FAILED Roger Staubach, and Danny White, 4th Q-comebacks?

[74_75_78_79_]

And, of course, I mean their teams losing late in the 4th quarter and having opportunity to pull it off at the very end, but coming up just short.

Just like me totally missing out on Madden as a coach, I also missed out on seeing 'Captain Comeback' in action! Being that Danny White's first year under center was also my first year following, #11 had quite a rep with yours truly as a "comeback" QB in the early-'80s! I was in a position to see him in an unbiased, clear-eyed way; out of Roger's shadow. So much so, that I remember years later - I think it was '89 - when Joe Cool already obviously solidified his own such rep, I seriously actually asked some peers, "Do you think Montana is a better comeback-QB than White was?" It's pretty simple - Danny wins just one Super Bowl in the '80s, he's the 'Steve Young' of Big D. And he was their punter also!

So onto the unsuccessful late-4th Q-comebacks from the two...the obvious, first answers that should come to one's mind are SBs X & XIII for Roger, and 'the Catch' for Danny. What other examples for each are there to offer?


And, also, does anyone here have an actual tallied number of successful 4th Q-comebacks that each made in their career? And, again, that would mean leading his team to victory late in the 4th, not simply taking the lead early in the 4th and it stays that way. Thanks!

EDIT - I guess SBXIII should not count being that Steelers recovered that final onside-kick thus voiding Rog at least an opportunity to make it 38-35.

[Jay Z]

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... career.htm

This has been tracked for a while now. Not sure how useful the raw numbers are. Need to grade to opportunity and degree of difficulty I guess. Maybe someone has already done this.

Staubach can get credit for the two TDs in the 1972 Divisional game against SF, but he didn't have anything to do with the onside kick. So that needs to be taken into account. As well as era. Scoring was lower in the 1970s, but the Cowboys also had something like 11 possessions in that second half, which is a lot higher than what teams typically get today.

Staubach had the ball at the end of his last game against the Rams in 1979. He didn't do much, I think his last pass was caught by an offensive lineman.

In 1976, the Rams took a 14-10 lead early in the 4th quarter. Rams had the ball five times after that, gained 0 first downs. Cowboys possessions were 3 and out, 1 first down then an INT, 3 and out, 1 first down and over on downs at the Ram 32. Then Cowboys blocked a punt and took over at Ram 17. Staubach got 9 yards in four plays. Rams took over and took a safety on last play.

[lastcat3]

Yeah watching old Dallas games from the 70's on youtube it really surprised me how much of a bang or bust offense they had back then. They could go almost an entire half looking rather mediocre and then all of a sudden score two or three touchdowns pretty quickly and take over the game. It's what made realize how special the Cowboys offense of the early to mid 90's was because with them if they weren't up by two touchdowns by halftime you would begin to think something was wrong.

I actually think White was the more consistent qb then Staubach. He just didn't have the knack for making the big play at the right moment like Roger did.

[Jay Z]

Yeah watching old Dallas games from the 70's on youtube it really surprised me how much of a bang or bust offense they had back then. They could go almost an entire half looking rather mediocre and then all of a sudden score two or three touchdowns pretty quickly and take over the game. It's what made realize how special the Cowboys offense of the early to mid 90's was because with them if they weren't up by two touchdowns by halftime you would begin to think something was wrong.

I actually think White was the more consistent qb then Staubach. He just didn't have the knack for making the big play at the right moment like Roger did.

I think Landry tolerated Staubach. Didn't love him. Wanted someone more robotic, like Morton or White. He was wrong. Landry was great at some things, that organization was very thorough and outcompeted others for years. But Landry never had the street sense of a Lombardi.

Someone here once said that White rode the momentum of the team too much. That he was at his best when everything was going well, but couldn't pull a team out when things were going poorly.

[Brian wolf]

Landry underestimated Staubach too much in 1970 and 71. With Morton having a bad elbow in SB V, the game was tailor made for Staubach to win a close, defensive game. Mistakes or not, Roger the Dodger would have ran that aging defensive line of the Colts ragged and would have found a way at the end IMO ...

The last game of his career against the Rams in the playoffs could have also been a dramatic win but Staubach was hit by Jim Youngblood and that concussion sealed his playing career ...

White had dramatic wins himself but was more willing to attack a defense with the pass. His last second wins against the Falcons in the 78/79 and 80/81 postseason were career highlights but he also led the Cowboys to one of the best MNF comebacks ever against the Redskins in RFK Stadium in 1983. That season could have been special but the team peaked too early and were knocked out for the count against the Skins with Theismann having one of his best games in the rematch. By 1985/86 the defense just became too slow to stop the top teams by playoff time.

