Tag: roger staubach

Dak Prescott on cusp of passing Roger Staubach on list of Cowboys QBs

Prescott will likely become the franchise’s No. 3 all-time passer in Week 2 or 3, behind just Troy Aikman and Tony Romo. | From @ToddBrock24f7

While many Cowboys fans still seem to have their doubts about Dak Prescott, the 27-year-old is about to move into rarefied air within the exclusive club of Dallas quarterbacks.

This most recent season ended in disappointment for the team, but Prescott wrapped his sixth pro season by quietly slipping into fourth spot on the franchise’s all-time passing yardage list. Barring some unforeseen development, he’ll jump another spot within the first month of the 2022 season, ahead- perhaps unthinkably to some- of Roger Staubach.

No. 4 is about to become No. 3.

Prescott’s 4,449 passing yards in 2021 pushed him one spot past Danny White on both the Cowboys’ and NFL’s all-time passing leader list. He currently sits 97th with 22,083 career yards. He’s just 617 yards behind Staubach, who’s ranked 94th.

One can argue it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison. Staubach is NFL royalty, with five Super Bowl appearances, two championships, a Super Bowl MVP award, six Pro Bowls, Cowboys Ring of Honor immortality, and a Hall of Fame jacket as only the most obvious accolades in a highly-decorated career.

Prescott still has much to accomplish to earn a fraction of Staubach’s reputation among the all-time legends. But surpassing Staubach in any quarterbacking category is a noteworthy accomplishment in North Texas.

 

Many observers take all the gaudy passing yardage totals with a huge grain of salt. The modern pass-happy game bears little resemblance to the three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust offenses of yesteryear. With defensive secondaries so limited and quarterbacks so protected, it’s a different game now.

One look at the current rankings shows how skewed the numbers are toward today’s quarterbacks. Of the top ten all-time career passers, only two (Favre, Marino) are more than ten years removed from active duty. Two (Brady, Roethlisberger) retired within the past few weeks, two (Brees, Rivers) walked away just the year before that, and two more (Ryan, Rodgers) are still active. It truly is the golden age of quarterbacks.

Washington’s Sammy Baugh was considered the gold standard in his day. Easily one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, he retired after the 1952 season as the most prolific, with more passing yards than any man had ever amassed to that point.

But now, his 21,886 career yards are only good enough for 99th place all-time. What took him 167 games- 16 seasons in that time- to accomplish, Prescott did in 85 games.

While it is perhaps unfair to compare passers of different generations by lumping them all together on the same list, one list is all the league maintains. And if Prescott has a very reachable 4,000-yard season in 2022, he’ll vault to No. 73, ahead of names like Otto Graham, Andrew Luck, Daunte Culpepper, Bart Starr, Bob Griese, Joe Theismann, and Jim Plunkett.

The list really measures longevity first and, then to a certain degree, success. Greatness is not automatically directly proportional to one’s ranking on it. The upper half of the list is littered with quarterbacks whose yardage totals were once considered impossible, but they themselves aren’t necessarily considered legendary by today’s measures. Ryan Tannehill has 30,729 yards (52nd place). Kirk Cousins has 32,593 (43rd). Joe Flacco has 41,269 (19th). All are still adding to those stats and climbing higher.

Where Prescott’s numbers eventually land remains to be seen. His place among the elite will be decided by history, even as his ascension within the Cowboys record books is all but inevitable.

After Prescott overtakes Staubach- likely in Week 2 or 3 of the 2022 season- he’ll still have a couple seasons to go before he finds himself within striking distance of Troy Aikman and Tony Romo atop the franchise’s all-time leaderboard.

