Lett still recalled as turkey

Leon Lett helped the Cowboys win three Super Bowls and was named to two Pro Bowls during his playing days in Dallas.

But "The Big Cat" is best known for being involved in two of the most infamous plays in NFL history, including one that took place on Thanksgiving Day 1993.

In the final seconds of a showdown of first-place squads playing in a rare sleet and snow storm in Dallas, the Cowboys blocked a potential game-winning 41-yard field-goal try.

But Lett, a 6-foot-6-inch, 292-pound defensive tackle, inexplicably tried to pick up the ball. He slipped in the snow and fumbled the ball back to Miami with three seconds left.

Had no Cowboys player touched the football after the block, Dallas would have taken possession and won the game. But because of Lett's gaffe -- ranked No. 3 on ESPN's "25 Biggest Sports Blunders" -- Miami kicker Pete Stoyanovich was able to boot a 19-yard field goal that gave the Dolphins a 16-14 win.

Fortunately for Lett, Dallas won its next eight games, including Super Bowl XXVIII. The Dolphins didn't win another game that season, finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs.

The Thanksgiving classic, which will be broadcast at 6 a.m. today on the NFL Network, was named the third-most memorable game in the history of Texas Stadium by ESPN.

Lett also was involved in the top-ranked sports blunder in the previous season's Super Bowl, which the Cowboys won 52-17 over the Bills.

Late in the fourth quarter, Lett recovered a fumble on Buffalo's 45-yard line and was returning it for an apparent easy score when Bills receiver Don Beebe chased him down from behind and knocked the ball out of his outstretched hand just before he crossed the goal line. The ball went out of the end zone for a touchback that cost Lett his touchdown.

"Every day, if I'm in an airport or a grocery store and someone sees my name, they always bring up those two plays," the 41-year-old Lett told ESPN this year. "There aren't too many days where I don't hear about them or think about them myself."

Lett, who now lives in Las Vegas and graduated from UNLV in May with a bachelor's degree in university studies, has made Thanksgiving memorable for thousands of families since he retired in 2001.

On Tuesday, he donated and distributed free turkeys to the families of hundreds of local students at Rainbow Dreams Academy, a public charter school sponsored by the Clark County School District.

• HEADS I WIN; TAILS YOU LOSE -- Another memorable Turkey Day blunder took place in 1998, when the Lions edged the Steelers 19-16 in overtime.

The extra session started with a bizarre coin toss. Pittsburgh running back Jerome Bettis could be heard saying 'tails,' but official Phil Luckett said Bettis called 'heads' and awarded the ball to the Lions when the coin landed on tails.

It was reported later that Bettis started to say 'heads' before saying 'tails' and Luckett abided by NFL rules in going with Bettis' first call.

Detroit took possession and won on Jason Hanson's 42-yard field goal.

• NFL ON THANKSGIVING -- The NFL has played on Thanksgiving every year since 1920, when the Akron Pros beat the Canton Bulldogs, 7-0.

The Lions have played every year on Thanksgiving since 1945 and the Cowboys since 1966.

COMPILED BY TODD DEWEY LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL