Landry not White to blame for 1981 Niner Loss

[KJJ]

Montana threw some horrible passes -- flat HORRIBLE passes in the clutch, missing a wide open Solomon.

As we saw he made up for it when the game was on the line. Keep grinding that ax!

 

[jimmy40]

Very good post Thumper. I think the fan base has been flat wrong and flat cruel with some of it's knee-jerk conclusions.

a 30 year knee-jerk conclusion?

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

That was a game that ripped my heart to shreds.

It was around 2 a.m. in the morning when I decided that I would become a sworn enemy of the FortyWhiners.

 

[T-RO]

A city turns against its quarterback and the fanbase can only blame themselves if the guy fails. Cowboy fans of that era deserved exactly what they got. Karmic justice. If they'd supported White things might have been very different.

I was not a Cowboy fan during any of that era...nor do I have any reason to defend White. I'm just speaking truth.

 

[Oldschool7]

a 30 year knee-jerk conclusion?

Perhaps I used the wrong words...but I speak of an unreasoned, emotionally-based and patently unfair conclusion.

What White went on to be is a completely different matter. He absolutely did not lose that game and he outplayed Montana.

 

[bbgun]

A city turns against its quarterback and the fanbase can only blame themselves if the guy fails. Cowboy fans of that era deserved exactly what they got. Karmic justice. If they'd supported White things might have been very different.

I was not a Cowboy fan during any of that era...nor do I have any reason to defend White. I'm just speaking truth.

I love how Danny (not the team, mind you) is 0-3 in NFC Championship Games but Romo (not the team, mind you) is 15-2 in November. What a difference 30 years makes.

 

[Oldschool7]

I love how Danny (not the team, mind you) is 0-3 in NFC Championship Games but Romo (not the team, mind you) is 15-2 in November. What a difference 30 years makes.

Huh? I have heard a lot more blame thrown on Romo's shoulders for December than I've hard him praised for November.

 

[Don Corleone]

A city turns against its quarterback and the fanbase can only blame themselves if the guy fails. Cowboy fans of that era deserved exactly what they got. Karmic justice. If they'd supported White things might have been very different.

I was not a Cowboy fan during any of that era...nor do I have any reason to defend White. I'm just speaking truth.

I became a fan, strangely enough, during the 1st quarter of this 1981 NFC champ game (gasp). First football game I ever watched.

I had heard of the great Cowboys teams of the 1970's, and found myself pulling for this bunch as we were living in Bay City, Texas at the time, and I considered the Cowboys to be our home team (even though Houston is closer geographically, but the Oilers weren't playing in this game).

With that being said, I watched White receive tons of criticism for losing efforts in the Champ game in 1981 and 1982. Low and behold, he had lost one the year before I became a fan also. This was in the years before the internet and when ESPN was in infancy stage. Criticism was still everywhere. He would have been crucified for those losing efforts today.

A closer look would reveal that the Cowboys were an aging group with an outdated defensive scheme, and a head coach who the game had passed by. Yet, everyone heaped the blame on Danny White.

The real "internal" hatred towards White came in the following strike year in 1982, when he crossed the picket line. He was hated by many of his teammates, who never viewed him as a leader after that point. That was really the nail in his coffin.

We were then left with Gary Hogeboom as the starting QB a few years later.

 

[bbgun]

Huh? I have heard a lot more blame thrown on Romo's shoulders for December than I've hard him praised for November.

I meant the Zone, not the national media. The point is that Tony didn't win those games single-handedly (even though they're frequently ascribed to him alone) and Danny wasn't the sole culprit in the playoff losses.

“Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.” -- JFK

 

[Oldschool7]

Oh yeah White was a real hero and you claim you don't have an ax to grind?

You are living on a plane of conventional and unexamined thought. Typical.

Name ONE great play that Montana made in that final drive. Name ONE and get back to me. The game is known for "THE CATCH." It is not known as "THE THROW" or "THE DRIVE."

Watching that game I was shocked to watch Montana look nothing like the polished, poised, accurate guy he became later.

If anything he was choking and stumbling his way through the game and Walsh put the final drive on the shoulders of the running game.

He wildly missed a wide open Solomon, and then he overthrew Clark. (Only Clark made a stunning play) What's so great about that?

