Todd ArcherCloseTodd ArcherESPN Staff WriterTodd Archer is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Dallas Cowboys. Archer has covered the NFL since 1997 and Dallas since 2003. He joined ESPN in 2010.Follow on XKevin SeifertCloseKevin SeifertESPN Staff WriterKevin Seifert is a staff writer who covers the Minnesota Vikings and the NFL at ESPN. Kevin has covered the NFL for over 20 years, joining ESPN in 2008. He was previously a beat reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Washington Times. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia.Follow on XDec 10, 2025, 06:00 AM ET
Flashback: Cowboys advance on Roger Staubach’s Hail Mary TD pass (0:32)Roger Staubach launches a long touchdown pass to Drew Pearson to give the Cowboys a victory over the Vikings in their 1975 playoff game. (0:32)
Not long before kickoff between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Commanders on Oct. 19 at AT&T Stadium, Roger Staubach, now 83 years old and wearing his familiar No. 12 jersey, was twirling a football in his hands. Nearby was Drew Pearson.
“Roger gave me that nod, pointing like, ‘Go down [the field],'” said Pearson, now 74 years old and donning his No. 88. “I said, ‘OK, but not too far now.'”
Staubach floated a few passes to Pearson as memories flowed back. On that day in Arlington, Texas, the Cowboys were celebrating their alumni with the quarterback and the wide receiver, both Hall of Famers, among the former players on hand — and the Cowboys had a surprise for them.
Team owner and general manager Jerry Jones and chief brand officer Charlotte Jones presented footballs commemorating the 50th anniversary of the most memorable play in Cowboys history: the “Hail Mary.”
On a cloudy and freezing day — Dec. 28, 1975 — at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota, Staubach launched a bomb that Pearson caught for a 50-yard touchdown with 24 seconds left to beat the Minnesota Vikings 17-14 in a divisional round playoff game.
At The Star, where the Cowboys practice, the Ring of Honor statues of Staubach and Pearson are exactly 50 yards apart, with each player’s cleats marked in cement. Inside The Star, there is a three-story-long stairwell with a frame-by-frame photo display of the play — from Staubach taking the snap to Pearson crossing into the end zone. Thirty-six photos in all.
Vikings players of that era remain embittered that “Push Pearson,” as he is known in Minnesota, was not called for offensive pass interference after cornerback Nate Wright was left sprawled on the ground as Pearson made the catch. Wright, 77, said that it was “devastating because that’s all I’m remembered for.”
“All the plays I had, all the honors I’ve received have almost been whitewashed,” Wright, a two-time All-Pro, said.
As 5-8 Minnesota prepares to visit the 6-6-1 Cowboys on Sunday (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC), neither former Viking has found comfort in Staubach’s prayer.
“God didn’t have anything to do with it,” Krause said, “because they just pushed off and they won the game.”
But the Hail Mary wouldn’t have been possible at all if it wasn’t for another controversial play seconds earlier.
What follows is a look back in time at that play, the Hail Mary and the lingering aftermath of one of the NFL’s iconic moments.
Lined up against Wright, Pearson ran a post corner to the 50-yard line. Staubach threw what Pearson called a “frozen rope” toward the sideline.
The Vikings — and an usher — thought otherwise. Wright, Krause and linebacker Matt Blair surrounded the officials on the field, arguing the pass should have been incomplete.
“He caught the ball way out of bounds,” Krause said. “The snow that day was packed up, and it just wasn’t called right.”
During the melee, a sideline usher with an admitted grudge against Pearson took a few steps toward him and kicked his leg.
Dick Jonckowski was a Minnesota celebrity of sorts, having drawn attention for retrieving footballs after kicks and tossing them behind his back to officials. Now 82, Jonckowski said he had developed a competitive enmity for Pearson over the years and once said to him: “You couldn’t carry Charley Taylor’s jock,” a reference to Washington’s Hall of Fame wideout who starred in that era.
As part of his sideline act, Jonckowski had his name embroidered on the back of his usher’s jacket. That caught the eye of Cowboys coach Tom Landry’s wife, Alicia, who reported the kick to commissioner Pete Rozelle, according to Jonckowski.
As a result of the incident, the Vikings’ usher service took Jonckowski off the field for the next two seasons. He went on to become the longtime broadcast voice of University of Minnesota basketball, baseball and football. In 2022, Pearson accompanied an NFL Films crew to Jonckowski’s house in suburban Minneapolis to settle the score.
A year later, Pearson returned to Minneapolis for an autograph signing. As he sat down at his assigned table, he looked at the man next to him. It was Jonckowski.
