Backup QBs in the Super Bowl?

[conace21]

Billy Kilmer began the 1972 season; I don't know if he was injured, or if Sonny Jurgensen just was coming back from injury, but Sonny played four games before breaking his leg. Kilmer led the Dolphins the rest of the way to the Super Bowl.

Kilmer was just benched in favor of Jurgensen, after the Redskins played a couple of bad games -- including a loss to New England, I think, which may have been the one that prompted the change. And just for the record, Jurgensen didn't break his leg; that happened in 1971, during an exhibition game, and forced him to miss most of the season. In 1972 he tore his Achilles tendon on the first play of a game against the Giants. It was one of those fluky Achilles injuries: Nobody hit him, he didn't stumble or anything, just completed a pass to Charley Taylor for 13 yards or so. But when the camera came back to Jurgensen, he was hopping on one leg, and then he limped off with his arms around the shoulders of two teammates and was through for the season.

Thanks for clarifying. Interesting that Billy's stats were much better in the New England loss than in the first two games, both wins. But with a guy like Sonny back there, who can blame George Allen for making the switch?

[Bob Gill]

Thanks for clarifying. Interesting that Billy's stats were much better in the New England loss than in the first two games, both wins. But with a guy like Sonny back there, who can blame George Allen for making the switch?

And for the first time in his career, Jurgensen was playing for a team with an outstanding defense and an outstanding running game, so he didn't have to throw 35 and 40 passes a game. (Of course, everybody does that now, but it's a different game.) If you look at HIS stats for 1972, you'll notice the very high completion percentage for that era, and an average gain of more than 10 yards per pass, but you'll also notice the four interceptions. The reason for that was simple: He was rusty in his first game, against the Eagles, which I think was his first start since 1970. In the first half, as I recall, he completed 7 of 17 passes for 95 yards, with three intercepted. But in the second half he hit 7 of 7 for something like 144 yards, and the next two games were more of the same. I thought then, and I still think, that if he'd managed to stay healthy that year they would've won the Super Bowl. It was too bad.

[BD Sullivan]

George Allen was at his paranoid best when Jurgensen was moved up to the starting lineup. He banned the media from practice after they reported that Jurgensen was practicing with the first team leading up to the Week 4 game. "All you guys want to do is hurt the team," said Nixon With a Whistle.

In that New England game, the safety that the Redskins got late that chopped the deficit to 24-23 had some controversy attached. Washington thought the ball had been recovered in the end zone for a TD. That would have avoided the pain of Curt Knight missing TWO field goals in the final minutes. Undoubtedly, the real reason Kilmer got yanked, was that in the final two minutes, he completed just one of eight passes.

[Jay Z]

Joe Gilliam actually threw more passes for the 1974 Steelers than Bradshaw, but Bradshaw started more games. Most of the backups that played in the SB were because of injury, it is unusual for one to make it due to a benching. Though Bradshaw had started before of course.

Morrall was pulled in SB III and never played in SB VII. But he did get to play in SB V when he was Unitas' backup and Unitas got hurt. While Morrall was not brilliant, he did a better job than either Unitas or Craig Morton in moving the ball. Ironically, though Morrall moved the ball decently and was in for the comeback, all of the 10 Colt points in the second half came directly off turnovers. Morrall had nothing to do with those scores.

[conace21]

Morrall completed at least one pass for 20+ yards on each of his first four possessions. Those posessions resulted in 0 points. They ended on:
-Downs (after 3 runs from the 2 were stopped for no gain, and then Morrall three incomplete into the end zone.)
-Missed 52 yard FG
-Interception into the end zone
-Colts fumble through the Cowboys end zone