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The Cleveland Browns and New York Giants clash on this week’s NFL schedule, so for the Throwback Thursday feature we’ll explore a game played on October 29, 1967 between these 2 franchises, back when they were bitter rivals in the league. They had long been Eastern Conference opponents who battled each other for supremacy, but things were slightly different in the ’67 season. The NFL had merged with the American Football League the prior year, with the 2 leagues becoming one starting in 1970. With that being the case, along with the addition of Atlanta and New Orleans as expansion franchises, the league split their 16 teams into 4 divisions with names that all began with the letter “C” – Century, Capitol, Central and Coastal. The Browns and Giants, and also the Cardinals and Steelers, were assigned to the Century. The Cardinals were on the decline and the Steelers were perennial losers in the 1960s, so it was left to the Browns and Giants to renew their rivalry, now as Century Division opponents.

The Browns came into Yankee Stadium sporting a 4-2 record while the G-men were right behind them at 3-3. Cleveland, with most of their championship club intact from a few years earlier, came in as the favorites. Jim Brown had been retired for a full year, but the Browns replaced him with another future Hall of Famer in Leroy Kelly. The Giants were in the midst of a dismal period, but made a bold attempt to improve their standing in the off-season by trading for scrambling quarterback Fran Tarkenton. The Browns owned the opening quarter. With New York’s defense concentrating on stopping Kelly and the ground attack, Cleveland quarterback Frank Ryan went to the air, connecting with flanker Gary Collins for a 14 yard touchdown. Lou “The Toe” Groza, the Browns’ aging placekicker, added a short field goal to put his club up 10-0. Tarkenton and the Giants’ offense came to life in the second quarter. The mad scrambler ran 15 yards for his team’s first score, and Tucker Frederickson scored from 3 yards out to give New York a 14-10 lead. Kelly’s 8 yard touchdown run put Cleveland back on top, but Tarkenton was just getting warmed up.

He found his tight end, Aaron Thomas, open for a 32 yard touchdown and a 21-17 Giant halftime lead. Tarkenton never missed a beat as the second half unfolded. He threw a pair of touchdown passes, of 30 and 12 yards, to Joe Morrison and, now holding a 35-17 lead, it looked like a New York rout was on. The Browns were a proud club in those days, and they were far from finished. Groza cut into the lead with another field goal, then Ryan turned to his other receiving threat, Paul Warfield. The cerebral Cleveland signal caller hit the future Hall of Fame wideout on consecutive scoring throws of 33 and 32 yards, and suddenly the Giants’ lead was cut to a single point at 35-34. New York’s defense stiffened after that, and Pete Gogolak added a late field goal to secure a 38-34 win. The victory moved the Giants into a tie in the standings with Cleveland at 4-3, and celebrated contributions from Thomas, who snagged 5 Tarkenton aerials for 110 yards, and their ground game, with Tarkenton’s scrambles and hard running from Frederickson and Ernie Koy totaling 137 yards on the ground. Cleveland got a huge game from Warfield, who burned the Giants’ secondary for 126 yards on 5 receptions, but bemoaned the fact that 4 turnovers had likely cost them the game.

The Browns extracted revenge later in the year with a 24-14 win over New York on their way to the Century Division crown, while New York fell to 7-7 and a second place finish. Still, it was a major improvement from their 1-12-1 mark of the previous year, and the acquisition of Tarkenton was a major impetus for that.

Tarkenton upgraded the Giants in 1967

On this week’s NFL schedule the San Francisco 49ers and Washington Football Team face each other. For Throwback Thursday, we’ll highlight the NFC Championship game for the 1983 season, played between these 2 teams on January 8, 1984 that was a matching of wits between a pair of future Hall of Fame coaching legends – Bill Walsh of the 49ers and Washington’s Joe Gibbs. The Redskins entered the title game as the class of the NFC for the ’83 season, winning the NFC East title with a stellar 14-2 record. The Niners, on the other hand, had gone through a stretch where they lost 4 of 5 games, then rebounded to win their final 3 to clinch the NFC West crown at 10-6. A one point 24-23 win over Detroit advanced San Fran to the title game, while Washington had destroyed the Los Angeles Rams 51-7 to earn their title game berth.

