Only handful of teams have been able to keep their helmets timeless after all these years! I swear, one day Cleveland will actually put a logo on their helmet out of sheer boredom! ;-)
Pat summerall and Tom brookshire were the best duo of announcers for football games that I ever heard. I watched the games just to listen to them guys talk. And second isn't close.
I was 9 in 71... my first year playing pee wee football in Dayton Ohio... played until age 33.. I absolutely love these old clips. Its brings back so many memories of me and my father watching many of these games... after the games and this show my helmet was on and I was in the backyard wining the big game.. Thanks 👍🏈.
I was 4 years old that year but I would sit on my dads lap and we would watch NFL football together. He was a 49ers fan. I bet that turf was as hard as a freeway back then!!!
“Footballs most humiliating points”. Interesting comment. But what you saw was Staubach’s intelligence. Rather than take a chance and throw up a risky pass, he took the sack and safety to remain on top 20-5. So refreshing to see QBs make a smart play rather than what we see in today’s football. I was 12 years old watching MIA v KC. I recorded Gowdy’s play by play on my brand new Christmas present - a real to real recorder. This RU-vid upload is so great! The memories are just flooding back. Brookshire. The music. The mud. The animated officials calls. The coaches dressed like they came from church. Yes, these were golden years!
Fran Tarkenton was one of the Great Quarterbacks to play the game, but like most always even with the Purple People Eaters Great Defense the Vikings were outplayed in all them Super Bowls by Great teams the Chiefs, Dolphins, Steelers and John Madden's Raiders. I was just happy to see my Cowboys win two Super Bowls ( SBVI - SBXII ) With the Great Roger Staubach.
I was a ten year old and just got into the NFL. First memory was the week before, when Detroit & San Francisco played a great finale. Of course Christmas had the Longest Game in NFL history & this comeback by the 49ers. The other two games were not that great but what would people expect.
Thanks for posting, this is great! I didn't get much into Football until 1976 & 1977, when I was 10. But still, I really appreciate this film of the heroes who preceded MY boyhood idols. Some overlap, but still guys like Willie Lanier, Len Dawson, and Csonka in his prime were a unique group I just narrowly missed 'growing-up' with. Thanks again, good wishes from Massachusetts.
Same here as this season I was 5-6 year old and that started my love for the Cowboys. I loved Duane Thomas even though he didn't deal with the media, he was ahead of his time in recognizing the media lol. Still, by 1976 I was about the same as you Marlin, 10 years old and starting to truly get into every major sport, which for us in southern WV consisted on 3 sports...Baseball, Football and Basketball. This is such a treasure!
The Cowboys had some wars with the Vikings over the years. In 1973, Vikings had Chuck Foreman and they went down to Texas and dominated the Cowboys. And, of course, the Staubach to Pearson Hail Mary in 1975.
Bud grant/ 1960s minnesoda viking beat Dallas cowboys in 1969; playoffs; Tom Landry/ Dallas cowboys pretty much had bud grant/ Minnesota viking in their back pocket during 1970s playoffs
I had just turned 14 (Yrs old) when I watched these games back then (in 1971). Although I was a Cowboys fan, I have gotta say... the Chiefs/Dolphins game was quite memorable. I rooted for the Chiefs, but it was not to be. Great memories!!!
Good to see my Baltimore Colts. Johnny U, Bubba Smith, Mike (Mad Dog) Curtis, etc. First S.Bowl I ever saw was Colts and Jets. I was 12, very sad day. Still have the Sports Illustrated copy with Jim O'Brien on the cover after the winning kick.
I can recall the bitter disappointment in my father's voice after the Dallas cowboys loss in 1966. To this day it is my first memory of football and a memory of my father.
My dad and uncle rigged a mop handle antenna on our roof so we could watch the 1966 Cowboys-Packers championship game here in Dallas. The game was actually “blacked out” locally as I recall. Great memory for a 9 yr old, except we lost
I used to go to evening Mass on Saturday as a kid and then come home in time to watch This Week in Pro Football. Hard to decide which was the more spiritual experience. LOL
This Colts-Browns game was a time capsule of sorts. In the 1971 season both of these clubs were the remaining legacy of the great teams they had been throughout the 60's. The following season began a changing of the guard for them both. The Colts were reigning league champions and that defensive unit was still formidable. That AFC championship game in Miami was painful for any Johnny U fan to watch. Though he remained in the NFL for two more seasons, that game was Johnny's last hurrah
I remember watching that AFC Championship Game with my brother as Colts fans. My brother was really mad when Miami intercepted the long pass. I think it was Jake Scott and he took it to the house.
