Thoughts on Super Bowl XII (Dal 27 Den 10)

[BD Sullivan]

If Steelers weren't actually better than Dallas in any given year from '75 thru at least that MNF opener in '82, they at least had their number. Maybe Dallas wins in a hypo-SBXII anyway, and maybe big (Steelers merely 'good' in '77), but would have made for a more intriguing matchup to look forward to. Raiders/Cowboys even more so, seeing how Shell & Upshaw would handle that Doomsday rush. But, as already stated this post, Raiders were just about to fold and it may have already started showing in such an event.

The '77 Steelers five losses came against three playoff teams (Oakland, Baltimore and Denver), along with Houston and Cincy. Only the Oakland game was at home, while the Houston loss came when they were stuck playing Tony Dungy at QB and the Cincy loss came in brutal cold weather. Cincy should have beaten out Pittsburgh, but they choked againsty Houston in the final week. Houston may have made it if they hadn't gotten screwed by a bad call in a midseason loss at Cincy.

[74_75_78_79_]

Didn't Craig Morton have a sort-of 'Epic' Winslow-like moment after the Broncos beat Raiders in that AFCC? Read somewhere long ago that he fell over in the locker room right after the game due to exhaustion and being real banged up. It may have actually been from a book on NFL QBs I ordered from the book club either in 4th or 5th grade. Bert Jones was on the cover and there was a chapter about him, Morton, Pat Haden, and Plunkett to name a few.

Always knew of Morton from the time I started following football due not just to that book, but having his football card well before that. Was his career not-so-stellar mainly due to injuries galore and/or he simply not being that good; or at least not as good as the greats of that era? We had friends of the family who moved to Denver and a couple years later when they came back to visit (this was Christmas '81, end of Craig's final year), the father commenting on how Morton would spend an entire week in the hospital then come out and play on Sundays.

Broncos having a parade the week before the Bowl?? No wonder they played poorly. I wonder if 'Mork' was there dressed in his cheerleader outfit? Has any other SB-participant ever done that? I know Denver had very passionate fans from Day 1 and stood very strongly with them for all the years leading up. Then they punch in a 12-2 season just like that, beat the last two SB-Champs (the latter a big division rival)...so I guess you can't blame them. I believe it was Tom Jackson who said before the Giants game nine years later that the difference between now and then was back then they were "just happy to be there". Right before that '77 AFCC I believe there was an empty building in Denver about to be demolished. A giant Raiders logo was placed on its side before they destroyed it in front of a crowd of fans.

A couple questions about those turn-of-decade Broncos. How does the credit in-general get distributed between Ralston (table-setter) and Red (inheritor) for those three straight playoff teams ''77-thru-'79, and also, how do you compare Reeves' first (almost playoffs) winning year of '81 to those three?

[Todd Pence]

Broncos having a parade the week before the Bowl?? No wonder they played poorly. I wonder if 'Mork' was there dressed in his cheerleader outfit?

MORK AND MINDY wouldn't premiere until the following fall.

[7DnBrnc53]

A couple questions about those turn-of-decade Broncos. How does the credit in-general get distributed between Ralston (table-setter) and Red (inheritor) for those three straight playoff teams ''77-thru-'79, and also, how do you compare Reeves' first (almost playoffs) winning year of '81 to those three?

I think that Tom Jackson said that the Broncos made a mistake forcing Ralston out, and that they made the SB with his team. However, Red brought Morton in, and he seemed to change the attitude of the team. Without those things, I am not sure if they make it to SB 12.

As for Dan's 1981 team (compared to the 77-79 team), I think that it was better than those three teams. More explosive offense with the same great defense.

[SixtiesFan]

A couple questions about those turn-of-decade Broncos. How does the credit in-general get distributed between Ralston (table-setter) and Red (inheritor) for those three straight playoff teams ''77-thru-'79, and also, how do you compare Reeves' first (almost playoffs) winning year of '81 to those three?

I think that Tom Jackson said that the Broncos made a mistake forcing Ralston out, and that they made the SB with his team. However, Red brought Morton in, and he seemed to change the attitude of the team. Without those things, I am not sure if they make it to SB 12.

