Sports Then and Now

During the 1950s, the Detroit Lions were the elite team in the National Football League as they won three NFL championships between the years 1952 and 1957.

But following their 1957 NFL title, the Lions traded quarterback Bobby Layne to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who was so angry about the transaction that he allegedly said that the Lions would not win for 50 years.

For the next 25 years, the Lions did not win as they made the playoffs only twice in 1970 and 1982, with the latter coming because the NFL expanded the playoffs to 16 teams following the strike-shortened season.

But in 1983, Detroit fans were hopeful as the Lions won their first division title since the 1957 season as they won the NFC Central Division title despite a 9-7 record.

The Lions were coached by Monte Clark, who was in his sixth season as the Detroit head coach, after a seven-year stint as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers in which the team won three NFC West titles.

Detroit won the NFC Central in 1983 because of their stingy defense which allowed the second fewest points during the regular season and all-pro running back Billy Sims, who had gained over 1,000 yards for the third time since he was taken as the #1 overall pick of the 1980 Draft.

The Lions’ opponent in their 1983 NFC Divisional Playoff would be the San Francisco 49ers, who were two years removed from their Super Bowl championship season.

The 49ers struggled in their defense of their Super Bowl title as they went 3-6 in the 1982 season and failed to make the expanded playoffs because of their 28th ranked rushing offense.

Needing to bolster the running game to help quarterback Joe Montana, the 49ers used their first round pick in the NFL Draft to select Nebraska’s Roger Craig and acquired Wendell Tyler from the Los Angeles Rams. Read the rest of this entry →

When the Green Bay Packers and the Atlanta Falcons met in week 13 of the 1983 NFL season, it seemed almost a guarantee that the game would be a high-scoring affair that would be decided in the final seconds.

The Packers entered the game with a 6-6 record, thanks to their offense which had averaged 27 points per game up to this point.

The offense was led by quarterback Lynn Dickey, who would finish the season with 4,458 passing yards, and a receiving corps that featured John Jefferson and all-Pro James Lofton.

Despite their high-octane offense, the Packers had one of the worst defenses, which had given up 332 points through the 12 games and had a hard time maintaining leads the offense had given them.

When Green Bay traveled to Atlanta, they must have felt they were looking into a mirror as the Falcons also had a high-scoring offense and suspect defense.

The Falcons had a 5-7 record under first-year head coach Dan Henning with an offense that featured quarterback Steve Bartkowski, running back William Andrews, and wide receiver Billy “White Shoes” Johnson who would go to be named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year for 1983. Read the rest of this entry →

The annual Texas-Oklahoma game is almost always one of the most anticipated games of the college football season, but the 1984 edition of the “Red River Rivalry” had even more hype as both teams entered the game in the top three of the AP Poll.

Texas was 3-0 and the #1 team in the country thanks to wins over then #11 Auburn and #4 Penn State.

Despite the fact they had lost 17 players to the NFL from the 1983 team that finished the season with a 11-1 record, the Longhorns were led by a number of seniors including quarterback Todd Dodge, wide receiver Billy Boy Bryant, defensive tackle Tony Degrate and all-American safety Jerry Gray, all under the direction of eighth-year head coach Fred Akers.

Oklahoma entered the game with a 4-0 record and a #3 ranking, but were hoping try to avoid their fourth straight four-loss season under head coach Barry Switzer, who had led the Sooners to at a least a share of the Big Eight championship in his first eight seasons and two national championships.

The Sooners’ rise to the top was due in large part to their defense, which had allowed only 38 points through the first four games, led by all-American defensive tackle Tony Casillas and freshman linebacker Brian Bosworth.

It would be a game dominated by the defenses as torrential rains had the Dallas area and caused players to slip and slide on the Cotton Bowl turf.

The wet conditions were a factor in the first turnover of the game as Oklahoma punter Mike Winchester dropped a perfect snap and could not get the punt off, giving the ball to Texas at the Sooners’ 26-yard-line. Read the rest of this entry →

During the 2003 season, the week 5 meeting with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was an emotional game for Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy as it marked the first time he returned to Tampa Bay since his removal as the Buccaneers’ head coach.

Dungy was hired as the Buccaneers head coach before the 1996 season and in his second season lead Tampa Bay to its first winning season in 15 years.

Combining his efforts with defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, Dungy created the “Tampa 2” defense to lead Tampa Bay a 56-46 record in six seasons and four playoff appearances, including a trip to the 1999 NFC Championship Game.

But back-to-back playoff losses to the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2000 and 2001 NFC Wild Card Game plus the inability to produce a more explosive offense, Dungy was fired after the 2001 season.

Dungy’s replacement, former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden, took over the reins in Tampa Bay and took the Bucs to the Super Bowl in his first season, which they won 48-21 over the Oakland Raiders.