The Redskins were heavy favorites, and played like it for the first three quarters of the contest. John Riggins, Washington’s hard-nosed back who would grind out 123 yards rushing on 36 carries for the day, scored a pair of touchdowns from 4 and 1 yard out to put the ‘Skins ahead 14-0. When Joe Theisman connected with Charlie Brown on a 70 yard touchdown pass to up the lead to 21-0 after 3 quarters, it looked like it would be smooth sailing to the Super Bowl for Washington. The 49ers were a proud franchise and weren’t about to go down quietly. They had won the Super Bowl just 2 years prior and although this was the pre-Jerry Rice, John Taylor, etc. era, Walsh had one potent weapon at his disposal, his unflappable quarterback, Joe Montana.

Joe Cool proceeded to mount a furious fourth quarter comeback. He guided 3 touchdown drives which he ended with scoring passes. A 76 yard hookup with his favorite target of that season, Freddie Solomon (4 catches for 106 yards on the day), was sandwiched between short scoring tosses to Mike Wilson. The stunned Redskins now found themselves in a 21-21 deadlock. With time running out, Theisman engineered a drive downfield, helped by some questionable penalty calls against the Niner secondary, the most costly being a defensive holding call against Ronnie Lott that prolonged the drive, cost San Francisco precious time when they got the ball back, and set up the game winning points. They were provided by the Redskins’ Mark Moseley, one of the last of the NFL’s straight-away kickers. Moseley, who had missed 4 field goal attempts in the game already, knocked a 25 yarder through the uprights to give his team a 24-21 win.

The 49ers felt they were robbed by the dubious penalties, but nevertheless Washington earned their second straight Super Bowl appearance. The defending champs may have been better off not advancing, as they were throttled 38-9 by the Raiders on Super Sunday.

John Riggins eyes the end zone vs. 49ers (Sports Illustrated photo)

The Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles square off this week on the NFL schedule, so we’ll highlight a game between these 2 franchises played on Veteran’s Day, November 11, 1962. It was the first time the clubs matched up since the Eagles handed Packer coach Vince Lombardi his only post-season loss in the 1960 NFL Championship game. Played at Philadelphia’s Franklin Field, this game was hardly the same contest that was played 2 years earlier for the league title. Green Bay entered the game undefeated at 8-0 while the Eagles, who were considered a bit of a one-hit wonder when they won the crown in 1960, had fallen on hard times. Their record was a lowly 1-6-1 and they were slogging their way through a dreadful season. Now Lombardi was a devout Catholic and never known to be a vengeful person, but he was also a fierce competitor who blamed that 1960 defeat largely on himself. He also vowed to his players that it would never happen again and true to his word the Packers never lost another postseason game in his tenure as coach.

The first quarter was relatively quiet, with Green Bay taking a 7-0 lead on a short touchdown run by backup halfback Tom Moore. The flood gates opened in the second quarter, however, as the Packers racked up 28 unanswered points to lead 35-0 at the half. Fullback Jim Taylor scored twice on runs of 5 and 1 yard, while Moore remained a factor as he scored on a 7 yard run and threw a 25 yard halfback option pass touchdown to Boyd Dowler. Lombardi pretty much emptied the Packer playbook in this game, and his club threw a total of 5 of those HB option tosses in the game, 3 by Moore and 2 by the player usually tabbed to run the play, Paul Hornung. Taylor, who rushed for 141 yards on 25 carries for the day, finished the scoring in the third quarter by rushing 4 and 5 yards for TDs, as he found paydirt 4 times on the day. Packer quarterback Bart Starr cruised through the game, hitting timely passes to go with Taylor’s ground assault. Dowler and Max McGee both had over 100 receiving yards.

With a 49-0 lead now built up, Lombardi called off the dogs in the final period but his defense continued to manhandle  Eagle QBs Sonny Jurgensen and King Hill. Philly only totaled 86 yards of offense and 3 first downs the entire game on their way to the 49-0 shutout embarrassment. In contrast, Green Bay rolled up 624 yards of offense and a record 37 first downs in the totally one-sided contest. The Packers went on to win their second straight NFL title that season, while the Eagles finished 3-10-1 as they continued a downward spiral for several losing seasons afterwards.

