1976 AFC Playoffs, Steelers at Colts, 12/19/76 

I know, now every play is celebrated like winning the Super Bowl.

Sounds boring as hell.

Thanks so much for your comment, I too wish they would go back to the old days. I'm so glad baseball players still have style. Show me your class not your a_ _.

In short, act like you been here before.

Damn Mark Gastineau

Look at how many hall of fame players start for the Steelers in this game.

Snoopy Dolly Madison, the spinning SpEcIAL. WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS. The agony of defeat.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Super Bowl will be in March in 5 years.

SB was in Mid January and started early enough it was over by dinner time. The first late SB was #12.

Hurt all the time. This was his best season.

@@shrapnel77 Wrong, not hurt all the time...Dak has missed more time.

@@ms.felonystrutter2472 Missed the entire 1978 season, played 4 out of 16 in 79', had two decent seasons, then his last season, played 4 out of 16 games. Out of the league at 31 years old. Great QB, but just oo injury riddled. I am not even sure why you are bringing up Dak Prescott, but he has missed way less time in his career than Jones. Out of a possible 114 games, Dak has played in 97. Not great, but FAR lass than Jones.

@@shrapnel77 I didn't bring Dak up at all. Also playing with that Colts offensive and are relying on those wide receivers to get open would get most QB's killed.

@@ms.felonystrutter2472 read your own message. You DID mention Dak.

Did you buy the PRO official program ?

you were lucky to see the greatest team ever with the best most perfect defense anyones ever seen played

@Paul Feldner And respect for our Flag! 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲

Except for the CTE and other conditions. Some of those old players were really messed up later in life but, I agree about the great memories.

Yep....and if you think that they're not real men today then you need glasses.

REAL STUPID!!

Dusty dried out winter fields. Miss it!

I'm obsessed with watching these old football games without knowing who won.

Exactly, I stopped watching football years ago because of all the stupid showboating.

@@will.a.benjamin I stopped for that and other reasons.

Unless you count the ref

@@will.a.benjamini guarantee you havent stopped watching football. If you did, you’re a moron.

@@MikeAndersonvinyloldies I honestly haven't watched a live NFL game in about 3 years...is that clear enough for you? Douchebag.

Yeah, they certainly called it differently in those days. Not quite like hockey where they let them duke it out, but there was a lot of piling on and "rough stuff" that would never fly today.

"Late hits out of bounds." Sigh. Sincerely, The Cincinnati Bengals, 2022-3.

@@patrickallan481 😂

And the game wasn't delayed by 10 minute challenges and reviews

@@MichaelMurphy-kj3xf Replays have helped the NFL though, more fair outcomes today. There was some bad ref calls that screwed over teams in the old days

I never saw this game ( didn't know about the plane ), but I know the history. This defense was historic; when Terry was injured in 1976, it absolutely shut down their opponents. Going against Oakland without Franco and Rocky made a threepeat and 5 out o6 titles impossible.

@@lincolnmaceachern2410 Pittsburgh won 40-14, complete domination. Yeah a small plane crashed into the stands if I recall just as the game ended. In fact, years later I covered a Baltimore (CFL game) Colts versus a Doug Flutie team at Memorial Stadium and asked a reporter from there about it and he pointed to the area where the plane actually landed. I was told that what saved fans from being killed was that Baltimore fans left early since the Colts were getting slapped around and why that part of the upper deck was empty.

I also remember a young Bert Jones arrogance and cockiness !

sound like excuses to me all teams have injury's and know how to over come them .

@@funtyes1970 dumb comment. Both Harris and Bleier were 1000 yards rushers in 1976, back in a 14 game schedule . Pittsburgh was a running team and without them, they became one dimensional because Terry Bradshaw was either going to throw a bomb or throws INTs because he was not a accurate passer . They also played without their FG kicker . These were 3 key players to their offense . You must be under 30?

Correct. The Indy Colts never had the kind of close relationship with the city that Baltimore players had. That was a love affair that deeply wounded Marylanders when it ended so surreptitiously.

Heck, watch some game tape of the 1979 World Series played in Memorial, and even then there were large patches of dead grass. The field must of been grown on top of a toxic waste dump or something.

The toxic waste dump is called Baltimore.

Yeah, but did Baltimore ever have a "mud bowl" game where a punt actually stuck in the turf where it landed? In it's own way the field at the "Stadium Formerly Known as Heinz Field" sucks just as badly.