Meanwhile, Dungy moved to Indianapolis to become the Colts’ head coach and join forces with quarterback Peyton Manning, an All-Pro quarterback who unfortunately had a reputation of not winning the big game as he was 0-2 in his postseason career before Dungy’s arrival.

In their first season together, Manning and Dungy helped the Colts a 10-6 record and a playoff berth, only to be humiliated by the New York Jets 41-0 in the AFC Wild Card round.

While it was not a playoff game, the stakes of the game were high for Manning and Dungy to see if they could lead their team to a win over the defending Super Bowl champions on the road on Monday Night Football.

But for most of the game, it looked like another big game loss for Manning and Dungy.

On the first play of the Bucs’ second possession of the game, quarterback Brad Johnson fired a pass for Keenan McCardell, who made the catch at the Indianapolis 30, and then outran the Colts defenders for a 74-yard touchdown that gave Tampa Bay a 7-0 lead.

McCardell would score another touchdown on the Bucs’ next drive on would have been the strangest play of the game if not for the finish.

On a first-and-ten from the Tampa 33, Johnson made a poor throw that was picked off by Colts safety Mike Doss at his own 41-yard-line.

Doss returned it 16 yards to the Bucs’ 43-yard-line until he was hit and fumbled the ball, which McCardell recovered on a bounce and ran 57 yards for the touchdown to increase the Tampa lead to 14-0 in the first quarter. Read the rest of this entry →

During the mid-1990s, the Ohio State Buckeyes had some great teams go through most of the regular season undefeated only to have their arch rival, the Michigan Wolverines, spoil the Buckeyes’ dreams of a national title on three occasions.

But perhaps the Buckeyes’ most heartbreaking loss during this time period came at the hands of that other football team from Michigan.

The 1998 season was the 11th season for John Cooper as the Ohio State head coach as he had complied an 86-32-4 record during his 10 years in Columbus.

Despite his success, Cooper was not embraced by the Buckeye faithful as he had only defeated Michigan once in his first 10 meetings with the Wolverines and was 2-7 in bowl games.

But in 1998, it appeared that the stars were lining up for Cooper and Ohio State to have a magical season.

The Buckeyes began the season as the #1 team ranked in the country because of the 17 returning starters on offense and defense that included quarterback Joe Germaine, wide receiver David Boston, and linebacker Andy Kaztenmoyer.

Through the first two months of the season, Ohio State was dominant as they won their first eight games of the season by a combined score of 306-72.

As the Buckeyes entered the month of November, it appeared that their only obstacle would be arch-rival Michigan on the last game of the season in a game that would be played in Columbus.

So as Ohio State entered their home game with Michigan State on November 7, 1998, it seemed the only question was by how many points would the Buckeyes win over the Spartans.

It appeared that the Spartans were headed for another mediocre season under head coach Nick Saban, who had only gone 19-15-1 in his first three seasons in East Lansing, and were 4-4 at this point of the 1998 season.

The Spartans did have some talent such as sophomore wide receiver Plaxico Burress, who would break the Michigan State season record for receptions, and linebacker Julian Peterson, a junior college transfer from the Valley Forge Military Academy. Read the rest of this entry →

When it comes to the rivalry between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles, the “miracle” wins seem to always go to the Eagles such as their 27 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to knock off the Giants in 2010.

But in the second week of the 2006 season, the Giants had their own “miracle” win against the Eagles as they overcame a 17-point 4th quarter deficit to defeat the Eagles.

New York was coming off an 11-5 season in which they won the NFC East Division only to be eliminated by the Carolina Panthers 23-0 in their NFC Wild Card Game at the Meadowlands.

In that game, Giants quarterback Eli Manning was intercepted three times and threw for only 113 yards.

Coming off that poor performance, Manning needed to come back strong in the 2006 season, which was his third in the NFL.

Thankfully for Manning, he had running back Tiki Barber and wide receiver Plaxico Burress at his disposal as well as head coach Tom Coughlin, who was also heading into his third season in New York.

The Giants’ 2005 NFC East title snapped the Eagles’ four-year reign as NFC East Champions as Philadelphia seemed too affected by a Super Bowl hangover in 2005 as they went 6-10 during the season and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1999.

The Eagles and quarterback Donovan McNabb were hoping for a bounce-back season in 2006.

Philadelphia got off to a good start as they won their season opener 24-10 over the Houston Texans while the Giants dropped their opener, a 26-21 home loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

After their playoff debacle and Opening Day loss, Manning and the Giants were dire straits of a victory in Philadelphia.

The Giants got the ball to start to the game and were able to get in the end zone on the seventh play of the drive when Manning found Amani Toomer for a 37-yard touchdown to put New York ahead 7-0 just 3:25 into the game.

The Eagles answered the Giants’ touchdown with a touchdown of their own as Brian Westbrook scored on a 12-yard run to end an 11-play, 92-yard drive that tied the game at 7 midway through the first quarter. Read the rest of this entry →