Packers’ Jim Taylor (31) dominates the Eagles’ defense

One of this week’s matchups on the NFL schedule pits the Buffalo Bills against the Los Angeles Chargers, and for this week’s Throwback Thursday feature we’ll highlight a divisional playoff game played between these 2 teams on January 3, 1981. The game was played at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, where the Chargers were then located, and was a contest between 2 strong division champions. The Chargers were one of the NFL’s most potent offensive machines, with quarterback Dan Fouts guiding coach Don Coryell’s “Air Coryell” attack to the AFC West crown with an 11-5 record. The Bills were in their third season under coach Chuck Knox, who had built them into AFC East champs at 11-5 by making shrewd personnel moves that included trading away an aging O.J. Simpson and prying receiver Frank Lewis away from Pittsburgh.

Rolf Benirschke opened the scoring with a first quarter field goal for the Chargers, but Buffalo’s defense proved to be pretty stingy, as that was the only scoring San Diego could muster in the first half. Meanwhile, Bills’ signal caller Joe Ferguson, playing on an injured ankle, engineered a pair of scoring drives. Fullback Roosevelt Leaks ran in from a yard out for the first score, and Ferguson found Lewis open for a 9 yard touchdown pass. Surprisingly, Buffalo went into the locker room at halftime with a 14-3 lead. The Chargers came to life in the third quarter. Riding the strong running of Chuck Muncie and pinpoint passing by Fouts, they took the second half kickoff and drove for a touchdown to cut the lead to 14-10. Fouts connected with Charlie Joiner for a 45 yard gain, then hit Joiner again from 9 yards out for the score.

Unfortunately, Ferguson’s injured ankle began to stiffen, and his play suffered as he was sacked 3 times and intercepted 3 times on inaccurate throws caused by the bad ankle, which later was determined to be a hairline fracture. Safety Glen Edwards had 2 of the picks. The Charger offense never came close to their usual production, but got another Benirschke field goal and sealed a 20-14 victory when WR Ron Smith got behind the Bills’ secondary and hauled in a 50 yard scoring toss from Fouts. Although he didn’t reach the end zone at all, John Jefferson was the most productive Charger receiver in the game, catching 7 passes for 102 yards. Workhorse back Muncie gained 80 tough yards rushing and added 53 more on 6 receptions.

The win sent San Diego to the AFC Championship game the following week, but their Super Bowl hopes died there as they lost to their AFC West arch-rivals, the Oakland Raiders, who were in the process of making an improbable run as a wild card team to an NFL title.

Chargers’ Chuck Muncie gains some hard-earned yards

It’s time for another Throwback Thursday feature, and on this week’s NFL schedule, a pair of NFC South rivals, the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons, go head to head. We’ll go back a relatively short period of time, only 6 years, to a matchup of these clubs that was a high-scoring affair. It happened on September 7, 2014, on opening day, at the Georgia Dome. The opposing quarterbacks were the same pair of signal callers who lead their teams today – Drew Brees of the Saints and Atlanta’s Matt Ryan.

The Saints jumped out early, with Shayne Graham booting a pair of field goals and Khiry Robinson scoring on a short run. Ryan found Roddy White on a 2 yard scoring pass, but Brees matched that when he hooked up with Brandin Cooks for a 3 yard score, giving New Orleans a 20-7 lead. Atlanta kicker Matt Bryant cut the lead to 20-10 with a three-pointer just before halftime. The third quarter belonged to Ryan and the Falcons. The Falcon field general threw a pair of touchdown passes, a short 1 yarder to Levine Toilolo and a 54 yarder to Antone Smith, and suddenly Atlanta was in control with a 24-20 lead. The final quarter was a real roller coaster. First Brees engineered a drive that ended with power back Mark Ingram scoring from 3 yards out to regain the lead for the Saints. The Falcons answered that with a drive of their own, and Jacquizz Rodgers finished it off with a 17 yard rushing touchdown to put Atlanta back up, 31-27.

