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The New York Jets will attempt to qualify for the NFL playoffs this weekend by defeating their AFC East rivals, the Buffalo Bills. This week’s Throwback Thursday post harkens back to another season finale played between these two franchises, on December 16, 1973. Neither team had any postseason hopes, but the Bills had their eye on an individual accomplishment for their star running back, O.J. Simpson, who had a chance to break Jim Brown’s single season rushing yardage record. Brown’s record of 1,863 yards in a season had stood since 1963, and the Buffalo running back needed 61 yards to eclipse the mark.

The Bills dominated the game, building up a 28-7 lead through three quarters, allowing them to concentrate on getting Simpson the record. Running behind his offensive line, nicknamed “The Electric Company” (because they turned on The Juice, O.J.’s nickname at the time), Simpson eclipsed the record easily. Early in the fourth quarter, members of the line realized it was possible for Simpson to reach the unreachable 2,000 yard total, never done before in pro football. It was their best offensive weapon anyway, so the Bills continued to feed Simpson the ball, and he wound up carrying 34 times for 200 yards, the third time in the ’73 season that he went over 200 in a game, to finish the year with a record-breaking 2,003 yards rushing. The 2,000 yard mark has been eclipsed a few times since Simpson did it, but he remains the only player to accomplish the feat in a 14 game season, as the NFL went to a 16 game slate in 1978.

Although they didn’t make the playoffs, 1973 was a successful season for the Bills. They finished 9-5, their first winning season since 1966, found a new quarterback in rookie Joe Ferguson, who would be a mainstay there for a decade, and with O.J. and his fullback Jim Braxton carrying the load, also set an NFL record for the most rushing yards in a season for a team. Braxton actually ran for 98 yards and two touchdowns in Simpson’s record-breaking game. How much did the Bills feature Simpson on this day in the attempt to get the record? Ferguson’s stat line was 3 of 5 passes for 70 yards. Simpson’s personal life took a complete nose-dive after his playing days ended, but for one shining moment on a cold December day in 1973, he was king of the football world.

O.J. Simpson on his way to a 2,003 yard rushing season in 1973

The NFL season is winding down, with only 2 more weeks of games to be played. On this week’s schedule, the Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals meet, which takes this week’s Throwback Thursday post back to January of 1965, when these two franchises met in what was then a postseason game played annually known as the “Playoff Bowl”. Officially, the game was called the Bert Bell Benefit Bowl, named in honor of the league’s late commissioner, with proceeds benefitting the players’ pension fund. The  game, held in Miami’s Orange Bowl, was played between the two teams who finished second in their respective divisions, and was essentially a game to decide who finished in third place, or a “consolation” game as it’s called in the NCAA basketball tournament. It was also known to some as the “Runnerup Bowl”.

The Packers finished second behind the Baltimore Colts in the 1964 season, while St. Louis (where the Cardinals were located then) wound up behind the Cleveland Browns. Cardinal quarterback Charley Johnson had a pretty good game, throwing a pair of touchdown passes to split end Billy Gambrell, who had the game of his life. Gambrell’s season total for receiving yards was 398, but on this day he grabbed 6 catches for 184 yards and both TD receptions from Johnson, one from 10 yards out and the second from 80. St. Louis built a 17-3 lead, but Green Bay’s Jim Taylor scored on a short run to cut the lead to 17-10. When Jerry Stovall intercepted a Bart Starr pass and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown, the Cards pretty much sealed the victory, winding up winning by a 24-17 count. (Taylor scored again late in the game for the Packers but it wasn’t enough). Green Bay coach Vince Lombardi is said to have lost only one postseason game in his coaching career, the 1960 NFL championship game, but this would have been his second one, except that the NFL made the decision to count the “Playoff Bowl” results as exhibition games, which was pretty much what they were.

Lombardi, who hated losing, detested the third place game. After losing this one, he called the game “the Shit Bowl…a loser’s bowl for losers. A hinky dink football game, played in a hinky dink town, by hinky dink players. That’s all third place is. Hinky dink.” That was probably a bit extreme. The game did have some value, raising over a million dollars for the pension fund over the years. The game was discontinued in 1970 after the NFL merged with the AFL and the playoffs were expanded to add divisional round games.