QB Gms Comp Att Yds TD INT Comp Rtg
1.Tony Romo 156 2,829 4,335 34,183 248 117 65.3 97.1
2. Troy Aikman 165 2,898 4,715 32,942 165 141 61.5 81.6
3. Roger Staubach 127 1,685 2,958 22,700 153 109 57.0 83.4
4. Dak Prescott 85 1,924 2,889 22,083 143 50 66.6 98.7

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Not-so-Super record: Cowboys QB Roger Staubach joined by Joe Burrow in dubious category

It’s one Super Bowl record that Staubach and Cowboys fans would have been happy to vacate, after holding the distinction for 46 years. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Football fans whose team doesn’t make the Super Bowl are often forced to find other things to root for. Maybe it comes down to pulling for a particular player, maybe it’s hoping a rival team loses. Maybe, as in the case of Cowboys fans and Bengals cornerback Chidobe Awuzie, it’s wishing good things for a guy who used to wear the star. Sometimes it’s about simply preserving your team’s place in history.

But then there are records you’d be just as happy to see someone else’s name etched next to.

Aaron Donald and the Rams defense likely got a sudden (if temporary) wave of silver-and-blue fans during the third quarter of Super Bowl LVI when the NBC broadcast team put up the following graphic:

Heading into halftime, Joe Burrow had been sacked twice. But in one particularly ominous stretch of the third quarter, Cincinnati’s offensive line gave up a staggering five sacks in nine dropbacks.

If Burrow got dropped one more time in the final 17 minutes of play, he would take over a Super Bowl record that Cowboys legend Roger Staubach had held all to himself for 46 years.

The Carolina Panthers surrendered seven sacks in Super Bowl 50, but only six were on starting passer Cam Newton; Ted Ginn Jr. went in the books as being sacked once, too. In Super Bowl XX, the Bears recorded seven sacks as well, but they were divided between Patriots quarterbacks Steve Grogan and Tony Eason.

No, until this past Sunday, only the Cowboys’ Staubach had been taken down seven times in a single Super Bowl.

Super Bowl X featured Dallas as the first NFC wild card squad to make the title game, their postseason run highlighted by Drew Pearson’s famous “Hail Mary” catch against Minnesota three weeks prior.

Pittsburgh, with a league-best 12-2 regular-season record, was anchored by their ferocious “Steel Curtain” defense, a unit that placed an astonishing eight of 11 starters in the Pro Bowl that year.

The Steelers defense got off to a hot start that afternoon in Miami, sacking Staubach on the very first play from scrimmage and foreshadowing a long day in the pocket for the Cowboys captain.

Pittsburgh got to him again on back-to-back plays late in the second quarter to push the Cowboys out of field goal range; Dallas nevertheless held a 10-7 lead at intermission.

Carrying that slight edge into the fourth quarter, though, the Cowboys offensive line finally caved. Staubach went down twice in one early three-and-out series; Pittsburgh broke through the line again on fourth down to block a punt out of the end zone and score a safety.

By the time Staubach was caught again, he was trying to engineer a comeback, down 15-10 with under six minutes to play. His seventh and final sack came with just over two minutes left and the Cowboys down 21-10. On the next play, Staubach would find receiver Percy Howard for a touchdown that made the score 21-17, the eventual final. (The Cowboys would get the ball again, but Staubach was all out of miracles, ending the game with an interception in the end zone.)

Seven sacks on the biggest stage of the season. It was a dubious record that Cowboys fans were happy to finally share with someone, and one they would have loved to let go of entirely.

And they nearly did, as Burrow found himself in the grasp of Donald one last time as he tried to conjure up a bit of late-game magic at SoFi Stadium in the waning moments of Sunday’s game.

Burrow managed to flick the ball away just before hitting the turf. If Donald had gotten home one second sooner, Los Angeles would have notched a new-record eight Super Bowl sacks.

But, as it turned out, had Donald been a second later, it could have been a different ending altogether to the drama-filled night.

In the end, the Rams won the Lombardi Trophy. And Joe Burrow put his name in the Super Bowl record book, right next to Heisman winner, two-time Super Bowl champ, and Hall of Fame legend Roger Staubach, albeit in a category both men- and their teams’ fans- would just as soon forget.

