Best NFL Players of All Time: Roger Staubach. Ranking the Top Players in History. Place a bet on an NFL football game now.

Best NFL Players of All Time: Roger Staubach

Roger Staubach won the Heisman Trophy in 1963 while playing at Navy, but it took him almost six years to have a chance to play in the NFL. The military schools would not even consider allowing an athlete to take a vacation from their obligation to serve in the armed forces after graduation in the early to mid-1960s.

Naturally, Staubach was aware of this and never had any issues with it. After doing his job, serving his time, and serving a year in Vietnam, he joined the Dallas Cowboys in 1969. As far as Tom Landry was concerned, he was a blessing. Don Meredith and Craig Morton have provided the Cowboys with respectable quarterback play during Landry’s tenure as their coach since the team’s founding in 1960. But Meredith was a known night owl who was a little unpredictable, to put it mildly, and he used unconventional training techniques. Morton gave his game his best, yet he struggled with everything.

Just picture Landry’s excitement upon Staubach’s arrival. Before his football career, Landry was a skilled engineer. His guiding principles for managing his staff were discipline and precision. He realized after just a few practices that Staubach was just as demanding of himself as any athlete he had ever coached and that they were of the same caliber.

Furthermore, Staubach’s extraordinary talent was evident every time he snapped a picture. He could avoid mistakes and get out of difficulty because he had a quick release, a strong and accurate arm, and good pass-rush perception. His first two seasons, he and Morton alternated at quarterback, and the team’s aura changed according on whatever quarterback was in the pocket. The Cowboys may occasionally score a big play with the slow-footed Morton, but it seemed inevitable that he would make a critical error sooner or later.

It was quite the opposite experience with the nimble Staubach. Despite his occasional blunders, there was a belief that he could overcome them to lead his team down field for a big play and ultimately lead the Cowboys to victory. This became apparent in 1971. The Cowboys crossed the finish line and won their first Super Bowl with Staubach as their starting quarterback.

That season, Staubach was outstanding; he completed 126 of 211 throws for 1,882 yards, 15 touchdowns, 4 interceptions, and a passer rating of 104.8. His impressive 8.9 yards per pass average was what put the Cowboys over the top. In the Cowboys’ 24-3 victory against the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI, he was named MVP of the game. In addition to winning another championship ring with a victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII, he was awarded three more passer-rating crowns.

Staubach thinks that his relationship with Landry was a really positive step forward for his professional life. Staubach remarked, “Coach Landry was very organized and constantly spent a lot of time on preparation.” As a coach, he measured his excellent goals to ensure they were realistic, attainable, and believable. And I believe it to be the reason behind his 20-year winning run. It was accomplished by planning. He trained me as a coach, and ever since, I’ve truly believed in the hard effort, preparation, and consistency required in the business world. You also need to do things correctly. You read about him, but he’s more than that. He was a real person. He gave me a lot of advice on how to live your life, behave morally, and walk the walk. Additionally, he was knowledgeable about football and had us ready.

Although the historical portrayal of Staubach and Landry is lovely, their real coexistence was not all sunshine and sweetness. Landry was occasionally annoyed by Staubach’s tendency to scramble, like to that of Fran Tarkenton of Minnesota. Conversely, the Cowboys would typically begin their games with a dependable running game due to Landry’s play calling, and they would only throw the ball later in the game. Staubach made an effort to persuade Landry to reveal more information earlier, but the argument was hard to win.

Staubach remarked, “I had to put up with his play calling, but he had to put up with my scrambling.” At some point, there was a consensus reached, but as with most agreements, neither Landry nor Staubach were entirely satisfied. However, that didn’t stop the two from developing a strong alliance. Although Staubach’s ability to run with the ball occasionally went to Landry’s nerves, it altered the scouting and execution of the game. Tarkenton may have been the first quarterback to sprint, but Staubach liked that style of play.

He hurried to get out of difficulty, gain some time, and make plays while moving quickly. The last thing he did was run the ball. The idea of having a movable quarterback gained widespread acceptance soon after. At quarterback, teams were no longer interested in “pocket passers.” The majority desired a quarterback with quickness of thought. Since the Staubach era, nearly every great quarterback—Dan Marino and Peyton Manning being two prominent exceptions—has possessed some degree of mobility.

“I had no idea how much of a quarterback I could have gotten from Roger,” Landry remarked before Denver defeated the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXII. “He was all about clutch performances and leadership. Everyone knew we had a chance to win while he was on the field.

Perhaps even more significant than his arm power, quick release, and defensive reading abilities were Staubach’s leadership abilities. According to former Cowboys tight end Billy Joe Dupree, “Roger always believed that when he took the eld the Cowboys had a shot to win.” Whether we were behind by two touchdowns or more made no difference. He always had faith in our ability to succeed and exuded confidence. Roger genuinely believed it, and we believed in him, unlike other individuals who merely talk about it.