Packers and Cardinals battle in Miami in the “Playoff Bowl”

It’s always included in NFL Films’ lists of the greatest games of all time, and rightfully so. With the Miami Dolphins and San Diego Chargers meeting this week on the league schedule, we’ll feature this game, known as the “Epic In Miami”, as our Throwback Thursday game of the week. Classic games are always more memorable when they occur in the playoffs, and this game was an AFC Divisional round clash played on January 2, 1982 in Miami’s Orange Bowl. The Dolphins, under coach Don Shula, were perennially one of the NFL’s best teams, and on this day they met up with the Chargers, who were at the pinnacle of their high-powered offensive era under coach Don Coryell. With quarterback Dan Fouts engineering the attack, the Chargers’ offense was nicknamed “Air Coryell” for its’ proficiency in the passing game. San Diego, behind Fouts’ passing and a couple of big plays from wide receiver Wes Chandler, jumped out to a 24-0 lead in the first quarter, and it appeared the game was going to turn into a blowout. As the second quarter began, Shula made the strategic decision to bench his starting QB, David Woodley, in favor of Don Strock, and the Fish rallied back to pull within 24-17 at halftime, scoring on a “hook and lateral” play at the end of the half. Miami came back to tie the game in the third quarter, but the Chargers continued to put together scoring drives, with their star tight end, Kellen Winslow, having an individual game for the ages. He caught an NFL playoff record 13 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown and blocked a potential game-winning field goal in the fourth quarter, playing through various injuries in addition to being treated for severe cramps and dehydration. He also suffered a pinched nerve in his shoulder and a gash in his lower lip that required three stitches.

A game this great needed to last longer than the standard 60 minutes, and indeed it did, as the two AFC rivals battled to a 38-38 tie through regulation. Both club’s offenses strung together drives deep into enemy territory in overtime, with both kickers, Miami’s Uve Von Schamann and San Diego’s Rolf Benirschke, missing chip shot field goals. Aided by a couple of big passes to Charlie Joiner, Fouts then drove his club into field goal range again, and given another chance, Benirschke made good on his mulligan, giving the Chargers a 41-38 win to advance to the AFC Championship game the following week in Cincinnati.

An exhausted Kellen Winslow is helped into the locker room after the “Epic In Miami”

A short while ago, we featured the 1966 American Football League championship game between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs as a Throwback Thursday post – a game that decided which AFL team would represent the league in the very first Super Bowl. This week, we’ll remember the same season’s title game for the NFL, played between two clubs who meet on this week’s schedule, the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers. The most famous game played between these two teams was the championship game played the following year, forever known as the “Ice Bowl”. Since we featured that game already in the past, we’ll go with this game instead. which was just as exciting and had as much drama as that “Ice Bowl” contest.

