SAN DIEGO - Somewhere between John Elway famously helicoptering his way to a first down and Broncos owner Pat Bowlen holding up the Lombardi Trophy and saying "This one's for John," there came a controversial coaching decision. Lost among Terrell Davis' three rushing touchdowns and John Elway's first Super Bowl victory was the decision by Green Bay coach Mike Holmgren to let the Broncos score the game-winning touchdown to give the Packers time for a potential game-tying drive. It was a gutsy call, one showing an incredible amout of faith in his offense and quarterback Brett Favre.
And it was the wrong one.
It's easy to say in retrospect that Holmgren did the wrong thing. Knowing what we know now - that Favre's last-ditch drive that started out looking so promising would end up fizzling out on a fourth-down incompletion at the Broncos' 35 - it's easy to say "See? He shouldn't have let them score! How can you do that in the Super Bowl?" But that's not why it was the wrong thing to do. It was wrong because Holmgren had the down wrong.
After a tense, back-and-forth game, the defending champion Packers had tied Super Bowl XXXII at 24 on a 13-yard pass from Favre to Antonio Freeman just more than a minute into the fourth quarter. From there, both defenses tightened up, and the score remained tied until the Broncos got the ball at midfield with 3:27 left. A facemask penalty and a 23-yard pass gave the Broncos first-and-goal from the 8.
This is where Holmgren's confusion likely set in. On the first play inside the 10, the Broncos committed a holding penalty, pushing the ball back to the 18-yard line. On first-and-goal from the 18, Davis carried the ball down to the 1-yard line with 1:47 left. Likely forgetting about the penalty, Holmgren thought this run gave the Broncos a first down and that, with the Packers holding only two time outs, they wouldn't have enough time to drive down field if the Broncos sufficiently ran out the clock. But it was second down, meaning that if the Packers had gotten two stops, the Broncos would have likely been kicking a go-ahead field goal with about 1:40 or so left on the clock - plenty of time for Favre to try for a last-ditch drive.
As it was, the Packers let Davis run in for the one-yard touchdown. Favre got the Packers down as far as the Denver 31 yard line in the fourth, but ran into two bits of bad luck. The first came when Freeman couldn't hold on to a pass that would have given Green Bay the ball at the 15 yard line, and the second came when the Packers had to use their final time out after that play because of an injured player. After Favre's final pass was broken up, the Broncos celebrated their first Super Bowl victory.
Would the final drive have played out differently if Holmgren had known the proper down and distance? Possibly. The Packers were in field goal range when their final drive fizzled out. But there's no guarantee they would have stopped Davis twice at the one-yard line anyway. And there's no guarantee the Broncos would have played the same prevent-style defense on the last drive if they were only holding a 3-point lead rather than a 7-point lead. Either way, the game has become known for Davis' three touchdowns and Elways famous helicopter run rather than for Holgren's gaffe, and it's probably better that way.
Showing posts with label Green Bay Packers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green Bay Packers. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
January 15, 1967: A Super Bowl
LOS ANGELES - Taken out of context, looking at it just from a standpoint of the quality of the game, the Packers' 35-10 win over Kansas City was not very memorable. Green Bay was expected to have no problem dispatching the Chiefs, and they didn't. The Packers never trailed, Kansas City never got close in the second half. The better team won, and easily.
But that doesn't tell the whole story. It doesn't tell of the Kansas City players who were so nervous that they were throwing up in the tunnel before the game. It doesn't tell of Green Bay coach Vince Lombardi being so nervous that he was shaking in a pregame interview. And it doesn't tell how this game was the beginning of a great tradition, something that started as a novel idea and eventually grew enough to become an unofficial American holiday.
The first Super Bowl wasn't even called that at first; it was called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. The NFL's representatives were the Green Bay Packers, who had won five league titles in seven years and were considered among the most pristigious NFL franchises. The Chiefs were seen as the perfect team to represent the AFL, as their owner, Lamar Hunt, had been instrumental in the formation of the league in 1960.
