Question for the Older Cowboy fans

[rockj7]

Exactly, took him over Montana even though we had Montana rated higher and the 49'ers won 3 SB's.

I'm a Cowboy fan that lives in the Bay Area they always talk or play that catch clip smh

 

[plasticman]

crap we could of had Joe Montana and would have eliminated the hated 49ers from their dynasty and that dreaded"Catch play"

All because Tex didn't want to pay Todd Christiansen, who probably would have caught hundreds of passes from Montana.

I wouldn't call it a blunder, nobody can see into the future. However, after that University of Houston game, I had a very strong feeling that I was watching the next Roger Staubach.

I don't mean to take anything away from Cosbie, he was a really good TE who would have made more Pro Bowls had the Cowboys won at least one of the three NFC championship games they lost in a row from 1980 to 1982.

 

[jobberone]

Yup, Doug Cosbie was a solid and dependable TE.

Better than average by more than a little.

 

[Alexander]

Better than average by more than a little.

Three time Pro Bowler when it was less of a joke, plus an All-Pro nod. That transcends the "better than average" label.

All time, he's only behind Witten and Novacek as far as I am concerned.

 

[Alexander]

All because Tex didn't want to pay Todd Christiansen, who probably would have caught hundreds of passes from Montana.

Christensen broke his foot in his rookie camp and then was released the following year. I don't think he was cut because of his contract.

http://sportsday.***BANNED-URL***/d...nd-cut-by-cowboys-became-star-not-wearing-one

If it’s any consolation to Gavin Escobar, whose rookie season at tight end hasn’t exactly been a revelation, second-round picks by the Cowboys have started slowly and still made a living in football. One, in fact, eventually became a five-time Pro Bowl tight end.

Just not for the Cowboys.

Todd Christensen, class of ’78, was one of the Cowboys’ all-time cases of mistaken identity. Drafted as a running back out of BYU, he had size (6-3, 230), smarts and athleticism. Gil Brandt once said no Cowboy ever tested better.

But, after Christensen broke his foot and spent his rookie season on injured reserve, the Cowboys had doubts about his position. Tom Landry asked him at training camp in 1979 how he’d feel about trying tight end.

“I said, ‘That’s fine,’ ” Christensen told The Dallas Morning News in 1984. “But then he asked me a week later if I preferred it, and I told him I preferred running back. Which was not the correct answer.”

Christensen also figured his chances of sticking at tight end weren’t good. The Cowboys had Billy Joe Dupree and Jay Saldi and had just drafted Doug Cosbie. He went back to running back. Two weeks later, the Cowboys cut him, making him another in what would become a long line of second-round busts.

Eventually picked up by the Raiders, he played mostly special teams for three years. Then he caught 42 passes in ’82. He followed that up with what was at the time the greatest season ever by a tight end: 92 catches, 1,247 yards, 12 touchdowns.

Dan Reeves, Christensen’s running backs coach in Dallas, lived with the Cowboys’ mistake every time his Broncos lined up against Oakland.

“I told him I never thought he’d be that kind of tight end,” Reeves said in ’84. “If we knew that, we would have insisted he move there.”

Probably just as well, at least as far as Christensen was concerned. He’d never have caught 92 passes on a team built around Tony Dorsett.

And after surviving the ’60s and ’70s, Landry was in no mood for another decade of free spirits.

Consider Christensen’s comments when he was joined in Oakland in 1987 by former Cowboy Ron Fellows:

“One of the things he’s going to enjoy is there is not as much mental pressure. Dallas is very regimented and rule-oriented. ... That wears on you mentally through the course of the year.”

Christensen — who died last week at 57 while undergoing a liver transplant — didn’t keep a grudge against the team that drafted him. He came to realize moving to tight end was good for him. Moving to Oakland was better.

 

[Plankton]

Christensen broke his foot in his rookie camp and then was released the following year. I don't think he was cut because of his contract.

http://sportsday.***BANNED-URL***/d...nd-cut-by-cowboys-became-star-not-wearing-one

He was cut because he didn't want to move from fullback to tight end.

And, then he goes to the Raiders, and moves to TE.

Ouch.

 

[jobberone]

Three time Pro Bowler when it was less of a joke, plus an All-Pro nod. That transcends the "better than average" label.

All time, he's only behind Witten and Novacek as far as I am concerned.

That isn't what that means but then you knew that.

 

[Redball Express]

Although the tight end position wasn't utilized back then as it is now - before Cosby was Billie Joe Dupree and he was no slouch either.

Speaking of Billie Joe - I saw a guy wearing his jersey in a sports bar last year in Vegas. It was pretty cool.

Frank Clarke was our 1st great TE.

A fav of Don Meredith and he had some great games against the Packers in thr mid-60's. when we were trying to move into elite status.

 

[Risen Star]

Very good player. He was the TE when I first realized my gift for breaking down the game and coin flipped being a Cowboys fan.

He was a lot like Witten only you weren't ashamed to wear his jersey out in public.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Cosby was very good. He even made 3 straight Pro Bowls.
Not on Witten's level though.

