For those who weren't around back then, the way people talk about Manning and Brady right now, that's the way people talked about Staubach in the 70's. Staubach led the league in passing four times. That's extremely difficult to do. Manning or Brady didn't do that, and probably won't do that (Brady has to do it two more times). Both Brady and Manning won their first passing title in their seventh season as starters. By his seventh full season as a starter, Staubach had already won three passing titles, and would have won more if he hadn't sat out of football completely for five years from age 22-27.
Staubach had a career rating of 83.4 when the average rating was 65.2, so it translates into a career rating of 107.8 today. To put that into perspective, Peyton Manning, who's probably done, has a career rating of 96.5, and Aaron Rodgers, who is in his prime and still has the downside of his career ahead of him, only has a rating of 105.6 over his career.
Great post, percy, as always.
And not only did Staubach not play football for five years after leaving Navy he also did not see much of the field for two years after joining the Cowboys. It wasn't until the eighth game of the 71 season that Coach Landry named Roger as the starter (after alternating him and Craig Morton for the first seven games). Once he put Roger in, Dallas went on a 10-game winning streak culminating in the win over Miami in SBVI.
I think just about anyone on this forum who watched Staubach play believes the Cowboys would have beaten Baltimore in SBV if Roger was given a chance. Morton was terribly off his game that day. I, personally, have no doubt Dallas would have six Lombardi's if Coach Landry had entrusted Staubach with the starting role in 1970. But Coach was always loyal to veteran players. And Dallas had invested a no. 5 draft pick in Morton in 1965.
Also, Staubach did not only essentially miss out on seven seasons of peak physical condition (ages 22-28) due to his Naval commitment and having a first round selection and veteran ahead of him on the depth chart, he also was forced to retire when he was still at the top of his game. He threw 52 TDs (25 in 1978, 27 in 1979) when he was 36 and 37, and that was when only 12 QBs total over 1978-79 threw for more than 20 TDs in those seasons. If not for the cumulative effect of his concussions, Staubach could have produced at a high level until he was 40. Had he, I also believe he would have led Dallas to at least one more SB appearance, either against Oakland in SBXV or Cincinnati in SBXVI. Although Oakland got on a roll in the playoffs, Dallas beat them in Oakland late in the season, and I think a Staubach-led Dallas team could have beaten the Raiders. I'm also certain the Cowboys would have beaten the Bengals the following year with Danny White at QB, so how much more certain would I have been with Staubach?
In a decade that featured Terry Bradshaw, Bob Griese, Fran Tarkenton, Len Dawson, Ken Stabler and Sonny Jurgensen, Staubach was universally hailed as the best QB of that era.
There truly was a sense that with Staubach, the Cowboys could win any game. Even in SBXIII - the single greatest sports-related heartache in my life - I thought that if the Cowboys could have recovered a second onside kick that Roger would have led them to victory over Pittsburgh.
It will always stick in my crawl that Bradshaw got four rings to Roger's two. Staubach was clearly the superior player.
Another thing, in the 1975 and 78 playoffs, Pittsburgh rolled through people, beating Baltimore, Oakland, Denver and Houston by a combined 111-35 those two years. The Steelers dominated the best AFC teams and won each of those games going away. There wasn't an NFC team that could have stayed on the field with the Steelers in SBs X and XIII. Staubach gave the Cowboys chances in both of those games. His teammates let him down, not vice versa.
With a couple of breaks in either SB vs. the Steelers, had Staubach played in SBV and if he could have extended his career and continued at the level he displayed from 1977-79, he could have left the game with four or five rings.
As I said in an earlier post, in a high stakes game vs. a great opponent, the only QB I'd consider ahead of Roger Staubach would be Joe Montana. Johnny Unitas is close, too. I would not take any of today's great QBs over Staubach in that situation.
From where I stand, Staubach is in the top 5 all-time.