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Washington Super Bowl Coach stands alone

As Sean McVay and Zac Taylor look to win their first Super Bowl Sunday, we shall never forget Joe Gibbs won three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks.

How is it that one coach stands out in contrast to all Super Bowl champion coaches?

Vince Lombardi won the first two Super Bowls with Bart Starr as the Green Bay Packers starting quarterback. Don Shula and Miami won two with Bob Griese. Tom Landry steered Dallas to two Super Bowl trophies with Roger Staubach at the helm. Chuck Noll and the Pittsburgh Steelers won four Super Bowls in the 1970s with Terry Bradshaw behind center.

Tom Flores and the Raiders won two with Jim Plunkett as the leader of the offense. Bill Walsh was the head coach with Joe Montana the field general for three Super Bowl crowns for the 49ers. The 49ers won two more with head coach George Seifert coaching and Montana and Steve Young as signal-callers.

Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer both coached the Cowboys to Super Bowl rings with Troy Aikman taking the snaps from center. Denver’s Mike Shanahan as head coach and John Elway in the pocket for the Broncos won it all twice.

Tom Coughlin’s NY Giants took the crown twice with Eli Manning the on-field general. Last but certainly not least, New England’s Bill Belichick won six rings with Tom Brady as the quarterback.

Seifert is the only one above to win a second Super Bowl with a second quarterback (Montana and Young).

There is also Marv Levy and the Bills who went to multiple Super Bowls with Jim Kelly under center — and lost. Likewise, Dan Reeves led Elway and the Broncos to three Super Bowl appearances — they also lost all three.

Yet, there is one other coach to win more than multiple Super Bowls with more than one quarterback, Joe Gibbs of the Washington Redskins. Gibbs not only won more than one Super Bowl with more than one quarterback, he accomplished the feat three times!

Gibbs led Washington to Super Bowl trophies with Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien winning Super Bowls XVII, XXII and XXVI.

Starr, Griese, Staubach, Bradshaw, Montana, Young, Aikman and Elway are already in the Hall of Fame. Without question Brady will be in the HOF and Eli Manning a 2-time SB MVP is likely to be elected to the HOF. Only Jim Plunkett is likely to not make the HOF.

By contrast, Theismann was only an All-Pro once (1983), and Williams and Rypien were never All-Pro. Rypien had a great year only in 1991. Williams though never even a pro-bowler, was a veteran leader and had huge moments like the playoff win at Chicago (1987) and a nearly perfect 2nd quarter in Super Bowl XXII, earning the MVP.

Joe Gibbs is distinctive among Super Bowl coaches with multiple wins, doing so with three non-Hall of Fame quarterbacks.  Hats off to Coach Joe, who is remarkably now age 81. The Washington franchise and fans were certainly blessed to have enjoyed Joe Jackson Gibbs as head coach.

ESPN ranks Aikman, Staubach among QBs with multiple Super Bowl wins

Twelve quarterbacks have won multiple Super Bowls. The Cowboys legends rank well on the list, but behind several expected names. | From @ToddBrock24f7

With the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger, there’s been a lot of looking back around football this week, trying to determine just the proper spot in the history books for the longtime Steelers quarterback.

He is one of just 12 quarterbacks in league history to have won multiple Super Bowl titles, so he’s already a member of a rather exclusive club. NFL.com writer Adam Rank set out to sort those passers in order of greatness. For Cowboys fans, his list is also an opportunity to see how the two most decorated Dallas signal-callers stack up in an all-time comparison.

Early spoiler alert, and to the surprise of no one: Tom Brady tops the rankings. Joe Montana follows, and then John Elway. Terry Bradshaw is perhaps a bit of a surprise at No. 4 as he’s not often considered a prolific passer, and then Bart Starr comes in fifth (but maybe only because two of his five championships were actual Super Bowls). Peyton Manning places sixth, a testament to just how elite the talent at the top of the list is.

