For a couple of years, the Eagles had the worst scoring offense in a 14 game season in history. Exciting game footage from 1972, along with music from the era makes this a very entertaining video. Check it out!
Yup. Already lived through it. Although depressing to relive it, I’m extremely grateful for the current Owner, GM and players and I’m grateful for the new Coordinators and having lived through the lean years after the 1960 championship and the arrival of Dick Vermeil, I’m still skeptical about Sirianni. I hope he lets Kellen Moore run the offense. Last year it was very clear that the rest of the NFL had developed strategies to deal with Sirianni’s playbook.
Most Eagles fans think football started in 1994 when Lurie bought the team or 2004 when they made a super bowl after losing so many championship games or the young ones point to 2017 and they totally disregard the Cowboys 5 super bowls the Giants 4 super bowls a couple legendary ones in there and the redskins 3 super bowls they somehow think that all the other teams super bowls disappear and they have the only one lol
This is where I get my nostalgia fix for hardcore NFL football played by real athletes. This totally makes up for the disrespectful wussy ball that the NFL expects us to watch every Sunday. Back then, you rarely saw a player not giving his all, hustling on every play. Thanks for the reliable videos.
Well put! No one made 100 grand,much less the millions part time players get now! Winning was the reward,not millions, guaranteed money,means,why give a crap,getting paid no matter what
That being said, these guys couldn't play in today's game because guys are bigger... fastsr... smarter. And c9mparing comments is pointless, since you didn't have access to these guys thoughts, which might have been worse.
While Jackson led the team in catches, it appears in this video that he had a few uncharacteristic drops. Non-existent running game and an inconsistent kicker and you have a historically anemic offense. Cool to see Carmichael grab his first TD. Liske was a poor man’s Joe Pisarcik. CFL refugee who couldn’t replicate success in the Big Boy League. Very informative video with some great footage. I enjoy these early 70’s clips as it was before I was old enough to really have any memories of these seasons. Thanks Mark!
13:03 Now that's a hit. Every franchise goes through the down years. It's never much fun. Most of that decade was not kind to the Eagles. That division for the most part was a two-team race. For the Eagles, things did start to look up once Dick Vermeil and Ron Jaworski arrived. That's when things got a little too crowded in the NFC East. Especially when Gibbs went to Washington and Tuna to the Giants. That's when the division was a complete madhouse of insanity.
@@markgardner9460 Think of this stat. from 1980-1995, the teams of the NFC East appeared in 10 Super Bowls winning 8. The intensity and rivalries were over the top in that span of years. And it was most brutal when the teams played each other. It can still get a bit crazy. But not like it was then.
The Eagles were truly woeful in '72. I don't remember them turning it around until '76-'77. Carmichael was huge, he could get open though. I don't remember him fighting for balls or "high pointing" he just got open. The Oilers about the same, awful until mid decade. In the early '70s the NFC was ruled by what four/five teams essentially, occasional upstarts...thanks brother, good memories, you're appreciated.
For some reason, Cornerback Joe Lavender popped into my head. He wasn't an Eagle until '73, but I remember his horn-rimmed prescription eyeglasses that he wore while playing for Washington. I think Ken Houston wore the same ones while playing in the secondary with Lavender.
To be fair to the three QBs, they had shaky pass protection. Those quarterbacks looked frantic, trying to find a receiver quickly. And, uncharacteristic for Jackson to drop those passes. They DID beat the Houston Stinkers and the mediocre Cardinals were in the second of three consecutive 4-9-1 seasons. They were also 4-9-1 in 1969. The Eagles needed a big-time QB and Roman Gabriel changed the complexion of the offense. They also got Norm Bulaich in 1973.
I forgot to mention Big Boo in an earlier response - thanks for bringing him up. You are spot on about the QB's having inadequate protection. Tommy Prothro said they needed help up front. Well, they got it in '73 with rookie Jerry Sisemore at Tackle and rookie Guy Morriss at Center.
The Eagles had as much offense as Tom Dempsey had a right foot. May his club foot RIP. When I was a post-doc in physics at UPenn I had to ride the Trenton to Philly train including game day Sunday. After a loss you'd hear the foul language and from the women it was even worse.
Thanks for the video and the detailed description of this team. Harold Carmichael (#17) still must be the tallest to play WR on any team before or since. 1972 was an awful year for the Phillies, too. Must have been great to hang around Veterans Stadium that year.
