Let me give you some stats to contemplate.
"...played college football at the University of Notre Dame, and was the team's starting quarterback for three seasons. In 30 total games from 1960 through 1962, he had 99 completions for 211 attempts for a 46.9 completion percentage and 1,363 yards, with eight touchdowns and 16 interceptions..."
As a professional;
Completion Percentage 49.5%
TD to Interception Ratio 164-138
Passer Rating 72.9
So, what do you think?
Here's some more;
NFL
Second-team All-Pro (1970)
2? Pro Bowl (1970, 1972)
AFL
3? AFL champion (1964, 1965, 1967)
AFL Championship MVP (1967)
2? AFL MVP (1967, 1969)
2? First-team All-AFL (1967, 1969)
3? AFL All-Star (1965, 1967, 1969)
2? AFL passing touchdowns leader (1967, 1969)
AFL passing yards leader (1969)
AFL rushing touchdowns co-leader (1964)
2? UPI AFL Player of the Year (1967, 1969)
Same guy. The Mad Bomber. I'm just saying that some of the stats we look at don't always tell us what is what. I say that as I put up stats. Hardison is a gunslinger. But he can't walk into the O. K. Corral by himself. Two serious questions will be answered. Cowing was a real football player. Some guys are fast, some have good hands, some run great routes, but some players are football players. They could play any position well but for their physical limitations-but they know what to do. They know the game inside and out. Cowing was one of those. The loss was and will be huge. The question is, can the replacements, in my mind probably decent receivers, plus the improvement in Hardison's game with another year under his belt equal be enough to still be better passing than last season. But what really would be the best, is for the offense to be able to run the ball when they need to. Long runs are great and all, but being able to get a single damned yard when you need it is more important. Making highlight reels from losses sucks! It is absolutely the strangest thing in the universe that after the Kugler era of running and building o-linemen in his image he finally achieved some success, but we couldn't pass and it seems that having a NFL star running back may have helped with the running game that Dimel seemed to have gone with the running game only with bring in running quarterbacks to help with the run. Well, that sucked, but in a different way. It seems that a passing game was somewhat forced upon Dimel by Hardison, by accident. I will never understand how between the two, Kugler and Dimel and their desire to run the ball, that we still can't. But it isn't for trying. You can't win that coveted time of possession title without running-even when there isn't enough time left to possess. I hope that somehow, we magically are able to run pretty well and that Hardison can cut down on interceptions because the running game is working well enough that the passing game is icing on the cake.
