Detroit @ Dallas - 1970 Divisional Round

[slats7]

Ridiculously anemic qb play in a game where weather was not a factor.

Munson: 5 of 12 for 48 yards. 0 TDs and 0 INTs.

Morton: 4 of 18 for 38 yards. 0 TDs and 1 INT.

[SixtiesFan]

It was Greg Landry, not Munson, who started for the Lions and went 5-12 for 48 yards. Landry had won the starting job around midseason and had done very well down the stretch as the Lions went on a winning steak to take the wildcard spot. Landry was bad and Bill Munson relieved him on, I think, the last series and went 2-8, 44 yards. I checked pro-football reference. Munson hit a 39 yard completion to Earl McCullough in the last minute to put the Lions close. On the next play, as I recall a pass bounced off somebody and the Cowboys intercepted.

Craig Morton also played poorly, as he did in the NFC title game in San Francisco, and Super Bowl V. Duane Thomas was the Cowboys key player, gaining 135 yards in 30 carries. The Lions running game didn't do very much. Thomas went 27-143 and a TD the next week against the 49ers.

I saw the Cowboys 5-0 win over the Lions on TV at the time and saw a replay a few years ago. It was striking how bad Landry and Morton were.

[rewing84]

It was Greg Landry, not Munson, who started for the Lions and went 5-12 for 48 yards. Landry had won the starting job around midseason and had done very well down the stretch as the Lions went on a winning steak to take the wildcard spot. Landry was bad and Bill Munson relieved him on, I think, the last series and went 2-8, 44 yards. I checked pro-football reference. Munson hit a 39 yard completion to Earl McCullough in the last minute to put the Lions close. On the next play, as I recall a pass bounced off somebody and the Cowboys intercepted.

Craig Morton also played poorly, as he did in the NFC title game in San Francisco, and Super Bowl V. Duane Thomas was the Cowboys key player, gaining 135 yards in 30 carries. The Lions running game didn't do very much. Thomas went 27-143 and a TD the next week against the 49ers.

I saw the Cowboys 5-0 win over the Lions on TV at the time and saw a replay a few years ago. It was striking how bad Landry and Morton were.

1.Bill Munson indeed replaced Landry on that final drive

2. The player the ball bounced off of was Earl McCulloch

[slats7]

It was Greg Landry, not Munson, who started for the Lions and went 5-12 for 48 yards.

Yep, my bad. Still, a remarkably bad game considering.

[Todd Pence]

Only postseason game in the HOF careers of Lem Barney and Charlie Sanders.

[RichardBak]

Only postseason game in the HOF careers of Lem Barney and Charlie Sanders.

Also fellow HOFers Alex Karras and Dick LeBeau (though LeBeau was a coach in postseason play).

[lehotskys80]

I saw the Cowboys 5-0 win over the Lions on TV at the time and saw a replay a few years ago. It was striking how bad Landry and Morton were.

IIRC, Morton had a damaged elbow which impacted him throughout the playoffs. Another impact to the passing game was the loss of Lance Rentzel during the last part of the season. Rookie Reggie Rucker wasn't quite the same threat.

[SixtiesFan]

I saw the Cowboys 5-0 win over the Lions on TV at the time and saw a replay a few years ago. It was striking how bad Landry and Morton were.

IIRC, Morton had a damaged elbow which impacted him throughout the playoffs. Another impact to the passing game was the loss of Lance Rentzel during the last part of the season. Rookie Reggie Rucker wasn't quite the same threat.

I've just been rereading Rentzel's 1973 book. His last game of the 1970 season was the Thanksgiving Day win over the Packers. Rentzel voluntarily (though pushed by Cowboy management) left the team, although the players voted for him to stay. The TV announcers never mentioned Rentzel's name in any of the broadcasts the rest of the season and the three playoff games. It was unsaid why Reggie Rucker was starting at WR.

For four years when you saw the Cowboys on TV "Hayes and Rentzel are the Cowboy wide receivers" was about the first thing you heard when the announcer gave the Cowboy starting offensive unit. When I saw again a few years ago the famous 38-0 Monday Night game beating by the Cardinals, I noticed Rentzel seemed to have more fire than the other Cowboys. The incident that ended Rentzel's Dallas career took place that Thursday.

I knew Morton had arm/elbow trouble but was Greg Landry injured? He had played very well during the Lions' stretch run.

[RichardBak]

After 53 years I still can't shake the memory of that game. Five-zip? The Lions had set a team record for points that season and they couldn't muster a lousy TD, or even a couple FGs, to win? I remember my kid brother and me watching the game on the TV in the basement of our Detroit home----a blond wood cabinet TV circa 1952, B/W screen about the size of a postcard, the picture rolling up and down as we beat on the cabinet and kept adjusting the rabbit ears, the static....(You see, my dad, not a sports fan, delegated the family's "second TV" in the basement for the kids while he watched Bonanza and "his" shows on the good TV in the living room.)

Anyway, Landry started the game and was a nervous wreck throughout. He admitted that he spent the entire halftime throwing up in the locker room. The entire offense--a group of young guys in their first playoff---played tight and conservative. Dropped passes, fumbles, the usual sign of jitters were evident throughout. In fact, I don't believe there was a single Lion w/ playoff experience. Dallas OTOH was playing in the postseason for the 5th consecutive year. Munson came on in relief of Landry in the 4Q (after Landry had been sacked for a safety) and tossed a few bombs. I've always thought Detroit was the marginally better team---and better than the Colts team that wound up beating the 'Boys in the SB---but experience counts in big games, and the young Lions just didn't have it.

And I have to give the Doomsday Defense their due. When they blanked the Lions, they ran their streak to 21 consecutive quarters w/o the D giving up a TD.

As weird as that 5-0 score was, just 2 weeks earlier the Cowboys had beaten the Browns by another baseball-like score, 6-2.

[Brian wolf]

What's your take on Greg Landry, Richard? Great athlete or not, it never seemed like he could win big games, wherever he went ... Even in 1972, with the Vikings faltering, Landry and the Lions couldnt win the division.