I remember an Old timer telling me that the 49ers of the early seventies we're really good they just couldn't get past Minnesota or Dallas. You don't hear much about that these days
Actually the 49ers did beat the Vikings in the 1970 Divisional round. It was just the Cowboys who beat them 3 straight times. Maybe you're thinking of the Rams. from 1973-78 the Vikings and Cowboys took turns eliminating the Rams.
@@jstube36 yes!! Now that I think of it. You are right. Duh. Thank you. Those rams teams could not get past them. I wasn't alive back then but love old NFL history
i remeber dallas and miami meeting for the super bowl that year , i was 11 years old and loved the cowboys roger the dodger and company, my dad was a miami guy ,and they were good but the cowboys just came off a superbowl loss the year before so they were ready for their first superbowl win
I really enjoyed watching this. I remember so many of the names. The names I was calling out in the back yard as I was pretending to be these players. I recalled the odd ones as they were brought up here- Speedy Duncan, Fair Hooker, Norm Bulache, Jethro Pugh, Don Cockroft…. Can’t make these up. Football is so enthralling when you’re a kid. NFL was great and college football was just starting to get great (not much parity but there were some bad*ss college teams at the top of the food chain during the 70s and the schedules were set up so they all kinda met at the end of season giving birth to the phrase rivalry weekend). I remember these playoff matchups, and just about all of the position players, but the games themselves are a little fuzzy except for the Miami/KC OT game. I can vividly remember watching that one on TV. I assume all these games were televised but back then, I wouldn’t call that a slam-dunk assumption. Might’ve been that only one or two games was televised and we had to rely on this show for the details. But then I noticed someone say the OT game was on Christmas day, so maybe I missed some of the games due to the holidays. 11:45 Kilmer is in the game. I know at one point he was filling in for an injured Jurgensen and I believe eventually won the starting job, but it may have been by attrition. Can’t remember at which point Kilmer's status was at during this season. 10:35 Is that Jerry? 16:40 I remember Cleveland’s roster but I don’t remember this coach. Looks like a hit man. 17:53 Rex Kern was a highly regarded QB for Ohio St. and now he’s playing defense in the NFL. The Colts must’ve liked converting good option QBs into safety’s because I believe they did the same with Jack Mildren. 18:05 Leroy Kelly was the Browns star running back and they got him returning punts and doing it well. Unheard of these days. 18:30 Cockroft doinks it from about 15 yards out and he’s a straight on kicker. Kicking wasn’t so great in those days. 19:40 Norm Bulach is out with an injury. I remember him. One hit wonder. 22:00 Love the dirt and mud. Might be one of the things I miss most about the old days. When I was a kid, rain or snow was the best days to go out and play football. Afterwards I’d come home and lay out the mud covered clothes I was wearing and look at em with pride. Colts and Browns met in the AFC playoffs here, but I don’t think this was too long after they deflected from the NFC. Or maybe they were relegated, I was too young to understand the details. I do remember considering the Colts, Browns, and Steelers as traitors for awhile, but that was short-lived.29:50 - Can it be any more vintage? Grant and Landry, Doomsday and Purple People Eaters at Metropolitan Stadium on a gray day. But come to think of it, it was always a gray day at Metropolitan.29:50- I had forgotten Bob Lee until now. My memory kinda deleted the gap between Kapp and Tarkenton. I kinda remember Lee as a starter but sure don’t remember him getting the nod for a playoff game. Looks like a bad choice by Grant 32:25,34:15, and he had Norm Snead on the bench, albeit in his twilight. I remember Quazzo’s name too. I believe as a backup but may have started some games. 31:20 This is the music I remember most from NFL films. Along with the one that sounds like “what do you do with a drunken sailor” which didn’t show up in this clip. 36:37 I always got the names confused between Lance Alworth and Lance Rentzel, but I thought Alworth was a Charger, but maybe I’m thinking of Rentzel. But maybe I'm getting em confused because they were on the same team via an aquisition from the Chargers, which sounds vaguely familiar. Cowboys poached a couple other big names for this one in Ditka and Adderly. 