While the fact that the two leagues had agreed to an eventual merger gave credibility to the AFL, it was still widely believed that no AFL team would be able to play with the best the NFL had to offer. In fact, the NFL was seemed as so superior that the Packers almost had too much pressure on them, knowing how they'd be letting their league down if they lost. That explains why Lombardi was actually shaking during a pre-game interview. He didn't want to be the coach of the team that lost to an AFL team.
The nerves were there for the Chiefs, too. They had won the right to be the first AFL team to play an NFL team, and they didn't want to encourage the idea that the AFL was the weaker league.
Maybe it had to do with the strength of the leagues, or maybe the Packers were just good. Either way, it wasn't close. A 14-10 Packer lead kept growing in the second half as the Chiefs couldn't stop them. Little-known wide receiver Max McGee scored twice for Green Bay, as did running back Elijah Pitts. Bart Starr's 250 passing yards single-handedly topped Kansas City's 239 total yards.
Though the game itself was a bit of a downer, it started a tradition. Anticipation for the Super Bowl grew throughout the years, and today it's the most anticipated game on the American sports calendar.
HONORABLE MENTION
January 15, 2006: INDIANAPOLIS - Quarterbacks have made scores of season-saving throws in football history. They've also kept the ball themselves for season-saving rushes. But the list of season-saving tackles by quarterbacks is short. In fact, Ben Roethlisberger might be the only one on the list. With the Steelers clinging to a 21-18 lead in the final minutes against Indianapolis, Pittsburgh was trying to punch one more into the end zone to clinch a victory. But Jerome Bettis fumbled for the first time all season and the ball was picked up by the Colts' Nick Harper. With only Roethlisberger to beat, Harper made a move that caused Roethlisberger to spin and lose his balance, but as he was falling, the Pittsburgh quarterback reached out and tripped Harper up by his ankles, preventing a sure touchdown. When the Colts' Mike Vanderjagt missed the tying field goal with 17 seconds remaining, Roethlisberger's tackle instantly became the most important ever made by a quarterback.
But that doesn't tell the whole story. It doesn't tell of the Kansas City players who were so nervous that they were throwing up in the tunnel before the game. It doesn't tell of Green Bay coach Vince Lombardi being so nervous that he was shaking in a pregame interview. And it doesn't tell how this game was the beginning of a great tradition, something that started as a novel idea and eventually grew enough to become an unofficial American holiday.
The first Super Bowl wasn't even called that at first; it was called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. The NFL's representatives were the Green Bay Packers, who had won five league titles in seven years and were considered among the most pristigious NFL franchises. The Chiefs were seen as the perfect team to represent the AFL, as their owner, Lamar Hunt, had been instrumental in the formation of the league in 1960.
While the fact that the two leagues had agreed to an eventual merger gave credibility to the AFL, it was still widely believed that no AFL team would be able to play with the best the NFL had to offer. In fact, the NFL was seemed as so superior that the Packers almost had too much pressure on them, knowing how they'd be letting their league down if they lost. That explains why Lombardi was actually shaking during a pre-game interview. He didn't want to be the coach of the team that lost to an AFL team.
The nerves were there for the Chiefs, too. They had won the right to be the first AFL team to play an NFL team, and they didn't want to encourage the idea that the AFL was the weaker league.
Maybe it had to do with the strength of the leagues, or maybe the Packers were just good. Either way, it wasn't close. A 14-10 Packer lead kept growing in the second half as the Chiefs couldn't stop them. Little-known wide receiver Max McGee scored twice for Green Bay, as did running back Elijah Pitts. Bart Starr's 250 passing yards single-handedly topped Kansas City's 239 total yards.
Though the game itself was a bit of a downer, it started a tradition. Anticipation for the Super Bowl grew throughout the years, and today it's the most anticipated game on the American sports calendar.