The roller coaster ride continued as Brees marched the Saints downfield again, and Ingram again scored from 3 yards out to put New Orleans up 34-31 with only slightly over a minute left to play. Ryan answered back, driving his troops down the field to set up a game-tying 51 yard field goal by Bryant as time expired in regulation. The Saints won the toss and received the OT kickoff, and that’s when disaster struck and the roller coaster derailed on the club from The Big Easy. Marques Colston, Saints’ wide receiver and Brees’ favorite target who had racked up 110 yards receiving on 5 catches for the day, caught a pass but promptly put the ball on the ground, fumbling to set up a 52 yard game-winning attempt for Bryant. The veteran kicker split the uprights and Atlanta escaped with a 37-34 win. The Falcons had a little easier time knocking off New Orleans in their second meeting that year, winning 30-14. However, 2014 wasn’t a very successful season for either club. The Saints finished 7-9 and the Falcons were even worse, with a 6-10 mark.

Marques Colston fumbles to set up winning Atlanta field goal

With the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens squaring off on this week’s NFL schedule, our Throwback Thursday feature remembers a game between these 2 teams played on January 22,2012, a contest to decide the AFC Championship and a trip to Super Bowl XLVI. Played at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, it was a back-and-forth battle between 2 proud teams trying to advance for a chance at pro football’s biggest prize. In the end, it was the Ravens who encountered a pair of hard luck plays that ultimately were the difference in the game.

Stephen Gostkowski kicked a field goal for the Patriots to open the scoring, the only points scored by either team in the first quarter. Baltimore’s Billy Cundiff tied the game early in the second stanza, and the teams then traded touchdowns. BenJarvus Green-Ellis scored from 7 yards out for New England, and quarterback Joe Flacco hit his tight end, Dennis Pitta, with a 6 yard scoring pass, tying the score at 10-10. Gostkowski closed out the first half and opened the second with field goals to put his club up 16-10, but the Ravens fought back. Flacco threw 29 yards to Torrey Smith for a touchdown, and Cundiff hit another field goal as Baltimore pulled ahead 20-16 headed into an eventful final quarter.

It was in this fourth quarter that Baltimore saw their chance to compete for the Lombardi Trophy fade into history. First, Tom Brady used his patented QB sneak to dive into the end zone from a yard out, giving the Patriots the lead at 23-20. Flacco didn’t flinch, however. With 1:44 left to play, he guided the Ravens on a drive deep into New England territory. That’s when the first twist of fate happened. Flacco tossed a perfect pass to the usually reliable Lee Evans. Evans snatched the pass and turned at the goal line into the end zone, only to have Sterling Moore, a journeyman Patriot cornerback, jar the ball loose at the last second. It was redemption for Moore, who had missed a tackle on Smith’s touchdown catch-and-run earlier. All was not lost, however. Despite failing to cross the goal line, Baltimore could still at least tie the game with a field goal. Fate, again, wouldn’t be kind to the Ravens. Cundiff’s 32 yard game-tying attempt with 11 seconds remaining inexplicably sailed wide left, and the Patriots escaped with the victory.

Ravens’ Lee Evans drops potential game-winning TD pass

Luck would run out for New England in the Super Bowl. They were matched up with an NFC team that had spoiled their attempt at a perfect season a few years earlier – Eli Manning and the New York Giants. Once again, the Giants spiked the Patriots’ dreams.

We’re on to week 9 of the 2020 NFL schedule, and one of the premier matchups this week pits the Green Bay Packers against the San Francisco 49ers. For Throwback Thursday this week, we look back at a contest between these 2 clubs that was played on December 10, 1961. It was the penultimate regular season game, played between a pair of Western Division rivals who were having excellent seasons. The Packers had throttled the Niners 30-10 at home earlier in the year, and this time traveled to the West Coast for a rematch at San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium. Green Bay, beaten in the NFL title game a year earlier by the Philadelphia Eagles, was coasting along to another Western crown, entering this game at 10-2. The 49ers were a respectable 6-5-1, and eager for  another shot at Vince Lombardi’s team.