42:07 As I said, this game I remember pretty well- Podolak was a beast. Like Kelly, another star RB running back kicks and doing it well. It appears kick coverage wasn’t much of a priority in those days. 50:05 And here’s the man who started it all. Aside from spiking the ball into the ground with enough force to almost flatten it, Elmo Wright’s TD dance was about as flamboyant as a TD celebration got in those days. He’s the pioneer. There should be a poster of Elmo in every self-absorbed end-zone poser’s locker. Maybe put it in the upper left corner of the full length mirror on the inside of the locker door. 52:32 Love the referee here when Stenerud chokes during the OT game. He goes all Leslie Neilsen on it and his signaling seems to be sayin' "get the f** outta here with that weak-*ss kick"
Norm Bulaich played most of his career with the Dolphins (64 of his 120 career NFL games) but 3 of his 4 career postseason games came when he was with the Baltimore Colts and he has a Super Bowl ring from Super Bowl V.
@@davidcobb2693 Thanks, David. Seems to me he had one really good season with the Colts that stood out among the rest of his career. I could be wrong, though.
@@joemoney7986 Norm Bulaich made one Pro Bowl during his career and it came in his 2nd season in the NFL with the Colts in 1971, he ran for 741 yards, caught 25 passes, scored 8 rushing touchdowns and he averaged 4.9 yards per carry. The AFC running backs who made the 1971 Pro Bowl besides Bulaich were the Browns Leroy Kelly, the Dolphins Larry Csonka and the Raiders Marv Hubbard. OJ Simpson had only 742 yards rushing and 5 rushing TD's but the Buffalo Bills were an abysmal 1-13-0 in 1971.
@@davidcobb2693 Thanks, David. So he was kind of a one hit wonder. The second season rings a bell now that you bring it up. I'm guessing Matte was the main RB before him, although there were usually two RBs who shared the rushing attempts in those days. If I was to make a list of top forgotten RBs, I'd include Kelly. He may be, but I'm guessing he's not HOF but I think he should be. I'd put John Brockington on the list as well, although his carreer may not have been long enough for the HOF. Same for Terry Metcalf and maybe Larry Brown. Oh, and Chuck Foreman too. Forgot about Chuck.
@@joemoney7986 Tom Matte was the Colts featured RB in those days, Leroy Kelly was inducted into the Pro Football HOF in 1994, 21 years after his last season with the Browns. John Brockington ran for 1000 yards in each of his first 3 seasons with Green Bay but his decline was quick. Had Chuck Foreman had big games in the 3 Super Bowls he played in, he'd probably be in the HOF.
In case anyone is wondering ... In the NFC Championship Game in Dallas, the Cowboys beat the 49ers 14-3. Meanwhile, in the AFC Championship, Miami thrilled their home crowd with a 21-0 shutout of the Colts and their first trip to the Super Bowl. But the Cowboys won the Super Bowl with a decisive 24-3 victory. In spite of this, the Dolphins came back with a vengeance the following year, completing the only undefeated season in pro football history in 1972 with a 14-7 win over George Allen's Redskins.
Man these guys played in horrible conditions back then. On attrocious fields. That turf in San Francisco yikes 😬. Basically cement with a rug over in freezing and windy weather.
After watching the kickoff returns in these games, it’s so sad the NFL doesn’t really want kickoff returns anymore. One of the many reasons why I choose not to watch or follow NFL anymore.
I got interested in football around this time. My parents hosted a super bowl dinner and I saw Dallas beat Miami. I was unhappy with that outcome and went on to become a huge Redskins fan. I was 10 at the time. I enjoy football these days and especially enjoy seeing great games.
Correction. Not all outdoor stadiums had grass in 1971. Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, St Louis, Chicago, New Orleans, Miami, San Francisco, Dallas all played in outdoor stadiums on Astroturf. Later in the decade, Buffalo, New England, NY Giants/Jets, Cincinatti, Kansas City also switched to outdoor turf.
