If D. White had won a SB, would he be among the great Cowboy QBs

[Gryphon]

GOOD QUESTION ASKED IN ANOTHER FORUM: If you look at Danny White's statistics, hes right up there with Staubach and Aikman. But Roger and Troy won Super Bowls, the one thing White could never do for us.

If Danny White had won a Super Bowl, would he be mentioned among the quarterback greats like Aikman and Staubach are?

Danny White was one of the most underrated QB's of all time. The offenses under his control during the early 80's put up some of the biggest #'s in our history. I believe he threw for a franchise record of 3,900 + yds in 1985 which still stands.

Even though we lost, he did lead us to 3 straight NFC title games & those losses can not be pinned solely on him. Although were manhandled as a team by Philly & Wash(1980 & 1982), it took "The Catch" to beat us in the 1981 title game. Also, for anyone who does not remember, in a last gasp effort, Danny White was moving the ball in the final seconds after "The Catch" & hit Drew Pearson accross the middle. Pearson came very close to breaking the diving tackle of a San Fran defender before being brought down & time ran out.

If Pearson had broken the tackle to score & Dallas had went on to beat the Bengals, who knows what effect that would have had on team moral/confidence the next season. It may have propelled the Cowboys to a higher level & maybe another SB. I think "WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN" pretty much summed up White's tenure w/ the Cowboys. A very talented, very competitive QB who played in the shadow of the great Roger Staubach.

[THUMPER]

GOOD QUESTION ASKED IN ANOTHER FORUM: If you look at Danny White's statistics, hes right up there with Staubach and Aikman. But Roger and Troy won Super Bowls, the one thing White could never do for us.

If Danny White had won a Super Bowl, would he be mentioned among the quarterback greats like Aikman and Staubach are?

Danny White was one of the most underrated QB's of all time. The offenses under his control during the early 80's put up some of the biggest #'s in our history. I believe he threw for a franchise record of 3,900 + yds in 1985 which still stands.

Even though we lost, he did lead us to 3 straight NFC title games & those losses can not be pinned solely on him. Although were manhandled as a team by Philly & Wash(1980 & 1982), it took "The Catch" to beat us in the 1981 title game. Also, for anyone who does not remember, in a last gasp effort, Danny White was moving the ball in the final seconds after "The Catch" & hit Drew Pearson accross the middle. Pearson came very close to breaking the diving tackle of a San Fran defender before being brought down & time ran out.

If Pearson had broken the tackle to score & Dallas had went on to beat the Bengals, who knows what effect that would have had on team moral/confidence the next season. It may have propelled the Cowboys to a higher level & maybe another SB. I think "WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN" pretty much summed up White's tenure w/ the Cowboys. A very talented, very competitive QB who played in the shadow of the great Roger Staubach.


Actually, that was not the last play of that game. The final play for us was just after that catch by Pearson when Danny White was sacked and fumbled taking away our last chance for the win.

Pearson's catch put us in long FG range but White's fumble obviously took that opportunity away.

All that said, I have always liked Danny White and thought that he was judged way too harshly, mostly because he wasn't Roger Staubach. He was a very good QB who had his share of come from behind wins in big games.

[Gryphon]

Actually, that was not the last play of that game. The final play for us was just after that catch by Pearson when Danny White was sacked and fumbled taking away our last chance for the win.

Pearson's catch put us in long FG range but White's fumble obviously took that opportunity away.

All that said, I have always liked Danny White and thought that he was judged way too harshly, mostly because he wasn't Roger Staubach. He was a very good QB who had his share of come from behind wins in big games.

Thanks.

[Silverstar]

If Danny White had won a Super Bowl, would he be mentioned among the quarterback greats like Aikman and Staubach are?


If ANY QB wins a SB for the Dallas Cowboys he would be great in my book.

:bow:

[tyke1doe]

If he had won one Super Bowl, no.
If he had won two Super Bowls, yes.

QB greatest in Dallas means winning two Super Bowls or more. :D

[ConcordCowboy]

Yes he would.

Danny White was a very good QB...He has nothing to be ashamed of.

Coming out of Staubach's shadow...He did just fine.

Of course we as Cowboys fans only equate Super Bowl Trophies for our QB's as a measure of greatness...So White will always be seen as inferior.

Unjust to me.

[Manster68]

Yes, Danny would be considered among the greats.

