Sports Then and Now

In 1978, the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints were unlikely contenders for a playoff spot in the NFC as both teams had never made the playoffs in their collective 23 seasons between the two teams.

The two divisional rivals meet twice over a span of 14 days in November 1978 in a pair of last-second finishes that determined both teams’ fates for the 1978 season.

The Falcons entered the first game with the Saints on a four-game winning streak to up their record to 6-4 to put themselves in the hunt for their first playoff berth in franchise history.

Atlanta was led by head coach Leeman Bennett, who was in his second season as the Falcons head coach, and featured a defense that called “The Grits Blitz” which had allowed a NFL-record 129 points in 14 games in Bennett’s first season, only to have the team finish 7-7 because of an offense that only scored 179 points.

While their stats were not that much better in the 1978 season, the Falcons offense with quarterback Steve Bartkowski at the helm was doing enough for the Falcons to win games. Read the rest of this entry →

Pat Tillman would have turned 35 on November 6th.

As we prepare for Veterans Day later this week, we remember an American hero and former NFL star who would have turned 35-years-old today, Pat Tillman.

Too often in the world of sports we want to label someone as a hero or glowingly talk about the personal sacrifices they have made for their team or sport.

There are not enough glowing words to accurately describe the personal and professional sacrifice that Pat Tillman made for his country and for all of us who enjoy the wonderful freedoms associated with living in this great land.

Though only 5-foot-11 and slightly over 200 pounds, Tillman earned a college football scholarship to play at Arizona State University. As a junior, he was part of a Sun Devils squad that went undefeated in the regular season before losing 20-17 to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. The next season, Tillman was the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year as Arizona State went 9-3 and won the Sun Bowl.

Despite his college credentials, Tillman wasn’t chosen in the 1998 NFL draft until the final round (seventh round) when the Arizona Cardinals made him the 226th pick in the draft.

After playing linebacker in college, Tillman was moved to defensive back in the NFL and started 10 games as a rookie while helping the Cardinals reach the second round of the NFC Playoffs.

Over the next three seasons, Tillman established himself as a defensive standout for the Cardinals, including ranking second on the team in tackles with 145 during the 2000 season. Read the rest of this entry →

The decade of the 1970s were not kind to the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets as the two teams combined for just one playoff appearance between them.

When the 1980s came around, things began to look up for Buffalo as they went 11-5 and won the AFC East division title during the 1980 season.

Though they lost to the San Diego Chargers in the AFC Divisional Playoffs, the Buffalo Bills headed into the 1981 season with renewed confidence under head coach Chuck Knox.

Led by veteran quarterback Joe Ferguson and 1,000 yard rusher Joe Cribbs, the Bills returned to the playoffs with a 10-6 record.

While the Bills were turning the page on a lost decade, the Jets seemed to continue their woes from the 70s as they entered the 1980s.

The Jets went 4-12 in the 1980 season, which included a loss to the 1-15 Saints, and started the 1981 season by dropping their first three games.

New York fans and media members were calling for head coach Walt Michaels, who had been the head coach since 1977, to be replaced.

But under Michaels’ leadership, the Jets won 10 of their last 13 games to finish with a 10-5-1 record and clinch the team’s first playoff berth since 1969.

The Jets’ turnaround was keyed by the defensive line of Mark Gastineau, Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons, and Abdul Salaam, which unofficially accounted for 66 sacks during the 1981 season and came to be known as the “New York Sack Exchange”.

On a cold, rainy afternoon, New York fans traveled to Shea Stadium to see their beloved Jets host their first playoff game in 12 years as the Jets faced off with the Buffalo Bills in the 1981 AFC Wild Card Game.

The Jets won the coin toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff, with Bruce Harper taking the kick and returning it to the New York 25, where he was met by Bills linebacker Ervin Palmer

Palmer stripped the ball from Harper and was caught on a bounce by Palmer’s teammate, Charles Romes who ran in untouched for a 26-yard touchdown in the second quickest score in NFL playoff history to give Buffalo a 7-0 lead just 16 seconds into the game.

The Jets seemed to shake off the shocking fumble on the opening kick on their second offensive series as they drove from their own 30-yard-line to the Buffalo 30, where they had a 1st-and-10.

