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

[7DnBrnc53]

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 ...

The 82 Redskins didn't completely come out of nowhere. Some people had them as a sleeper, and SPORT Magazine had them making the playoffs as a Wild Card. However, I agree with you on the Niners.

[Brian wolf]

Its still surprising that the Redskins fired Pardee after the 1980 season with Riggins holding out. Who might have hired Gibbs if Washington didnt ? Could Gibbs had brought glory to the Cardinals with OJ Anderson and Jim Hart instead of Hanifan at coach ?

[Jay Z]

Its still surprising that the Redskins fired Pardee after the 1980 season with Riggins holding out. Who might have hired Gibbs if Washington didnt ? Could Gibbs had brought glory to the Cardinals with OJ Anderson and Jim Hart instead of Hanifan at coach ?

The guy Washington fired had winning records. I don't think they were going to put up with what Pardee did. Going 6-0 and not making the playoffs, then missing again in 1979, didn't leave much of a leash.

[Gary Najman]

With Thanksgiving coming tomorrow, the first game that comes to my mind was the 1987 Vikings-Cowboys matchup. The Vikings were ahead 38-24 in the 4th quarter, but Danny White (resembling the White of 1980), threw a couple of TD passes to Mike Renfro to send the game into OT. Then the Vikings won 44-38. That game eliminated the Cowboys from the playoffs and the Vikingswent into the NFC Championship, barely losing against the Redskins.

[Brian wolf]

Great call Teo ...

That was the last great game for Danny White, who was never the same after breaking his wrist against the Giants in 1986 ... a season that went off the rails after his injury.

[Brian wolf]

This is about Aikman rather than Staubach or White but Dallas and Jimmy Johnson had a great win against the Redskins in 1990 on Thanksgiving Day with Emmitt Smith having a breakout game and the team going on a winning streak that ended the last game of the season against the bullies on the block Eagles, who ended the Cowboy's playoff hopes ... The Cowboys would get revenge toward the end of the 1991 season in Johnson's greatest win to that point ...

[Gary Najman]

Other game was the 1984 MNF finale at the Orange Bowl. Dallas needed a win to qualify to the playoffs. With the Dolphins leading 21-14 late in the 4th quarter, White threw a pass to RB James Jones that was nearly intercepted, but the ball was batted and somehow Tony Hill picked it up at the sideline and ran untouched for a 66-yard TD that tied the game. But just when appeared that the game may go to OT, a short pass from Dan Marino to Mark Clayton turned into a long touchdown that kept the Cowboys out of the playoffs for the first time in ten years.

[Brian wolf]

Had Drew Pearson not caught the winning bomb from Clint Longley on Thanksgiving Day in 1974, the Cowboys would have had a 7-7 season. Their first since 1965 ...

[74_75_78_79_]

The 'Dolly Parton Game' early in the '78 season is an example given for Roger, they losing at RFK on MNF to Pardee's bunch who, at the time, were still unbeaten. Later on that very season, in Week #10, a #12-led Cowboy offense also failed to make a late-4th Q comeback, this time at Miami! And this was the very game that brought Big D down to 6-4, thus actually prompting an SI article the following week about the defending-Champs' sudden doldrums and how if the season ended at that very moment, they wouldn't be in the playoffs; this despite the extra 5th team now allowed in per-conference. That very critical, pessimistic "Doomsday for Dallas" 11/13/78 article (one you should check out, by the way) wasn't a cover story. That would be undefeated Penn State en route to their #1-vs-#2 New Year's Day '79 date with Bear and the Tide (Chuck Fusina on the cover)! However, ten years and one day later, Landry along with Noll would be featured in that notorious 11/14/88 'Under Fire' SI cover story!

Those two negative Landry/Cowboys articles makes this a third 'ten-years-and-one-day' parallel between the '78 & '88 NFL seasons! The two others, as I mentioned elsewhere on another thread, are both 'Miracle at Meadowlands' affairs, and SBXIII & SBXXIII - each winning team putting their 'stamp' at least on "team of decade", each QB winning SB MVP (and would again the following year), and each SB in Miami.

As for Danny...how about Week #10 at the Meadowlands in 1980? White throwing that late-INT to Woolford in a 38-35 defeat to a bad Giants team (LT can't get here sooner). There are also back-to-back examples for #11, the last two games of the '82 regular, strike-shortened, season! A Week #8 loss at home to a now-struggling 2-5 Eagles team, and then the MNF finale at Minny...the Dorsett 99-yard-TD game! At the very end, Dandy Don was singing "turn out the lights" then commented that they better get-it-in-gear whoever they play next week, then suddenly mentioning Tampa Bay (Dallas beating Ditka's Bears at Soldier in '91 marked the first time since 'Duel in Dixie' that they beat a team in the playoffs that didn't have 'Bay' in their name).

With Thanksgiving coming tomorrow, the first game that comes to my mind was the 1987 Vikings-Cowboys matchup. The Vikings were ahead 38-24 in the 4th quarter, but Danny White (resembling the White of 1980), threw a couple of TD passes to Mike Renfro to send the game into OT. Then the Vikings won 44-38. That game eliminated the Cowboys from the playoffs and the Vikingswent into the NFC Championship, barely losing against the Redskins.

That was my first time ever in the Big Apple. My family and friends-of-the-family attended the Macy's Day Parade. Did the Central Park, walk around Manhattan, Empire State Building thing then spent the rest of Turkey Day at the apartment that two of the family-friends were at. I remember it being on TV. Yes, that could mark Danny's "last breath" of being a comeback-QB. Actually, he did rally back from 24-3 down at RFK two weeks later, closing the gap at 24-20. After throwing that final TD, he actually dove head-first at MLB Neal Olkewicz thus starting a bench-clearing ruckus! Dallas never had a chance to get the ball back though. Washington's offense simply ran out the rest of the clock. Jumping Olkewicz...#11 did have heart!

[Brian wolf]

I stand corrected after watching a replay of the 79/80 playoff game between Dallas and the Rams. I thought Jim Youngblood had hit Staubach on a blitz but it was Jack Reynolds, who hit and lifted Staubach off the ground, where Roger landed on the back of his head, ironically, after throwing the TD pass to TE Jay Saldi. When Dallas got the ball back, it was obvious Staubach was still dazed as he kept sailing his passes over the receiver's heads including throwing a pass to his guard, Herbert Scott that put the Cowboys in a 4th down hole after the Rams took the lead with 2:04 left.

Maybe if Danny White comes into the game with 2:45 remaining and a 19-14 lead, the Cowboys can throw for a first down to keep eating the clock but with Staubach woozy, the Cowboys have to punt to the Rams who take the lead with a pass from Ferragamo to Waddy.