By Dave Brady
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday May 2, 1975; Page D1

Various senior Dallas Cowboys praised Sonny Jurgensen yesterday and predicted the Redskins would miss him.

Coach Tom Landry told Frank Luksa of the Dallas Times-Herald that "they (the Redskins) lose a big confidence factor.

"When they are not moving, getting behind, they will not believe they can catch up like Jurgensen was able to do for them.

"They will not have the confidence that (Bill) Kilmer can catch them up again. They'll have a problem unless they develop the guy from Notre Dame (Joe Theismann), or Randy Johnson can come in and give them success.

"They have excellent receivers, but if they can't find someone to throw the ball as well as Jurgensen they have problems."

Landry was said to be not at all surprised that Jurgensen was phased out.

"I could have told you that would happen," he said. "Why sign Johnson if you are not going to get rid of Jurgensen?

"Naturally, Jurgensen playing at peak ability was one of the great quarterbacks and passers in our business.

"I think he has come to the point now that he can't play at that efficiency. He's lost that quality. So it was inevitable for Washington to replace him, just as it's inevitable for us to replace our older players."

One member of the Dallas organization, who asked that he not be identified, said "Some of our cornerbacks are glad Jurgensen is retired."

Strong safety Cornell Green said, "Jurgensen was the best throwing quarterback I ever played against.

"He knew how to put points on the board. I think we shut him out only once. We had some good games against; he had great ones against us. He had guts. He would try to throw the ball right by you— and he did, where others couldn't. There is no telling what the effect will be on the Redskins. It might make them a better team."

Ermal Allen, special assistant to Landry, commented: "The greatest thing was Jurgensen's peripheral vision, the ability to pick out the open receiver. He had one of the fast releases under pressure: he seldom got trapped.

"His accuracy percentage (57.1) was unbelievable. People were scared to death to blitz Jurgensen; change ups on defense did not bother him. As a rule of thumb you didn't blitz him or he would throw a touchdown or lay off a pass on you.

"A good measure of a passer is whether he throws more touchdowns than interceptions. Jurgensen threw 225 touchdowns and 189 interceptions. He has done it with poor, good and average teams.

"As to confidence, he just knows he can move a team. He ranks with Bobby Layne (formerly of the Detroit Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers) in moving a team in a two-minute period. He just scares you to death. He and Layne were the best about producing when you had to have it.

"A Cowboys' criterion, involving things like sacks, is the average-yards-per-pass attempt. We regard 6.5 to 7.0 yards as very solid. Jurgensen has a lifetime average of 7.56 yards. That is fantastic.

"The Redskins had the luxury of sitting there knowing that if Kilmer got hurt or was not going well, Sonny was there. Now they won't have that luxury.

"Theismann has a lot of ability but has not been tested. Johnson has been around a lot, but hasn't been successful yet."

Chuck Howard, who retired last season, said, "It was frustrating to play against Jurgensen because he threw so many percentage passes. It was very difficult for a defensive line to get to him. He set up short and got rid of the ball in a hurry. He was good for the game."