Remembering The Time Tony Dungy Became The Steelers QB

On this lazy college football Saturday with practically zero competitive games, even Miami (FL) vs Florida became a snooze fest, I went down the YouTube rabbit hole. And stumbled across a video of emergency quarterbacks pressed into action. One made years ago before Kendall Hinton or Christian McCaffrey were stuck in this unenvious positions. It’s a head coach’s (and fans) nightmare. You have no quarterbacks left – how do you still run an offense?

Fortunately, the league has expanded its emergency quarterback rules, especially in the wake of the 49ers being stuck with McCaffrey in the 2022 NFC Championship Game. Now referred to as the “Brock Purdy Rule,” though I contend it should be called the “Josh Johnson Rule” considering he was the last quarterback injured that forced the team to turn to their star running back. So the chances of any team in the future being stuck in this spot have been reduced, though many teams are still opting to carry only two quarterbacks on their 53.

Pittsburgh routinely still carries three. This year is no exception with Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, and Kyle Allen. It makes what happened in 1977 all the more rare. The time S Tony Dungy was forced to step in at quarterback, as told by a snippet of that video.

I’ve shared it below. The quick backstory saw Terry Bradshaw (broken wrist) and Mike Kruczek (separated shoulder) get injured against the Houston Oilers, leaving Dungy as the last man standing. The results…you can already guess how things turned out.

Dungy played the final 14:56 and finished the game going 3-of-8 for 43 yards and two interceptions. On the plus side, he cancelled out one of those turnovers with a pick of his own, still the only post-merger to throw a pick and take one away in the same game. But that fumble was costly and sealed the win for Houston, going up 24-10 en route to a 17-point victory.

The Post-Gazette ran with the headline “Steelers Lose Everything But Their Shirts” the following day. Post-game, Chuck Noll said the team would likely to turn to Cliff Stoudt, inactive for the Oilers’ contest. They also considered camp arm Neil Graff. Noll said he didn’t know “where the hell” he was but Art Rooney Jr. bet Graff would be willing to play…with one potential roadblock.

“He might want to join the priesthood, but otherwise I’m sure he’ll be interested,” Rooney quipped.

Tony Dungy, likely much to his relief, had just a one-week stint masquerading as a quarterback. Bradshaw dealt with his broken wrist and played the following week. Pittsburgh leaned on their running back, a lopsided 50 rushes to nine Bradshaw throws as a way to manage the situation. It worked and the Steelers earned a win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

Dungy resumed his role as a defensive back before being traded to the San Francisco 49ers after the 1978 season and soon beginning his legendary coaching career. He could be the last non-quarterback ever forced to play the position for Pittsburgh. The Steelers sure hope to keep it that way.