Remember Joe Morrison ? - "Mr Dependable" ....

I looked him up to see if he just died. Turns out he's been dead 17 years. So what brought on this little nostalgia trip?

And have seen a lot of joyful and dark times rooting for this team, (plus my thread about great high school football players) - got me thinking about the "good ole days".

Like I said, been a Giants fan for a long time, but my friend Phelps made it personal and real for me - my love for the team.

Was a bright spot during some real lean years, I will never forget the triple reverse from Fran Tarkenton to him against the Steelers to win the game.

Good old #40.... I have a lot of good memories seeing him play when I first started going to games at Yankee Stadium with my dad.

Him, Tarkington, Ron Johnson and Bob Tucker made for a pretty good offense for a couple of years.

Led the University of South Carolina to their best year.

Even when the Giants were getting killed, you could count on Joe doing something positive.

Has there ever been a team that imploded the way the Giants did after that '63 Championship game loss ? (for almost 20 years !)

although it wasn't the Giants' intent, if I recall correctly

It was the genius and art of Marty Glickman to make every 2-3 yard run by Morris sound as if he might go the distance, which in truth almost never happened. He was more productive as a receiver, with 47 TDs in 395 career receptions, but he never caught 50 or more in a single season.

As for his running ability, in his 14 year career his longest run in a season exceeded 20 yards 3 times, and one of those it was for 21 yards. Compare that to Ahmad Bradshaw for instance. In 6 years as a Giant battling foot injuries a good part of the time Bradshaw's longest run from scrimmage was greater than 20 yards every year, and the lowest yardage runs among those was for 37 yards.

Or to look at it another way, over Morrison's first 2 years as a Giant, playing for playoff calibre teams, Joe averaged 3.1 YPA, less than Andre Williams who is declared a disaster here.

Not sure he's a ring of honor type player aside from longevity. I'd put Bradshaw in there before Morrison.

In comment 13035439 BlueLou said:

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It was the genius and art of Marty Glickman to make every 2-3 yard run by Morris sound as if he might go the distance, which in truth almost never happened. He was more productive as a receiver, with 47 TDs in 395 career receptions, but he never caught 50 or more in a single season. As for his running ability, in his 14 year career his longest run in a season exceeded 20 yards 3 times, and one of those it was for 21 yards. Compare that to Ahmad Bradshaw for instance. In 6 years as a Giant battling foot injuries a good part of the time Bradshaw's longest run from scrimmage was greater than 20 yards every year, and the lowest yardage runs among those was for 37 yards. Or to look at it another way, over Morrison's first 2 years as a Giant, playing for playoff calibre teams, Joe averaged 3.1 YPA, less than Andre Williams who is declared a disaster here.

Morrison was a defensive back his first few years. The team had Frank Gifford, Alex Webster and Phil King as running backs. Morrison also played fullback, you didn't compare blocking stats with any current players. Yes, Bradshaw had some injuries, how about Morrison, was he healthy his entire career? Morrison was a part time everything, but always played the minutes of a starter. Do you have any stats of part time WR's or DB's you'd like to compare him to?

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Not sure he's a ring of honor type player aside from longevity. I'd put Bradshaw in there before Morrison.

I don't think his number should've been retired, but he certainly belongs in the Ring of Honor.

In comment 13035418 Ivan15 said:

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although it wasn't the Giants' intent, if I recall correctly

Morrison's number being retired is a bit of a story. After his last game, Coach Alex Webster made a comment about no one wearing the number that was misunderstood as meaning retiring it. Well Mara agreed to retire it.

.

In comment 13035299 Bill in UT said:

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I looked him up to see if he just died. Turns out he's been dead 17 years. So what brought on this little nostalgia trip?

Does a player have to have just died to be remembered? Should we just forget him after he's buried? It's nice to read about past players, there's nothing going on with the team now, unless you want to read another 53 man roster prediction? If you can't post and read about past players we loved and rooted for here, where can you go?

My all-time favorite will always be Tarkenton (not Tarkington). He went back to Minnesota and I've been a Giant/Viking fan ever since.

In comment 13035487 Tark10 said:

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My all-time favorite will always be Tarkenton (not Tarkington). He went back to Minnesota and I've been a Giant/Viking fan ever since.

I've been following since '67 and still think he's the most talented QB they have had since. I never saw Tittle, but from what I've read, he was up there too.

Many fans didn't..No idea why..Without him, we win very few games and competitive in even less..The D was horrific..

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Morrison was drafted by the Giants in the third round of the 1959 NFL Draft, where he mostly played at the positions of running back and wide receiver. He had a long career with the Giants, playing from 1959 to 1972. He is 3rd on the Giants' team record for receptions, with 395 catches, from seven different quarterbacks; over his career his plays gained 4,993 yards.