All Baltimore had to do is give Irsay a new stadium and Colts would still be there.

Agreed, Enberg and Olsen were my favorite booth team ever.

I did too. I still liked CBS coverage but Fox has always sucked especially with its main announcer Joe Sux. (His dad was great, that's what got him the job.)

@indy_go_blue60 John Madden and Pat Summerall were great Joe Buck and Aikman are garbage 🗑

Dick Enberg and Merlin were awesome. Madden And Summerall were even better.

Enberg was great oh my.

Just a concussion. Get in there Franco......

Jack Lambert said about quarterbacks: "Put skirts on them".........and they did.

And backtrack 25 years from this era and you can say that too

Understandable. That was an excellent Colts team. Seriously great offense, best year of Bert Jones' career.

@@mcmillenandwife And then 2 years later Bert Jones was injured by a Bubba Baker cheap shot, the team turned to crap, and Bert was never the same.

Yes, just an unlucky draw to have to see Steelers in the Divisional Round. As I recall, the Raiders got to face Steelers in the AFC Championship Game without Franco nor Rocky B at RB. Game over, ‘76 Raiders will win that game 11 times out of 10. Colts likely could have at least gotten to face Oakland and possibly further that year. Jones was a gamer - tough guy as was Lydell Mitchell, Bruce Laird and of course Stan White. Too bad the Colts moved out of Baltimore - I’m still sad about that.

The Colts really f**ked up by not drafting Walter Payton in '75. I was never impressed w/Mitchell. Not a very good RB, IMHO. The Steelers still probably would've won, but if the Colts had sweetness, the game might've been more competitive.

@@johnraven7445 I saw Stan White at Pastore’s while I was passing through not too long ago. It was a nice little Baltimore occurrence.

I was there! Lucky it was a blow-out, most folks in the upper deck had left early in the 4th

Which is why there became more enforced temporary flight restrictions over games becuase of this.

@@jetjack74 I was a Steeler fan to watch the destruction of the Colts during that game. Fortunately, most Colts fans had left by the time the Cessna crashed. I was sitting in the end zone.

That idiot was careless. It was actually a good thing the Steelers did blow the Colts out cos the upper deck was cleared

yeah to bad steelers got there ass kick next game by raiders

COLTS > steelers

At the game too!!!!!!!! GO STEELERS!!! Cut me - I bleed Black and gold - since the 60's

Just saw this - commented on it beforehand - thanks

He was a very underrated QB.

the cowboys kicker, Herrea was awful in 77.

He was damn lucky the Steelers could put the ball into the end zone! Any other team, he would have been in the soup line for sure! You and I could have kicked for the Steelers back then, and got away with missing field goals, and PATS'

The ONLY good they got out of ole Roy... was his nasty kickoffs. Teams hated fielding them. They often fumbled them (like the first kickoff in this video)... But yeah his FG and XP tries were horrid

@@d0nKsTaH Didn't Randy White fumble that one shanked kickoff in the Super Bowl? Pittsburgh scored 2 TDs' in less then 20 seconds. Cowboy fans were peeved about that flag when Swann was tripped by I think Barnes, and the Steelers got the ball deep in Dallas territory. Those two plays were probably the biggest reason the Steelers won that game. The dropped pass in the end zone did not help the Cowboys one bit, so there is always good plays, and bad plays that can decide a football game.

@@tomodonovan5931 The Swann Barnes incident didn't provide Pittsburgh with a first and goal and the Smith TD drop if caught only ties the game .Neither moment determined the games eventual outcome ,teams have recovered from having opposing teams offenses having superb field position via reason of turnover ,1976 raiders forcing turnover at their one TD line after Vikings blocked a Ray Guy punt ,or questionable call against them , 1974 Steelers forcing a fumble on 1 yd line after Vikings got pass interference call on Mike Wagner . A unfortunate incident dosent mandate the defense surrenders a TD . Steelers were simply the superior team . Plus Pittsburgh had a little SB history flavor in their favor for SB 13 cowboys rematch .Every team who had defeated that same opponent in a previous SB matchup ,always won the rematch if the second contest was within a 8 year time frame , examples cowboys Steelers 75,78, Bengals 49ers 81,88, Bills ,Cowboys 92,93, Patriots ,Giants 2007,2011 , and typically both contest were in the same fashion as the original . Too many times for ut to be merely coincidentally .

