BALTIMORE - The Raiders had just called time out. It was third and long, just over a minute to play, and they were trailing the Baltimore Colts by three. As John Madden excitedly went over the play one the sideline, Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler calmly looked around at the excited fans and said simply, "the fans are sure getting their money's worth today." Offensive coordinator Tom Flores caught Stabler's attention, diagramming a play that called for two receivers to run deep patterns. Then he gave one last piece of advice: "Take a peek at the Ghost to the post."
The teams returned to the field, and the play began. Stabler dropped back to pass, then lofted a deep, high-arching pass toward the middle of the field. Tight end Dave Casper, nicknamed "The Ghost," was running a post pattern and had gotten a step on the Colts defenders, but Stabler's throw was a little bit too far to the outside. Casper adjusted, changing directions and catching the pass in stride over his right shoulder, advancing to the 14-yard line before being brought down. From there, the game-tying field goal was a sure thing.
The game to that point had already been a classic. The Colts had a 10-7 lead at halftime, the big play being a 61-yard interception return touchdown by Bruce Laird. The scoring picked up in the second half, with the Raiders and Colts alternating touchdowns for the entire 30 minutes, the lead changing hands six times in that half alone. Casper scored twice for the Raiders in the third quarter, while Baltimore's Ron Lee had two rushing touchdowns in the fourth. The game had been memorable and exhausting.
And that was before Stabler found Casper deep.
Once the Raiders tied the game, anybody who thought the overtime period would be over quick was dead wrong. After combining for 45 points in the second half, neither team could score in the first overtime period, and the game went to a rare second overtime. The Raiders finally ended things 45 seconds into the second overtime period, as Stabler again found Casper for a touchdown.
The game is memorable for various reasons, including its length; it's the fourth-longest game in NFL history. As it turned out, it was also the last playoff game in Baltimore Colts history, as they wouldn't return to the postseason until after moving to Indianapolis. But the game stands out most of all for the pass that came at the end of regulation, when Ken Stabler found the Ghost to the Post.
It was hard to find a clip of the pass. It's buried at around the :50 mark of this clip that inexplicably has "Thriller" playing throughout. I believe a later shot in the clip shows the winning touchdown, but I can't say that for sure.
HONORABLE MENTION
December 24, 1950: CLEVELAND - They had been dismissed as the champions of an inferior league. They had been underestimated, judged to be not nearly at the level of the powerful NFL teams. But the Cleveland Browns spent the 1950 season proving everybody wrong. In their first year in the NFL, the Browns beat the defending champion Eagles twice, made the playoffs, and advanced to the Championship Game. There, Lou "The Toe" Groza's 16-yard field goal with 20 seconds left gave the Browns a 30-28 victory over the Los Angeles Rams. The four-time defending champions of the AAFL had just won their fifth straight championship, this time against the supposedly superior NFL. There was no more dismissing the Browns.
Showing posts with label Oakland Raiders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oakland Raiders. Show all posts
Friday, December 24, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
December 23, 1972: The Immaculate Reception
PITTSBURGH - The Steelers were facing fourth and 10 from their own 40, only 22 seconds left. Trailing 7-6, they had to find some way to get into field goal range, some way to pull off a miracle and avoid another heart-wrenching loss. The Steelers had led most of the way in this game, up until Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler scored on a 30-yard run with 1:17 left to give Oakland the lead. The Steelers had gone from being a minute away from the first postseason win in franchise history to looking defeat in the face.
The play was 66 Circle Option. Terry Bradshaw dropped back to pass and immediately faced heavy pressure from two Raiders defenders. He threw a ball deep over the middle, intended for running back Frenchy Fuqua. The ball, Fuqua, and Raiders safety Jack Tatum all converged at the Oakland 35 yard line, resulting in a bone-crushing collision. The ball caromed straight back from that collision, and it looked like it was over.
But then, Steelers running back Franco Harris reached down, grabbed the ball off his shoetops, and took off down the sideline. Stunned, the Raiders tried to shift direction to chase him down. Harris stiff-armed Oakland cornerback Jimmy Warren at the 12 yard line and ran in for an improbable touchdown.
