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The Music City Miracle: Story of the Homerun Throwback (forward) Titans v Bills ’99 AFC Wildcard

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Reissue of painful article offered 17, June 2019

As we make our way to the NFL’s 106th season we have to take a look back at the great moments over the last century. These great games that go on to impact careers, eras, and Hall of Fame legacies take place in the NFL playoffs. At times you’ll have something momentus happen during the regular season but it’s the finality and visibility of postseason play where everyone is viewing an individual event at the same time that grow into lore.

A first playoff game for a team in a new city and stadium where the Titans had been 8-0 in the regular season. The ’99 campaign had a collegiate type spirit as the Titans finally had a home after bouncing around like nomads for 2 seasons.

Now they were going to take on the Buffalo Bills in the ’99 AFC Wildcard Game. It came with a sense of irony as you looked back at the tumultuous turn that saw the franchise’s descent from the beloved Houston Oilers to the nomadic Tennessee Oilers. It’s genesis was the ’92 AFC Wildcard game some 7 years earlier.

At the time the Oilers were nearing the end of a frustrating era in which they’re Run n Shoot offense had been the scourge of the league. Hall of Fame QB Warren Moon had put up video game numbers as he and his trio of 1,000 yard receivers in Ernest Givins, Haywood Jeffires, and the late Drew Hill torched defenses in the regular season. Yet in the postseason the football gods weren’t so kind.

Between 1987-1991 the Oilers had made the playoffs all 5 years yet never seemed to have that signature game from Warren Moon to get to an AFC Championship Game. Injuries and timely defense from their opponents seemed to undo this team in the postseason and their window for a championship run was nearing it’s end.

Moon was turning 36 and how long could he play at a high level?

The ’92 team went 10-6 and had to go to take on the 2 time AFC Champion Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park. They had beat the Bills 27-3 in the finale to set up the Wild Card tilt. In that game the Oilers knocked out Jim Kelly with a knee injury and wouldn’t have to face him in the Wildcard round.

Andre Reed scores the go ahead touchdown in the greatest comeback in NFL history.

In what should have been his signature win Moon blistered the Bills to go 19 of 22 for 4TDs and took a commanding 28-3 halftime lead. In the 2nd half the Bills turned the tables coming back from a 35-3 deficit to win 41-38 in overtime. The greatest comeback in NFL history.

The collapse was devastating and the doubt and discourse whittled away fan support as the team descended in to medicocrity over the next couple of years.

Finally Owner Bud Adams decided to move the team in 1996. He had watched Art Modell pull the plug in Cleveland & move the Browns to Baltimore the season before. Why try to win back a city that had tired of your failures when you can win anew elsewhere?? The Houston Oilers were no more and the Tennessee Oilers wandered the desert in search of a home.

They played the ’97 season in the Liberty Bowl and ’98 in Vanderbilt Stadium. Both were college arenas where they weren’t the main tenants and playing on a college campus. It didn’t have the look and feel of an NFL ball club as Eddie George and Steve McNair emerged as the team’s new stars. Then they made the decision to change the name of the team to reflect a new identity… the Tennessee Titans and would play in their own brand new stadium as Nashville became their new home.

A new energy hit Adlephia Coliseum immediately as the team was refreshed with new uniforms befitting the change. They played to raucous fans who showed an appreciation for having their own team. It never felt that way when they still had their Oilers name from their years in Texas. The team went 13-3 on the strength of Eddie George (1,304 yds / 9TDs) Steve McNair (337 yds rushing/ 8 TDs) and a smash mouth rushing offense while super rookie DE Jevon Kearse burst onto the scene with a rookie record 14.5 sacks.

The Freak was the playmaker on an aggressive physical defense and turned in the most impactful season since Lawrence Taylor in 1981. He was voted to his 1st Pro Bowl, All Pro, and took home the ’99 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award. They won 7 of their last 8 including a 41-14 win over division winner Jacksonville in week 15. They were primed to make a run and 1st up in the wildcard round??