That is when quarterback Richard Todd dropped back and fired a pass for Wesley Walker, who was wide open at the goal line, only to have Walker drop the pass and sure touchdown. Read the rest of this entry →

In the late 1990s, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart was a case of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” as his up-and-down play would often frustrate his teammates and fans, but a lot of times would still come away with the victory.

That was the case in the Steelers’ December 1997 game against the New England Patriots when Stewart bounced back from a pair of interceptions to lead his team to an overtime victory in Foxboro.

After spending two years as a quarterback/running back/wide receiver (thus earning the nickname “Slash”) Stewart was given the starting quarterback job by head coach Bill Cowher.

Stewart would be prone to making mistakes, yet show flashes of talent, sometimes in the same game.

An example would be in the Steelers’ fifth game of the season against the Baltimore Ravens when Stewart threw three interceptions in the 1st half as Pittsburgh fell behind 21-0, only to account for five touchdowns to lead his team back to a 42-34 win.

Pittsburgh entered their game with the Patriots with a 10-4 record and a chance to clinch the AFC Central Division title for the fourth straight year.

Meanwhile, the Patriots entered the game with a 9-5 record under first-year head coach Pete Carroll and in the hunt for the playoffs.

Carroll’s success benefited from having all-Pro quarterback Drew Bledsoe, running back Curtis Martin, and wide receiver Terry Glenn at his disposal. Read the rest of this entry →

In his first start of the season Tim Tebow led the Denver Broncos to victory over the Miami Dolphins.

Okay, perhaps that headline is a bit premature given that Tim Tebow just made his first start of the 2011 season and fourth of his career, but since so many NFL “experts” have been lining up since before he had even played an NFL game to predict that he would be a bust, it almost seems appropriate after his fourth quarter performance in Denver’s overtime victory in Miami to proclaim him as an all-time great.

The reality is that we don’t yet know whether Tim Tebow will be a great NFL quarterback, but it is up to Tebow and the Denver Broncos to find out and not former players or others who are quick to judge without giving him a chance.

Denver Head Coach Mike Fox is giving Tebow a chance and after looking like a young quarterback making only his fourth NFL start early on, Tebow did what he has done best throughout his career, he made the big plays when needed down the stretch to lead his team to victory.

Critics of the second year quarterback will be quick to point to the first half where he passed for only 24 years and Denver was held scoreless, but it should be noted that kicker Matt Prater missed a pair of makeable field goals (40 and 43 yards) that would have matched the first half point total for the Dolphins and ultimately may have kept Denver from needing overtime to win the game.

For some reason, many former players that are now earning their living analyzing the game have been unwilling to give Tim Tebow time to develop as an NFL quarterback. I find it ironic considering that many of them needed time themselves before they enjoyed NFL success.

One of the most vocal critics of Tebow has been former Pittsburgh and Chicago running back Merril Hoge. He has regularly said that Tebow will never be an NFL star and in the preseason was even quoted as saying that it would be “embarrassing to think that the Broncos with Tebow could win.”

Given how his career began, Hoge should be really glad that Chuck Noll didn’t come to similar conclusions about him without giving him a chance to show his stuff. Read the rest of this entry →

The final game of the 1999 regular season did not mean a whole lot to the Oakland Raiders, but meant everything for the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chiefs entered the game with a 9-6 record and needed to defeat the Raiders plus have the Seattle Seahawks lose to win the AFC West title (The Seahawks owned the tiebreaker because they won both of their meetings with the Chiefs).

Even though a loss to the Raiders would keep them out of the playoffs, the Chiefs had to be very confident as they had lost to Oakland twice during the entire decade of the 1990s and had not lost to the Raiders at Arrowhead Stadium since 1988.

Kansas City was under first-year head coach Gunther Cunningham, who had replaced Marty Schottenheimmer after a decade in which he led the Chiefs to nine playoff appearances, and quarterback Elvis Grbac.

Grbac had spent the previous two seasons in Kansas City in a quarterback controversy with backup Rich Gannon, as Gannon had filled in nicely for the starter and won 10 of his 16 starts during the 1997 and 1998 seasons.

After the 1998 season, Gannon left the Chiefs and signed as a free agent with the arch rival Raiders, where he was named the starting quarterback for head coach Jon Gruden who was entering his second season as the Raiders’ head coach.

Oakland entered the game at 7-8 and were eliminated from playoff contention, but a victory of the hated Chiefs to prevent them from moving on to the postseason, would make the season for the Raiders. Read the rest of this entry →