HONORABLE MENTION
January 15, 2006: INDIANAPOLIS - Quarterbacks have made scores of season-saving throws in football history. They've also kept the ball themselves for season-saving rushes. But the list of season-saving tackles by quarterbacks is short. In fact, Ben Roethlisberger might be the only one on the list. With the Steelers clinging to a 21-18 lead in the final minutes against Indianapolis, Pittsburgh was trying to punch one more into the end zone to clinch a victory. But Jerome Bettis fumbled for the first time all season and the ball was picked up by the Colts' Nick Harper. With only Roethlisberger to beat, Harper made a move that caused Roethlisberger to spin and lose his balance, but as he was falling, the Pittsburgh quarterback reached out and tripped Harper up by his ankles, preventing a sure touchdown. When the Colts' Mike Vanderjagt missed the tying field goal with 17 seconds remaining, Roethlisberger's tackle instantly became the most important ever made by a quarterback.
Friday, December 31, 2010
December 31, 1967: The Ice Bowl
GREEN BAY, Wisc. - There were 16 seconds left when Bart Starr called the Packers' final time out. The Packers, trailing 17-14, faced third and goal from the 1. The previous two rushing attempts had gone nowhere as Donny Anderson had failed to get any traction on the icy field.
The Dallas Cowboys, clinging to the lead in the NFL Championship Game, were expecting a pass after the Packers' two failed rushing attempts. It seemed logical - an incomplete pass would stop the clock, giving the Packers another shot on fourth down to either try to score again or kick the field goal to force overtime.
By that point, the temperature was -20. This was where the phrase "the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field" originated. Players on both teams were suffering from frostbite. The field was a sheet of ice. Nobody wanted overtime. Nobody wanted to be out there for any longer. So Starr suggested a quarterback sneak. Vince Lombardi said, "Well, run it and let's get the hell out of here."
....
Though the Packers had won the first Super Bowl the previous season, the NFL Championship Game was still considered the more prestigious game, mostly because the AFL was still seen as an inferior league. Therefore, the December 31 matchup between the Packers and Cowboys was considered the true championship game for 1967. With a kickoff temperature of -13 (with a wind chill of -48), the conditions were brutal; the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse band, brought in for halftime entertainment, couldn't even play because the woodwind instruments froze.
But yet, the game went on, and the Packers took advantage of their experience playing in cold weather by scoring on a pair of touchdown passes from Starr to Boyd Dowler. The Cowboys answered with the final 10 points of the second quarter to make it 14-10 at halftime.
After a scoreless third, the Cowboys took the lead on the first play of the fourth quarter when running back Dan Reeves threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Lance Rentzel. Dallas still had the lead when the Packers got the ball back at their own 32 with 4:50 left to play.
It was slow moving on the icy field, but the Packers moved downfield. Starr had three key completions on the drive before fullback Chuck Mercein ran it for eight yards for a first down at the 3. The two failed runs by Anderson followed, and then Starr called his time out.
......
In the huddle, Starr called a handoff to Mercein, but he intended to keep the ball all along. There was no use risking a fumble. Still, though, there was risk; if Starr didn't get in, there probably wouldn't have been enough time for the fourth down play. Starr took the snap and lowered his head, running behind center Ken Bowman and guard Jerry Kramer, and falling into the end zone for the touchdown.
.....
One of the most famous pictures in football history shows Starr scoring the winning touchdown in the Ice Bowl, with Mercein right behind him with his arms in the air. Many people seeing the picture thought Mercein was signalling the touchdown, but that wasn't the case. Thinking he was getting the handoff, Mercein started plunging forward, then couldn't stop his momentum when he saw Starr was taking it himself. He was lifting his arms on the play not to signal the touchdown, but to show the officials that he wasn't illegally pushing Starr into the end zone.
After their victory in the Ice Bowl, the Packers advanced to the Super Bowl in the much friendlier climate of Miami. There they crushed the Raiders, their second straight Super Bowl victory. The win over the Raiders ended up being Vince Lombardi's final game as Packers coach, as he retired after the season. His retirement meant that the Ice Bowl, which has become the most famous of his victories, was also his last victory in Lambeau Field.