This game pitted two head coaches who had worked together as assistants in the 1950s with the New York Giants, Green Bay’s Vince Lombardi and Dallas’ Tom Landry. They would both go on to become NFL coaching legends, but were at different stages of their success at this point. Lombardi’s Packers had already appeared in 4 championship games, winning 3 of them, while Landry, who had taken over an expansion team in 1960, was just beginning to enjoy the fruits of his labor, this being the Cowboys’ first postseason venture. The Cowboys’ inexperience showed up early in the game, as Green Bay drove for an early touchdown using misdirection runs by Elijah Pitts to churn out yardage. Lombardi had figured Landry would have his team prepared to stop the vaunted Packer power sweep, so he installed those misdirection runs playing off of fake sweep plays. Bart Starr finished the drive by tossing a 17 yard scoring throw to Pitts, and when a jittery Dallas club fumbled the ensuing kickoff, the Packers’ Jim Grabowski scooped it up and ran it in for another score to up Green Bay’s lead to 14-0. It looked like the defending champions were going to coast to victory after they took advantage of Dallas’ early nervousness, but to their credit the Cowboys settled down and put together a pair of scoring drives to tie the game. The clubs traded scores after that but Starr fired three TD passes to three different receivers, while the Cowboys settled for field goals, so the Pack widened their lead to 34-20. Dallas QB Don Meredith rallied his troops to stay in the game, however. With his top target, Bob Hayes, being blanketed all day by Green Bay’s defense (he had 1 catch for 1 yard), Meredith hooked up with his other top flight receiver, Frank Clarke, on a 68 yard touchdown pass to pull the Cowboys to within 34-27. When the Cowboy defense held late in the game and got the ball back, Meredith again led a drive which reached the Packer 2 yard line with a chance to tie the game. They failed to score on consecutive plays until it was fourth down, giving them one last chance at the tying touchdown. Meredith rolled out and Packer linebacker Dave Robinson, who was supposed to drop into coverage, rushed Meredith instead and harassed him into a hurried throw into the end zone that Tom Brown intercepted to seal Green Bay’s win. In typical Lombardi style, after the game he congratulated Robinson for the play, then criticized him for being out of position. Green Bay went on to defeat Kansas City in the first Super Bowl, then called the AFL-NFL Championship game, 35-10, following the victory over Dallas.

Dave Robinson pursues Dallas QB Don Meredith

On this week’s NFL schedule, two AFC teams fighting to qualify for the playoffs, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts, are slated to meet. This week’s Throwback Thursday post will highlight a playoff game played between them, the 1995 AFC Championship game. It was played on January 14, 1996 in Pittsburgh’s old Three Rivers Stadium. The game was expected to be somewhat of a mismatch, with the Steelers, considered a strong Super Bowl contender under coach Bill Cowher, a heavy favorite over the Colts, who snuck into the playoffs as a wild card with an underwhelming 9-7 record. Ted Marchibroda, who had some success as the franchise’s head coach when they were still located in Baltimore in the 1970s, had returned to lead the Colts after a successful stint as offensive coordinator in Buffalo, helping the Bills reach multiple Super Bowls. Neither team had what would be considered a “franchise” quarterback, with Neil O’Donnell manning the position for the Steelers, while the Colts rallied behind veteran warrior Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh had earned the nickname “Captain Comeback” for leading the Colts to a few surprising come-from-behind victories in the regular season. Their wild card status meant the Colts would have to take the hard road of playing on the road in all playoff games for as long as they could stay alive, and they managed to pull off a pair of incredible wins, first defeating the defending AFC champion San Diego Chargers, then shocking the top seeded Kansas City Chiefs, 10-7, in as hard of a place to win as there is in the NFL, Arrowhead Stadium.

Meanwhile, the Steelers rolled over Buffalo 40-21 in the divisional round to advance directly into the title contest. Kansas City’s loss gave Pittsburgh the additional advantage of playing the game at home. Pittsburgh’s versatile weapon, Kordell Stewart, a former college QB who played multiple positions and was nicknamed Slash (because he was technically a halfback/quarterback/receiver) made some big plays to convert third downs and keep a drive alive which saw his club score on a 5 yard TD throw to Stewart from O’Donnell. Otherwise the teams traded field goals as the Steelers took a 13-9 lead. Early in the final quarter, Harbaugh connected with Floyd Turner on a 47 yard scoring throw and once again, it looked like Captain Comeback was leading his team to another surprising win. The Steelers weren’t going down easily, however, and O’Donnell led them on a 67 yard drive, capped by a one yard touchdown run by Bam Morris, to put Pittsburgh back on top 20-16 with a minute and a half left. Harbaugh would now have one more chance for a miracle comeback, and he proceeded to put together an impressive drive that reached the Pittsburgh 29 yard line with 5 seconds left. Needing a touchdown to win, Harbaugh launched a high, lofting “Hail Mary” pass into the end zone into a crowd of players from both clubs. The ball eventually landed in the chest of Colt receiver Aaron Bailey, but he couldn’t hold on and the Steelers secured the win by the narrowest of margins.