Trailing 14-10 with 32 seconds left, the Cowboys had the ball at midfield with no timeouts. Lining up in the shotgun, a novel idea Landry unveiled that season, Staubach dropped back to Dallas’ 43-yard line, faked to his left and let loose a high, arcing deep ball. Pearson caught it at the Vikings’ 5-yard line and walked backward into the end zone with Wright on the ground and Krause pleading for an offensive pass interference flag.
Pearson: Roger said run a turn-in, take-off on Nate Wright. The only other guy he told was [wide receiver] Golden Richards. Told him to run a good post on the left side, and that’s the main reason Paul Krause was held over there.
He was trying to beat Paul Krause. He’s still the all-time leader in interceptions if I’m not mistaken [No. 1 with 81 INTs]. Most of his interceptions are on overthrows because he plays so deep. We wanted to go get him out of the picture.
It was just Nate and I. I ran a turn-in, so he was expecting that, and spun out of there good. He was with me, but I figured I had another gear to go to the football because that’s where I’m best. I could beat [Cowboys wideout and Olympic gold medalist sprinter] Bob Hayes to the football. That was my speed — to the football. I had an extra gear to go get the football.
Because [Staubach] pumped Krause, by the time he came back to me, I was way downfield and I could see it was underthrown a little. That’s when I used the swim move to get the position to make the catch.
Wright: He ran a go or a deep or whatever you want to call it. And I was running with him. … The ball is in the air, and you try to take the ball at the highest point. Just as I started to jump, he pushed me in the back. And so you’re out of control then. And I didn’t know what had happened because I thought I was going to be able to jump and take the ball at the top of its flight, but that didn’t happen.
I didn’t know exactly what had happened. I needed to see it on film. But I knew that I was running with him and getting ready to take the ball at the top of its flight — and all of a sudden I’m on the ground.
Krause: He pushed Nate down and caught the ball — and that’s a penalty right there. I saw that. I watched the play, and he pushed Nate down. From there, he walks in. I blame the referee. Because [Nate] can’t land on his back after being pushed in the shoulders. It was just a bad play. We got screwed, and that was basically the game.
Despite long-held beliefs in Minnesota, ESPN NFL rules analyst Russell Yurk recently reviewed video of the play and didn’t see anything that would justify the Vikings’ outrage.
Yurk: There’s no foul. It’s not even close. Pearson is turning back toward the ball. The defender is kind of off-balance. He’s surprised by it. I think when Pearson turns around for the ball, just the action of that probably put a little pressure on the defender and caused him to lose his balance and fall down. I don’t see any overt push. I don’t see anything that would be OPI then or now.
The night before the playoff game, Pearson was talking to his roommate, defensive end Harvey Martin.
“I’m going to catch a touchdown and I’m going to throw the ball in the stands, not necessarily thinking it would be the game winner but just because that was my patented move,” Pearson said.
Pearson’s signing bonus as a rookie was $150. The fine for throwing the ball into the stands was $150.
“I think Golden Richards was the first one down there [after the touchdown], and I turned and threw it as far as I could throw it,” Pearson said. “It went over the scoreboard and into the parking lot.”
“I turned around, and a cold beer hit me right in the face,” Pearson said. “I’m like, ‘Damn, you could’ve just given it to me.’ They were mad.”
Pearson wasn’t the only one. Referee Armen Terzian was hit in the head by a whiskey bottle and knocked to the ground. As he got up, blood poured from his head. Later, Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton learned that his father — whose name was, coincidentally, Dallas Tarkenton — had died of a heart attack while watching the game.
“I still have the big afro,” he said, “and I stick my head in a cab and the driver goes, ‘Are you Drew Pearson?’ I said yes. ‘You catch the Hail Mary?’ I said yes. ‘I ain’t taking you nowhere.’ He radioed down, and the next five cabs didn’t take me to the office. That’s when, with the Hail Mary, I saw it affected both sides way different.”
Over the years, Pearson has attempted to smooth over his relationship with Wright. In 1995, he visited Wright outside a gym as part of a story on the 20th anniversary of the catch for KENS-TV in San Antonio. According to Pearson, they discussed the Hail Mary and Wright told him: “You made a great play.” Wright said he chatted with Pearson off camera but refused to go along with the story.
“He was trying to authenticate what happened,” Wright said. “He knew what happened, but this was his chance to move on from it. I talked to him, but I told him I wasn’t going to make a film with him trying to get affirmative action that the play was good. That’s what he was trying to do. He flew all the way to California for that.”