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Two NFL rivals who have battled each other over the decades, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns, face off on the week 12 schedule, and our featured Throwback Thursday contest, played between these clubs on September 10, 1989, was an anomaly as far as the way most games went when these AFC rivals met. It was opening day of the ’89 season and Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium was rocking, expecting coach Chuck Noll’s forces to start the year with a big win over the Browns. The game marked the head coaching debut for Cleveland of Noll’s former defensive coordinator, Bud Carson, who had been part of 2 Steeler Super Bowl wins under Noll in the 1970s.

One thing about this late ’80s version of the Steelers – they were not the Mean Joe Greene Steel Curtain, Terry Bradshaw-led club of the previous decade. The quarterback to begin this season was one Bubby Brister, who would never be mistaken for the Blonde Bomber. The Browns’ defense feasted on Pittsburgh miscues all day long. They began the game jumping out to a 17-0 first quarter lead, with a Matt Bahr field goal sandwiched between 2 defensive touchdowns scored on fumble returns by linebackers Clay Matthews and David Grayson. The onslaught continued in the second quarter as Bahr added a pair of field goals and Tim Manoa scored on a 3 yard TD run, giving Cleveland a commanding 30-0 lead at the break.

There was no letup in the second half, either. Manoa scored again on a short run, Grayson scored his second defensive touchdown of the day with a 14 yard interception return, and Mike Oliphant rambled 21 yards for the final tally. When the dust settled, the Browns had garnered a shocking 51-0 victory. The statistics didn’t lie as far as how one-sided the contest was. The Steelers turned the ball over 8 times. Brister threw 3 interceptions and was sacked 6 times. First round draft pick Tim Worley contributed 3 fumbles in his rookie debut. In all the Pittsburgh offense could only muster 53 total yards, while the Browns gained 357. No single Cleveland player collected big numbers on the day, but there were plenty of contributors, as the Browns also possessed the ball for almost 41 of the game’s 60 minutes. That’s pretty easy to do when your opponent hands you the ball 8 extra times in a game. The game was not only the worst loss in Noll’s tenure, but at that point was the worst defeat in the franchise’s 57 year history, which is saying a lot since the team didn’t have much success until Noll arrived in the ’70s.

Pittsburgh head coach Chuck Noll

It was perhaps the most important game in pro football history – Super Bowl III in Miami between the AFL’s New York Jets and NFL powerhouse Baltimore Colts, and with those 2 clubs meeting on this week’s schedule, it is an obvious pick to be chosen as this week’s throwback feature. I have featured this game in other posts regarding past Super Bowls, usually during the week of the ultimate title game, but to my actual surprise, have never given it the TBT treatment. The story of this game is pro football legend today, and the reason is because of a brash young quarterback who stood the sport on it’s collective ear.

To set up the story, let’s look at the games that got the 2 teams to this contest. The Colts were an NFL behemoth in the ’68 season. They had run roughshod through the league and finished 13-1, including running off 8 consecutive wins to finish the regular season after their lone loss, 30-20, to the Cleveland Browns. After dispatching Minnesota in the divisional playoff, they found themselves facing the Browns again in the title game.  This time, they dismantled Cleveland 34-0 and after the result of the AFL championship was decided, sportswriters and analysts everywhere predicted that the “Super Bowl” would be a laugher. In that AFL game, the underdog New York Jets, guided by the passing of their stellar quarterback Joe Namath, rallied in the final quarter to upset the previous year’s champs, the Oakland Raiders, 27-23. Oakland had beaten the Jets 43-32 earlier that year in the infamous “Heidi” game and were favored for a repeat trip to the Super Bowl.

So after 2 resounding victories for Vince Lombardi’s Packers, the third big game was expected to be even more of a one-sided rout, since it was a match between an NFL juggernaut and a club that wasn’t even seen as the best the AFL had to offer. This was reflected in the pre-game betting odds, with the Colts being installed as anywhere from 18 to 23 point favorites. Sportswriters and pundits spent the week ridiculing the Jets, and finally Namath, fed up with it all, stopped the sports world in it’s tracks when he boldly stated “We’re a better team than Baltimore. We’re going to win the game. I guarantee it.” Of course this set off a media feeding frenzy and the ridicule got even louder and more boisterous. Namath in particular, who at the time was disliked by the buttoned-up, conservative media for his unconventional look, (his white shoes, wearing a mink coat on the sidelines while injured, etc.) and his supposed wild lifestyle, took the brunt of the jokes and insults.

