Randy Moss had a Thanksgiving in 1998 worth remembering. Here are a dozen did-you-knows

One of the most memorable days in the last quarter-century of Vikings history was, well, a quarter-century ago. Twenty-five Thanksgivings ago, Randy Moss made it clear that he was unlike any other rookie receiver the league had ever seen. He had his coming-out party (Lambeau Field, Oct. 5, Monday Night Football, 190 yards, 2 touchdowns) the month prior. He had just crushed the Packers again the week before the Dallas trip (Metrodome, eight catches for 153 and 1). And on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26, 1998, with America watching and digesting dinner, he left no doubt: he was taking over the title of NFL's most exciting player.

Here are a dozen things to remember about the day that Vikings fans still hold as one of their faves:

1. He scored three touchdowns ... and those were his only catches. Final stats: three receptions, 163 yards, 3 scores. That's 54.33 yards per catch — pretty good.

2. It was Moss' day, no doubt, but Dallas' big names kept them in the game. Troy Aikman threw for what would be a career-high 455 yards and Emmitt Smith had three rushing touchdowns. The stars came to play in Dallas.

3. Dan Barreiro was the Star Tribune sports columnist on site that day. An excerpt from Barreiro's column: Legends are made on Monday Night, Thanksgiving Day and Super Bowl Sunday. Moss is already two-thirds of the way home. (Moss never did win a Super Bowl.)

A quote to remember: This is from Red McCombs, Vikings owner then, several years later: "Jerry Jones and I were friends long before I bought the Vikings. Before that Thanksgiving game in '98, he put me up in a nice suite and says, 'And just so you know, your boy Randy is not going to run wild on us. Matter of fact, I doubt he'll even catch a significant pass.' I told Randy that, and he said, 'That don't mean nothing to me. People have ganged up on me my whole life. You watch and see.'"

4. Moss' first touchdown came on a flea-flicker. With no score early on, quarterback Randall Cunningham handed off to Robert Smith, who took three jab steps toward the center, turned and pitched the ball straight back toward his QB. Cunningham spun the ball in his hands and let it fly 51 yards in the air, dropping it into Moss' hands inside the 10. No. 84 danced in from there.

5. On that touchdown, Moss did a ballet dancer's leap over the goal line and, just for a moment, it looked like he turned his ankle when he landed. Hardened Minnesota sports fans might have seen that little twist and offered a split-second gasp.

A quote to remember: This is from Mike Zimmer, the Cowboys defensive backs coach then; he recalled the '98 game when he was Vikings head coach: "We saw the freaky speed and decided to have our scout team receivers start plays two yards offsides. We thought we had a good plan. Obviously, Randy was mad at everybody in Dallas for not drafting him. He wanted to show us in front of the whole country what a big mistake we made. Boy did he."

6. While his second touchdown was typical for Moss (long bomb, athletic catch), his third was special. He caught the ball at the Vikings 48, broke a tackle and took off down the sideline. Plenty of Cowboys defenders had a good angle on him. He was going to get pushed out around the Dallas 30 or so. Except he didn't. He shifted into a gear we really hadn't seen before. Those angles didn't work, and this purple blur went zipping past, with one defender maybe laying one finger on him. Play-by-play man Pat Summerall wasn't really ready for it, either; his touchdown call was kind of calm, until exclaiming once that blur reached the end zone: "He is incredible."

7. After his third score, the Fox camera came up behind Moss, sitting on the bench catching his breath. He turned to the camera and appeared to say, "Hi, Mom. Happy Thanksgiving."

A quote to remember: From Moss himself, said around the time he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame: "I didn't say nothing that week. But everybody knew exactly what was going to happen to those Cowboys. Denny knew it, too. I owe Coach Green so much for drafting me. I just remember when I finally heard my name called, saying, 'Thank you, Coach Green. Thank you, Minnesota Vikings.' I've learned a lot of things in my life and had to take a lot of lumps for it. But this little country boy from Rand, W.Va., made it. All the way to Canton, Ohio."

8. Deion Sanders, Dallas' top cornerback, was out for that game. We'll never know how this would have gone if Prime Time would have been healthy.

9. Football was popular at the movies, too, on that 1998 Thanksgiving: Adam Sandler's "The Waterboy" was one of the hits, alongside other '98 titles "Enemy of the State" and "Meet Joe Black."

10. The top of the Star Tribune game story, written by Don Banks, is worth revisiting:

Like most everybody else, the Vikings overindulged Thursday.

They binged on offense, dabbled on defense and enjoyed generous helpings of all their favorites in dismantling the Dallas Cowboys 46-36 at Texas Stadium.

And when the football feast was done, they didn't forget to give thanks. Mostly for Randy Moss.

"He's a blessing from God," Vikings quarterback Randall Cunningham said of the Vikings rookie receiver, who had three catches for three touchdowns - from 51, 56 and 56 yards.

11. And, because Randy Moss played by Randy Moss' rules, especially in that breakout season, there's this very Moss-like nugget in the next paragraph of that game story: "Moss declined comment after the game."

12. Barreiro wasn't a fan of the no-comment. Another excerpt from Barreiro's column:

Unfortunately, Moss wasn't talking to reporters. Well, take that back. He did talk to the big TV monster known as Fox after the game, but he refused to take questions from anybody else. Somebody mentioned to him that he had talked to TV, so why not the rest of the media? "You all are not TV," he said.

Moss currently is an NFL analyst for ESPN.

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Some Vikings fans remember exactly where they were on this day 25 years ago. Do you? Share your memory in the comments section below.