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My most memorable NFL game was the 2003 Super Bowl; Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs the Oakland Raiders. I was never a true fan of football until I watched the Bucs win their first championship. Every since then, I was hooked.
That was terrible.
One of my best friends was dating the sister of a famous musician. The musician is an okay guy, but his sister is just a wonderful woman. Her dad and stepmother invited the three of us (their daughter, my friend, and me) over to their house (in Fremont, CA) to watch that Super Bowl. The five of us (me, my friend, my friend's girlfriend, and her dad and stepmom) are all Raiders fans. The other guests were about twenty of the stepmom's relatives and they are all loud Bucs fans. The dad and stepmom are great people though, and very gracious hosts.
When I was a kid, my favorite game was the 1983 season for the Redskins, despite losing the Super Bowl, a particular game, would probably be the playoffs games vs the Rams, where the Redskins won 51-7. I was watching it at some Casino in Atlantic City, because obviously as a kid, I couldn't gamble so I got in front of a TV and watched it, and the redskins clobber Ferragamo.... 1983 was my favorite season, despite not winning the superbowl..... I'm sure the NFC Championship was a "better" game as the skins only won 24-21 over SF, but I like blowouts.
I remember in '86 I spent much of December in Europe. There was no internet then, so I had to pick up bits and pieces of information when I could while traveling.
I remember we were on a train going from Paris to Hendaye (on our way to San Sebastian), and I saw a guy reading a San Francisco Chronicle and was able to pick his brain about recent NFL results.
This is the game where I make my case prevented the Dallas Cowboys from becoming the greatest NFL team in the history of the league. They essentially had one bad quarter in 4 years, and it occurred in the first quarter of this game. Had those 3 turnovers not occurred, the Cowboys would have won four consecutive Super Bowls. When Aikman threw the interception return for a TD on the opening play of the game to Eric Davis, that set the tempo the Cowboys couldn't quite recover from, though they almost very nearly did. The Cowboys also fumbled a kick off, and I think it was the 49ers kicker who actually recovered it, and it was 21-0 after only 7 minutes of football. Then, Emmitt Smith left the game after aggravating a hamstring injury. Even with these factors going against them, they would have pulled to within 3 if the refs threw the flag on Deion Sanders who absolutely mauled Michael Irvin going down the left sideline. Instead, Barry Switzer couldn't control himself, ran onto the field, and drew a 15 yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, which effectively ended the game.
The 49ers went on to destroy the Chargers, but the real Super Bowl was this game at Candlestick. The early 1990s were to the Cowboys and the 49ers to what the mid 2000s were to the Patriots and the Colts, except for the fact that in my opinion, both the Cowboys and 49ers would have manhandled the Patriots or the Colts. The Cowboys team that went on to win the Super Bowl the following year in 1995 was actually poorer than the other 3 previous years. They beat the Steelers with their 'C' game and still won by 10 points.
The Cowboys came into SF as two time defending SB champions, but in the game's first series, Eric Davis returned an Aikman pass for a TD. As 49er CB Deion Sanders said after the game, the pick 6 by Davis "set the tone".. The 49ers converted another Dallas TO into their second TD minutes later...then scored again just a little bit after that. With about half the 1st quarter gone the 49ers already led 21-0..
The 10 point final margin was the closest it ever got. Beating the Cowboys is always gratifying, I believe it was the first playoff game Aikman had ever lost...the win set the stage for the 49ers 5th Super Bowl win and finally got the monkey off Steve Young's back..
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.
That was great .
And the Raiders won their second Super Bowl that year.
It also started a five season period where, twice, the Raiders won the Super Bowl and the Niners won the Super Bowl the next season.
For starters, the Seahawks-Pats SB where Russell Wilson threw a pick on the 1-yard line.
The Giants SB win over the undefeated Pats.
The Colts-Steelers playoff game where Jerome Bettis fumbled on the 1-yard line in the 4th quarter with a minute to go.
That was the game that upset me the most that didn't directly involve a team I root for.
It upset me because I didn't want any post Montana QB to tie or pass Montana's four Super Bowl wins as a starter, and that was Brady's fourth (yeah, I know Bradshaw also has four, and that's one reason Roger Craig's fumble in the 1990 season NFC championship game upset me as much as it did).
As I started to go through this thread, I kept thinking I wonder if anyone is going to mention one particular game, and that I would mention it if it turned out no one else had (and no one has....unless I missed it ).
It's the game that, at the time, was the longest NFL game ever played in game minutes.
It was the 1971 season divisional playoff game, played on Christmas, between the Dolphins and the Chiefs, with the Dolphins winning in two overtimes:
For me, it was the 1958 NFL Championship Game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants. This game is referred to as The Greatest Game Ever Played.
I am not sure about the one greatest game, but the question reminds me of when I was young and single living in San Francisco. New to the area about the time the 9rs were getting into full swing with Montana & Co. I lived close to many bars that always had those games on, and watching those games at any of those bars with a friend or two while also looking for ladies was some of the most fun I remember ever having. Electrifying! The 1981 NFC Championship game was certainly one of the best!
Too many years later, I have a grown son who grew up learning to be a 9r fan long after the Montana days, and he is maybe more of a 9r fan than I am now. Which is saying something. A pleasure to recently explain to him that watching the 9rs today reminds me a bit of those good old days. The days when the 9rs were so loaded with talent. A quarter back story like none other. So fun to be watching a team like this again!
Here's to sports and so many moments I have thoroughly enjoyed thanks to all of them!
Easy. Christmas day 1971. Ed Podolak, Jan Stenerud, and Garo Yepremian.
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