Then there was the actual game. Namath wasn’t particularly great, but he engineered a surgical attack mixing the run and the pass to befuddle the Baltimore defense. Running back Matt Snell, who was the unsung hero for the Jets, continually exposed a weakness on the Colts’ left side and scored the game’s first touchdown on a 4 yard run, and did yeoman’s work for the game with 121 yards on 30 carries. Namath used his  quick release to frustrate coach Don Shula’s Baltimore defense, connecting on short and intermediate throws to his backs and to wide receiver George Sauer, who caught 8 passes for 133 yards. Namath’s favorite target, future Hall of Famer Don Maynard, did not catch a pass on the day, but Namath shrewdly used the rest of his team’s weapons to lead 3 field goal drives and build up a 16-0 lead. The Jets’ defense surprisingly shut down Colts’ MVP quarterback Earl Morrall, intercepting him 3 times, including 1 by former Colt Johnny Sample, and holding him to 6 of 17 passing for a paltry 71 yards. Shula, in a sign of desperation,  eventually benched Morrall and turned to legendary John Unitas, his aging and now often injured backup. Unitas led one scoring drive but couldn’t complete the comeback, also throwing a pick.

Matt Snell, Super Bowl III’s unsung hero

When the final gun sounded, the Jets had themselves a stunning 16-7 conquest of their personal Goliath. The win sent feelings of pride throughout the other organizations in the AFL, as their league had finally shown that they were indeed an equal force to their established big brother. The next year, in the final Super Bowl played before the 2 leagues were officially merged into one, the Kansas City Chiefs, humiliated by Lombardi’s Packers in the initial title game, defeated a favored Minnesota Viking squad to end any argument that the AFL had reached parity. Incidentally, Lombardi, the smartest man in pro football at the time, was in the stands at Super Bowl III. Beforehand, he issued a warning to the Colts about Namath, saying the Colts had better not get caught up in the press clippings and underestimate him as he was “a perfect passer”.

Super Bowl III – Namath’s shining hour

It’s already week 10 of the NFL season, and on this week’s slate of games there is a matchup of a pair of old American Football League rivals, the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos. Our Throwback Thursday time machine will travel back to October 29, 1967 for this week’s TBT feature, when these Western Division clubs clashed. The Chiefs were defending AFL champions, having beaten Buffalo in the 1966 title game to advance to the initial AFL-NFL Championship game. Maybe the pounding they took from Green Bay in that game affected their psyche, or maybe it was the first case ever of “Super Bowl hangover”, but after starting the ’67 season with a pair of victories, the Chiefs had now suddenly lost 3 of 4 contests to fall to 3-3 for the year.

Facing a downtrodden Denver team coming into the game with a 1-6 record, this was a perfect opportunity for the Chiefs to right the ship and get their season back on track. They wasted little time in doing that. Fullback Curtis McClinton scored on a 1 yard plunge and Len Dawson hit tight end Fred Arbanas with a 14 yard touchdown pass to end the first quarter with his club ahead 14-0. In the second quarter, Dawson found his favorite target, Otis Taylor, on a 30 yard TD throw, then coach Hank Stram unleashed his slippery little back, Mike Garrett, who proceeded to gash the Bronco defense for touchdown runs of 20 and 8 yards. The rout was on as the score was now 35-0, but Denver stemmed the tide with a Steve Tensi to Al Denson scoring bomb of 48 yards to make it 35-7. Dawson matched that before the half with a 5 yard TD toss to Gene Thomas to up the lead to 42-7.

In the third quarter, the Broncos showed some fight, slowing down the K.C. attack and providing the only scoring of the period when they tackled Johnny Robinson in the end zone for a safety after he had intercepted a Tensi pass and tried to run with it. The final quarter went the Chiefs’ way again, as they added a Jan Stenerud field goal and a 15 yard touchdown run by backup halfback Bert Coan, putting the final touches on a 52-9 romp. Statistically, Garrett enjoyed a fine day with 20 carries for 101 yards and the 2 TDs, along with 37 receiving yards. Denson was a bright spot for Denver with 4 catches for 107 and his team’s lone touchdown. The win turned the Chiefs’ fortunes back in the right direction, and they went on to finish 9-5 for the year. However, despite being defending champs, it wasn’t good enough to qualify for the playoffs (there were no wild cards in that era) as the Oakland Raiders dominated the AFL Western Division with a stellar 13-1 record. Denver finished in it’s familiar spot – in the Western Division cellar – with a 3-11 record.

Chiefs’ back Mike Garrett