Craig Morton vs Roger Staubach/Gary Hogeboom vs Danny White-How Did You Feel?

[burmafrd]

Danny White had some bad luck no doubt about it. I think it all comes to Drew Pearson getting just barely shirtailed after The Catch. He goes all the way then we win and I think we beat the Bungles in the SB. Danny White with a SB win under his belt and more confidence.... no telling what could have happened.

I was just barely old enough to really watch Staubach vs Morton and I always thought Staubach would win. For those though, that think Landry should have put in Staubach the year before are very wrong. Roger was just ready in time to take the 71 team all the way. He was not ready before that.

 

[burmafrd]

Phil "hold me" Pozderac. For years after that whenever the Cowboys had a big penalty I would say they got pozderaced.

 

[Doomsday101]

Danny White had some bad luck no doubt about it. I think it all comes to Drew Pearson getting just barely shirtailed after The Catch. He goes all the way then we win and I think we beat the Bungles in the SB. Danny White with a SB win under his belt and more confidence.... no telling what could have happened.

I was just barely old enough to really watch Staubach vs Morton and I always thought Staubach would win. For those though, that think Landry should have put in Staubach the year before are very wrong. Roger was just ready in time to take the 71 team all the way. He was not ready before that.

I agree. Roger did not look all world when he 1st got a chance to play if was an easy call Landry would have made it sooner rather than later. Morton did help lead the Cowboys to the 70 SB vs the colts so it was not as if Morton was a poor QB.

 

[danny0812]

I dont post very often but this thread intrigues me. Born in 75 some of my earliest memories of the Boys are with Danny White at QB. I loved Danny i think he was a GREAT qb. I mean look how many records tony breaks that were held by Danny. Roger was one of the greatest of all time and i believe with a Title that Danny could have been in that class too. I still love watching old clips of Danny. Just not The Catch game. Its too painful still.

 

[Juke99]

^^^this^^^

Just about word for word.

I liked Danny, but felt he was jinxed. In retrospect I realize I was just too young to know enough about the game.

On the nosey. I think we were spoiled by Staubach and expected wins in big games. White was a very good QB. Except for a fingertip tackle the catch in "The Catch" game wouldn't have made a difference...the pass at the end of the game to Drew Pearson would have gotten the team in FG range, at least, except for the last second clutch of his jersey.

 

[Doomsday101]

On the nosey. I think we were spoiled by Staubach and expected wins in big games. White was a very good QB. Except for a fingertip tackle the catch in "The Catch" game wouldn't have made a difference...the pass at the end of the game to Drew Pearson would have gotten the team in FG range, at least, except for the last second clutch of his jersey.

Defense failed to do their part as well.

 

[Juke99]

Defense failed to do their part as well.

Actually, I'm still amazed that Montana got that pass off to Clark. Granted, Montana had athletic ability but he had three Cowboys around him and they simply played poorly on the play.

 

[lockster]

Danny has nothing to apologize for. He was a great qb, just got the bad end of lots of things he had no control of. Would I prefer Staubach, yes, but
I was always fine with Danny.

 

[Chief]

I know there are a lot of Danny White fans on this board, so I'll try to tread lightly.

I never liked him. He had some decent talent, and was good statistically, but he struggled as a leader, I thought. The DMN poll one year that showed the majority of the locker room wanted Hogeboom as the starter spoke volumes, IMO. Many of Danny's teammates didn't have his back and that's a problem when you're playing QB.

Staubach over Morton as a pretty easy call. As much as I liked Landry, he was a little slow in coming around on that one.

 

[DWhite Fan]

The real sad thing for Danny about the 3 championship game losses is that, if any one or all of them had been played in Dallas, the Cowboys win 2 of the 3.

The only loss maybe to the Eagles (I just think Philly was a team of destiny in 1980 and I did not like how the teams matched up).

This was really important for the '81 loss to the 49ers. What a piece of crap Candlestick Park's field was.

:starspin

 

[burmafrd]

by the time Hogeboom came on the scene Danny was getting old and more importantly we were very much on the downhill slide with the whole team. So I would not put too much into what happened late in his career.

 

[Manster68]

Since we are now at the offseason, I thought it would be fun to go back to a couple of relatively shortterm quarterback controversies from days past. I was a little bit young to appreciate the Craig Morton vs Staubach debate (it was really around the mid 70's when I was old enough to understand football). However, where there any of you, at the time, who favored Craig Morton remaining as quarterback over Staubach. Obviously, Roger is a legend and I think we can all agree he is the greatest or second greatest Cowboys quarterback of all-time. However, did any of you support Morton when that controversy began?

Let's also talk about the Danny White and Gary Hogeboom controversy. I was always a huge Danny White fan and remember thinking at the time that it was one of the few major mistakes Tom Landry made with the Cowboys. I know White got criticized a lot for losing the championship games, but Danny was a winner and tough as nails. I always thought the players turned on Danny to a degree when he took a pro-management stand and because Hogeboom was considered more like "one of the guys" Landry let the players influence him. White was never quite the same after that even when he returned as starter, though some people forget he was having a great season when he got his wrist broken toward the end of his career. If that hadn't have happened, he probably would have had another three or four solid years left. Even when the Cowboys drafted Aikman, I always thought instead of drafting Steve Walsh as well, they could have kept White around for another season or two as Aikman's backup and let Aikman learn from White, who went on to become a good coach in Arena football.

What was everyone's thought on the White-Hogeboom battle at the time? Was anyone in Hogeboom's corner?

Concerning Morton vs. Staubach, I was in my infancy as being a Cowboy fan. I was also around 6 to 7 years old. However, it seemed to me that Coach Landry gave every chance to Morton before making a change.

