Word: montana
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Montana cannot throw the ball that far, only far enough. "They said he was erratic, skittery, not particularly well built, not particularly strong-armed; and he had a side arm delivery." They missed the things Walsh has seen since. "He's a natural football player-really, a natural competitor. He competes instinctively. It's like he's so used to competing that he has no awe for it, nor for himself...
Walsh knew few of Montana's special strengths when he drafted Joe in the third round of 1979. Montana's reputation as a hot-and-cold player intrigued Walsh: "If he can have one hot game, why not two, why not three?" This man knows something about quarterbacks. As an assistant in Cincinnati and San Diego, he once took the rawest rookie and fashioned Anderson, and later found a floundering failure and made Dan Fouts. When he got his first N.F.L. coaching job three years ago, it was overdue...
...quarterback. As a rookie on a poor team, he did a fair job, is all. But his skills were obvious. He was just so active, so quick on his feet, so instinctive. The second year, we eased him in carefully, so as not to break him." Breaking Montana seemed a small danger to Assistant Coach Sam Wyche, a man who can speak of the relative gifts handed out to quarterbacks. He was a backup in the N.F.L. for nine years. "Montana made this fake against the Giants," says Wyche, referring to the first playoff victory over New York. "The linebacker...
Wyche is talking about unbeatable confidence. "At the end of the exhibition season this fall," says Walsh, "we traded a quarterback who had broken an N.F.L. record for completions, Steve DeBerg. Honestly, I can't think of anyone Joe wouldn't have beaten out eventually." For Montana, surpassing DeBerg was a victory, and a loss. "As a kid, did your neighbor ever beat you at something four out of five," muses Joe, "and you still said you were better? I mean, you honestly felt you were better? You knew you were? Well, Steve and I were both that...
Roommates, they shared a fondness for all contests, and if the Marriott Hotels that the N.F.L. teams frequent did not feature rumpus rooms buzzing with electronic whizbangers, DeBerg and Montana might have played checkers with match sticks on the tiles of the bathroom. "We could never quit," Joe laughs, "because somebody was always behind." Then he stops laughing. "It was unspoken, but we both knew. At practice, if one of us threw a pass that wobbled, the other would quack like a duck. We teased each other into staying friends, but we knew one eventually...