However, he had a way of coming up small in the big game very similar to the Mannings today.

[Juke99]

Yep...I think so...his career rating was better than Staubach's, if memory serves me...the only thing he was missing was the ring.

Staubach had a flair that would always have him as number one in many of our hearts.

But if Danny White won a Super Bowl, yeah, he'd be up there on our list.

[MichaelWinicki]

Danny White was a terrific passer. Better than Bledsoe... right up there with Roger and Troy. It's to bad that he didn't win SB.

[Juke99]

Danny White was a terrific passer. Better than Bledsoe... right up there with Roger and Troy. It's to bad that he didn't win SB.


He was also super smart...and very athletic...

Hey, it wasn't Danny White who was covering Dwight Clark.

[Nors]

http://www.profootball-reference.com/players/WhitDa01.htm


solid little career

I always liked Danny White, underappreciated Quarterback. He was actually wronged late in his career. If there are any honest fans of the 80's era..... Many jumped onto the Hogeboom/Pelluer wagon. Well the damn wheels were rotted and didn't go too far......

Dallas never recovered from his broken wrist I believe in 1986/87 - we were 6-2 and started a meteoric freefall after.......

[jcollins28]

He is among the great QB's IMHO. Danny played with a old team. Given the same teams that Troy and Roger had Danny would have won with those teams.

[Juke99]

http://www.profootball-reference.com/players/WhitDa01.htm


solid little career

I always liked Danny White, underappreciated Quarterback. He was actually wronged late in his career. If there are any honest fans of the 80's era..... Many jumped onto the Hogeboom/Pelluer wagon. Well the damn wheels were rotted and didn't go too far......

Dallas never recovered from his broken wrist I believe in 1986/87 - we were 6-2 and started a meteoric freefall after.......


Right before he broke his wrist, that offense was putting up some huge point totals..

[ABQCOWBOY]

To me, Danny White always reminded me of the original Steve Young. Great athlete, extremely intelligent and very accurate if not a real hard thrower.

IMO, the wrist injury really ended Danny's career. If he had been able to avoid that injury, I think he easily wins a championship. JMO.

[jimmy40]

He was also super smart...and very athletic...

Hey, it wasn't Danny White who was covering Dwight Clark.would have been nice if someone would have at least tried.

[speedkilz88]

http://www.profootball-reference.com/players/WhitDa01.htm


solid little career

I always liked Danny White, underappreciated Quarterback. He was actually wronged late in his career. If there are any honest fans of the 80's era..... Many jumped onto the Hogeboom/Pelluer wagon. Well the damn wheels were rotted and didn't go too far......

Dallas never recovered from his broken wrist I believe in 1986/87 - we were 6-2 and started a meteoric freefall after.......


Right before he broke his wrist, that offense was putting up some huge point totals..Yeah, Landry brought Paul Hackett in as OC that year and it was working big time up until Danny broke his wrist. Pelluer was so awful, Landry ended up taking the play calling duties back away from Hackett.

[Sitting Bull]

If Danny White had won a Super Bowl, would he be mentioned among the quarterback greats like Aikman and Staubach are?


I say yes. Danny White was the QB when I became a fan and is my favorite all-time Cowboy. I said my peace on the subject long ago:
http://dallascowboyszone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15491

[TruBlueCowboy]

I say yes. Danny White was the QB when I became a fan and is my favorite all-time Cowboy. I said my peace on the subject long ago:
http://dallascowboyszone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15491

I enjoyed reading that thread. :)

[big dog cowboy]

The answer to the question is yes. But he would probably be on the bottom of that group. Another point - he was the best punting QB in our team history. :D

[CowboyFan74]

He mad me cry a lot in the 80's but yeah, if he won one big one he'd be more respected than not.

[burmafrd]

If we had won that game- Pearson breaking/avoiding that tackle- it would have been a tough game against the Bengals- but I think we win.
ANd that could have made all the difference in the world to the team and its confidence in Danny. And yes we probably would have maybe won another one as well down the line. Danny would then be up with Roger and would have had a real good shot at the HOF. He was the third best QB in our history= which is PRETTY GOOD.

[THUMPER]

People make a point of saying that White failed in big games which is only partly true. The real truth is that the TEAM failed in big games while White was the QB. The other part of that is that the same team failed under Staubach a number of times in big games but we gloss over that because he won 2 SBs.

