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Location: East Texas, with the Clan of the Cave Bear
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OK, I have a few.
First one was SB IV Cowboys decimated the Dolphins. Very satisfying as Dallas had been close so often and lost the year before where the after outplaying the Colts thoroughly.
Next was the Hail Mary game against Minnesota. Staubach to Drew Pearson FTW.
Then in 1992 the win over dynastic SF in the NFC Championship Game and then 2 weeks later destroying Buffalo in the SB which would have been a scoring record for the SB if not for Leon Lett's showboating before he scored.
Next the Division title game (Jan 1994) over the NY Giants where Emmitt Smith dislocated his shoulder and still ran over the Giants. Most gutsy performance I ever witnessed.
Lastly, the playoff loss to GB where the Dez catch was disallowed. Which the NFL later said was a mistake. It has helped solidify my GB hate.
First one was SB IV Cowboys decimated the Dolphins. Very satisfying as Dallas had been close so often and lost the year before where the after outplaying the Colts thoroughly.
Next was the Hail Mary game against Minnesota. Staubach to Drew Pearson FTW.
Then in 1992 the win over dynastic SF in the NFC Championship Game and then 2 weeks later destroying Buffalo in the SB which would have been a scoring record for the SB if not for Leon Lett's showboating before he scored.
Next the Division title game (Jan 1994) over the NY Giants where Emmitt Smith dislocated his shoulder and still ran over the Giants. Most gutsy performance I ever witnessed.
Lastly, the playoff loss to GB where the Dez catch was disallowed. Which the NFL later said was a mistake. It has helped solidify my GB hate.
Five great games for sure. Some observations on SB-VI.
Tom Landry's first six years as head coach were hard on him. It took him six years to get to .500 with the team for a season. For five years after that, the Cowboys were described as "next years champions", having great regular seasons and then conking out come playoff time.. When they got to Super Bowl V, they had turnovers that just killed them, Duane Thomas's fumble at the goal line just one of several of them. Unfortunately the one thing that a lot of fans remember was after O'Briens' field goal the sight of Bob Lilly tossing his helmet about halfway down the field.
Going into 1971 Landry at times still had moments of indecision, particularly at quarterback. Think about week 5 against Chicago--Landry alternated quarterbacks Staubach and Morton on every play. Finally when he decided on Staubach Dallas kind of went on a roll. One reason regarding Dallas did to improve the offense that rarely gets a mention is acquiring two future NFL HOFers--Lance Alworth and Mike Ditka to beef up the receiver corp and also added the KC Chiefs Gloster Richardson.
And Dallas wore down Miami, they had twice the amount of yards gained that Miami had. The highlight reel that I'll always remember was, again, Bob Lilly going after Miami qb Bob Griese. I don't remember sacks going for a 30 yard loss, I definitely remember THIS one though. Without a doubt Bob Lilly had his greatest game ever as a pro, he was the Cowboys very first #1 draft choice in their history.
Speaking of Ice Bowls, I was at the 1980 AFC Divisional Playoffs in Cleveland vs the Raiders. The temperature at kickoff was a frigid 4° Fahrenheit with gusting 16 m.p.h. winds of Lake Erie. The temperature and wind chill dropped to the negatives through the game. This was the coldest game since the Green Bay Ice Bowl of 1967. The weather though didn't deter the 77,655 Browns fans who filled Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
And this was my first LIVE football game! It was so freaking cold. I had so many layers on that I felt like Ralphie’s little brother, Randy from The Christmas Story. But I was so happy to be there, especially because my big sister invited me after her husband bailed due to the weather.
We were so confident that this was the Browns year...lol. It was a good game despite the weather and low scoring, a frozen battle on the field. I do remember though the last drive as the Browns, seemingly inches away from moving to the AFC Championship, when Cleveland, down by 2, took over with 2:22 left in the game on their own 15-yard line. The Browns drove all the way to the Raiders 14 yard line. On second and nine with 49 seconds left in the game, needing just a field goal to take the lead, Brian Sipe dropped back to pass and threw a ball into the end zone intended for Ozzie Newsome, our TE. It was intercepted by the Raiders - sealing the 14-12 win for the Raiders and propelling them to the AFC Championship game against the San Diego Chargers.
The play Browns head coach Sam Rutigliano called would go down in history as "Red Right 88."
Though, what I remember most is that I DIDN'T SEE the last play!! On that last play, everyone jumped up in front of me and blocked my view! LOL. All I remember is that we went from the loudest roaring cheering stadium to complete and deafening...silence! You literally could have heard a pin drop from the other side of the stadium!
Since I couldn't see (and there were no big TV screens), I asked "what happened?". The guy in front of me turned around and in the best Eeyore droopy fashion said "We lost the game!". Everybody just grabbed their stuff and shuffled out of the stadium like a quiet frozen funeral possession.
Took me two more days before I felt warm again...LOL.
Super Bowl XLII in 2008. As a Giants fan, doesn't get any better than this for me. To beat the undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl was unprecedented, but to also throw in the Helmet Catch was awesome.
