"It's not whether you win or lose, but who gets…

Grantland Rice (1880-1954) wrote, “For when the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name; He marks—not that you won or lost—but how you played the Game.” “It’s not whether you win or lose, but who gets the blame” was cited in a football forecaster column in 1967.

Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Blaine Nye said in 1974, “In the NFL, it’s not whether you win or lose that matters but who gets the blame.” In 1976, Nye was printed in several publications for saying, “It’s not whether you win or lose but who gets the blame.” The Dallas Cowboys were coached at that time by Tom Landry (1924-2000), a football perfectionist.

“In New York, it’s not whether you win or lose—it’s how you lay the blame” is a similar saying that was written by American author Fran Lebowitz in 1976.

Wikipedia: Blaine Nye
Blaine Francis Nye (born March 29, 1946 in Ogden, Utah) is a former American football offensive lineman in the National Football League and founder and president of Stanford Consulting Group, Inc., a firm specializing in economic research and providing expert opinions in business litigation.

Google Books
The Yale Book of Quotations
Edited by Fred R. Shapiro
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press
2006
Pg. 635:
Grantland Rice
U.S. sportswriter, 1880-1954
“For when the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name
He marks—not that you won or lost—but how you played the Game.”
“Alumnus Football” l. 63 (1908)

3 February 1967, Lima (OH) News, “Fearless streaks forward” by Fearless Finnegan, pg. 11, col. 6:
With this thought, faithful fans, I’ll leave you until next week: It’s not whether you win or lose, but who gets the blame, or, if you can’t beat ‘em, hate ‘em.

7 November 1974, The News Journal (Mansfield, OH), ‘Cowboys Show Many Ills” by Kenneth Denlinger (Washington Post):
Dallas Cowboy Guard Blaine Nye put his finger on the way it is: “In the NFL, it’s not whether you win or lose that matters but who gets the blame.”

23 October 1976, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “Morning Briefing,” pg. C2:
Blaine Nye of the Dallas Cowboys, summing up his philosophy of the game: “It’s not whether you win or lose but who gets the blame.”

Sports Illustrated
November 15, 1976
They Said It
Edited by Robert W. Creamer
Blaine Nye, Dallas Cowboy guard, on his football philosophy: “It’s not whether you win or lose but who gets the blame.”

Google Books
Sportswit
By Lee Green
New York, NY: Harper & Row
1984
Pg. 133:
BLAINE NYE Dallas Cowboys lineman: “It’s not whether you win or lose, but who gets the blame.”

Google Books
God’s Coach:
The hymns, hype, and hypocrisy of Tom Landry’s Cowboys
By Skip Bayless
New York, NY: Simon and Schuster
1990
Pg. 93:
This would inspire the line from offensive guard (and Stanford grad) Blaine Nye that epitomized Landry’s Cowboys: “It’s not whether you win or lose, but who gets the blame.”

Google Books
Gentlemen, This Is a football:
Football’s Best Quotes and Quips
By Eric Zweig
Buffalo, NY; Richmond Hill, Ont.: Firefly Books
2006
Pg. 50:
“It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s who gets the blame.”
DALLAS COWBOYS LINEMAN BLAINE NYE