And then come the Cowboys, in back-to-back spots on the countdown. Here’s what Rank had to say about both:

Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy left speechless when NFL legend makes appearance

Native Pittsburgher Mike McCarthy needed a moment after a larger-than-life figure from his youth casually walked past his press conference. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Mike McCarthy has been in the NFL for nearly 30 years, hoisted a Lombardi Trophy, and coached some of the greatest players of this generation.

But even he can still get a little starstruck.

The Cowboys coach was in the middle of his Friday morning press conference when a larger-than-life figure casually strolled past the glass-box media room at the Ford Center, catching McCarthy’s eye.

The 57-year-old coach stopped mid-answer and gave an awkward wave before turning back to the assembled reporters.

“Roger Staubach,” the coach pointed out with a grin.

Despite the current crop of superstars he talks to daily- and forget coming to work at a building where five world championship trophies greet you in the front lobby- it’s not every day that Captain Comeback himself interrupts your train of thought with a personal appearance.

“Man, I’m shook,” McCarthy stumbled as the gallery laughed. “Thinking about the old Super Bowls; Steelers and the Cowboys,” the native Pittsburgher remarked as he tried- unsuccessfully- to get himself back on track.

“What the hell were we talking about?”

Staubach was at the facility in advance of the Salute to Service celebration scheduled to take place during Sunday’s game against the Broncos, team owner Jerry Jones said Friday on Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan.

“It is all leading up to the recognition of the Medal of Honor recipients that will be noted in a big way at the Denver-Cowboy game,” Jones said.

Here’s hoping McCarthy will get the opportunity to be formally introduced to Staubach before kickoff… assuming the coach can find his words by then.

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Cowboys News: Prescott and Amari back to work, ‘Hard Knocks’ highlights

Dallas welcomed two of its offensive stars back on Tuesday, plus a surprising admission from Roger Staubach about new HoFer Drew Pearson. | From @ToddBrock 24f7

Two of the Cowboys’ A-list superstars are back, just as the team goes primetime on HBO. Those were the lead stories as fans geared up for the season premiere of Hard Knocks Tuesday night. While the reality show’s debut lived up to the hype (and offered several intriguing moments), the club gave its fanbase even more to get excited about in the hours before, with a double whammy of good news: quarterback Dak Prescott is throwing once again in practice… and he’s throwing to Amari Cooper, who was taken off the PUP list.

Elsewhere, Cooper’s wide receiver mates Michael Gallup and CeeDee Lamb are both eyeing big seasons of their own, new linebacker Michael Gallup looks to employ a strategic gambit to getting up to game speed in his rookie campaign, and kicker Greg Zuerlein is supposedly still on track to resume normal kicking duties… but maybe not until Week 1. Roger Staubach makes a somewhat startling admission about his now-Hall of Fame companion Drew Pearson, there’s depth to discuss along both the offensive and defensive lines, one outlet estimates the cost of acquiring a second-year standout, and a rule change from the COVID season makes a welcome return for 2021. Here’s the News and Notes.

‘The wait is over!’ Cowboys legend Drew Pearson revels in Hall of Fame moment

The legendary wide receiver gave an impassioned acceptance speech, spotlighting teammates and coaches while reminding everyone where he was. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Drew Pearson, the legendary wide receiver for the Cowboys of the 1970s and early ’80s, admitted last week that he’s been mistakenly introduced as a Hall of Famer for years. His stats and place in the league’s history have certainly warranted his place there ever since retiring from the game in 1983.

But now that Pearson can officially be called a member of the club, he was clearly excited to, as he put it, “wear it out.” Pearson said the words “Pro Football Hall of Fame” 15 times (and added the abbreviated “Hall of Fame” another eight times) in just 11 minutes at the mic at Tom Benson Stadium on Sunday evening.