Under Staubach we lost:

1972 NFC Championship vs the Redskins 26-3
1973 NFC Championship vs the Vikings 27-10
1975 Super Bowl vs the Steelers 21-17
1976 Divisional Playoff vs Rams 14-12
1978 Super Bowl vs Steelers 35-31
1979 Divisional Playoff vs Rams 21-19

That's 6 big games under Staubach that we didn't win.

Under White we lost:

1980 NFC Championship vs Eagles 20-7
1981 NFC Championship vs 49ERs 28-27
1982 NFC Championship vs Redskins 31-17
1983 Wildcard Playoff vs Rams 24-17
1985 Divisional Playoff vs Rams 20-0

That's 5 big games under White that we didn't win.

The difference is that Staubach also won 2 SBs but lost one more big game than White.

If you watched those games then you would see that they were not won or lost solely because of the QB but because the team stepped up or let down. In the losses in 1980, 1982, and 1985 we gave up huge yards to the opposing RBs (Wilbert Montgomery, John Riggins, & Eric Dickerson) so how is that White's fault?

To me the major difference between Staubach and White was Roger's ability to lead the team and inspire them to play above their abilities at times but he holds that distinction over every QB to ever play the game IMO as I rank him #1 in that attribute. That said, there were plenty of times that he was unable to lead his team to victory as shown above.

I also consider Don Meredith to have been a great QB even though he never won anything except a single playoff game in 1967. He lost every other big game he played in:

1966 NFL Championship vs Packers 34-27
1967 NFL Championship vs Packers 21-17
1968 Divisional Playoff vs Browns 31-20

Dan Marino, Sonny Jurgensen, Ken Anderson, Y.A. Tittle, and several other great QBs never won a championship either but they were still great QBs.

Winning championships is about the team not the QB.

[MinnesotaCowboy]

Actually, that was not the last play of that game. The final play for us was just after that catch by Pearson when Danny White was sacked and fumbled taking away our last chance for the win.

Pearson's catch put us in long FG range but White's fumble obviously took that opportunity away.

All that said, I have always liked Danny White and thought that he was judged way too harshly, mostly because he wasn't Roger Staubach. He was a very good QB who had his share of come from behind wins in big games.

You beat me to it, Thumper. When Danny was sacked and fumbled I actually cried! Very emotional game for me as I just knew we were going to the SB! Never in my wildest dreams did I realize that it was the start of one dynasty and the end of the other!:mad:

[Irving Cowboy]

Right before he broke his wrist, that offense was putting up some huge point totals..
Very true... as a matter of fact, at the beginning of that year the Cowboys were on the verge of breaking the Bills record for opening the season by scoring 30+ points in their first 4 games... I remember seeing the graphic on Monday Night Football against the Cardinals... However I also remember they mentioned that the Bills didn't make the playoffs the year they set that record... I think the following week they went out and got trashed in Denver.

[Chief]

To me the major difference between Staubach and White was Roger's ability to lead the team and inspire them to play above their abilities at times but he holds that distinction over every QB to ever play the game IMO as I rank him #1 in that attribute.

Good analysis, Thumper, but I think this line says it all.

It's probably the biggest reason for Roger's greatness.

White fell short in this regard ... heck, more than half the team wanted Hogeboom as the starter when that informal vote was taken in the mid-1980s. He didn't exactly inspire his teammates.

[THUMPER]

Good analysis, Thumper, but I think this line says it all.

It's probably the biggest reason for Roger's greatness.

White fell short in this regard ... heck, more than half the team wanted Hogeboom as the starter when that informal vote was taken in the mid-1980s. He didn't exactly inspire his teammates.

Leadership is probably the least emphasized yet most important aspect of an NFL QB. Too often people are impressed by some QB's size, arm strength, ability to throw a spiral 80 yards, etc. when in fact it is his ability to lead the team that is the real key for the position.

It was Staubach's leadership that set him apart from guys who were better passers. His ability to inspire and lift the team was extremely rare and has really only been seen in a handful of QBs over the years and none to the level that he had.

Montana & Elway come the closest of the QBs since Staubach but I still give Roger a definite edge over Joe. Unitas and Otto Graham were the only guys in his league prior to Roger.

I define leadership in a QB as: It is that confidence that the QB inspires in his teammates, on both sides of the ball, that so long as he is in the game they have a chance and all they have to do is get the ball back for him or make the play and he will lead us to victory. He leads by example and will do whatever is required of him to win the game.