Super Bowl XLII in 2008. As a Giants fan, doesn't get any better than this for me. To beat the undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl was unprecedented, but to also throw in the Helmet Catch was awesome.
Super Bowl XIV the Rams after finally breaking through and winning the NFC conference played the Hall Of Fame Steelers to the end.
The Fog Bowl, New Year's Eve 1988. The surreal experience of Eagle and Bears players just coming onto the screen and then disappearing back into a fog bank
It was only 4 seasons previous that Denver had experienced its first winning season, going 7-5-2 with John Ralston as head coach and general manager. Before, the Broncos had basically the worst won-loss record of all the AFC clubs who came into the NFL as a result of the NFL-AFL merger. Two big changes come to mind to get the Broncos to where they never thought they could go to. Those 2 people were quarterback Craig Morton and head coach Red Miller.
A word about Denver and Oakland. Needless to say, this has been a heated rivalry since 1977 which really escalated when Mike Shanahan returned to Denver as head coach in 1995. Shanahan was head coach for Oakland for the 1988 and part of the 1989 season and was fired after 5 games. The details of the firing might not have been the soap opera episode that the Lane Kiffin episode was last year but it was ugly and long lasting.
A rivalry isn't really a rivalry until both teams become good. In 1976 Denver finished 9-5. Still, I guess you could call it a rivalry in the hammer and nail scenario sense. The Raiders were the hammer, and the Broncos were the nail. Actually, by 1976 the Broncos had beaten the Raiders four times and tied them once from 1960 to 1976. And also the team that really caused them pain in those years were the Kansas City Chiefs. From 1960 to 1971 Denver won two games against the Chiefs, and lost 22. The Chiefs back then were a bigger rivalry.
The fans were doing cartwheels after week 4, but trying not to create a false sense of security. They had beaten St. Louis, San Diego, Kansas City, and Seattle. They were not blowing anybody out, but they were winning.
Week 5 is when Broncomania kicked into high gear, shellacking Oakland 30-7 in their stadium. Ken Stabler was sacked eight times, intercepted seven times, and David Humm finished the game. But the huge play in this game was the fake field goal/touchdown throw to kicker Jim Turner that went for a 30 yard touchdown just before the half ended. The play was run over and over and over the Denver tv stations. After years of being bullied, the Broncos now were dictating play. And something even more noteworthy that the Oakland Raiders let a kicker who could run the 100 yard dash in 2 days score a touchdown on them. It was then in the third quarter when linebacker Tom Jackson ran over to the Raider sideline and yelled at John Madden, "It's all over fat man!" At that point, it was the greatest game in Denver Bronco history. Over 10,000 fans met Denver at Stapleton airport after the game.
And they kept winning. The Raiders met them two weeks later and whipped them 24-14. And Denver dropped their final game of the regular season to Dallas, not only not showing them a lot but also pulling a lot of their starters. But they kept winning. Week after week the fans got louder and crazier. And still the Broncos weren't blowing people out, but were still winning and playing sound football. And the defense at that time was now being known locally as the Orange Crush. They only gave up 148 points that season. The regular season ended with the Broncos at 12-2.
After Denver beat Pittsburgh 34-21 in the division playoff game I thought that crowd was the loudest I'd ever heard. Wrong.
It was an 11 o'clock start, YIKES it was cold! The stadium personnel let the fans in around 8:30 in the morning. That being New Years day, it was a sure bet a good majority of those fans had their hot buttered rum the night before and in the parking lot at 7 in the morning. It was crazy all day, especially after Haven Moses blew past Skip Thomas to score that touchdown Mike 0421 was referring to. But the Raiders played a hell of a game, with Dave Casper catching 2 touchdown passes on the south end of the field that were 2 of the toughest catches a receiver could make.
Surprisingly, Oakland kicked away after that touchdown, figuring they could stop the Broncos and get the ball back, but didn't happen. Otis Armstrong ran behind OT Claudie Minor and TE Riley Odoms 3 straight times, ran out the clock, and what happened later I'll never forget.
Fans were out on the field for a half hour after the game was over. The goal posts went down immediately. During that time the media conducted interviews with the players and coaches. The fans packed the field from one end to the other. Tom Jackson later was quoted in the Rocky Mountain News that he told the players to put back their jerseys back on, to come back on the field and see what is going on here. A lot of them did. The fans just wanted to see them, to shake hands with the players. The fans were representative to an organization of losers. They wanted to say thanks. Denver celebrated for the next two weeks like it was Mardi Gras.
Seventeen years ago they were the joke of the league, of two leagues actually. The town resigned themselves to the fact that the Broncos were a second rate bunch.
The most recent one that stuck in my mind was the interception by the Pats CB at the end of the game in 2015 that game was over and he popped up just in the right spot on the goal line and intercepted Wilson's pass that would of been caught.They said they practised that play earlier in the week. He won the game for the Pats.
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