These old games are gold. Since Tom Brady’s injury in the 2008 opener, the game has never been the same. All these babyfaced QBs thinking they’re good never saw the likes of real hitting defenses that could actually hit hard and low. There’s no Bruce Smith, Reggie White, Kevin Greene, Ronnie Lott and so on types of HOF defenders. A QB like Patrick Mahomes has never, ever taken a real hard hit, and if he actually did, he’d never be the same.
Another game we BLEW late....we actually recovered that fumble late, but underneath the pile....you know the drill. Thanks for the upload though. #HTTRedskins
My theories 1. Both teams came into this game with similar records (8-3) and leading their respective divisions. They were tied with the Packers for best record in the NFC. Whoever won this game would be temporarily the NFC-1 & keeping an eye on ESPN SNF game GB-STL. The two Fox late games: DAL 7-4 at NYG 4-7, PHI 7-4 at AZ 5-6. On paper, not so good. But the home teams won their respective games (any given Sunday…) 2. Speaking of divisions: SF had a 1 game lead over 2nd year CAR in the NFC West but the Panthers had already beat them earlier in the year. In the NFC East, WSH had a game lead on defending champ DAL & PHI. WSH split w/PHI & was yet to play DAL (Thanksgiving & at home in Week 17). WSH & PHI were 3-2 vs division & DAL was 3-1 3. SF was still a formidable team (Young & Rice alone). They won the Super Bowl in 1994 but suffered a shocking playoff upset in the NFC Divisional Round to GB the next season. WSH experienced a downturn after their 1991 Super Bowl season (early days of the cap & free agency, Joe Gibbs retiring, draft picks didn’t pan out) but 1996 saw them start 7-1, but they lost 2 of their next 3. Little did we know at the time this was part of a collapse that saw them finish 9-7 & out of the playoffs. Their last win was against DAL at RFK Stadium but DAL already clinched NFC East & NFC-3 before the game and were playing their backups 4. Both teams have huge followings. Curious what the TV Map of where the game aired looked like at the time 5. Looking at 506Sports, here are the games Madden-Summerall did for Fox in 1996 (Times ET) 1: PHI-WSH 1PM 2: NYG-DAL 4PM (DH) 3: WSH-NYG 4PM 4: DAL-BUF 4PM (DH) 5: ATL-SF 4PM (DH) 6: GB-CHI 1PM 7: AZ-DAL 1PM (DH) 8: ATL-DAL 1PM 9: DAL-MIA 4PM (DH) 10: PHI-DAL 1PM 11: DAL-SF 4PM (DH) 12: WSH-PHI 1PM 13: SF-WSH 1PM (DH) 14 Thanksgiving: WSH-DAL 4PM 14 Sunday: STL-NO 4PM 15: DAL-AZ 4PM 16: SF-PIT 1PM 17: DAL-WSH 4PM (DH) WC: PHI-SF DIV: DAL-CAR NFCC: CAR-GB SBXXXI: NE-GB archive.506sports.com/wiki/1996_NFL_Season The Madden Cruiser was out east in back-to-back weeks & had to head to Dallas for Thanksgiving, then immediately head to Sunday’s game (STL 3-9 at NO 2-10… a Tank Bowl!!!!)
I remember back then the late games were already pre-scheduled (DAL&NYG was at 4PM when the schedule came out the previous May). Nowadays they would have switched the games - Cowboys/Giants would be moved to the early game and this one would have been moved to the late window because it was a bigger game. It's why I like flex scheduling to be honest.
Great quality in the video on all of these Niner games. Just curious if you are using any program to improve these. I have just about every game from the ‘81-‘98 era & am always looking to improve their quality. Thanks!
@Exchequer Guy No doubt Walsh is one of the greatest coaches ever, but he shouldn't have been on the sidelines. It undermined Seifert and the coaching staff.
That 1987 season playoff loss to the Minnesota Vikings out a serious toll on Bill Walsh and Joe Montana. The 49ers owner was putting serious pressure on Walsh. The 1988 season the 49ers were 6-5 at one point and then got hot and won it all. I truly believe Bill Walsh wasn’t ready to retire but was burnt out. Coming back in anyway there was a bad idea.
I saw this game and i remember how madden brought up that sf felt compelled to bring bill Walsh back in the org and how that made oc marc trestman uncomfortable so when my team chi hired him in ‘13 to be hc I was opposed and I turned out to be right
Bill Walsh was on the sideline for much of the game. It is well known Seifert didn't like having him around that year. Not one time did either him or Marc Trestman (the niners OC at the time) reach out to Walsh for any input. Ironically it was Pete Carroll their defensive coordinator who spent a lot of time with Walsh that year. By the end of 1996 Eddie D had grown tired of Seifert and let him go.
@@fboness368 yep exactly. The offense went downhill and I think Eddie expected them to work with Walsh but they never did. The offense continued going downhill and by the time they lost the playoff game in Green Bay Eddie had enough.
The booing of Heath Shuler in his brief appearance was bad form. This was a crucial game that if they had won might have propelled to the NFC East championship. ALso, lets not forget the pigeons!
