NFL: Does a rotating QB system work?
By Andy Pollin
You’ve heard the old NFL saying, “If you have two quarterbacks, you don’t have any.” The Cleveland Browns hope they have that one guy in first-round draft pick Johnny Manziel, but they realize that won’t happen right away. Brian Hoyer will be their opening day starter. Beyond that? Hard to say. The only reason Manziel isn’t the starter is because he wasn’t better that Hoyer, who wasn’t very good in his first two preseason games either.
The leash on Hoyer is short. Look bad in the first few games of the season and starting looking over your shoulder for number two — jersey number and quarterback. Could Coach Mike Pettine play both? It’s happened before:
1982 Miami Dolphins
The year before drafting Dan Marino, Coach Don Shula couldn’t decide on a starter. So he went with two quarterbacks of different ages and different skills and went all the way to the Super Bowl. Veteran Don Strock, 32, who’d spent a decade sitting behind Bob Griese was the better passer, 26-year-old David Woodley was the better runner.
They both played, gaining the nickname “Woodstrock.” Backed by an excellent defense, “Woodstrock” was good enough to get the Dolphins to Super Bowl XVII. It was in that game that Shula realized he really needed a quarterback. They led the Redskins 17-10 at the half with the help of a 76-yard touchdown pass from Woodley to Jimmy Cefalo. But in the second half, “Woodstrock” failed to complete a pass and the Redskins won 27-17.
1980 San Francisco 49ers
Say “1980’s 49ers”, everybody assumes the quarterback was Joe Montana. He was, but not at the beginning. Steve DeBerg kept Montana on the bench for all but one game of Montana’s rookie year in 1979. The following season, Coach Bill Walsh knew he had his future triggerman for the west coast offense, but he wanted to be careful how he brought Montana along.
Walsh would later say he started Montana against teams he thought he’d be successful against to give him confidence. DeBerg got nine of the 16 starts. He would later perform a similar pace-setting job for John Elway in Denver. As for Montana, he became the full-time starter the following season and won the first of his four Super Bowl championships.
1973 Washington Redskins
They called them “Hobble and Wobble.” Between 34-year-old Billy Kilmer and 39-year-old Sonny Jurgensen, there was one healthy pair of legs that season. Kilmer, who had taken the Redskins to the Super Bowl the year before after Jurgensen had torn his achillies, started the season. He beat the Chargers in the opener 38-0, but after a loss at St. Louis, Jurgensen was back behind center.
He won the next three, but banged up his knee in a win over the Giants. Back to Kilmer, who got banged up and gave way to Jurgensen. And so it went the rest of the year with Kilmer starting and Jurgensen relieving and vice versa. The aged duo managed to get the Redskins into the playoffs at 10-4, but with Kilmer starting, they lost at Minnesota 27-20 in the Divisional playoff game.
1971 Dallas Cowboys
It’s hard to believe that that straight-laced Coach Tom Landry would come up with a wild idea like this, but he did. Unable to decide whether Craig Morton or Roger Staubach was his better option at quarterback, Landry decided to alternate them…on EVERY PLAY! This plan was hatched for a game against Chicago – appropriately on Halloween, October 31, 1971. Realize these were the days before radio helmets for calling plays.
Landry had been shuttling guards in and out to call plays. Shuttling quarterbacks, he reasoned, would be more efficient. Landry said, “If I’m going to call the plays, it makes it easier to shuttle the quarterbacks because they have time to think over their keys.” Landry even suggested this system could become permanent. It lasted one game — the Bears won 23-19.
Staubach started the next 10 games, all wins, including Super Bowl VI. Other than playing when Staubach was hurt, Morton stewed on the bench, begging for a trade. Six games into the 1974 season, he got his wish. Morton was traded to the Giants for their first-round pick. The Cowboys used that on future Hall of Famer Randy White, who was co-MVP of Super Bowl XII, also quarterbacked by Staubach, who beat? The Denver Broncos, quarterbacked by…Craig Morton.