As for Dan's 1981 team (compared to the 77-79 team), I think that it was better than those three teams. More explosive offense with the same great defense.

Wasn't there something of a "players revolt" against Ralston toward the end of the 1976 season? It seems a group of Bronco players felt they could be a Super Bowl contender with another coach and wanted Ralston fired.

[BD Sullivan]

Wasn't there something of a "players revolt" against Ralston toward the end of the 1976 season? It seems a group of Bronco players felt they could be a Super Bowl contender with another coach and wanted Ralston fired.

There was. Shortly after the season had ended, 12 players (including Jackson, Alzado, Haven Moses and Otis Armstrong) drafted the following statement following a meeting with the owner:

"We don't believe that it's possible to win a championship under the guidance of John Ralston."

The Broncos had taken away Ralston's GM role a few days earlier, replacing him with Fred Gehrke.

[Retro Rider]

Didn't Craig Morton have a sort-of 'Epic' Winslow-like moment after the Broncos beat Raiders in that AFCC? Read somewhere long ago that he fell over in the locker room right after the game due to exhaustion and being real banged up. It may have actually been from a book on NFL QBs I ordered from the book club either in 4th or 5th grade. Bert Jones was on the cover and there was a chapter about him, Morton, Pat Haden, and Plunkett to name a few.

Always knew of Morton from the time I started following football due not just to that book, but having his football card well before that. Was his career not-so-stellar mainly due to injuries galore and/or he simply not being that good; or at least not as good as the greats of that era? We had friends of the family who moved to Denver and a couple years later when they came back to visit (this was Christmas '81, end of Craig's final year), the father commenting on how Morton would spend an entire week in the hospital then come out and play on Sundays.

Broncos having a parade the week before the Bowl?? No wonder they played poorly. I wonder if 'Mork' was there dressed in his cheerleader outfit? Has any other SB-participant ever done that? I know Denver had very passionate fans from Day 1 and stood very strongly with them for all the years leading up. Then they punch in a 12-2 season just like that, beat the last two SB-Champs (the latter a big division rival)...so I guess you can't blame them. I believe it was Tom Jackson who said before the Giants game nine years later that the difference between now and then was back then they were "just happy to be there". Right before that '77 AFCC I believe there was an empty building in Denver about to be demolished. A giant Raiders logo was placed on its side before they destroyed it in front of a crowd of fans.

A couple questions about those turn-of-decade Broncos. How does the credit in-general get distributed between Ralston (table-setter) and Red (inheritor) for those three straight playoff teams ''77-thru-'79, and also, how do you compare Reeves' first (almost playoffs) winning year of '81 to those three?

According to Larry Merchant who conducted post-game interviews for NBC that day, Morton did collapse in the locker room after the AFC Championship. Morton wrote a book a few years back (Then Morton said to Elway) and in it he mentioned that a good friend of his had to talk him in to playing the morning of the game. Morton's hip was battered and bruised. Red Miller actually had to tie his shoes for him before he went out on to the field. One good shot to the hip and he would have been through but the Raiders never delivered a kill shot. Broncos trainer Alan Hurst said it was the most courageous performance that he had ever seen. Lyle Alzado described Morton's leg as though it looked like he'd been in a car accident. Craig Morton had spent several days in a Denver area hospital the week of the AFC Championship but that fact was not disclosed to the NFL and the Broncos were fined for not reporting it.

A nice musical tribute to Morton's 1977 season here (at the 2:50 mark:

https://youtu.be/oN6m6OEuNAg

After Morton became the starter in Dallas in 1969 he sometimes appeared to be on the edge of greatness, If I recall correctly he suffered either a shoulder or an elbow injury (can't remember which) during a game in '69 that affected him the rest of his career. While he lost some of his arm strength he could still "throw the hell out of the ball" as Red Miller was later quoted as saying in the NFL's 25th anniversary Super Bowl book. I would say that Morton was a very good quarterback, along the lines of Jim Hart, Norm Snead, John Brodie and Charlie Johnson. He accumulated some less than impressive playoff stats in his years with the Cowboys and of course SB XII but he was a solid QB who led both Dallas & Denver to many impressive wins. When comparing him to Staubach he seemed to lack confidence or not deliver at critical times and i think his Cowboys teammates and coach Landry sensed that. They knew that Roger had plenty of self-confidence and a burning desire to win ... maybe less so wih Craig. I think the '72 Divisional Playoff game at San Francisco illustrated that pretty well. SPORT magazine did an interesting piece on Morton's '72 season after he had led Dallas to the playoffs- only to see Staubach return from injury and lead them to a spectacular comeback against the 49ers (I think the article was titled 'Mr. Wonderful's Almost Wonderful Season' ... or something like that). Interestingly enough, Staubach presented Morton with College Football's 2015 Davey O'Brien Legends Award back in February 2016:

“That was really silly, wasn’t it?,” said Morton, who found it ironic — and appropriate — that O’Brien officials enlisted Staubach to present him with his award.

“So, it’s Roger again, huh?,” Morton said, smiling. “The battles with Roger [for playing time] were just that. We respected each other and it all turned out the way it did.”

Morton said he agreed to come to Dallas in 1965 for a three-year deal valued at $150,000, plus a new Jaguar XK-E. Shortly after arriving in Dallas, he swapped the Jag, which did not have air conditioning, for a Ford Thunderbird convertible that did. He also credited former Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis with pushing him toward Dallas by questioning Morton’s honesty during negotiations.

“I came back one time and he said, ‘I guess you’ve signed with the Cowboys.’ I said, ‘I haven’t signed with the Cowboys. I’ll be honest with you,’ ” Morton recalled. “Then he said, ‘Well, I know you’ve signed with the Cowboys.’ And I said, ‘I didn’t.’ He says, ‘Well, I don’t believe you.’ And I said, ‘Well, screw you.’ He should have known I just don’t lie. I wouldn’t lie about that.”

http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/col ... 79941.html

Craig Morton as an Oakland Raider in 1965 ... that would have been interesting. The Raiders style of play would have certainly bumped up his passing numbers.

I would say that Dan Reeves' 1981 Broncos squad was better offensively (with Morton at QB) compared to the '77-'79 squads but the '77-'78 Bronco defenses were better IMO. The big key there was Lyle Alzado. The Broncos missed his pass rushing skills and leadership. I don't think the Orange Crush was ever the same without him. Alzado absolutley loved Red Miller - even after his bitter departure to Cleveland in '79. He said years later that he would play for Miller anytime & anywhere.

[BD Sullivan]

After Morton became the starter in Dallas in 1969 he sometimes appeared to be on the edge of greatness, If I recall correctly he suffered either a shoulder or an elbow injury (can't remember which) during a game in '69 that affected him the rest of his career. While he lost some of his arm strength he could still "throw the hell out of the ball" as Red Miller was later quoted as saying in the NFL's 25th anniversary Super Bowl book.

Morton injured his shoulder in the fourth games of the 1969 season (10/12/69) at Atlanta. In the fourth quarter, Claude Humphrey and a Falcon LB (not Nobis) landed on him. Even though Landry didn't think it was a late hit, there was some grumbling about it after the game. That injury came about a month after he had hurt his right index finger.

[JohnH19]

I believe that Morton was completing 73% of his passes at the time of his arm injury in 1969. He wound up at 53%.

In 1970, he completed just under 50% (102/207) but for 18 yards per completion. He could barely throw the ball in the playoffs because of his sore arm.I seem to recall that his arm bothered him a lot that season but 18 yards per completion?

In '72, he had a decent but not great year. He deserved to at least start the NFC Championship game.

Ironically, his best season may have been his final one, 1981. He had terrific numbers that year.

I always liked Craig Morton.

[BD Sullivan]

In 1970, he completed just under 50% (102/207) but for 18 yards per completion. He could barely throw the ball in the playoffs because of his sore arm.I seem to recall that his arm bothered him a lot that season but 18 yards per completion?

In Super Bowl V, his late interception resulted in the Colts' winning FG.

Back in 2014, Morton was suing the NFL claiming that "he was exposed to multiple concussive and subconcussive brain traumas, and that the NFL willfully and deliberately did nothing about it." Not sure if that's been settled or not.