HONORABLE MENTION
December 31, 1972: ISLA VERDE, Puerto Rico - The plane was loaded, dangerously so. It seemed like there were too many supplies for the plane. Roberto Clemente didn't worry about that. He had been organizing planes to send supplies to Nicaragua since the devestating earthquake of December 23, but he had learned that the supplies hadn't been getting to their intended targets. Clemente decided to ride along on this plane, hoping his presence would ensure the supplies would get to where they were supposed to go. They never did. The DC-7 crashed into the Caribbean immediately after takeoff. A few days later, the body of the pilot, the plane's fuselage, and an empty flight case belonging to Clemente were recovered. No other pieces of the plane or traces of its passengers have ever been found.
The Dallas Cowboys, clinging to the lead in the NFL Championship Game, were expecting a pass after the Packers' two failed rushing attempts. It seemed logical - an incomplete pass would stop the clock, giving the Packers another shot on fourth down to either try to score again or kick the field goal to force overtime.
By that point, the temperature was -20. This was where the phrase "the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field" originated. Players on both teams were suffering from frostbite. The field was a sheet of ice. Nobody wanted overtime. Nobody wanted to be out there for any longer. So Starr suggested a quarterback sneak. Vince Lombardi said, "Well, run it and let's get the hell out of here."
....
Though the Packers had won the first Super Bowl the previous season, the NFL Championship Game was still considered the more prestigious game, mostly because the AFL was still seen as an inferior league. Therefore, the December 31 matchup between the Packers and Cowboys was considered the true championship game for 1967. With a kickoff temperature of -13 (with a wind chill of -48), the conditions were brutal; the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse band, brought in for halftime entertainment, couldn't even play because the woodwind instruments froze.
But yet, the game went on, and the Packers took advantage of their experience playing in cold weather by scoring on a pair of touchdown passes from Starr to Boyd Dowler. The Cowboys answered with the final 10 points of the second quarter to make it 14-10 at halftime.
After a scoreless third, the Cowboys took the lead on the first play of the fourth quarter when running back Dan Reeves threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Lance Rentzel. Dallas still had the lead when the Packers got the ball back at their own 32 with 4:50 left to play.
It was slow moving on the icy field, but the Packers moved downfield. Starr had three key completions on the drive before fullback Chuck Mercein ran it for eight yards for a first down at the 3. The two failed runs by Anderson followed, and then Starr called his time out.
......
In the huddle, Starr called a handoff to Mercein, but he intended to keep the ball all along. There was no use risking a fumble. Still, though, there was risk; if Starr didn't get in, there probably wouldn't have been enough time for the fourth down play. Starr took the snap and lowered his head, running behind center Ken Bowman and guard Jerry Kramer, and falling into the end zone for the touchdown.
.....
One of the most famous pictures in football history shows Starr scoring the winning touchdown in the Ice Bowl, with Mercein right behind him with his arms in the air. Many people seeing the picture thought Mercein was signalling the touchdown, but that wasn't the case. Thinking he was getting the handoff, Mercein started plunging forward, then couldn't stop his momentum when he saw Starr was taking it himself. He was lifting his arms on the play not to signal the touchdown, but to show the officials that he wasn't illegally pushing Starr into the end zone.
After their victory in the Ice Bowl, the Packers advanced to the Super Bowl in the much friendlier climate of Miami. There they crushed the Raiders, their second straight Super Bowl victory. The win over the Raiders ended up being Vince Lombardi's final game as Packers coach, as he retired after the season. His retirement meant that the Ice Bowl, which has become the most famous of his victories, was also his last victory in Lambeau Field.
HONORABLE MENTION
December 31, 1972: ISLA VERDE, Puerto Rico - The plane was loaded, dangerously so. It seemed like there were too many supplies for the plane. Roberto Clemente didn't worry about that. He had been organizing planes to send supplies to Nicaragua since the devestating earthquake of December 23, but he had learned that the supplies hadn't been getting to their intended targets. Clemente decided to ride along on this plane, hoping his presence would ensure the supplies would get to where they were supposed to go. They never did. The DC-7 crashed into the Caribbean immediately after takeoff. A few days later, the body of the pilot, the plane's fuselage, and an empty flight case belonging to Clemente were recovered. No other pieces of the plane or traces of its passengers have ever been found.
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