After a scoreless first quarter, 49er quarterback John Brodie took charge and guided his forces on a pair of touchdown drives, hitting Bernie Casey on a 51 yard score and finding R.C. Owens with a patented “Alley Oop” toss from 10 yards out to open up a 14-0 lead. Lombardi then went to his bag of tricks to cut the lead in half. The halfback option pass, a staple of trick plays for basically all NFL teams at the time, was employed by the Packers with success using Paul Hornung regularly. This time, however, Lombardi doubled down on the trickery, as backup RB Tom Moore used the tactic to find Max McGee for a 22 yard score. Charlie Krueger, San Francisco’s old warhorse defensive tackle, trapped Packer signal caller Bart Starr for a safety, then McGee scored again, this time on a conventional pass from 12 yards from Starr. In the final stanza, 49er placekicker Tommy Davis hit on a 40 yard field goal to boost his team’s lead to 19-14. The ever-resilient Packers fought back and took the lead at 21-19 when fullback Jim Taylor, finishing a hard fought day at the office that saw him rush 22 times for 122 yards, burst through the San Francisco defense and scampered 40 yards for a touchdown.

Brodie and the 49er offense didn’t flinch, however. His receivers, Casey and Owens, blistered Green Bay’s vaunted defense for over 100 yards receiving each on the day. As the game clock wound down, they drove downfield and with only 11 seconds left, Davis won the game with a play that is now impossible to accomplish in the NFL these days. He made good on a 14 yard field goal attempt to seal the upset win. At the time the goalposts were still located right on the goal line, as opposed to at the end line where they are today, making a 14 yard attempt impossible. The loss was just a slight bump in the road for Green Bay. They righted the ship the following week by beating the Los Angeles Rams to close out the regular season, then trounced the New York Giants 37-0 in the NFL Championship to give Lombardi the first of his 5 titles in the following 7 years.

Packers huddle up at Kezar against the 49ers

It’s the high-flying Kansas City Chiefs taking on the lowly New York Jets on this week’s NFL schedule, and for this week’s Throwback Thursday feature we’ll zero in on a time when both of these clubs were powerhouses. It’s December 20, 1969 at frigid Shea Stadium for a divisional playoff game to begin the chase to see who will be the last American Football League champion before the league merges into the NFL. The Jets are defending champions, having shocked the world by upsetting the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. The stage is set for the Jets – they are reigning champs, have home field advantage for the title game and most of all have their swashbuckling quarterback, Broadway Joe Namath, leading their offense. The Chiefs, however, enter the game with a better overall record, and, having beaten New York in the regular season, are installed as favorites to win.

The teams are both guided by future Hall of Fame quarterbacks in Namath and K.C.’s Len Dawson, but on this day, the cold weather and a pair of ferocious defensive units take command and dictate play. Scoring in the first three quarters is limited to field goals. Jim Turner boots one to give the Jets an early 3-0 lead, while Jan Stenerud answers with a three-pointer in each of the next 2 quarters to put his Chiefs ahead 6-3. New York gets a golden opportunity to crack the end zone when Kansas City cornerback Emmitt Thomas is called for pass interference in the end zone, setting up the Jets with first and goal at the one yard line. The Chiefs’ stout defense, particularly their linebacking corps, takes charge at that point. Future Hall of Famer Willie Lanier stuffs two running plays, while Jim Lynch and Bobby Bell combine to force Namath to throw the ball away on third down and inches, forcing another Turner field goal to tie the game. It was a dismal performance overall by Namath. He completed only 14 of 40 passes against the Chief defense and was intercepted 3 times, twice by Jim Marsalis.

Dawson finally musters up a drive that ends in 6 points when he hits Gloster Richardson from 19 yards out to supply the Chiefs with their final victorious margin of 13-6. The Chiefs, who were Western Division runnerups to Oakland, extract revenge on the Raiders the following week by beating them 17-7 to capture the final AFL title. They uphold the AFL pride that the Jets had gained the previous year a week later by upsetting the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV.