Aikman was more of a leader than people give him credit for but not nearly on a par with Staubach.


I rank the all-time top-10 QBs in terms of leadership (based on my definition above) as follows:

1. Roger Staubach
2. Joe Montana
3. Johnny Unitas
4. John Elway
5. Otto Graham
6. Sammy Baugh
7. Brett Favre
8. Dan Marino
9. Dan Fouts
10. Steve Young

This is completely subjective and is just my opinion based on my perception of their leadership abilities. Everyone else is entitled to rank them any way they see fit. In fact I would like to see how others rank the top-10 QBs leadership abilities.

[REDVOLUTION]

Leadership is probably the least emphasized yet most important aspect of an NFL QB. Too often people are impressed by some QB's size, arm strength, ability to throw a spiral 80 yards, etc. when in fact it is his ability to lead the team that is the real key for the position.

It was Staubach's leadership that set him apart from guys who were better passers. His ability to inspire and lift the team was extremely rare and has really only been seen in a handful of QBs over the years and none to the level that he had.

Montana & Elway come the closest of the QBs since Staubach but I still give Roger a definite edge over Joe. Unitas and Otto Graham were the only guys in his league prior to Roger.

I define leadership in a QB as: It is that confidence that the QB inspires in his teammates, on both sides of the ball, that so long as he is in the game they have a chance and all they have to do is get the ball back for him or make the play and he will lead us to victory. He leads by example and will do whatever is required of him to win the game.

Aikman was more of a leader than people give him credit for but not nearly on a par with Staubach.


I rank the all-time top-10 QBs in terms of leadership (based on my definition above) as follows:

1. Roger Staubach
2. Joe Montana
3. Johnny Unitas
4. John Elway
5. Otto Graham
6. Sammy Baugh
7. Brett Favre
8. Dan Marino
9. Dan Fouts
10. Steve Young

This is completely subjective and is just my opinion based on my perception of their leadership abilities. Everyone else is entitled to rank them any way they see fit. In fact I would like to see how others rank the top-10 QBs leadership abilities.

Wow! You have Steve Young(49ers)? on there instead of Aikman?

[joseephuss]

Roger Staubach
11 years
131 games
1685 completions
2958 attempts
57%
22700 yards
153 TDs
109 INTs
83.4 QB rating

Danny White
13 years
166 games
1761 completions
2950 attempts
59.7%
21959 yards
155 TDs
132 ints
81.7 QB rating

Danny had a very good career. I would not say great because his playoff QB rating was 71.8. That contributed to the team not getting to the Superbowl. The defense was not quite as good during his early tenure as it was under Staubach, but he had critical turnovers in the big games. Sure it isn't fair that he was compared to Staubach, but a QB has to be a leader and inspire confidence. White sometimes did not as witnessed by the Hogenboom mess and to a smaller extent, the Kevin Sweeney issue during the scab 1987 season. I remember fans being mad that White crossed the picket line and playing against the Redskins and the team losing that game. It wasn't as if Sweeney was that talented, but many were tired of White.

[Doomsday101]

I have always considered Danny White a very good QB regardless if he reached a SB or not. As an individual performer he did his job very well to blame him for no SB is pretty simple minded and just shows some can't tell the difference between team accomplishments and individual accomplishments.

[noshame]

I liked Danny, but his int's usually tore my heart out. But yeah, winning a big one would have made a difference.

[CowboyMark]

I still can't understand why Tom Landry replaced D. White after just leading them to 3 consecutive NFC title games. He had good numbers and I think it would of just added to the cowboys legacy. I mean think about it Staubach in the 70's, White in the 80's, and Aikman in the 90's. But yes, not only would white be an all-time great cowboy qb, but a sure hall of famer IMO.

[ABQCOWBOY]

I still can't understand why Tom Landry replaced D. White after just leading them to 3 consecutive NFC title games. He had good numbers and I think it would of just added to the cowboys legacy. I mean think about it Staubach in the 70's, White in the 80's, and Aikman in the 90's. But yes, not only would white be an all-time great cowboy qb, but a sure hall of famer IMO.


It was the wrist injury. White couldn't control the passes he threw. They sailed too much because the wrist didn.t have flexability. Danny could no longer snap off throws. I think that Coach Landry new he would eventually have to replace White so he might as well see what he had. JMO