[Brian wolf]

Personally, with three consecutive NFC Championship appearances, dramatic playoff wins and team winning pct, White has a case for the HOVG, though the team was talented. Following Staubach was enough pressure but during the early 80s despite a great pass rush, the Cowboys had slow linebacking and defensive backs though Walls and Thurman were exciting ballhawks. Still, this was no doomsday defense and turnovers on offense had to be kept at a minimum but with the SB within reach, White and Dorsett had turnovers that decided the outcomes.

[Jay Z]

Personally, with three consecutive NFC Championship appearances, dramatic playoff wins and team winning pct, White has a case for the HOVG, though the team was talented. Following Staubach was enough pressure but during the early 80s despite a great pass rush, the Cowboys had slow linebacking and defensive backs though Walls and Thurman were exciting ballhawks. Still, this was no doomsday defense and turnovers on offense had to be kept at a minimum but with the SB within reach, White and Dorsett had turnovers that decided the outcomes.

I think White threw too many picks for what he was asked to do. When he came in, the Cowboys really became more run heavy. White was asked to be more of a home run thrower to Tony Hill and Butch Johnson. The 1980 playoff game against the Falcons was ideal for him, since he could do that and the Falcons couldn't defend it well. In 1981 against the 49ers he did a lot of checkdowns and was just okay in that capacity. White missed Doug Donley on a 3rd and 5 just before the 92 yard drive where another 1st down or two gets the Cowboys a FG attempt and makes things a lot harder for them. Staubach was a lot better at avoiding picks.

[Bryan]

Yeah watching old Dallas games from the 70's on youtube it really surprised me how much of a bang or bust offense they had back then. They could go almost an entire half looking rather mediocre and then all of a sudden score two or three touchdowns pretty quickly and take over the game. It's what made realize how special the Cowboys offense of the early to mid 90's was because with them if they weren't up by two touchdowns by halftime you would begin to think something was wrong.

I actually think White was the more consistent qb then Staubach. He just didn't have the knack for making the big play at the right moment like Roger did.

I agree with most of this. Cowboys offense was kind of inconsistent in the 70's, although they would always end the season near the top of the offensive rankings. Staubach didn't really do much in either of their SB wins, and in their SB losses he did most of his damage in the last 2 minutes of each game. It was almost as if Dallas' offense was overly complicated, then at some point Staubach/the players would just let instinct take over and that is when they would score their points.

Staubach played in a much tougher era than White. The Cowboys were always a threat to score with Staubach, so I don't know if White was more 'consistent'. I would take your last comment a step further...whereas Staubach always had the knack for making the big play, White had the knack for screwing up the big plays.

[74_75_78_79_]

With Turkey Day just coming up, how about I give an unsuccessful Staubach comeback which can't be used...'73 vs Miami. This game just so happened to be on the 10th Anniversary of the JFK Assassination. Staubach guides Dallas to a Walt Garrison TD on a 94-yard drive to close gap at 14-7 in midst of 4th Q. Problem was, was that Miami kept the ball the ENTIRE remaining 8-plus minutes thus never allowing Roger the opportunity (therefore, can't really count it as an "unsuccessful" comeback)! In fact, Dolphins were on Big D's one on the final play but Shula simply called off dogs, simply letting the clock run out. What a clock-chewing steamroller of a Miami run-game!

Maybe a different story if they would have been consecutive (say, '80-thru-'82), but my guess is that if Danny would have not only won one SB in the '80s, but three - thus topping Roger in Rings - I have a feeling Staubach - with his aura, Heisman Trophy winner and a Navy vet ('Captain America', one who could run for President, etc) - would have still been more historically revered anyway. Kind of like how Madden is more revered than Flores despite Tom's 2-1 advantage. Or, in Ann Arbor, Bo getting more historic kudos than Lloyd Carr despite not winning a National Championship himself.

[Brian wolf]

What also hurts about those Cowboy championship game losses in 80/81, 81/82 and 82/83 were that the the 49ers and Redskins came out of nowhere to beat them, while at least the Eagles had been a playoff team in 78-79 ...
White got knocked out of the Redskin game in RFK but Hogeboom threw an interception that sealed the deal for the Skins. I always wondered what the Jets might have done had they played the Skins instead of the Dolphins ?
Could Todd have avoided interceptions ? Could Riggins run over the Sack Exchange ? Would Wesley Walker had burnt the Redskin secondary ?