Simpletons say, "Oh the end-result was good so QB=heroic." Try to think 3 dimensionally.

After a stunning rip-your-heart-out drive, on the VERY next play White made a thread-the-needle pass (better than any passes I saw Montana throw) for a gain that almost broke all the way. The very next play his line fails him and suddenly HE's the GOAT? That's absurd.

I guess Roger should be also be blamed for the Jackie Smith drop in the Super Bowl and for his inability to beat the Steelers.

 

[Manster68]

I love how Danny (not the team, mind you) is 0-3 in NFC Championship Games but Romo (not the team, mind you) is 15-2 in November. What a difference 30 years makes.

As much as I am cheering for Tony Romo, until he leads the Cowboys to a playoff victory (or six for that matter), he doesn't belong in the same conversation with Danny White.

White won six playoff games.

1. 1978 vs Atlanta. Came off the bench and bailed out Staubach who got cheap shotted.

2. 1980 vs Rams. Cowboys blasted the Rams 21-0 in the 2nd half to win 34-13. Dorsett had something like 152 yards rushing.

3. 1980 at Atlanta. The great comeback victory.

4. 1981 vs Tampa Bay. The best game I ever saw Dallas play from whistle to gun.

5. 1982 vs Tampa Bay. A different playoff format from a strike ridden 9-game season.

6. 1982 - Green Bay. A wild affair where Dallas outscored the Pack despite big plays from Janes Lofton and John Jefferson.

Give Danny White some credit for at least winning some playoff games.

Romo has yet to do that.

 

[BlueBandit]

Enough of the negative - bad Karma - tomorrow is a new day! and we got a job to do and We gonna do it BABY!!!! :a-team:

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

You beat me to it. Roger was in the exact same situation two years earlier in that divisional playoff game vs the Rams, except that he had the home crowd behind him and there was much more time on the clock. As in Frisco, all we had to do was get into FG position to steal the win, but it didn't happen. I love Roger to death, but not to the point of re-writing history or erasing his failures.

you are right (as much as it pains me to say)

 

[bbgun]

you are right (as much as it pains me to say)

win - win

 

[bbgun]

As much as I am cheering for Tony Romo, until he leads the Cowboys to a playoff victory (or six for that matter), he doesn't belong in the same conversation with Danny White.

White won six playoff games.

1. 1978 vs Atlanta. Came off the bench and bailed out Staubach who got cheap shotted.

2. 1980 vs Rams. Cowboys blasted the Rams 21-0 in the 2nd half to win 34-13. Dorsett had something like 152 yards rushing.

3. 1980 at Atlanta. The great comeback victory.

4. 1981 vs Tampa Bay. The best game I ever saw Dallas play from whistle to gun.

5. 1982 vs Tampa Bay. A different playoff format from a strike ridden 9-game season.

6. 1982 - Green Bay. A wild affair where Dallas outscored the Pack despite big plays from Janes Lofton and John Jefferson.

Give Danny White some credit for at least winning some playoff games.

Romo has yet to do that.

And he played that '82 playoff game vs Tampa with a bad thumb (he banged it on a lineman's helmet in practice). One of Landry's biggest mistakes was letting public opinion polls and the players determine the 1984 QB competition.

 

[KJJ]

Watching that game I was shocked to watch Montana look nothing like the polished, poised, accurate guy he became later.

If anything he was choking and stumbling his way through the game and Walsh put the final drive on the shoulders of the running game.

He wildly missed a wide open Solomon, and then he overthrew Clark. (Only Clark made a stunning play) What's so great about that?

Simpletons say, "Oh the end-result was good so QB=heroic." Try to think 3 dimensionally.

After a stunning rip-your-heart-out drive, on the VERY next play White made a thread-the-needle pass (better than any passes I saw Montana throw) for a gain that almost broke all the way. The very next play his line fails him and suddenly HE's the GOAT? That's absurd.

I guess Roger should be also be blamed for the Jackie Smith drop in the Super Bowl and for his inability to beat the Steelers.

Name ONE great play that Montana made in that final drive. Name ONE and get back to me. The game is known for "THE CATCH." It is not known as "THE THROW" or "THE DRIVE."