The Vikings had such an awesome defense. Too bad they didn't have Fran Tarkenton in 70' and 71.' They may have won 1 or 2 Super Bowls. We'll never know.
1,000% YEAH! You said it there~those 2 years were really THE SB “windows” for the Vikings 👉Woulda, coulda, SHOULDA!🌟🏈☝️…I do think Jim Finks should’ve re-signed Joe Kapp after 1969 for that very purpose; a mistake not to, I bet many old time Viking faithful feel as I do, even now!
21:44 and 24:21 - Johnny Unitas...making 2 tackles. Guy was tough as nails. 1971 was a bitter-sweet year for Baltimore. The Colts made it back to the AFC Championship Game, but lost to Miami; the Orioles made it back to the World Series, but lost to the Pirates; and the Bullets made it to the NBA Finals, but lost to the Bucks.
Chiefs-Dolphins went double OT and lasted an incredible 3 hours and 20 minutes. That's a normal 4 quarter game these days. Enjoy all of those commercials.
I'm beginning to believe in alternate dimensions. I clearly remember the Dolphins Chiefs game ending when the Dolphins returned an interception for TD. All the highlights were about five blocks that were thrown on the return. WTH, this isn't the game I watched as a 13 year old, I'm positive.
It was just a better game back then, big money has ruined all pro sports IMO...Funny about the lack of NFL Property gear on the fans...Loved this weekly program...and Jack Gregory# 81, with the Giants...
Okay, so the Vikings went 11-3 under those "terrible" QBs. Snead played in 16 NFL seasons (4x Pro Bowler), Lee 12 & Cuozzo 10, and I believe he retired in order to practice dentistry full-time! I am not comparing any of them to Tarkenton, naturally. But an NFL QB didn't last that many seasons by being "terrible". Just my opinion.
You might recall there were 2 star receivers named Gene Washington during this period -- one played for San Francisco, the other for the Minnesota Vikings.
@@robd2721 Yes, I know him well. He is 82 years old now. The last time I saw him he was in a wheelchair. He lives in a large house on main street in the small town I live in.
@21:14...that strip by Jack Gregory was a great play. And amazingly, the officials got it right. Back then, and for many years after, the officials would almost always miss a play like that and rule it dead, giving the Colts the football.
Love those old games. Football back then seemed More like a chess match . The rewards had to come through hard and intelligent work. Nothing came cheap. Usually the Best all around teams won necesarilly, cause mere chance was out of question. Besides, those teams were built to last Through the draft. With the passing rule changes n the free agency, the game seems More like a circus. Theres a huge unbalance between receivers and Def backs. You dont need To work that hard for a TD. You just pass the Ball and either the WR or the refs Will get It for you. You down by three or less. 40 seconds on the clock. Dont worry, throw the Ball and in most cases you'll get your Kicker in place. Of course It became More of a Spectacle for many people, but some of us who played It prefer The blood, sweat & tears Lombardi Brand of football. You rarely Let one of those Privileged spectators called Kickers took your hard earned win from you.
Not to mention the wide receivers weren't wearing those ultra-sticky gloves -- they had to catch the football with their bare hands. These great receivers didn't need any help from their equipment to catch the ball.
I didn't expect the frog to just JUMP at the giant spider like that. WOW! The size of the FANGS on that spider though too and the frog was eating it head first!! The fact that the frog kept going BACK is also INSANE!
The Commanders should have those colors back again for the Thursday Night games. I like the Falcon’s old logo myself before their current revamped one they got.
I love this old footage and highlights. I don't identify with today's players. Less educated, just basic educated, and more technology, less pure football.
I didn't know they had the two-point play in 1972. Vikes were down 20-5 and lost 20-13, according to Brookshier, though scoreboard showed 20-12. Puzzling.
Basically, the field was like playing on a concrete floor with a thin layer of carpeting. The early artificial turf fields undoubtedly shortened many NFL careers.
@@kvernon1 The 1970's was truly the turf decade. By the middle of the 70's half the teams played on turf. Miami and SF would switch back to grass at the close of the decade.