Pearson’s long wait- and near-misses- for making the Hall had been well-documented, making his speech one of the most anticipated of the weekend. And the fiery Pearson didn’t disappoint, shouting, “The wait is over!” to open his remarks; spotlighting his bronze bust for having “the biggest Afro in NFL history;” pulling up his pant legs to show off the skinny legs that carried him all the way to Canton; even taking a friendly dig at fellow Hall of Famer Mike Ditka.

After paying tribute to Cowboys founding fathers like Clint Murchison, Tex Schramm, and Gil Brandt, the original member of the 88 Club honored many of his star teammates and coaches by name for the role they each played in his football journey. Ditka, a former Cowboys standout before going on to become the Chicago Bears’ Super Bowl-winning coach, got a special mention.

“Thank you, Mike Ditka, my first receivers coach in the NFL,” Pearson said. “Mike was an All-Pro tight end, which means he taught me nothing about running pass routes as a wide receiver.”

The crowd ate it up.

“But, Mike,” he continued, “you taught me how not to just be a pro, but be a professional. And you did that by the passion you showed and that you brought to the Dallas Cowboys.”

Pearson, as expected, brought plenty of passion to his enshrinement remarks, just as he had to his playing days. He spent considerable time thanking his family members, both those in attendance and those who were, in his words, “gone too soon.”

But he also took the occasion to give a shout-out to a relative unknown named Otto Stowe. Stowe was a wide receiver who played just seven games for the Cowboys in 1973, Pearson’s debut season in the league. Pearson emulated Stowe early that year, and it was Stowe’s season-ending injury that opened the door for Pearson to start as a rookie and never give the job back.

“I learned so much from you, Otto,” Pearson said Sunday. “And I would not be here today without you.”

But the person Pearson is most closely linked to professionally is his longtime quarterback, Roger Staubach. Staubach presented Pearson Sunday night, the culmination of a prolific pairing that’s most famously remembered for the 50-yard touchdown versus Minnesota in the 1975 playoffs that served as the NFL’s original “Hail Mary” pass play.

But Pearson was a key figure in several other Cowboys milestone moments, too. He snagged the opening touchdown in Super Bowl X. He threw the final block that sprang Tony Dorsett on his record-setting 99-yard touchdown run in 1983. He caught the game-winning touchdown from Clint Longley in the team’s famous 1974 Thanksgiving comeback. And were it not for a one-handed horse-collar tackle, Pearson would likely have negated Dwight Clark’s “The Catch” in 1981’s NFC Championship Game with a late catch and run into field goal range.

But it’s the Hail Mary that has largely defined Pearson’s career over the years, the moment most fans want to talk about, the photo that he most often signs. Even though Staubach coined the term, Pearson is the one who personalizes his autographs with “Hail Mary to you.”

And that’s how he signed off his enshrinement speech.

“There’s so many special people in my life, but my time has run out. I don’t have a Hail Mary in my pocket, so I’ve got to wrap this up… Hail Mary blessings to you all.”

Pearson may be best remembered for that one miracle catch, but he racked up 555 others over his 11-year career. The Hail Mary was only one score; there were 55 others. And after 8,927 receiving yards (regular and postseason combined), three Super Bowl appearances, three Pro Bowls, three All-Pro nods, a spot on the NFL’s 1970s All-Decade Team, and a place in the Cowboys Ring of Honor, Pearson can now add “Hall of Famer” to his resume.

Judging by how often he visibly enjoyed saying it Sunday night, that may well be how he signs autographs for the rest of his life.

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Drew Pearson names his presenter for 2021 all of Fame induction

Cowboys legend Drew Pearson will be presented in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2021 by Cowboys Hall of Famer Roger Staubach.

After a long wait, Cowboys legend Drew Pearson was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2021. The three-time Pro Bowler and First-Team All-Pro wide receiver will be enshrined in August with Cowboys Hall of Famer Roger Staubach being his presenter.