Best NFL Players of All Time: Roger Staubach Stats

Regular Season

Year	Age	Tm	Pos	No.	G	GS	QBrec	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	TD%	Int	Int%	Lng	Y/A	AY/A	Y/C	Y/G	Rate	Sk	Yds	Sk%	NY/A	ANY/A	4QC	GWD	AV
1969	27	DAL	QB	12	6	1	1-0-0	23	47	48.9	421	1	2.1	2	4.3	75	9	7.5	18.3	70.2	69.5	12	106	20.3	5.34	4.15			2
1970	28	DAL	QB	12	8	3	36557	44	82	53.7	542	2	2.4	8	9.8	43	6.6	2.7	12.3	67.8	42.9	19	130	18.8	4.08	0.91			5
1971	29	DAL	QB	12	13	10	10-0-0	126	211	59.7	1882	15	7.1	4	1.9	85	8.9	9.5	14.9	144.8	104.8	23	175	9.8	7.29	7.81	1	2	14
1972	30	DAL	QB	12	4	0		9	20	45	98	0	0	2	10	21	4.9	0.4	10.9	24.5	20.4	8	59	28.6	1.39	-1.82			1
1973	31	DAL	QB	12	14	14	36803	179	286	62.6	2428	23	8	15	5.2	53	8.5	7.7	13.6	173.4	94.6	43	269	13.1	6.56	5.91	0	1	16
1974	32	DAL	QB	12	14	14	36744	190	360	52.8	2552	11	3.1	15	4.2	58	7.1	5.8	13.4	182.3	68.4	45	309	11.1	5.54	4.41	2	3	13
1975	33	DAL	QB	12	13	13	36773	198	348	56.9	2666	17	4.9	16	4.6	62	7.7	6.6	13.5	205.1	78.5	36	213	9.4	6.39	5.4	2	3	14
1976	34	DAL	QB	12	14	14	36833	208	369	56.4	2715	14	3.8	11	3	53	7.4	6.8	13.1	193.9	79.9	29	215	7.3	6.28	5.74	1	2	14
1977	35	DAL	QB	12	14	14	36862	210	361	58.2	2620	18	5	9	2.5	67	7.3	7.1	12.5	187.1	87	30	219	7.7	6.14	6.03	2	3	17
1978	36	DAL	QB	12	15	15	36834	231	413	55.9	3190	25	6.1	16	3.9	91	7.7	7.2	13.8	212.7	84.9	32	219	7.2	6.68	6.18	1	3	17
1979	37	DAL	QB	12	16	16	36835	267	461	57.9	3586	27	5.9	11	2.4	75	7.8	7.9	13.4	224.1	92.3	36	240	7.2	6.73	6.82	4	4	14
Career					131	114	85-29-0	1685	2958	57	22700	153	5.2	109	3.7	91	7.7	7.1	13.5	173.3	83.4	313	2154	9.6	6.28	5.72	13	21	127

Playoffs

Year	Age	Tm	Pos	G	GS	QBrec	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	TD%	Int	Int%	Lng	Y/A	AY/A	Y/C	Y/G	Rate	Sk	Yds	Sk%	NY/A	ANY/A	4QC	GWD
1969	27	DAL	QB	1	0	0-0	4	5	80	44	1	20	0	0	22	8.8	12.8	11	44	142.9	0	0	0	8.8	12.8
1970	28	DAL	QB	1	0	0-0
1971	29	DAL	QB	3	3	36586	31	51	60.8	321	3	5.9	0	0	30	6.3	7.5	10.4	107	98.6	10	64	16.4	4.21	5.2
1972	30	DAL	QB	2	1	0-1	21	40	52.5	272	2	5	0	0	27	6.8	7.8	13	136	90.8	7	56	14.9	4.6	5.45	1	1
1973	31	DAL	QB	2	2	45292	18	37	48.6	269	2	5.4	6	16.2	83	7.3	1.1	14.9	134.5	51.4	10	70	21.3	4.23	-0.66
1975	33	DAL	QB	3	3	45323	48	79	60.8	670	7	8.9	4	5.1	50	8.5	8	14	223.3	96.5	12	63	13.2	6.67	6.23	1	1
1976	34	DAL	QB	1	1	0-1	15	37	40.5	150	0	0	3	8.1	22	4.1	0.4	10	150	19	4	24	9.8	3.07	-0.22
1977	35	DAL	QB	3	3	36586	37	61	60.7	482	3	4.9	2	3.3	45	7.9	7.4	13	160.7	88.3	9	44	12.9	6.26	5.83
1978	36	DAL	QB	3	3	45323	37	72	51.4	459	5	6.9	3	4.2	39	6.4	5.9	12.4	153	77.3	8	69	10	4.88	4.44
1979	37	DAL	QB	1	1	0-1	12	28	42.9	124	1	3.6	1	3.6	29	4.4	3.5	10.3	124	53.3	1	0	3.4	4.28	3.41
Career				20	17	45602	223	410	54.4	2791	24	5.9	19	4.6	83	6.8	5.9	12.5	139.6	76	61	390	13	5.1	4.3	2

 

 

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