Sports Then and Now

As we dig further into our countdown of the top 50 moments in NFL Playoff history (since the start of the Super Bowl era in 1966), we explore some games that have become an important part of football lore for propelling great players and teams toward Super Bowl glory.

30. 1972 NFC Divisional Playoff-Cowboys vs. 49ers
The legend of “Captain Comeback” begins with in this game as Roger Staubach replaces starting quarterback Craig Morton late in the third quarter and leads the Cowboys to 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter for a 30-28 comeback win over the San Francisco 49ers.

The winning score comes with 52 seconds left when Staubach finds Ron Sellers for a 10-yard touchdown.

29. 1977 AFC Championship Game-Raiders vs. Broncos
Late in the third quarter and trailing 7-3, the Raiders force a fumble when safety Jack Tatum hits Broncos running back Rob Lytle at the 2-yard line, knocking the ball loose.

The ball is picked up by Raiders nose tackle Mike McCoy who begins running down the field for an apparent touchdown that would give the Raiders the lead, when whistles are blown to stop the play.

The referees ruled that Lytle was down before the fumble even though he was clearly still in the air when he fumbled.

The reversal of fortune gave the Broncos the ball at the 1-yard line where Jon Keyworth ran in for a 1-yard touchdown to extend the Broncos’ lead to 14-3.

The Broncos would eventually win the game 20-17 to advance to their first Super Bowl. Read the rest of this entry →

This is the time of year that sports writers and bloggers tend to dread, the time to look back at season predictions and analyze for the world to see just how much, or how little, you got right during the recent NFL season.

When the season began in September with a Thursday night matchup between the defending champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tennessee Titans, many expected at least one of those two teams to be contending for a spot in Super Bowl XLIV.

But, in a year full of surprises, one of the biggest is that neither of those teams will be among the 12 squads vying for a trip to Miami.

When I peered into my crystal ball in early September I predicted the Patriots, Ravens, Colts and Chargers would win divisions in the AFC with the Titans and Texans earning wild card spots. In the NFC, my division picks were the Giants, Packers, Falcons and Seahawks with the Bears and Eagles earning the wild card spots.

I then predicted Baltimore would edge the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game with the Packers defeating the Falcons in the NFC title game.

My Super Bowl pick was for the Packers to defeat the Ravens.

While I had more than my share of miscues, believe it or not my Super Bowl matchup could still actually happen, though it is a bit of a long-shot at this point. Read the rest of this entry →

It is January, which means the NFL playoffs are set to begin.

In the next three weeks, twelve teams will play for the right to go to the Super Bowl.
With that in mind, I have complied a list of 50 of the most memorable moments in NFL postseason history.

Every one of these moments occurred in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) and does not include a single Super Bowl.

In essence, these are the 50 greatest moments that have occurred in NFL playoff games to decide what team advances to the Super Bowl.

Note: It is actually 52 moments, as I squeezed three games into the 50th moment.

Let the countdown begin.

50. Mud Bowl
There have been three playoff games that have been nicknamed the “Mud Bowl”.

The first “Mud Bowl” occurred in the 1977 NFC Divisional Playoff game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Los Angeles Rams.

A torrential rain storm turned the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum field into a mud bath nullifying the Rams’ home field advantage. Thanks to 101 rushing yards from running back Chuck Foreman, the Vikings knock off the Rams 14-7, to advance to the NFC Championship Game.

The second “Mud Bowl” was the 1982 AFC Championship Game between the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins in which the Dolphins defeated the Jets 14-0 thanks to 3 interceptions by Miami linebacker A.J. Duhe, including returning one interception for a 35-yard touchdown in the 4th quarter that sealed the victory for the Dolphins.

The final “Mud Bowl” came in the 1996 NFC Divisional Playoff between the San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers. The Packers jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to two punt returns by Desmond Howard, the first for a 71-yard touchdown and the second for 46 yards that set up a 4-yard touchdown pass from Brett Favre to Andre Rison as Green Bay would go on to win the game 35-14. Read the rest of this entry →