Cheers

Reese, if you haven’t seen it, be sure to check out our site: www.mcmillenandwife.com/steelers_mp4.html

Edgar Phuquett, be sure to check out our site. Tons of great quality Steelers games to watch. www.mcmillenandwife.com

I remember thinking the same thing! How the hell did the ball travel that far when he didn't even seem to put energy into the throw? Bradshaw had one of the most economical throwing motions in NFL history. He could generate power just bringing the ball from his hip and behind his ear before releasing it.

As a Steelers fan I was surprised at how badly the colts got beat that game. They had a good team.

You might enjoy the version of this we dubbed with the Baltimore radio crew of Chuck Thompson, Vince Bagli and Art Donovan. I realize the game might be painful to watch, but listening to Art Donovan alone is worth the price of admission. Funny stuff! LOL ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-c4i0VE46MBc.html

Including 5 shutouts !

Yeah, a plane crashed into the upper deck. If you go to our version of this game with the radio version dubbed in, they talk about the plane crash at the end: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-c4i0VE46MBc.html

@@mcmillenandwife thanks

I wouldn't go that far, wglide. The Steelers would have been more competitive that day (the game wasn't even as close as the 24-7 score looked) had they been able to use their whole offense. Chuck Noll was so damn stubborn about getting both Franco and Rocky out of the game in the 2nd half of the Colts game, and got both of them injured to the extent that they couldn't play vs. Oakland. Plus, the Steelers had no kicker...Roy Gerela had gotten hurt as well, and center Ray Mansfield (who had done some kicking years earlier when he was a member of the Eagles) "handled" the kicking duties. Noll is especially guilty with Bleier. With the Steelers well in control of the Colts game, the moment that Franco got hurt, he should have had Bleier out of the game as well. But we all know how stubborn Noll was. All they had to hand the ball to that day was Reggie Harrison, not exactly a starting-caliber running back.

@@russs7574, Rocky got hurt immediately and never returned after Pittsburgh's opening drive. He was in the game for exactly 3 plays.

@@wglide444as a Raider fan, I have four things to say. A clip on Villapiono; Fuqua touched the ball; Harris caught the ball off the ground; and Swann jumped offsides

Wut

@@SillyGoose2024 they are confessing that their love for the Steelers was greater then their love for God which may have put their salvation in spiritual jeopardy

Welcome back home.

'60s football was good too. Packers were terrific, and those AFL games were a blast to watch.

During the 1950's ,Cleveland Browns Goat Paul Brown authored in the radio head set communication system , crafting extensive communication between QB and offensive personel .

as a Vikings fan of that 76/77 team I have to admit its most likely true

Vikes were 11-2-1 in 76 so this was their last really good team of the 70's. Let's remember that Vikes had the best record in NFC and handled the Rams. I think they could beat Balt, who was not a very physical team, evidenced by Pitt steamrolling them on both sides of the ball. Pitt and Oak would've crushed any other team that yr.

@@mickeylynch8982 The Vikings beat the Stealers early in that season with Bob Lee subbing for Fran during the game .

@@trevorlee7945 saw that game recently. A Mon night game w' awful QB play. Vikes had bout 170yds and 4 TO's and still won cause Pitt had 6 as Bradshaw threw 4 Int.

No question. The rules surrounding the QB were so different then. It was open season on QBs. Only in the late 70s did they start to protect them a little, and by the mid-80s, the pendulum had swung wildly the other way. It’s ridiculous today. You can barely breathe on them. QBs still take hard shots, it’s still rough out there. But nothing like it was pre-80’s.

🎯🖤💛

Two of the strongest arms in NFL history. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see this matchup more often.

@Tim McMillen - mcmillenandwife oh ya...Bradshaw flicked 50 yard darts

Yes, good old smashmouth.

Correct. Fuck the imposter NFL of 2023.

awesome ain't it!

He wasn't Lynn Swann or John Stallworth!

Ron Miles What? Who forgets how good their defense was? People talk about it all the time.

@@Maal7432 Yup. The steel curtain is synonymous with dominating defensive football yet somehow forgotten? Strange comment. He’s right about Bert Jones though.

Bert Jones would not take care of himself,he would take on the defense by himself

If I could compare Bert Jones to a more recent qb, it would be John Elway. He was tough, gritty, and had an accurate cannon of an arm. The 75, 76, and 77 colts were very, very good teams. They ran into some legendary teams during that era which kept them out of the Super Bowl.