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Morrison's best individual season as a receiver came in 1966 when the Giants won only one game. He caught 46 passes for 724 yards and scored six touchdowns. While the Giants fell on hard times, Morrison was one of the bright stars on the team. He also had five seasons of forty receptions or more between 1964 and 1971.

He was dependable and versatile, but not a great player. Look I don't recall the early part of his career when I was 4 years old, but from the age of 11-12 on I had a decent idea what I was watching. One of the better players on awful teams except when sparked by Ron Johnson...

You wanna give him ring of honor status because of his longevity, fine. But he wasn't a great player, not even a club level great IMO.

In comment 13035508 BlueLou said:

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Quote: Morrison was drafted by the Giants in the third round of the 1959 NFL Draft, where he mostly played at the positions of running back and wide receiver. He had a long career with the Giants, playing from 1959 to 1972. He is 3rd on the Giants' team record for receptions, with 395 catches, from seven different quarterbacks; over his career his plays gained 4,993 yards. Quote: Morrison's best individual season as a receiver came in 1966 when the Giants won only one game. He caught 46 passes for 724 yards and scored six touchdowns. While the Giants fell on hard times, Morrison was one of the bright stars on the team. He also had five seasons of forty receptions or more between 1964 and 1971. He was dependable and versatile, but not a great player. Look I don't recall the early part of his career when I was 4 years old, but from the age of 11-12 on I had a decent idea what I was watching. One of the better players on awful teams except when sparked by Ron Johnson... You wanna give him ring of honor status because of his longevity, fine. But he wasn't a great player, not even a club level great IMO.

Fine, but it doesn't say anything about blocking as a fullback or his skills as a DB on championship teams. Wikipedia isn't really the best source for good Giants info, not with so many who watched him on this site.

In comment 13035508 BlueLou said:

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Quote: Morrison was drafted by the Giants in the third round of the 1959 NFL Draft, where he mostly played at the positions of running back and wide receiver. He had a long career with the Giants, playing from 1959 to 1972. He is 3rd on the Giants' team record for receptions, with 395 catches, from seven different quarterbacks; over his career his plays gained 4,993 yards. Quote: Morrison's best individual season as a receiver came in 1966 when the Giants won only one game. He caught 46 passes for 724 yards and scored six touchdowns. While the Giants fell on hard times, Morrison was one of the bright stars on the team. He also had five seasons of forty receptions or more between 1964 and 1971. He was dependable and versatile, but not a great player. Look I don't recall the early part of his career when I was 4 years old, but from the age of 11-12 on I had a decent idea what I was watching. One of the better players on awful teams except when sparked by Ron Johnson... You wanna give him ring of honor status because of his longevity, fine. But he wasn't a great player, not even a club level great IMO.

He wasn't "great" by modern (or perhaps any) standards, but he was clearly the greatest versatile player we've ever had, imv..You had to see him live, not when his career was beginning to wind down..Iirc, he played CB, S, RB, flanker, TE, Split-end and QB(at least as an emergency QB)..He didn't star in any of them, imo, but he was solid and produced yeoman results..He belongs in the ROH

Thanks Spider

In comment 13035508 BlueLou said:

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Quote: Morrison was drafted by the Giants in the third round of the 1959 NFL Draft, where he mostly played at the positions of running back and wide receiver. He had a long career with the Giants, playing from 1959 to 1972. He is 3rd on the Giants' team record for receptions, with 395 catches, from seven different quarterbacks; over his career his plays gained 4,993 yards. Quote: Morrison's best individual season as a receiver came in 1966 when the Giants won only one game. He caught 46 passes for 724 yards and scored six touchdowns. While the Giants fell on hard times, Morrison was one of the bright stars on the team. He also had five seasons of forty receptions or more between 1964 and 1971. He was dependable and versatile, but not a great player. Look I don't recall the early part of his career when I was 4 years old, but from the age of 11-12 on I had a decent idea what I was watching. One of the better players on awful teams except when sparked by Ron Johnson... You wanna give him ring of honor status because of his longevity, fine. But he wasn't a great player, not even a club level great IMO.

He was a great player. He was clutch and always seemed to make the key plays. Not Ring of Honor in the traditional sense, but not completely out of place to have a blue collar guy up there. You are correct about his running, but he was one of the top receiving RBs in the league at a time when RBs were not featured in the passing game.

Tarkington, Tucker, Morrison, and Ron Johnson made the Giants fun to watch. As others have said - the defense was horrible.

I saw him play, the last half of his career, and wasn't impressed. I could think of 10 guys I would put above him as quality players who aren't in the Ring of Honor in a hearbeat, starting with guys who played the positions he played - WR Toomer, RBs Hampton, Bradshaw, Johnson, CB Mark Collins, DL Katcavage and Leonard Marshall...

But ok, he hung around a long time. BTW in those days FBs ran that ball a lot too if they had ability. They weren't strictly blockers. Webster played FB...

