Professional career[edit]
Dallas Cowboys[edit]
Morton was the fifth overall selection of the
1965 NFL Draft, taken by
Dallas Cowboys, a
nd spent his first four seasons as the backup for
Don Meredith, but still received opportunities to play due to different injuries suffered by Meredith.
In 1969 he became the starter at quarterback after Meredith's surprising retirement, but suffered a separated right shoulder in the fourth game of the season (which required surgery at the end of the year) affected his passing percentage (dropping from 71.1% to 53.6%).
[4]
In
1970, although he was bothered most of the season recuperating from offseason right shoulder and right elbow operations, he led the Cowboys to
Super Bowl V where the team lost 16–13 to the
Baltimore Colts. This result created one of the most famous
quarterback controversies in NFL history, when in
1971, head coach
Tom Landry started alternating Morton with
Roger Staubach, reaching its extreme against the
Chicago Bears, where they alternated plays. After this famous game,
Landry settled on Staubach and the Cowboys went on a 10-game winning streak that included a 24–3 victory in
Super Bowl VI over the
Miami Dolphins.
Morton played all of the 1972 regular season because of a separated shoulder suffered by Staubach,[5] but was replaced during a playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers. Staubach entered an apparently hopeless situation and threw two
touchdown passes in the last 90 seconds to win the game 30–28,
[6] eventually sealing Morton's fate with the team.
After repeatedly asking for a trade, Morton signed a
WFL contract with the
Houston Texans,
but never played a down with them. He was traded to the
New York Giants six games into the
1974 season in exchange for their number one draft choice in
1975 (#2-
Randy White) and a second round draft choice in
1976 (#40-
Jim Jensen).
[7]
