On the week five National Football League schedule is a game between two NFC clubs, the Philadelphia Eagles and St. Louis Rams. “Throwback Thursday” for this week will be a contest played on a Monday night – Monday, November 5, 1975 to be exact, between these two franchises. It was a lop-sided game played between 2 teams headed in opposite directions at the time. It was in the relatively early years of Monday Night Football, when each week’s game was a nationally televised spectacle with the broadcasting team of Frank Gifford, “Dandy” Don Meredith and Howard Cosell providing as much entertainment as the game at times. At a prior appearance in Philly in 1973, Cosell was supposedly drunk during the broadcast (he had been drinking in an attempt to stay warm) and disappeared from the broadcast booth late in the game after he apparently threw up on Meredith’s cowboy boots. The Ram franchise was still located in Los Angeles, and the team was a powerhouse in the NFL, as they wound up losing only 2 regular season games that year. The Eagles, on the other hand, were mired in a miserable year under coach Mike McCormack, and coming into this prime time clash had lost 5 of their previous 6 games. In an interview prior to the game, McCormack made a comment to the media that his roster contained “some dogs”, and the notorious Philadelphia fans came to the game loaded for bear that night. The fan base in Cleveland, nowadays, has all but copyrighted the title of “Dawg Pound” at their home games, with an end zone section of the stadium nicknamed that, as fans come dressed in dog masks and pelt the field with dog biscuits. It’s become a tradition in the city.
On this November 1975 night in Philly, however, the Eagle fan base pre-dated Cleveland with their own version of the pound, as they picked up on coach McCormack’s remarks by wearing dog masks, parading around Veteran’s Stadium carrying a giant Alpo dog bone and tossing biscuits at the team’s bench. With their home fans turning against them, the Eagles didn’t show much fight. Ram quarterback James Harris had a great night, throwing for 207 yards and 3 touchdowns, 2 of them to former Eagle Harold Jackson. Roman Gabriel, a legend when he played for the Rams in the late 1960s, had been traded to Philly for Jackson and had a terrible night, throwing 2 interceptions before backup Mike Boryla came in and threw 2 more. The Ram defense polished off the night by returning 2 of the picks for scores in the final quarter, with Fred Dryer and Isiah Robertson doing the honors. The Rams walked away with a 42-3 victory, and that type of blowout usually ended with the Monday Night broadcast team filling the airwaves with whatever nonsense they could come up with. I’m sure Cosell was his usual obnoxious self, and Dandy Don probably sang his trademark “turn out the lights, the party’s over” very early that night.
Coach McCormack with Harold Carmichael, Roman Gabriel (photo courtesy of philly.com)