Rodney Hampton's per game yards production was 2-3x Morrison's. Why Hampton isn't in?

the worst owner and GM ever, is in the Ring, it means nothing to me.

to do with his honored status..Most of his career was solid until he began to wane. We've already told you what you saw and was unimpressed with, was an almost shell of who he was..Those who never saw who Dimaggio and Ted Williams said was the greatest all-around ballplayer they ever saw, Willie Mays, would have thought he sucked if they saw the last 5 years of his career..

In comment 13035616 Big Blue '56 said:

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to do with his honored status..Most of his career was solid until he began to wane. We've already told you what you saw and was unimpressed with, was an almost shell of who he was..Those who never saw who Dimaggio and Ted Williams said was the greatest all-around ballplayer they ever saw, Willie Mays, would have thought he sucked if they saw the last 5 years of his career..

Fair enough fiddy and good analogy. Except of course Morrison was never remotely close to being a Willie Mays level of player...

More like watching Bert Campaneris at the end of his career. Except Campaneris played in many All Star games and Morrison I believe in zero Pro Bowls..

and LT deserve to be in the same sentence. Joe Morrison not quite.

is that you admit you saw JM in his latter years..We're simply saying albeit far from great, he was a heady, solid, versatile player who got the job done when called upon AT EVERY position he played...They used to say about Eddie Stanky, that he couldn't run, hit or throw. He just beat you..JM was mr. clutch. Never would any of us confuse him with the greats of the day, but for what he contributed, in the clutch when called upon, he deserves to be in the ring of honor, because as of now, there's no distinctinction between the "greats" ROH and the simply "good" ROH..

He did play all those positions that you mentioned, and played them all well. Before the days of fantasy football, he was a true team player who always did what was asked of him. Maybe not as physically gifted as others, still I would rather have a Joe Morrison on my team than someone like Homer Jones, who had all the physical attributes and stats, but ran hot and cold. Retiring his number was maybe a bit premature, but I have no problem with him in the ring of honor.

but it's just too much fun not to mess with you when you bring up the example of Willie Mays, Ted Williams, and Joe DiMaggio at the end of their careers to compare to Joe Morrison. Ya gotta admit you stepped out of bounds on that one. Actually you stepped out of the ballpark and right off the planet...

In comment 13035783 BlueLou said:

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but it's just too much fun not to mess with you when you bring up the example of Willie Mays, Ted Williams, and Joe DiMaggio at the end of their careers to compare to Joe Morrison. Ya gotta admit you stepped out of bounds on that one. Actually you stepped out of the ballpark and right off the planet...

Lou, I think you missed my point re Mays, Williams, Joe D..I was just saying that Mays was the greatest all-around ballplayer I ever saw and obviously Williams and Dimag agreed...HOWEVER and to my point, had anyone seen Mays his last 5 years, they NEVER would have believed all the Mays accolades if they never saw him when he was "Mays."

You didn't see JM during his prime or solid years. Your opinion is based on what YOU SAW towards the end of his career..That's my ONLY COMPARISON re Mays and Morrison..Obviously they don't compare in the least. The analogy was intended SOLELY to point out how those who saw both players towards the end of their careers couldn't possibly think they were as great(Mays) or good(Morrison) as they were..

He's known at South Carolina (my alma mater) as "The Man in Black." His 1984 "Black Magic" team was/is the most beloved in school history. Went 10-1, blowing a trip to the national title game by losing at Navy late in the year. They recovered the next week to beat Clemson in Death Valley with a fourth quarter comeback, so that softened the blow a bit.

Things went bad at the end - the program was dealing with a major steroids scandal in 1989 when Joe had his fatal heart attack in the showers at the stadium after playing racquetball with his coaches and ex-players. But he's still revered, maybe a bit more so than Spurrier depending on who you ask.

In comment 13035961 James Kratch said:

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He's known at South Carolina (my alma mater) as "The Man in Black." His 1984 "Black Magic" team was/is the most beloved in school history. Went 10-1, blowing a trip to the national title game by losing at Navy late in the year. They recovered the next week to beat Clemson in Death Valley with a fourth quarter comeback, so that softened the blow a bit. Things went bad at the end - the program was dealing with a major steroids scandal in 1989 when Joe had his fatal heart attack in the showers at the stadium after playing racquetball with his coaches and ex-players. But he's still revered, maybe a bit more so than Spurrier depending on who you ask.

Here's a story about Morrison's time at USC from a few years ago:
Morrison feature - ( New Window )

I post on another board and everytime JM comes up I wound up apologizing. "I watched those years but I must have missed it, to me he was a guy who wasn't good enough to have a position and the ultimate "utility infielder."
I am glad that there's other's who see it the way I did.

And yes, I saw him from beginning to end. The "best" was ordinary, the bad was bad.