It was bedlam at Three Rivers Stadium. Fans were going crazy in the stands, even running onto the field to celebrate. Meanwhile, the officials ran off the field and huddled. They had a lot to talk about.
The first thing was the catch itself. Did Harris catch the deflected ball before it hit the ground? The officials who were watching the ball said he did. Television replays were inconclusive, and remain so to this day. There are two angles that show Harris grabbing the point of the ball seemingly just before it hit the ground, but neither shows a view of the ground, so nobody except Harris can say for sure whether he caught it. For his part, Harris has never said one way or the other. This question of the play has never been conclusively resolved.
The second thing was the deflection. Which player did the ball hit before caroming back toward Harris? According to the rules at the time, if an offensive player touched a forward pass, no other player on the offensive team was eligible to catch the pass, but if a defensive player touched the ball, anybody could catch it. The collision between Fuqua and Tatum happened so fast that it's impossible to see which player touched the ball; in fact, a couple of the cameras covering the game didn't even get the collision on frame. The people watching the game live thought the ball hit Tatum's shoulder pads, making it a legal catch, but Tatum and the Raiders insisted it caromed off Fuqua instead. Again, this portion of the play has never been conclusively resolved.
Armed with that data, and with the fact that the original ruling on the field was a touchdown, referee Fred Swearingen called up to the head of the NFL officials. Many people say Swearingen was using instant replay to determine the right call, but this was not the case; he was merely calling up to confirm that the on-field officials were interpreting the deflection rule properly. Receiving confirmation, he ran onto the middle of the field, putting his arms up and starting the celebration all over again.
The Immaculate Reception, as it has become known, instantly earned a place in pro football history. It gave the Steelers their first postseason victory in franchise history and it helped kick-start the Steelers-Raiders rivalry that would dominate the 1970s. With their first playoff victory finally behind them, the Steelers began their climb to the top of the NFL, becoming one of the model franchises in the league.
The play has time and again been voted the most famous in NFL history, and it is often voted the most controversial, as well. Nobody who saw the play ever forgot it, and those involved still cannot fully explain what happened. Most notably among the affected was Raiders coach John Madden, who has said he never got over what happened that day. Later in his life, he wrote the ultimate testament to the play: "No matter how many times I watch the films of the 'immaculate reception' play, I never know for sure what happened."
The play was 66 Circle Option. Terry Bradshaw dropped back to pass and immediately faced heavy pressure from two Raiders defenders. He threw a ball deep over the middle, intended for running back Frenchy Fuqua. The ball, Fuqua, and Raiders safety Jack Tatum all converged at the Oakland 35 yard line, resulting in a bone-crushing collision. The ball caromed straight back from that collision, and it looked like it was over.But then, Steelers running back Franco Harris reached down, grabbed the ball off his shoetops, and took off down the sideline. Stunned, the Raiders tried to shift direction to chase him down. Harris stiff-armed Oakland cornerback Jimmy Warren at the 12 yard line and ran in for an improbable touchdown.
It was bedlam at Three Rivers Stadium. Fans were going crazy in the stands, even running onto the field to celebrate. Meanwhile, the officials ran off the field and huddled. They had a lot to talk about.
The first thing was the catch itself. Did Harris catch the deflected ball before it hit the ground? The officials who were watching the ball said he did. Television replays were inconclusive, and remain so to this day. There are two angles that show Harris grabbing the point of the ball seemingly just before it hit the ground, but neither shows a view of the ground, so nobody except Harris can say for sure whether he caught it. For his part, Harris has never said one way or the other. This question of the play has never been conclusively resolved.
