74_75_78_79_ wrote: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.