The ensuing Super Bowl proved to be too big of a stage for O’Donnell, who threw a pair of interceptions to the game’s MVP, Dallas cornerback Larry Brown, helping Dallas win their third Super Bowl title of the decade.

Colts’ last second Hail Mary falls short

Two old American Football League rivals, the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs, play on the NFL’s schedule this weekend, and this week’s Throwback Thursday feature will travel back in time to 1967, when these two clubs met to decide not only the AFL championship for the 1966 season, but also who would represent the upstart league in the very first AFL-NFL Championship game, which of course, was the very first Super Bowl. The game was originally scheduled for December 26th, the day after Christmas, but when merger talks between the two leagues were completed, the new title game was created and this matchup was moved to New Year’s Day.

The Chiefs, under coach Hank Stram, were a powerhouse AFL team that year, blending a creative offensive attack with a menacing defense to post an 11-2-1 record, dominating the Western Division. Stram was a true innovator, from his team’s use of their unique “choir huddle” to their use of different formations and motion to confuse opposing defenses.  The Bills were two-time defending AFL champs and a league dynasty at the time, but the ’66 season had been a bit of a struggle. Lou Saban, who coached the Bills to their consecutive titles, left abruptly following the previous season in a dispute with owner Ralph Wilson, and his top assistant, Joel Collier, took over as head man. Collier did a decent job of keeping the Bills afloat even though they were decimated by injuries to the defense, while quarterback Jack Kemp was getting up in years. Also, even though he’s widely considered one of the top defensive minds in pro football history, Collier was a bit in over his head as a head coach. The media’s feelings about this game showed up in the fact that even though Buffalo was a two-time defending champ and the game was being played in their home stadium, they were three point underdogs.

There was an omen of sorts for the Bills on the game’s first play, as they fumbled the opening kickoff, which the Chiefs recovered, setting up a touchdown pass from K.C.’s veteran QB, Len Dawson, to tight end Fred Arbanas. The Bills, trying valiantly to play like defending champs, countered with a 69 yard touchdown throw from Kemp to Elbert “Golden Wheels” Dubenion, to tie the score. However, that would be the Bills’ only shining moment in this game. They turned the ball over three more times and the Chiefs’ offense made them pay, riding the passing of Dawson and the running of Mike Garrett, who scored a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns, to an easy 31-7 win. The Bills were clearly a team in decline, starting to show signs of age, and their fortunes dipped considerably in the years to follow. The Chiefs were just getting started. Although they lost to Green Bay in that first Super Bowl, they remained an AFL power the rest of the decade and a few years later stunned the Minnesota Vikings to win their first (and only) Super Bowl.

 QB Len Dawson calls the play in the Chiefs’ unique “Choir Huddle”

The Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins meet on this week’s NFL schedule, and we’ll feature a game played in the past between these two teams for this week’s Throwback Thursday post. We’ve featured a lot of past Super Bowl games this year as throwback games with Super Bowl 50 approaching, and the Cowboys and Dolphins once played in one. However, with Thanksgiving coming up soon, let’s go back to a Turkey Day clash played between the two in Dallas, in an unexpected snow storm, that saw a Dallas player, defensive lineman Leon Lett, commit a major gaffe that cost his team the game.

The game was played on Thanksgiving Day in 1993, with both teams fighting for playoff spots. Miami was 8-2 entering the game and leading the AFC East, while the Cowboys had a 7-3 mark. The city of Dallas was hit with the rare snow storm, which also included sleet and made for slippery playing conditions for the game. The Cowboys, behind a pair of touchdowns from Kevin Williams, one on a punt return and another on a pass from Troy Aikman, led 14-7 at halftime. Miami’s offense struggled, not only because of the field conditions, but also because their star quarterback, Dan Marino, was sidelined with an Achilles tendon injury, leaving aging veteran Steve DeBerg to guide them. They managed only a pair of Pete Stoyanovich field goals and trailed 14-13 when DeBerg, who had thrown 2 interceptions in the game, led them on a drive to set up another field goal attempt by Stoyanovich. It was a 41 yard attempt to take the lead but the kick was blocked. That’s when Lett stepped in to help Miami’s cause. While most of his Cowboy teammates began celebrating, Lett attempted to recover the ball. He slipped on the ice as he tried to pick up the football, and Miami recovered on the Dallas one-yard line. Had Lett simply done nothing, the Cowboys would have automatically received possession and could have run out the clock. By touching the ball and then failing to hold onto it, Lett enabled the Dolphins to take possession and then try another field goal with three seconds left on the clock. Given another chance, Stoyanovich’s second attempt was good, giving the Dolphins a 16–14 victory as time expired.