Dude if you don't have the drive and the throw you don't have "The Catch". Montana drove the 49ers practically the length of the field in a last ditch drive with a title on the line. He was under a tremendous rush with 6' 9" Ed Too Tall Jones barreling down on him and Montana put the ball where only Clark could make "The Catch". That drive signified Montana's career. He was a young QB who hadn't even reached his full potential yet. He drove his team down the field against a highly experienced Cowboys team that had been in big games many times and was favored to win that day. Montana played a terrific game despite his turnovers. When the game was on the line Joe Montana was as good during that final drive as the Joe Montana that went on to win 4 SB's. They don't hand out titles for stats, passer rating and completion percentage. You win titles by making plays when you have to make them. Montana was in a do or die situation on that final drive and although the game is known as "The Catch" it's the one who threw the pass who's in the Hall Of fame and he's the reason the 49ers went on to win 4 SB's under his leadership. You're obviously a homer who still hasn't come to grips with that game...GET OVER IT! That game told the story of Joe Montana and Danny Whites career. You can try spinning that game anyway you want but Montana got it done when his team needed a play in the end and Danny White folded when his team needed one. There's a reason Montana has 4 SB rings and Danny White never even played in a SB.

 

[Oldschool7]

Montana drove the 49ers practically the length of the field in a last ditch drive with a title on the line.

No he didn't. They made almost all their yardage that whole drive RUNNING the ball.

When the game was on the line Joe Montana was as good during that final drive as the Joe Montana that went on to win 4 SB's.

Wrong again. He was off on a lot of passes. I asked you to name ONE good pass from that drive. ONE! And you came up with nothing. Actually I can think of *one* good throw. A 14 yard out to Clark.

There's a reason Montana has 4 SB rings and Danny White never even played in a SB.

Of course there is. Montana is a legend and Danny White is an afterthought. That has NOTHING to do with what we are talking about.

 

[Oldschool7]

A closer look would reveal that the Cowboys were an aging group with an outdated defensive scheme, and a head coach who the game had passed by. Yet, everyone heaped the blame on Danny White.

Exactly. As a Rams fan at the time...I thought geesh...some of those Cowboy fans will absolutely eat one of their own...They get anything less than a Super Bowl championship and they show themselves as ugly humanity. Ruthless, spoiled, foolish and parochial.

But then I'm the kind of guy who would never so much as boo my own team.

But when Troy Aikman became a Cowboy my heart was captured. I'm still disgusted with some of the fanbase and local mediots, but I love the Cowboy players.

 

[Eskimo]

The game was clearly starting to pass Landry by at this point. He was an old coach who was stuck in his ways. The game was changing and he wasn't changing with it. When Parcells came to Dallas he was still stuck in the 1980's trying to win games the way he did 20 years prior. Same thing happened to Joe Gibbs.

Maybe so, but at least Parcells was smart enough to hire coordinators for the offense and the defense. His big mistake was in not replacing Zimmer when he went to the 3-4. Zimmer ran the most vanilla 3-4 in the history of the league.

 

[KJJ]

No he didn't. They made almost all their yardage that whole drive RUNNING the ball.

The key word you used was "almost". The 49ers winning TD was a pass. It was a result of Montana putting the ball where only Clark could catch it. Put White in that same situation and he would have thrown a pick got or got sacked and fumbled.

Wrong again. He was off on a lot of passes. I asked you to name ONE good pass from that drive. ONE! And you came up with nothing. Actually I can think of *one* good throw. A 14 yard out to Clark.

Dude there was one GREAT pass on that drive and it turned out to be one of the most historic plays in NFL history and you're asking me to name one good pass from that drive? Montana completed passes on that drive and the final one he threw to Clark won the game and the rest is history. Montana threw that pass where it had to be thrown so only Clark could make a play on the ball. The catch got all the notoriety because Clark had to leap high and bring it in but Montana put that pass where ONLY Clark had a chance at it. It was either going to be a great catch or it goes out of bounds and the 49ers live to see another play. If the pass was lower it would have either been batted down or picked off. Walls who led the league with 11 INT's that season was back there and Montana put that pass where it had to be thrown. You're so bitter about that game you're actually trying to discount what Montana did on that drive. Are you serious? This is an angle I've never seen in the 29 years since that game.