Jason Garrett’s peak as an NFL player came on Thanksgiving Day in 1994 when starting in place of an injured Troy Aikman, he led the Dallas Cowboys to victory over the Green Bay Packers.
Some 30 years later, Garrett revealed what he did with one of the souvenirs he earned that day.
John Madden and Pat Summerall were on the call for Garrett’s Thanksgiving Day performance in 1994. When the game was over, Garrett (along with teammates Charles Haley, Nate Newton and Emmitt Smith) was awarded a turkey leg by Madden. In 2024, Garrett was on the call for the Thanksgiving night game at Lambeau Field between the Packers and Miami Dolphins. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Mike Tirico — who was calling the game with Garrett — brought that up.
“Jason, John Madden and Thanksgiving meant turkey legs,” Tirico said. “You were once the recipient of a Madden turkey leg.”
“Yeah, I sure was,” Garrett said. “And John Madden meant so much to football. I was thinking about it. LeRoy Butler talking about him earlier. Everybody felt like they had a relationship with John Madden. He did so much for football. I can remember that day. It was 30 years ago — 1994. We beat the Packers and Madden was a big part of that.”
After talking about how that 1994 game went, Tirico asked Garrett an important question.
“What happened to the turkey leg?” Tirico asked.
“You know something, I had it in the freezer,” Garrett said. “It was in tinfoil.”
“For how long?” Tirico responded.
“I probably had it for 15 years. Then we finally moved.”
What did Jason Garrett do with the turkey leg he received from John Madden for his Thanksgiving performance in 1994?
“I had it in the freezer, it was in tinfoil, I probably had it for 15 years. Then we finally moved.” pic.twitter.com/rpD683VcEF
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 29, 2024
Garrett continued.
“I called my wife the other day,” Garrett noted. “I said, ‘Do we still have the turkey leg?’ She said, ‘No, it’s long gone.’”
That’s too bad. We’d sure love to see what that turkey leg looks like now.
Or, maybe not.
[Photo Credit: NBC/Fox]