Oddly, both teams’ fortunes changed dramatically after this epic contest. Dallas won all their remaining games on their way to a Super Bowl title, while Miami never won another game the rest of the season.

Leon Lett kicks some snow after his Thanksgiving Day blunder

Super Bowl matchups of the past have been highlighted in some of this year’s Throwback Thursday posts, and this week’s will feature one of the greatest upsets in Super Bowl history, the 2008 matchup between the undefeated New England Patriots and the New York Giants. The two franchises play each other on this week’s NFL schedule, with the Giants having another shot at ruining what so far has been a perfect season for the Pats.

But, lest we regress, back to that 2008 Super Bowl meeting. It was Super Bowl XLII, the climax to the 2007 season. The Giants had beaten the Patriots three years earlier in the big game, but this time, circumstances were different. New England, on a league-wide revenge tour after they were accused of cheating by taping opponents’ signals during games, had bulldozed their way through the regular season with a perfect 16-0 record, the first team to finish the regular year unbeaten since the 1972 Miami Dolphins. The Giants were 10-6 in the regular year, but didn’t even win their division, the NFC East, and were attempting to become the first NFC wild card team to win a Super Bowl. Coach Bill Belichick’s Patriots were installed as 12 point favorites, as they had accumulated some awesome offensive statistics during their unbeaten season. They set NFL records for most points scored in a season (589), most touchdowns by a quarterback (Tom Brady with 50) and most touchdowns receiving by a single player (23 by Randy Moss). Moss had been acquired from Oakland before the season after having his worst statistical season the prior year with the Raiders.

The Giants’ defense, however, did an outstanding job of pressuring Brady up the middle all game long, taking him out of his usual comfort zone, and for the most part controlled New England’s attack. Still, when Brady found Moss for a six yard scoring throw with a little under 3 minutes left to put the Pats ahead 14-10, it looked like the perfect 19-0 season was going to be a reality. The Giants then embarked on an 83 yard drive, highlighted by an amazing completion from Giant QB Eli Manning to David Tyree, with Manning barely escaping being sacked and firing the ball downfield to Tyree, who pinned the ball against his helmet with one hand while falling to the ground with the ball secured. When Manning found Plaxico Burress open in the end zone for a 13 yard score with 35 seconds left, the upset was complete. New York’s veteran star defensive end, Michael Strahan, was a big part of his team’s effort to pressure Brady during the game, and decided to go out on top as he retired following the game.

Prior to this game, the Buffalo Bills’ four consecutive losses in the big game was widely considered to be the biggest disappointment in NFL history, but New England’s falling one win short of a perfect record ranks right up there also.

David Tyree’s “helmet catch” helped the Giants clinch the Super Bowl upset

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Oakland Raiders meet this week on the NFL schedule, and this week’s Throwback Thursday post will feature a game played from the past between these two old rivals. The most famous contest ever between these clubs was the “Immaculate Reception” game, but since we already featured that one last season, this year we’ll move a few years deeper into the 1970s and look at a game in which Steeler coach Chuck Noll, a pretty low-key guy and one of the all-time greats, became incensed at Oakland’s physical, and sometimes borderline dirty, style of play on defense. After a vicious hit on Pittsburgh receiver Lynn Swann by Raider safety George Atkinson, Noll complained that Oakland’s secondary, and their defense in general, were part of a “criminal element” in the league that needed to be dealt with.