@@markgardner9460 In the fall of 1972 they did, but they ended the 1971-72 season by missing the playoffs when Gerry Meehan scored with 4 seconds left to give the Buffalo Sabres a 3-2 win in the last game of the season. The Flyers ended up tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but the tie-breaking formula gave the Penguins the last playoff spot. The Flyers that year, like the Eagles and Phillies, were lacking in scoring.
The 1972-73 Philadelphia Eagles were not a good football team. But they looked really good. I loved their green and white uniforms with the white helmets.
Their uniforms with the green jersey has always been one of my favorite. I know that a lot of fans don't care for the simplicity, but I think the scheme works very well.
I'll say this: we need better options than football shows that address whether or not a panel of "experts" think a given running back will or will not gain 100 yards in the upcoming game. That's so weak and lacks substance. I like a program like Chris "Mad Dog" Russo's.
This video needed a ***WARNING*** post attached to it. Something on the lines of “not for the faint of heart” 🤣🤣 Another fine history lesson with this video. 👍🏾
Sir, this is always so fascinating to me! My grandparents are two years older than John Reeves! I thoroughly enjoy: general history, sports, politics, music, and military! I always wait for your video! You are the best!
72 Eagles was before my time as a Eagles fan ... It amazing that John Reaves was able to hang around long enough to play in the USFL TAMPA BAY BANDITS .... He was outstanding for them ....
Then he finished up with the Bucs in '87 when he played 7 games for them at age 37. I wished that I had watched more USFL games, but I was in my roaring 20's.
That's right. Even just playing 1 or 2 years is a big accomplishment when considering the high level of competition every year in securing a roster spot. Really, no player should be looked upon as being awful because if that's the case, then how bad are the back-up players? And the plsyers that were cut from the team. Hall of Fame baseball Manager Casey Stengel said it best: "If your name is in The Baseball Encyclopedia then you were a great player". The same thing goes for football.
@@dmitrifailla6408 JR was a curious hire no doubt. As there was no one to mentor their #1 draftee (QB John Reeves), who had never called plays at any time in his career. How much input Rausch had, well wasn’t much.
My late father was an Eagles season ticket holder back then and we sat in section 732, the yellow seats, the nose bleed seats at Veterans Stadium and I remember so well those sunday afternoonsin cold winter weather watching the Eagles stink the joint up and my dad and I still cheering our heads off for them. /ah,the memories.
I checked out that section on-line and you're right.....nose bleed seats, but at least you were there cheering and enjoying the atmosphere! Thanks for commenting!
It would be no shock if Ron McDole had career games against the Eagles since the QB coach was his HC in '69 & '70 in Buffalo and got him traded out of Buffalo !!!!
Awwwh yeah, I remember those years well. I actually thought before the Eagles won the Superbowl in 2017 that they would never win a Superbowl in my lifetime. After the final seconds of the 2017 Superbowl ran off a brother almost cried...actually I did shead a tear or two lol. Hell, I waited a long time for that feeling.
1972 was a truly terrible year for The Pro Sports Clubs in The City of Philadelphia, The Eagles went 2-11-1, The Phillies went 59-97 despite Steve Carlton's 27-10 record, The Sixers went 9-73, The Flyers were eliminated from the post season on the last game of the season
@markgardner9460 In 72-73 although they lost to Montreal in the semifinals they served notice of the terror they were going to spread throughout the league for the next 3 seasons
I’m in the minority here, but I never liked this look, and especially not the white helmets with the green wings. I prefer what they have now, or their late 1960s look.
Thank you - I'm glad that you enjoy the videos. I think Pat Fischer belongs in the HOF and I admire his tackling prowess that was based upon leverage and technique. His match-ups with Carmichael were almost worth the price of admission in the '70's.
Tampa Bay scored 50 points in their two wins. They also scored 23 points in their loss at Seattle. That means that they scored only 30 points in the other 11 games. That's an average of less than 3 points per game. YIKES!!!
@@kevinmadden1645Yes the 1950 Rams were incredible offensively! Scored a record 38.8 points a game! Van Brocklin and Bob Waterfield at QB Fears Elroy Hirsch and Vitamin T Smith and Glenn Davis rounding out the offense! Scored 65 and 70 points in back to back games ! Absolutely incredible!!!