It’s a cold, rough day for Joe Namath (12) and the Jets

The Los Angeles Rams and Chicago Bears face off on this week’s NFL schedule, which leads us to travel back to November 2, 1958 for this week’s Throwback Thursday feature. It was a wild game in L.A.’s Coliseum between these 2 clubs that saw an offensive explosion that wasn’t a common sight in those days, as the Rams won 41-35. Actually, the Rams were noted for high-flying offense in those days but on this day the usually defensive-minded Bears joined the show too. Chicago’s defense started the scoring onslaught when Erich Barnes intercepted a Bill Wade pass and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown. Wade and the Rams took control from there. The L.A. signal caller led drives that produced 4 touchdowns and a field goal, as he ran 3 yards for one score, hit Tommy Wilson and Leon Clarke with touchdown throws and saw Wilson run 9 yards to the end zone for another six-pointer. Those 4 TDs and a field goal gave the Rams a resounding 31-7 lead, and it looked like they were on there way to a one-sided victory. When Chicago QB Zeke Bratkowski hit Bill McColl from 10 yards out to cut the score to 31-14 at halftime, it was a harbinger of things to come. He hit Willie Galimore for a 12 yard score early in the second half, but the Rams got the momentum back with another Wilson touchdown run and a field goal to finish up the third quarter with what appeared to be a comfortable 41-21 lead. The proud Bears weren’t about to lay down, however. Rick Casares, who had 23 carries for 113 yards on the day, ran in from 5 yards out and Bratkowski found McColl open again for a 25 yard scoring connection. The clock ran out on the visitors from the Windy City from that point and the Rams escaped with the win.

One Ram player who had an outstanding afternoon that day, although he never reached the end zone, was halfback Jon Arnett, who carried the ball, caught passes and returned kicks for a massive 298 total yards from scrimmage. Wade’s performance must have gotten the attention of Chicago owner/coach George “Papa Bear” Halas. He later traded for Wade and was rewarded when the signal caller guided his Bears to the NFL championship in 1963. The offensive display the Rams put on was somewhat of a look into the future. Their coach, future Hall of Famer Sid Gillman, became the first head coach of the fledgling American Football League’s Los Angeles Chargers in 1960, where he was the architect of some unstoppable offensive attacks that were a large part of the high-scoring attraction that the new league’s fans enjoyed. Gillman’s Chargers, who moved to San Diego in 1961, reached the AFL title game 5 times in the league’s first 6 years and won it all in 1963 behind stars like Jack Kemp, John Hadl, Paul Lowe, Keith Lincoln and Lance Alworth.

Rams’ Tommy Wilson had a huge day (Daryl Norenberg photo)

For this week’s NFL Throwback Thursday feature we’ll go back to 2002 for a clash between the Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans, who meet on this week’s schedule. Being one of the youngest franchises in the NFL, this is the first time the Texans have been featured in a weekly TBT post here. The importance of the game lies in the fact that the Titans, formerly the Houston Oilers prior to abandoning the city to move to Tennessee, were returning to their old home for the first time since leaving in 1997. The Texans, the newly minted expansion franchise, were closing out their first season against their division rivals and were hungry to give their fans some measure of revenge in the game. The Titans had beaten them earlier in the season at Memphis in a relatively close 17-10 battle, so there was reason for optimism.

As far as how the game went, it was pretty forgettable. The Texans had valiantly played most of their opponents closely all year, an accomplishment for a new team, and also racked up 4 wins along the way. This game was no different, but Houston, led by prize rookie quarterback David Carr, couldn’t muster any kind of offense at all against the tough Tennessee defense. The Texans’ defense played strong also, and the only first half scoring was a pair of Joe Nedney field goals to give the Titans a 6-0 lead. Houston managed a third quarter field goal to pull with 3, but in the final quarter, the only player to have any success for either team, running back Eddie George, scored on a 4 yard touchdown run to give the Titans a 13-3 lead that wound up being the final score. George managed 102 yards rushing on 25 carries on the day.

Because the two clubs were placed in the same division, the AFC South, they had to play each other twice a year. Still, maybe because of the 5 years that Houston went without a team and the rebranding of their old team as the Titans in Tennessee (they remained the “Tennessee Oilers” for 2 seasons), there wasn’t a great deal of hatred generated by the rivals or their fans. Tennessee dominated play for the first 2 seasons, but the Texans finally did capture a measure of pride in the 2004 season by sweeping both games from the Titans.

Titans’ stars RB Eddie George, QB Steve “Air” McNair