Ever wondered what would have happened if Morton led Dallas to a Super Bowl V victory? Do you think Morton would have been replaced by Staubach still? Maybe losing Super Bowl V was the best thing that ever happened to Dallas because it retained Staubach on the roster (and keep the legacy this great franchise has today).

I am glad we will never know though.

------------------------

As for White and Hogeboom, I was in White's corner primarily. Even though the Cowboys lost three straight NFC Championship games with White at quarterback, it wasn't all his fault. Even though Danny White wasn't on the field in San Francisco during Montana's drive, it was Danny White who overthrew Doug Donely in the flat on the key 3rd down that would have put the Cowboys in scoring range to make it a two possession game.

I can understand some people frustration with Danny White, but replacing him with Hogeboom was wrong. As much as I admired Jim Jeffcoat, maybe drafting Dan Marino in 1983 would have been a better option.

 

[RS12]

I know there are a lot of Danny White fans on this board, so I'll try to tread lightly.

I never liked him. He had some decent talent, and was good statistically, but he struggled as a leader, I thought. The DMN poll one year that showed the majority of the locker room wanted Hogeboom as the starter spoke volumes, IMO. Many of Danny's teammates didn't have his back and that's a problem when you're playing QB.

Staubach over Morton as a pretty easy call. As much as I liked Landry, he was a little slow in coming around on that one.

Agree Chief. Always seemed like DW played just well enough to lose. If they had just won one of those Championship games I would have felt better about him, and I know he did not lose three straight by himself but he was the QB at the time.

 

[pigskin fan]

staubach, white, hoggie (on survivor)

 

[Hook'em#11]

The only time I liked Hogeboom was when he was on Survivor. That was it.


Danny White all the way.

As well as Roger over Morton, or any current QB for one of the 31 teams in the NFL.

 

[CoCo]

Let me preface all this by saying that back in the day (Staubach v Morton) there was nowhere near the media coverage there is today. And living in NY at the time left me with literal scraps of info on that duel. I was also about 10 years old at the time. That said...

I was a Morton fan. I recall Landry saying that each would get equal opportunities in preseason before selecting a starter for 1971. From what I recall, or saw, I thought Morton outplayed him that preseason, yet Staubach was named the starter. I was bummed. But of course got over it with a SB win.

In 1972 our family moved to Colorado. In 1977 the Broncos picked up Morton and he led them to their most storied season ever at that point. Morton was an absolute hero in Denver and I was thrilled for him.

Also thrilled that the draft pick we got for trading Morton to the Giants turned into Randy White. Brilliant!

************************************
On Danny vs Hogeboom I was all Danny. Again, not the depth of media coverage for us out of staters during that era But I really felt like Danny got shafted in Dallas. I agree that many teammates did NOT have Danny's back. I blame that on them more than Danny but readily profess its an outsiders perspective. I hated how Springs & Hill criticized Danny publicly and then Landry cut him off at the knees with his decision to promote Hogeboom. Very poorly handled.

I hate how it seems the organization has disowned White. But maybe some or all of that is his own doing - I don't know. He just is never associated with the team and I think that's wrong.

 

[CoCo]

That Giants game when White broke his wrist was classic for the reason already mentioned. I have the 2nd half on video so I remember the forementioned aspects of that game well.

One thing not mentioned was that back then D-lineman could induce O-lineman pre-snap into false starts. That is exactly what Martin did to Pozderac that day. That rule has since been changed of course.

I also believe that "false starts" didn't exist back then. Rather, if an O-lineman moved it was "illegal procedure" or similar. And the play continued rather than whistled dead at that point. Today, Dorsett & Newsome wouldn't have made those plays because play would have been stopped.

 

[Jarv]

In the battle between Morton and Roger I was pulling for Roger and White and Hogeboom I was always behind Danny.

Ditto.

 

[KJJ]

I started following the Cowboys late during the 71 season. The Staubach/Morton controversy had already been settled a few games earlier. Watching highlights of Morton's career reminded me of the torment I went through watching Danny White years later after he took over for Roger. Danny was similar to Morton in a sense that he took sacks and always turned the ball over at the worst time. Neither Morton or White were good big game QB's they both had a large capacity for choking under pressure. I became very disillusioned with White after the fumble against San Fran in the 81 NFC Title game. I was convinced after that game he would never lead the Cowboys to a championship. The only reason a controversy arose between him and Hogeboom was because Danny wasn't getting it done and the Cowboys were looking for a change. It wasn't like Hogeboom ever outplayed White it was more the Cowboys wanting a change to try and spark the team. At the time I welcomed the change because it became painfully obvious the Cowboys were a declining team and White wasn't the answer.

 

[Doomsday101]

I started following the Cowboys late during the 71 season. The Staubach/Morton controversy had already been settled a few games earlier. Watching highlights of Morton's career reminded me of the torment I went through watching Danny White years later after he took over for Roger. Danny was similar to Morton in a sense that he took sacks and always turned the ball over at the worst time. Neither Morton or White were good big game QB's they both had a large capacity for choking under pressure. I became very disillusioned with White after the fumble against San Fran in the 81 NFC Title game. I was convinced after that game he would never lead the Cowboys to a championship. The only reason a controversy arose between him and Hogeboom was because Danny wasn't getting it done and the Cowboys were looking for a change. It wasn't like Hogeboom ever outplayed White it was more the Cowboys wanting a change to try and spark the team. At the time I welcomed the change because it became painfully obvious the Cowboys were a declining team and White wasn't the answer.

White had his share of big comebacks in post season as well. Vs Tampa and Alt he pulled out some wins that looked like they were lost causes. Even the game vs SF we scored the points the defense could not stop SF in that game yet White took the blame?