Bakken had a great career with the Cardinals, and before that at Wisconsin. He went to the same high school I did (Madison West in Madison, WI). Stu Voigt of the Vikings and Tim Stracka of the Browns did, too. IIRC, Bakken went on to work for the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department.
Peter Liske never did wear a chin strap, either in the CFL or NFL. When he returned to Calgary, he failed to achieve his previous success, in no small part because the team around him had deteriorated in recent years. 1969, not '68, was the year he went to Denver, and he went to Philadelphia in 1971 to rejoin--briefly--his former Calgary head coach, Jerry Williams.
in FL we best remember John Reaves for the Florida Flop when Ray Graves had the D lie down to let the Canes score so Reaves could break career passing yards record. Very sad!
@@markgardner9460 it would never happen today because coaches know they'd get raked over the coals! it was a front page story in the next days Miami Herald
Didn’t become a fan until 1976. Before that all I can remember is my dad saying that the Eagles sucked. 🤣 There wasn’t much hope until Roman , then Bergey, Vermeil , Montgomery. They picked Montgomery in the 6th round.
Linebacker Jerry Robinson was a very good pick in '79, too - the Eagles first round pick in quite a few years, as they traded away a few to land Bergey and Gabriel.
Alert viewers will notice the vast stretches of empty seats in the Astrodome. That was the year a disgruntled Houston fan gave the finger to the camera late in a Monday Night Football blowout.
Indeed - his '73 season was amazing - especially considering that he was in his first year in Philly and throwing to a rookie Tight End, had an untested 2nd year Running Back in Tom "Silky" Sullivan as the main ballcarrier, and had a rookie Right Tackle.
I knew the Eagles were horrible in this era, but I didn't realize how historically bad their offense was. Obviously the QB position was a disaster. But on top of that, think about this. This was a run heavy era in the NFL. He mentioned it later in the video, but to have 1 rushing TD out of your running backs? RU kidding me?
Not in the end is right. The 1973 season was electric for the offense, but Gabriel was getting on in age. It's a good thing that the next QB trade worked well for them involving Jaworski.
I love the action shots on the old timey cards and posters. It's almost like they wonder if they're going to be drilled anyway even though it's a publicity photo.
Like was a legend with Calgary in the CFL and it looked like the O-line wasn't bad. It round pick Reaves looked lost in those clips so the coaching was probably the issue. Still had to beat the Cowboys and Redskins to go anywhere on that division😊
2:20: Leonard Tose in his delusional mind may have actually believed what he was saying. The 1971 team won its last 3 games and 4 of its last 5 to finish with a 6-7-1 record and twice as many wins as the year before. Under Ed Khayat, who took over after the third game of the season, from the fired Jerry Williams, they actually had a winning record. They drafted John Reaves in the first round. Reaves broke all kinds of records at University of Florida and was the first team All American quarterback, even though another QB, Pat Sullivan ( oddly) won the Heisman Trophy. The fans may have also believed in the hype. The draft in 1972 was weak in quarterbacks, but it was one year after the 1971 bumper crop when QBs took the first three picks in round 1. But alas, Pete Liske was terrible to start 1972 and a not ready for prime time John Reaves was thrown to the wolves. He had a pretty awful time of it, coming off the bench, and then starting 7 games, which he all lost.. He never started another game for the Eagles after 1972.
Donny Anderson with the St.Louis Cardinals didn’t exactly lead a stellar rushing attack either. (The video mentioned Philly was number two in yards per carry, St. Louis was first)🤢 😀
He definitely flew under the radar, as he was overshadowed by Tarkenton, Jurgensen, Unitas, Gabriel, Starr and Brodie...and that wasn't even considering the AFL QB's. I think his 196 touchdown passes was 9th best all-time at his retirement and his 30,797 passing yards was 6th most. Unfortunately, he threw a lot of interceptions and his 257 were the second most to George Blanda's 272.
The team who would in a 14 game season surpass The '72 Eagles & '74 Falcons for offensive ineptitude ? The '77 Tampa Bay Buccaneers with 103 points scored
The Buccaneers point total was even worse than the year before when they scored the least points in the league with 125. It's hard to fathom how woeful they were.
Tom Dempsey, could there be an anymore uncharacteristic looking man, for an NFL player? That Dunlop gut of his is akin to someone who chugs a couple six-packs, not works out to get a six-pack. But he could sure kick the pigskin.