The second thing was the deflection. Which player did the ball hit before caroming back toward Harris? According to the rules at the time, if an offensive player touched a forward pass, no other player on the offensive team was eligible to catch the pass, but if a defensive player touched the ball, anybody could catch it. The collision between Fuqua and Tatum happened so fast that it's impossible to see which player touched the ball; in fact, a couple of the cameras covering the game didn't even get the collision on frame. The people watching the game live thought the ball hit Tatum's shoulder pads, making it a legal catch, but Tatum and the Raiders insisted it caromed off Fuqua instead. Again, this portion of the play has never been conclusively resolved.
Armed with that data, and with the fact that the original ruling on the field was a touchdown, referee Fred Swearingen called up to the head of the NFL officials. Many people say Swearingen was using instant replay to determine the right call, but this was not the case; he was merely calling up to confirm that the on-field officials were interpreting the deflection rule properly. Receiving confirmation, he ran onto the middle of the field, putting his arms up and starting the celebration all over again.
The Immaculate Reception, as it has become known, instantly earned a place in pro football history. It gave the Steelers their first postseason victory in franchise history and it helped kick-start the Steelers-Raiders rivalry that would dominate the 1970s. With their first playoff victory finally behind them, the Steelers began their climb to the top of the NFL, becoming one of the model franchises in the league.
The play has time and again been voted the most famous in NFL history, and it is often voted the most controversial, as well. Nobody who saw the play ever forgot it, and those involved still cannot fully explain what happened. Most notably among the affected was Raiders coach John Madden, who has said he never got over what happened that day. Later in his life, he wrote the ultimate testament to the play: "No matter how many times I watch the films of the 'immaculate reception' play, I never know for sure what happened."
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
November 17, 1968: The Heidi Bowl
OAKLAND, Calif. - There was 1:05 left on the clock when everything went dark. The 7-2 New York Jets had just kicked a field goal to take a 32-29 lead over the 7-2 Oakland Raiders. After the ensuing kickoff, at precisely 7:00 Eastern time, the NBC affiliates across the country cut to commercial. When the broadcast feed returned, football fans were watching not the final minute of the football game, but the opening credits of the made-for-TV movie Heidi.
It seemed like a weird time to cut away from the game, but NBC was contractually obligated to show Heidi starting at 7:00, regardless of whether the game was over. It had rarely been a problem in the past, as most games at that time were over within the three-hour window they were given. If they weren't, it was fairly common practice to flip away from games that weren't quite finished - that afternoon, the end of the San Diego-Buffalo game had been cut off so NBC could show the entire Jets-Raiders game.
This time, though, NBC studio heads changed their minds. Seeing how exciting the Jets-Raiders game was, they felt like it would be all right to delay the start of Heidi by a few minutes. The problem was they couldn't get through. So many people were calling in to local NBC studios asking if the whole game would be shown (or, in some cases, asking if Heidi would be shown on time), that the NBC executives couldn't get through to communicate their decision to keep showing the game. So the switch was made, and at 7:00 everybody in the country east of Denver, instead of seeing the Raiders starting their last-ditch drive, instead saw Heidi running through a field of flowers.
It was the old days of television, where the signal was sent over telephone wires rather than by satellite, so switching back would be a time-consuming and labor-intensive option. Plus, the NBC heads still couldn't get through to say they wanted the game switched back on, anyway. Communication was so poor that the people in NBC's studio didn't even know what was happening in the game.
What was happening was one of the most exciting endings in regular-season history. After taking the kickoff to the 23 yard line, Daryle Lamonica completed a 20-yard pass to Charlie Smith on the first play, with 15 more yards being tacked on because of a facemask penalty. On the next play, Lamonica found Smith again, this time for a 43-yard touchdown. The Raiders had gone 77 yards in two plays to take the lead, and nobody east of the Rockies saw it.
But things weren't done. On the ensuing kickoff, the Jets had trouble recovering the bouncing ball. Oakland's Preston Ridlehuber picked up the fumbled kickoff at the 2 and stepped into the end zone for another Raider touchdown. The Raiders had scored twice in 32 seconds, all while most of the country was watching a touching movie about a young girl being raised by her grandfather in the Swiss Alps.