Staubach was a large part of the reveal for Pearson, collaborating with team owner Jerry Jones to trick Pearson into coming to The Star, where David Baker was waiting.

The pair of Staubach and Pearson was known for many heroics during their time together in the 1970s, including the first “Hail Mary” in 1975 against the Vikings in the playoffs. In 1978, the Cowboys won Super Bowl XII, led by the duo and legendary head coach Tom Landry.

On August 8, Staubach will present Pearson as part of the Class of 2021 Enshrinement, welcoming him to the Hall of Fame. The Cowboys will also be playing in the Hall of Fame game that weekend against the Steelers.

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Cowboys News: Rolling over but not playing dead, Quinn’s base defense, new QB/President combo

Also, the Cowboys connection to Philip Rivers on his retirement, grading the Dallas cornerbacks, and searching for the bright spots of 2020.

The coaching carousel keeps spinning around the league, as Kellen Moore has had his chat with the Eagles brass and Cowboys Nation waits to hear what happened. In Dallas, the club has found its defensive line coach, bringing another of Dan Quinn’s former pupils onto the payroll.

In other news, we’re looking for bright spots in the 2020 season, breaking down the Xs and Os of Quinn’s preferred defensive scheme, sizing up the Cowboys cornerbacks about to hit free agency and talking cap space. There’s also big question marks all of a sudden regarding the draft given that there will be no scouting combine; how will that affect the Cowboys’ big board? With news of Philip Rivers retiring, we’ve also got a Cowboys connection to the prolific passer… as well as how the greatest quarterback in Dallas history is now part of the same trivia answer as newly-inaugurated US president Joe Biden. News and Notes, coming right up.

Jared Goff joins Roger Staubach as QB to come off bench and win playoff game

Roger Staubach in 1972 came off the bench to lead a team to a playoff victory, the Dallas Cowboys

The question of who was going to start for the Los Angeles Rams was a mystery. John Wolford got the call but wound up in the hospital with a neck injury after taking a shot from Seattle’s Jamal Adams early.

On came Jared Goff and his surgically repaired thumb from 12 days ago to lead the Rams to a 30-20 victory over the Seahawks in an NFC Wild-Card game on Saturday.

Goff was 9-of-19 for 155 yards with one TD pass in the road triumph.

So, how common is it for a team to lose its starting quarterback in a postseason game and win it via the backup?

It doesn’t seem to happen that often in the Super Bowl era, at least. In fact, the one game that jumped out happened in 1972 when the Dallas Cowboys defeated the San Francisco 49ers.

The game occurred on Dec. 23 at Candlestick Park. Craig Morton was ineffective, going 8-for-21 with two interceptions before Tom Landry pulled him and inserted Roger Staubach, trailing 28-13.

And Staubach led a Dallas comeback. A huge one.

“They were laughing at us. Making fun of us during the game,” Cowboys safety Charlie Waters told ESPN. “They were really enjoying having the upper hand on us. They didn’t think there was any way (we’d come back) — because our offense was sputtering. We were doing absolutely nothing.”

Staubach completed 12-of-20 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns. The Hall of Famer led Dallas to 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter as Dallas won 30-28.

Staubach threw a 20-yard scoring pass to Billy Parks and Dallas needed to recover an onside kick.

“We had this foreign kicker from Australia, Toni Fritsch,” Waters told ESPN. “He used to try all these tricky ways of kicking the ball. And he used to do this thing where he’d run up to the ball and run past it. And he’d kick it behind his back.”

Sure enough, Fritsch fooled the 49ers. He lined up to kick to the left, but Fritsch instead squibbed the ball to the right, bouncing it off the 49ers’ Preston Riley. Mel Renfro recovered the ball for the Cowboys.

“Once we got that onside kick, the momentum definitely turned,” Staubach said.

Staubach delivered the game-winner to Ron Sellers, a 10-yard pass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx3PKijM6Rw&feature=emb_logo

Any other instances jar memories of this happening?