@@Fernando-R Agreed, Jones & Bradshaw both had cannons, both could throw the ball 100 yards👍✌️

bert jones was NOT under rated... just people don't know nfl history that's all; he was widely regarded as maybe the most gifted qb out there at the time with stabler and roger staubach maybe being favored a bit at times... bert jones to roger carr was the best combo pretty much from 75 to 77

@@CaptainOracle786 im talking underrated today dude. Not the 70's.

@@mullen25 not amongst true fans who were around then; of course he and many others are underrated to those who never saw them play...dan fouts for example i even hear clowns saying the "namath wasn't really that good" after checking his stats...people are just clueless

Right there with you. The game was better then. 👍

I agree. Todays players may be bigger, faster and probably will suffer fewer brain injuries, but the game they play now is a pale shadow of those days.

TROY BARNETTE If Brady and company had to, I’m sure they would!

@@KS-xo3oh yeah, three time loser, spygate Tommy? Choked against eli twice? Choked against a backup qb against Philly ? Yeah, no, give me a real qb undefeated in sb, called his own plays, and didn't have speshul referee treatment

Ken Arthur it would have definitely helped. Lack of a running game allowed Oakland to eventually wear down the D. A one dimensional Steelers offense was a dead duck v that raider defense.

And Roy Gerela got hurt too...

I remember that game Oakland players had all that glue on them the glue championship cheaters but good game

Not just both star running backs, but EVERY running back with the exception of Jack Deloplane. The NFL also had a cap on roster moves for the season, which the Steelers had reached.

@@dchometownboy Gerela wasn't a factor in the playoff game against Oakland. He had just 2 kickoffs and made his lone P.A.T.

I strongly disagree. The last nine games of the '76 regular season saw 7 games against losing teams, some VERY inept like the 0-14 expansion Bucs, and the 3-11 NY Giants, who both failed to score more than 200 points for the year, and the Chargers, who were also shut out twice that same year by the Broncos and also by the Raiders. The only decent team they beat during those last 9 games were the Bengals, and one of those games was played in a blizzard with a foot of snow on the ground. The '76 Steelers did not perform too well against other good teams that year, something the '74,'75,' 78 and '79 Steelers did. Comparing teams from different seasons is always tricky with different rules and things, but everybody talks about the '85 Bears, the '89 49ers, the '92 Cowboys, the '07 Patriots, but the 1991 Redskins deserve as much love as anybody for a dominating season. They destroyed almost everybody they played during the season with a great offense, stout defense, and went 14-2 (the second loss coming on the final week with nothing to play for and subs playing), and just steamrolled everybody in the playoffs, including the 37-24 Super Bowl win which was 37-10 in the 4rth quarter and completely decided before a couple of meaningless scores. Probably what keeps them out of the conversation is the fact that they were old and went south so fast, going 4-12 just 2 years later.

@@jackprecip5389 Sure, they had an easy schedule, but they still shut out professional football teams. No doubt teams didn't score as much as they did later in the 80s and certainly now, but, still, no matter how easy the schedule was, when has any team ever only given up 28 points in 9 games and 16 in one of those 9? Anyone even get close to that? Especially in the modern era, post 1969? Ravens, Bears, Falcons had historic defenses at one time, but none came close to that dominance.

@@jackprecip5389 well that may be so....but in THIS game they played the #1 offense in the league and shut THEM down so..... 🤷

@@kissherlips1 Like I've said, those games were against cupcakes who were getting shut out by the entire league as well that year. Heck, I'm more impressed with the '69 Vikings, who never gave up more than 14 points for the last THIRTEEN games of the year, and 7 of those were against winning teams, including two division winners. In addition, the average points per game in the NFL was 41.8 in 1969, in 1976 it was 38.3 per game. The '77 Falcons gave up 25 points in 7 games and 55 points in 10 games (not consecutively), and unlike the Steelers, they weren't very good on offense and didn't keep the ball with their ground game for 40 minutes a game like the Steelers could. If the '76 Steelers were as "dominant" as you say, they wouldn't have given up so many yards and points to teams like the Raiders and the Patriots, which they did. Heck, the '76 Browns, who were pretty good, had over 300 yards against them TWICE that year as well. It isn't anything today, but in 1976, giving up 300 yards in a game was a LOT.

