Bill Walsh dies
I’m a Dallas Cowboy fan but I can really appreciate good football. Bill Walsh simply changed football. He changed pro football forever. He took some of Tom Landry’s ideas of motion and cranked it up. He used motion to develop certain match ups. He placed a premium on running backs that could really catch the ball out of the backfield. He proved that you could kill a team with simple low risk swing passes out of the backfield. As soon as the defense commits to the swing pass, a bomb to one of the wide open all world recievers would be served up. Walsh was brilliant.
One game really does make a difference. The Dallas Cowboys and Danny White were one play away from killing Bill Walsh and their first of 3 SuperBowls. The Catch by Dwight Clark was a great play by great players but there was still time on the clock. The Dallas Cowboys had Danny White a young talented quarterback and they still had an aging Drew Person. The Cowboys do get Drew Person free in the middle of the field. Danny White delivers a great pass. Person has just one man to beat and the Cowboys go to another SuperBowl. Joe Montana and Bill Walsh may not become household names. He is caught by a hang nail (I can’t remember who tackled him). Joe Montana and Bill Walsh would go on to win 3 SuperBowls.
Bill Walsh had a great eye for talent. A great eye. Joe Montana was too short and too slow. He didn’t have a rocket arm. He took Steve Young. Steve Young was awful at Tampa Bay. Walsh saw something that no one else saw. Roger Craig. Dwight Clark. Arguably the greatest football player of all time - Jerry Rice. There are probably 50 other players that he make great.
Bill Walsh will always be remembered. He will be mentioned with all of the great coaches.
It was cornerback Eric Wright, a rookie at that time. Wright grabbed Pearson by the collar. It was a game winning tackle. History might have been different.
Thanks for the assist.