Just some trivia; Dallas took BPA back then in the draft and a guy named Joe Montana was as the top of their board when they picked Cosby. They had an almost retired Staubach, but Danny White waiting in the wings....so they went away from their draft philosophy.

Still burns my butt to this day, that and the Cowboys were all set to draft Jerry Rice, but the Goony Niners traded up just ahead of the Cowboys to get him. Montana to Rice was supposed to be a Dallas Cowboys play.

 

[Ratmatt]

Ive been looking at a lot of Cowboy games from the 70s and 80s. How good was Doug Cosbie at TE I wasn't around to see the Boys in the 70s or 80s.

He was a very good TE,dependable,with good hands!

 

[rockj7]

It's funny how certain things you can remember as a kid Even though I was real young. I had to be 2-3 but I can remember those real white sidelines at Texas Stadium the dark navy blue end zones with the Cowboys old school double bar helmet and the wet spots in the Astro turf

 

[lane]

Doug Cosbie was a very good player for us..Very solid route runner with great hands.

My favorite thing about him was he was very tough..Witten tough.

 

[Kaiser]

Doug Cosbie was a very good player for us..Very solid route runner with great hands.

My favorite thing about him was he was very tough..Witten tough.

Totally agree, Cosbie would have gotten a lot more press if he wasn't overshadowed by guys like Tony Dorsett. He would have been a much bigger star had he played on a different team or the Cowboys team at a different time.

 

[honyock]

Agree. Throw Billy Joe Dupree into the mix... Also note reference to Cosbie in Pro Bowl tight end references and other pro bowl Dallas TE's

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

DuPree was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the first round (20th overall) of the 1973 NFL Draft. As a rookie he led the team in receiving yards (392) and was second in receiving touchdowns (5).

Known as a superb blocker and pass receiver, DuPree was one of the top tight ends of his era.

He caught 267 passes for 3,565 yards and 42 touchdowns. He also rushed for 178 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries.

Dupree was selected to three consecutive Pro Bowls,(1976–1978), and assisted his team to a 27–10 victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII, as the top receiver of the game (four catches for 66 yards). He also played in Super Bowl X and scored a touchdown in Super Bowl XIII; in both games the Cowboys lost against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Even though tight ends during his era were expected to block more than feature their receiving skills, his 41 career touchdown receptions was the Cowboys team record until it was broken in 2012 by Jason Witten.

The durable DuPree never missed a game in his 11 seasons in the league and was part of the franchise's legacy of Pro Bowl tight ends that includes: Jim Doran, Dick Bielski, Lee Folkins, Mike Ditka, Doug Cosbie, Jay Novacek and Jason Witten. He was also a Cowboys co-captain and recognized as the team’s NFL Man of the Year.

Thanks for posting that, it was a nice read. My memory of that era has faded on some of the details and I had forgotten just how good Dupree was. Those stats speak not only to his ability, they also speak to how great an offensive mind Landry was (and he started as a defensive coach!) He was in many ways, way ahead of the curve in how he ran his offense for his time. All those multiple sets, re-introducing the shotgun formation, how he involved his tight ends as receivers at a time, like others have said, that the league valued tight ends more as blockers than receivers. He really had no fear as an innovator.

He was also smart enough to not overuse Dorsett, and he got pretty much every bit of production possible out of Preston Pearson. And I thought he found ways to get the most out of Herschel Walkers skillset, even when the team was going downhill, maybe better than anyone who coached him afterwards.

Dupree and Cosbie were really good. And they had a pretty fair coach on the sidelines to help them and their qb's out.

 

[muck4doo]

I always think of Doug Cosbie and Brent Jones as similar players, but that could be because they both played for Santa Clara. Cosbie was definitely a baller.

 

[TX Cowboy]

Reminded me of Kellen Winslow had hands of gold till he had that heart breaking drop
in the endzone for a easy touchdown against Pittsburgh

 

[rockj7]

Reminded me of Kellen Winslow had hands of gold till he had that heart breaking drop
in the endzone for a easy touchdown against Pittsburgh

That was Doug Cosbie? I obviously was not around for that Superbowl but I would have been sick for months that drop is played everytime they do a Superbowl history show or commercial. The Zone would have went Nuclear if the Zone was around for that SuperBowl

 

[MarkP88]

That was Doug Cosbie? I obviously was not around for that Superbowl but I would have been sick for months that drop is played everytime they do a Superbowl history show or commercial. The Zone would have went Nuclear if the Zone was around for that SuperBowl

That was Jackie Smith.

 

[KJJ]

Cosbie was a very solid TE the only negative that comes to mind with him is the Cowboys took him instead of Joe Montana who was going to be the pick. The team made a last minute decision to go with Cosbie despite Montana being the best player on the board. Everyone including Landry wanted Montana but I believe Tex talked him out of it feeling that Danny White was the future at QB. It was one of the first times if not the only time under Landry that the Cowboys broke away from their motto of taking the best player available.