He weighed 265 pounds when he kicked his famous 63 yard field goal, but ballooned to well over 300 pounds due to excessive eating and drinking during the off-season dinner speaking engagements.
Eh, I would say the 1977 Bucs were worse - 103 pts scored and 2600 yd total offense in a 14 game season. The Bucs were shut out 6 times (4 in 5 games at one stretch). They were dead last in scoring, total offense, passing, and rushing that year
Yes, they were worse. I just picked the '72 Philly club in a moment of time as being the worst scoring offense (which they were, but for only 2 years until the Falcons broke their record and then later Tampa Bay broke their record).
The Oilers scored 19 more points, but they were horrible, too. Keith Butler...now there's a blast from the past. Nice jersey! They should wear them exclusively now.
Liske Reeves and Arrington didn't exactly strike fear into opponents! In a odd sort of way it reminded me of the Vikings 1971 quarterback situation ( albeit the Eagles had a terrible defense and the Vikings defense was elite) Cuozzo,Lee and Snead well Stunk! It's a odd comparison i.grant you! But I can see some odd similarities!
I think it's a very good comparison! Liske was a 15th round draft puck while Lee was a 17th round pick. Norm Snead was a 1st round pick like Reaves. Finally, Arrington and Cuozzo were undrafted free agents. Both clubs switched QB's as starters throughout the year.
The Eagles needed a quality veteran QB and the Rams needed a quality young WR since Jack Snow was getting old. The Rams had both John Hadl and Roman Gabriel, so they had Philadelphia over the proverbial barrel in terms of negotiating strength. I think that the Eagles thought they could effectively replace Jackson's production with Harold Carmichael and that turned out to be the case. While it would have been amazing to have both Harolds on the Eagles again in 1973 with Roman Gabriel throwing to them, teams typically didn't have two high quality WR's back then (the Raiders were a notable exception). When considering all of the high draft choices that Philadelphia shipped to L.A., along with RB Tony Baker & Jackson, it was a high price to pay to secure Gabriel's services.
That spring I fielded a call from Hadl concerning a Jackson trade to the Rams. He only wanted to know was Jackson still for real? Obviously the Eagles had little use for undersized WR’s. Credit Pretty Boy Boyd Dowler, receiver coach, reinventing the roster in his own image, well before Gabriel came into the picture.
In 1972 when Lou Saban took over as the Bills Head Coach, he said "If you've got a big gun, shoot it." which meant that he was going to give O.J. the football a lot. Using him a decoy was ridiculous.
Ummm, No. That is and will always be the 1977 Bucs. Lets compare Points Scored Eagles - 143 (145) The Defense got a Safety Bucs - 77 (105) The Defense scored 4 TDs Yards Gained Eagles - 3,463 (4.2 Yards per Play) Bucs - 2,693 (3.2 Yards per Play) Turnovers Eagles - 38 Bucs - 46 Eagles were The Greatest Show on Turf compared the the Bucs.
This is reason why Eagles traded for Gabriel- Poor J Reeves - no QB coach or instruction- just thrown to the wolves - ruined his career - the other 2 QBs - Arrington was Horrible and Liske sucked during first 7 games / all they needed was Dick Shiner or Jim DelGaizo to round out a 5 QBs from hell
Reaves was unable to effectively handle pass rushes, as his 14.8 sack percentage was the highest in the league in '72. Strangely, Bobby Douglass had the second lowest percentage, as he was a masterful scrambler.
Khayat was D-Line Coach for the ignominiously bad 1981 Baltimore Colts Defense, Ironically the HC of that team was his Eagles replacement PFHOFer Mike McCormack
I was a kid and big Broncos fan but even I knew Pete Liske was not a great quarterback, why Eagles took him is mystery, I think the Broncos picked up Charley Johnson and we immediately turned into competitive team with a good offense, Johnson was a very good quarterback, no disrespect to Liske he was on two pretty bad teams
2nd ring from the top at the corner of an end zone. You got some see some trying times, but then also some good times when Vermeil took over and lead them to success. Bill Bergey is my favorite Middle Linebacker - what a wrecking ball he was.
Sorry for a second comment but when I heard Bill Petersons name so you need to see “Top 10 coaches who belonged in college” to understand how big a train wreck was.