The oblivious viewers were no doubt a little surprised to see a crawl start across the bottom of the screen at 8:40. Just as Heidi's cousin Clara was summoning the courage to walk after falling from her wheelchair, the score showed up on the bottom of the screen: Oakland 43, New York 32.
Outraged viewers flooded NBC studios with calls, calling with such frequency that the switchboard in New York blew 25 fuses. NBC scrambled to try to fix things, going so far as issuing a public apology at the end of the movie and showing the final 1:05 of the game in its entirety on the evening news. That wasn't enough to placate fans.
The Heidi Bowl, as the game came to be known, changed the way football was shown on television. Soon afterwards, a rule was put in place that the end of a game cannot be preempted in the home market of the two teams. The reaction also showed NBC just how popular televised football had become in America, and the AFL in particular. Soon, NBC was able to nearly double its ad rates for AFL games. This game, along with those same Jets beating Baltimore in that year's Super Bowl, helped legitimize the AFL to the point it was able to merge with the NFL for the 1970 season.
It seemed like a weird time to cut away from the game, but NBC was contractually obligated to show Heidi starting at 7:00, regardless of whether the game was over. It had rarely been a problem in the past, as most games at that time were over within the three-hour window they were given. If they weren't, it was fairly common practice to flip away from games that weren't quite finished - that afternoon, the end of the San Diego-Buffalo game had been cut off so NBC could show the entire Jets-Raiders game.
This time, though, NBC studio heads changed their minds. Seeing how exciting the Jets-Raiders game was, they felt like it would be all right to delay the start of Heidi by a few minutes. The problem was they couldn't get through. So many people were calling in to local NBC studios asking if the whole game would be shown (or, in some cases, asking if Heidi would be shown on time), that the NBC executives couldn't get through to communicate their decision to keep showing the game. So the switch was made, and at 7:00 everybody in the country east of Denver, instead of seeing the Raiders starting their last-ditch drive, instead saw Heidi running through a field of flowers.
It was the old days of television, where the signal was sent over telephone wires rather than by satellite, so switching back would be a time-consuming and labor-intensive option. Plus, the NBC heads still couldn't get through to say they wanted the game switched back on, anyway. Communication was so poor that the people in NBC's studio didn't even know what was happening in the game.
What was happening was one of the most exciting endings in regular-season history. After taking the kickoff to the 23 yard line, Daryle Lamonica completed a 20-yard pass to Charlie Smith on the first play, with 15 more yards being tacked on because of a facemask penalty. On the next play, Lamonica found Smith again, this time for a 43-yard touchdown. The Raiders had gone 77 yards in two plays to take the lead, and nobody east of the Rockies saw it.
But things weren't done. On the ensuing kickoff, the Jets had trouble recovering the bouncing ball. Oakland's Preston Ridlehuber picked up the fumbled kickoff at the 2 and stepped into the end zone for another Raider touchdown. The Raiders had scored twice in 32 seconds, all while most of the country was watching a touching movie about a young girl being raised by her grandfather in the Swiss Alps.
The oblivious viewers were no doubt a little surprised to see a crawl start across the bottom of the screen at 8:40. Just as Heidi's cousin Clara was summoning the courage to walk after falling from her wheelchair, the score showed up on the bottom of the screen: Oakland 43, New York 32.
Outraged viewers flooded NBC studios with calls, calling with such frequency that the switchboard in New York blew 25 fuses. NBC scrambled to try to fix things, going so far as issuing a public apology at the end of the movie and showing the final 1:05 of the game in its entirety on the evening news. That wasn't enough to placate fans.
The Heidi Bowl, as the game came to be known, changed the way football was shown on television. Soon afterwards, a rule was put in place that the end of a game cannot be preempted in the home market of the two teams. The reaction also showed NBC just how popular televised football had become in America, and the AFL in particular. Soon, NBC was able to nearly double its ad rates for AFL games. This game, along with those same Jets beating Baltimore in that year's Super Bowl, helped legitimize the AFL to the point it was able to merge with the NFL for the 1970 season.
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