@@jackprecip5389 Wow, you really did your homework! Really impressive! I won't even go that far to prove a point and I go to some lengths. Anyway, we were talking about the best teams ever and certainly neither the 69 Vikings or the 77 Falcons will ever be part of that conversation, no matter how good their Ds were. Certainly, the 69 Vikings couldn't stop the Chiefs in the SB and the 77 Falcons lost to the putrid Saints who were the first team to ever lose to the Bucs that year! Again, as I said in the beginning, I believe the 75-76 Steelers are the best ever and I believe the last 9 games of their 76 season "may" be, yes, that's how I characterized it, the best ever played in the modern NFL. HOFers all over the roster and maybe the best front 4 ever, although the Reggie White Eagles front 4 was really, really good. They had 10!!! HOFers among their 22 starters and a couple who should have been like Ernie Holmes who, at his prime, was probably the very best of that front 4. Check out the 80s 49ers or the 70s & 90s Cowboys. How many HOFers did they have??? Now, go do some more homework and get back to me.

That would explain the Ray Mansfield kickoffs in this game.

Roy was awful

As a Steelers fan, I say you can make the argument that the Steelers and Ravens defenses of the early 2000's...the ones featuring Troy Pulamalu, James Harrison, Ray Lewis and Ed Reed were every bit as good....the reason being that they were as great as the were while playing under a whole lot of limitations that the '76 Steelers did not have to deal with. Today, quarterbacks might as well be playing in tutus. DB's cannot so much as breathe on a WR without getting flagged. OL are permitted to clutch and grab DL, almost at will. OT's are allowed to get "head starts" on their pass blocks without being flagged for a false start. And on and on and on. It is terrifying to think what both of those defenses would have been like had they been free to play under the rules of the 1970's.

Actually free agency messed it up. Back then, the team that drafted you maintained your rights throughout your career unless they traded you. The draft had 17 rounds back then and it wasn’t the fan fair crap it is now

@@russs7574 no argument this steelers defense permitted 27 pts over the last 9 games of the season including 4-5 shutouts ... greatest defense anyones ever seen; basically every yr from like 72 -79 they were absolutely dominant ... no defense has ever been that good for that long

​@@CaptainOracle786Though the 1977 Atlanta Falcons allowed fewer points than these 1976 Steelers 129-138 for a season.

Without injury,they beat Oakland and do something only the packers did (three in a row). To me the greatest dynasty of all time

Glad to share it! If you haven’t seen our site, check it out. Many classic games available to watch that strangely get blocked on RU-vid: www.mcmillenandwife.com

Hel the only team that matched them in my opinion as far as sheer terror was my Cowboys and a few time the Raiders

In that era you could make the case that Oilers qb Dan Pastorini had the strongest arm. He could flick the football 50, 60 yds and did - especially before a certain running back named Earl Campbell joined the team.

Bert Jones, and fellow Louisianan, could give Bradshaw a run for his money in arm strength.

I think Terry is one of most underrated QBs ever to play the game.

@@indy_go_blue6048 Agree 100%--no way they win 4 Super Bowls without him!!

@@indy_go_blue6048 Underrated is the most overused term on earth. He’s in the hall of fame and revered as one of the best ever. Give it a rest.

You mean Jon Kolb, Steelers tackle 1969-1981? He was a MONSTER!

@@p.j.4738 Yes, I had my names mixed up

It was just called Memorial Stadium. You might be confusing it with Buffalo's old War Memorial Stadium.

@@kbrewski1 Ok thanks that's nice to know I thought all memorial stadiums had war in them. Now I gotta look up how many memorial stadiums were made.

@@rolandbush8463 The previous Busch Stadium in St Louis' full name was Busch Memorial Stadium, but most just called it Busch Stadium. The Buffalo one is the only pro stadium I can think of that had the word "war" in it.

Another War Memorial Stadium is in Little Rock, second home of the Arkansas Razorbacks.

@@gregsells8549 I was talking about pro stadiums, see above.

Harris Howard... TRUTH.

What strikes me watching Bradshaw during this era was how compact his throwing motion was. Nobody threw the ball like that before or after. He brought the ball from his hip right behind his ear and the ball was out of his hand fast! You'd think he wouldn't be able to generate that much power with that motion, but he sure did. That pass to Lewis in the first quarter is a great example. 65 yards in the air and it looked like he just flicked it with his wrist.

@@brianstupar7433 his passes really zing. Not much arc at all. Amazing strength and talent.