Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

How do you think the Oilers would have done in 1980 with Pastorini at QB instead of Stabler?

7DnBrnc53 wrote:How do you think the Oilers would have done in 1980 with Pastorini at QB instead of Stabler?

They went 11-5 with Stabler; with Pastorini, I think they could have won 12, as Pastorini was certainly an improvement on Stabler circa 1980 which would have given them home field advantage in the AFC.

Of course, this opens up a new can of worms - where does Stabler wind up playing in 1980? Presuming Davis still wants to trade him for another comparable QB in a 1-for-1 swap, who would he want providing Bud Adams turns him down on Pastorini? Archie Manning? Ken Anderson? Joe Ferguson? Steve Grogan? Cincinnati seems the most likely choice if Al Davis makes the same straight-up trade. If Stabler stays in Oakland in 1980 I don't see Plunkett taking over the starting job unless Stabler also goes down in Week 5, and if Stabler plays all season there is no way the Raiders win the Super Bowl. They might make the playoffs with Stabler, but they don't go all the way. Atlanta or Philadelphia would beat the Chargers in Super Bowl XV instead.

"Can of worms"...excellent point, Rupert! The only way this 'what-if' can be palatable is if you restrict it to Snake staying at Oak instead of being traded.

Funny, my first impression of Stabler was as an Oiler QB (watching him in that MNF game vs NE) being that '80 was my first season following. You, Rupert, and at least most of the others here know his '80 campaign better than I, but do any of you feel there's a good enough chance Raiders - with Snake - still go all the way in '80 anyway; Raiders' swagger, mystique and big-play capabilities being enough to give Snake a nice 'last hurrah' in the Superdome?

As for the Oilers 12-4 w Dan home-field what-if...I'd guess that in such a case that Oakland (in the divisional round) would be the only real obstacle to New Orleans. If Houston with Dan beats visiting Raiders with Snake (as they did in Campbell/Tatum 'collision' game the previous year), what reason would there be to pick against a - this time around in the playoffs - FULL-strength Oiler squad AT HOME vs SD in the AFCC? Heck, if Raiders kept ball out of Fouts' hands why WOULDN'T #34 be able to do so?

And of course in the two weeks leading up to such a hypo-SBV, all talk would have been about last year's finale at the Astrodome - Vermeil & Co assisting Pittsburgh to another 1st-round bye. So Eagles win SBV if Dan stays with Oilers in '80 (another PA team getting in Houston's way of the Prize)?

Does anyone know the finer details of that Eagles@Oilers '79 finale? Can't find much of it online other than that box score on Pro Football Reference. No articles, commentary, or footage to find; not yet, at least. It was an important enough, playoff-implications game. Staubach's last hurrah vs Pardee's Redskins that week seems to get much more historic attention.

Rupert Patrick wrote:

7DnBrnc53 wrote:How do you think the Oilers would have done in 1980 with Pastorini at QB instead of Stabler?

where does Stabler wind up playing in 1980? Presuming Davis still wants to trade him for another comparable QB in a 1-for-1 swap, who would he want providing Bud Adams turns him down on Pastorini? Archie Manning? Ken Anderson? Joe Ferguson? Steve Grogan? Cincinnati seems the most likely choice if Al Davis makes the same straight-up trade.

I can't see Paul Brown trading for a guy whose philosophy was "reading the playbook by the light of the jukebox."

If Pastorini had stayed with Houston, he probably would have thrown for more than 13 touchdowns, but he may well have still tossed 28 interceptions, and he definitely would not have completed 64.1% of his passes.

Here is an interview Pastorini did with Dave Ward: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhu1pe99h1w

Dave asked him about the trade. On the way home from their first lost to the Steelers (1978), Pastorini said that he basically told Bum to trade him if he was holding the team back. Bum dismissed it. Then, on the way home from their loss to the Steelers the next year, Bum asked Dan if he still wanted to be traded. Dan said that he didn't say anything because he was in shock, and he was traded a short time later.

Pastorini is kind of like Mark Sanchez just with a bit of a longer career. Good arm and can look the part at times, but also not an accurate passer or someone who can read a defense and make consistently good decisions with the football. And not someone who is able to learn from his mistakes and become better. You keep hoping for that turning of a corner that never comes. If you assemble a good enough team around him and he as one of his good days, then you can even win a playoff game with him. But on his bad days he can and will lose you football games on Sundays where all that you needed from him was average to get by.

I’m surprised that I didn’t post in this thread back in 2016. Dante looked like a prototypical textbook QB of the 70’s but, as it turned out, he was eminently mediocre. Stabler, despite his 28 interceptions, was an improvement in 1980.