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After a couple of days of not-so-close contests, a match-up between relatively even seeds should be a refreshing change of pace. And that's what we have today, in a match between two players who enjoyed strong mid-career stretches while wearing the star: eighth-seeded Terrell Owens, a sure-fire Hall of Famer who was in Dallas for three 1,000-yard, 10-touchdown seasons, and ninth-seeded Danny White, who enjoyed four strong years as Roger Staubach's replacement. Who will emerge to face Bob Lilly in round two? Read the bios and cast your votes, BTBers!
Wanna keep tabs on the state of the bracket or look ahead to future contests? All the Midsummer Madness info you could ever want can be found right here.
Player: Terrell Owens
Position: wide receiver
Seed: 8
Essentials:
| Name | Years | Career AV | Pro Bowls | All-Pro | RoH | HoF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terrell Eldorado Owens |
2006-08 |
37* |
1** |
1*** |
no |
no |
Bio: In March, 2006, the Cowboys acquired Owens for day after he was released by the Eagles. Despite playing the bulk of 2006 with an injured right ring finger that twice required surgery after the season, Owens caught 85 passes for 1,180 yards and a league-leading thirteen touchdowns. The following year, he was even better, with 1,355 receiving yards (for a career-high 16.7 yards per catch) and a team-record fifteen TDs in only fifteen games.
In 2007, Owens was unstoppable. In a November game against the Redskins (Ol' Rabble was in attendance), Owens set a career high and tied a franchise record with four touchdown catches. Later that month, in the showdown with Green Bay for NFC supremacy, T.O. became the first player in NFL history with at least one touchdown catch and six receptions in seven straight games; the seven consecutive games with a score is a Cowboys record. At the end of the 2007 season, he received his lone Pro Bowl and All-Pro nominations as a Cowboy.
In 2008, Owens caught 69 balls for 1,052 yards and ten scores - the ninth and last 1,000-yard season of his career. A strong argument can be made that To. is the best receiver ever to play for the Cowboys; he finished his career third all-time in receiving touchdowns, second all-time in receiving yards and sixth all-time in receptions. In addition, he concluded his time in Dallas as the Cowboys' franchise leader in receiving yards per game, with an average of 76.3.
*Owens's AV with the Cowboys is 37; his career AV, with five teams, is 165 (25th all time)
**T.O was a six-time Pro Bowler; his one Pro Bowl with the Cowboys came in 2007.
***Owens was selected All-Pro five times, and once while he was in Dallas (2007).
Player: Danny White
Position: punter, quarterback
Seed: 9
Essentials:
| Name | Years | Career AV | Pro Bowls | All-Pro | RoH | HoF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wilford Daniel White |
1976-88 |
102 |
1 |
0 |
no |
no |
Bio: White signed with Dallas in 1976, after playing for two years in the World Football League, serving as the team's punter and backup quarterback for four seasons. In 1980, he assumed the starter's mantle, and the Cowboys didn't appear to lose a beat; from 1980-83, White threw for more than 12,000 yards and 95 touchdowns. And, White concluded his first year as the team's signal caller in Staubachian fashion, leading the Cowboys to a come-from-behind 30-27 win on the road in a 1980 playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons.
Indeed, White was capable of Staubach-like heroics; another memorable game was the 1983 season opener at Washington, wherein the Redskins raced out to a 23-3 halftime lead that White turned around with two long touchdowns to Tony Hill and a 31-30 Cowboys victory. For his career, White led twelve fourth-quarter comebacks and 16 game-winning drives, and finished with an impressive 62-32 record as the Cowboys' starting quarterback.
That said, his record in the playoffs was only 5-5. White is probably best known for never being able to get the Cowboys over the proverbial hump, with season-ending losses in three consecutive NFC Championship games from 1980-82. For the last five years of his career, White was in and out of the starting lineup due to benchings (for the likes of Gary Hogeboom and Steve Pelleur) and injuries (in 1986, White was the NFC's top-rated passer and led the Cowboys to a 6-2 record when he suffered a season-ending wrist injury).
Alright, BTBers, which man advances to the next round?