The Cowboys Call On The Mad Bomber

The Dallas defense holds and makes the Redskins punt, and the Cowboys have the ball with 1:45 to play and no time-outs. Soon it becomes fourth and six at their 44. Now there is not too much time left.

But Longley throws a cool fourth-down pass to Hayes over the middle and Bob gets the first down at the 50. With 35 seconds left and the ball at midfield, Landry sends in a play that requires Pearson to run a down-and-in 20 yards deep. In the huddle Pearson suggests he fake instead, move inside and try to split the two defensive backs who will be covering him ( Washington has seven defensive backs in the game for this play) and race for the end zone. "What have we got to lose?" says Longley.

The Dallas line keeps the Redskins off Longley for at least five seconds. The Mad Bomber pumps and throws—and there is Pearson at the four-yard line, reaching up to take the ball over his shoulder and going on in to score. On the sideline you can feel the stadium quake as the energy released by one huge, incredible cry rockets around the walls and soars through the hole in the roof. Efren Herrera, still another rookie, kicks the extra point, and Dallas leads, 24-23. Washington has one more chance with 28 seconds left, but the Cowboys grab a fumble and wait it out.

It is a nearly unbelievable ending. Normally, Texas Stadium is nearly empty four minutes after a game is over, but this time about 40,000 people just keep standing there. Longley runs back onto the field for a television interview, combing his hair with his hands. The touchdown pass is shown in replay on the TV sets in the private boxes, and the place comes apart again, with almost as big an explosion of noise and energy as followed the actual event.

By now, Staubach has been conscious for five minutes. "I was ready to go back in," he says, "but I didn't deserve to go back in. I loved seeing Longley do it."

In the locker room, the grinning Cowboys are talking about the Bomber. One tells of going on a quail hunt with Longley when he showed up with a shotgun and two pistols worn Hollywood gunslinger-style (he is kin to the notorious Texas gunfighter Wild Bill Longley, who was hanged in 1878) and blew holes in every cactus and fence post they passed. Another says, "The secret of the Bomber's success is an uncluttered mind."

Longley played junior high football in Dallas and high school ball in Littleton, Colo. and went to Abilene Christian without a scholarship. There he established several NAIA passing records before the Cowboys got him in a draft trade from Cincinnati. In the locker room he pulls on his boots and leather jacket. He has a very toothy smile, and there is no reason for him to keep it off his face. He has just packed away thrills enough to fill up most people forever.

"I wasn't nervous, there was no time for that, but I sure was excited," he says. "I tried to guess with them. I knew what I would do to a rookie quarterback if I was the Redskins. On that last pass, when the ball was halfway there, I saw Drew had got the defensive back turned around, and I knew we had a shot at it. Well, after all, this is what I've been training for."

The Cowboys still have a long way to go. They must play Cleveland and Oakland while the Redskins play Los Angeles and Chicago. It would take two wins by Dallas and two losses by Washington to put the Cowboys into the playoffs again. Still...Staubach no doubt will be the Dallas quarterback for the climactic games, and the Mad Bomber will be over there on the sidelines, noting the plays on his clipboard, wondering if it will happen to him again.