Atkinson’s hit came in the opening game of the 1976 season. He leveled Swann with a forearm smash to the head on a play in which the ball wasn’t even thrown to him, leaving the future Hall of Fame Steeler receiver out with a concussion. The hit was bad enough, but the fact that Atkinson had done the same thing to Swann in the previous year’s AFC Championship game, also causing a concussion, led to Noll’s post-game reaction. This particular game, played on September 12, 1976, was a completely frustrating experience for Noll and the Steelers. The two clubs had evolved into bitter rivals as they had met in the two previous AFC title matches, with Pittsburgh winning both on their way to back-to-back Super Bowl wins. On this day, however, the Raiders extracted some revenge, not only with the Atkinson hit on Swann but by wiping out a 28-14 deficit and rallying to beat the vaunted Steelers 31-28.

The first half of the game was a defensive struggle, as expected between these two proud, hard-nosed defenses, while both clubs exploded in the second half, as 45 total points would be scored. Raider quarterback Ken “The Snake” Stabler led the furious Raider comeback by throwing for three scores (2 to Dave Casper and one to Fred Biletnikoff) and running for another, and also drove his team into position for kicker Fred Steinfort to boot the winning field goal. Stabler also threw 4 interceptions in the see-saw game, but kept his composure and led the comeback. The win was a huge boost for the Raider franchise, as they cruised through the ’76 season with only a single loss on their way to the first Super Bowl win in franchise history, finishing 16-1. Atkinson, who was a boy scout compared to his secondary teammate of that era, Jack “The Assassin” Tatum, wound up suing Noll for defamation of character for the “criminal element” comment, but lost the suit.

Bitter rivals in the 1970s, the Steelers and Raiders really didn’t like each other

This Thursday night, on this week’s NFL schedule, the Miami Dolphins take on the New England Patriots. We will feature a game from the past between these 2 franchises as this week’s Throwback Thursday game. It was played in 1972 – week nine of what was then a 14 game league season. The Dolphins didn’t know it yet, but they were more than halfway to their undefeated regular season at that point, entering the game with an 8-0 record. Veteran Earl Morrall had taken over for the injured Bob Griese at quarterback for the Fish, and despite being without a loss, Miami wasn’t necessarily dominating opponents in their wins. On this particular day, however, they certainly did, as they crushed the Pats, 52-0. It was the second of what would be three shutouts posted by their “No Name” defense on their way to a perfect 14-0 record for the year. They would then go on to win the Super Bowl to cap a perfect 17-0 mark.

The Dolphins normally played a grind-it-out style featuring their stifling defense and a pounding running game that would control the ball for long stretches of time, with fullback Larry Csonka and halfback Jim Kiick churning up yardage. On this particular day, however, it was Mercury Morris’ turn to shine. Morris was the third option of the three-headed monster that was Miami’s rushing attack of that era. He was the speed back, and in this game he sped for 90 yards on 16 carries and three touchdowns. Miami’s top pass receiver at the time (the few times they threw the ball) was future Hall of Famer Paul Warfield, but on this day it was Marlin Briscoe, a converted quarterback who was the number two pass catcher, who had the big day. He put up numbers that are routine in today’s Madden video game style of play, catching 4 passes for 128 yards and a pair of scores. The game got so far out of hand that the Dolphins’ backup QB, a little known entity named Jim Del Gaizo, got some action, throwing a pair of TD passes himself.

Miami’s tough defense forced the Patriots’ young signal caller, Jim Plunkett, into a frustrating day that saw him throw for only 66 yards, and two interceptions, before being yanked in favor of backup Brian Dowling, who didn’t fare much better. It was not a good time in Plunkett’s career. He had been a top overall draft pick and was on his way to becoming a major bust. Eventually he landed in San Francisco and didn’t have any success there either, but his story, unlike a lot of disappointing top draft choices, had a happy ending. He found a home with Al Davis’ Oakland Raiders and his career was rejuvenated, as he engineered a pair of Super Bowl titles for the Silver and Black in the 1980s, even winning the game’s MVP award in Super Bowl XV.

Dolphins’  QB Earl Morrall