodney Peete was the backup. But he was hurt too, with an injured thumb. On Monday before the game, it appeared that the former Princeton quarterback was going to get the start. He had completed all of 10 NFL passes, and was no hotshot rookie. He was 28 heading into that start. But Cowboys coach Barry Switzer put a happy face on it.
"I kind of believe in fairy tales and Walt Disney, Tinker Bell, and Captain Hook and all that," Switzer said the Monday before the game, according to NewsOK.com's archived story. "I like situations like this. I think we can have a hero come out of this. I know the Ivy League will be excited."
The Cowboys were a fantastic football team, but the Packers weren't bad either. A lot of the pieces that won Super Bowl XXXI two years later were in place, including Reggie White and Favre.
And, in front of a huge television audience, Garrett had the greatest day of his career. He had 311 yards and touchdowns to Alvin Harper and Michael Irvin. Even though Sterling Sharpe caught four touchdown passes from Favre, Garrett and the Cowboys scored 36 second-half points and won 42-31.
Peete returned the next week. It would be four more years before Garrett had more than 56 yards in a game (Garrett actually had a solid five-game run filling in as the Cowboys' starter in 1998). But the Cowboys did have an unlikely hero come out of that 1994 Thanksgiving game, just like Switzer predicted.
“I’ll never forget just how much they rallied around this guy who probably wasn’t good enough, to be honest with you,” Garrett said in 2010, according to the AP. “It was a fun day.”
These days Garrett is well known as the coach of one of the most famous teams in sports. But if you remember his star turn as a quarterback 20 years ago, you won't forget that part of his football career, either.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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