Those Buffalo Bills who were nearing the end of their run with future Hall of Famers Bruce Smith, Andre Reed, and Thurman Thomas. Jim Kelly had already left the building after ’96 and the Bills began this strange odyssey of who should be quarterbacking??

Wade Phillips had taken over for Hall of Fame Head Coach Marv Levy and by all accounts favored Doug Flutie. He brought an energy to the team and an excitement even at this advanced age. Things seemed to pick up when he would go on a long serpentine run or scramble then hit an open receiver. An excitment christened “Flutie Magic”.

Eric Moulds was the new big threat in the Bills offense after a breakout ’98 (1,368 yds rec / 9 TDs) which was only bolstered by an NFL playoff record 240 yards in a Wildcard loss to Miami. Moulds was the future yet Andre Reed was still there to provide punch in the passing game.

Antowain Smith had become the featured runner as Thurman Thomas had shown wear after a Hall of Fame career. In ’99 he was injured with a lacerated liver that allowed him to return with fresh legs late in ’99 as Smith and Jonathan Linton had worn down toward season’s end.

One thing the Bills could bank on was the league’s #1 defense as Bruce Smith, Phil Hansen, and Marcellus Wiley provided a solid pass rush.

Yet all that paled in comparison to the ultimate betrayal that haunts Buffalo to this very day.

In an attempt to get a leg up on the franchise quarterback derby the Bills signed Rob Johnson before the ’98 season. He had started one game for an injured Mark Brunell while playing for Jacksonville. The offense would sputter under his leadership as he was often sacked for holding the ball too long. This is what prompted Phillips to replace him in ’98 & Flutie beat him out and started the 1st 15 games of ’99.

With a wildcard wrapped up and unable to improve their playoff position the Bills decided to rest Doug Flutie for the finale. It looked and sounded suspicious as Rob Johnson played the finale against a playoff bound Colts team also resting their starters. Then Coach Phillips dropped a bombshell and named Johnson the starter going into the Wildcard Game.

What?!?!?!?!!? The fanbase went bonkers and blew up switchboards and talk shows all week discussed Flutie v. Rob Johnson. Why would you disrupt the teams momentum to satisfy a front office pressuring you to start the $25 milion free agent?? Facing a Defensive Rookie of the Year coming off the ball with the intensity of a young Lawrence Taylor you decide to face him with an immobile quarterback?? What could possibly go wrong??

Less than 5 minutes into a game destined to be a defensive struggle, Kearse came screaming off the corner and sacked Johnson causing him to fumble out of the endzone. Safety 2-0! The Titans received the free kick and drove for a TD on a short field making it 9-0 just 7:00 into the game. It allowed Adelphia’s rowdy fans to stay at a fevered pitch as Buffalo fought uphill the entire game. Bruce Smith, in his last playoff appearance, kept Steve McNair under wraps sacking him 2.5 times.

The Bills clawed their way back in it and found themselves down 15-13 with 1:41 to go. Johnson had the chance to be a hero. Although he completed just 8 passes going into this final drive, he knew a playoff win could be the launching pad for his career. Johnson appeared calm amid the chaos and drove Buffalo to a last second field goal and a 16-15 lead! It appeared he had done it!! On one play he escaped his nemesis, Kearse and zipped his last completion to Peerless Price, all while scrambling with just one she on.

Once Steve Christie’s kick was good the Bills sideline exploded with emotion as the team brass scrambled to make reservations to go to Indianapolis for a rematch with Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James and the 13-3 upstart Colts… all they had to do was get through the final :16

It was The Immaculate Reception of the new millenium since we were in January of 2000. The parallels were there as a city was hosting it’s 1st playoff game, a last second touchdown when the home team had no hope, and a long delay where the officials had to discuss the legitamacy of the scoring play. Only this time Instant Replay was used as an officiating tool. As a Billls fan I was screaming forward lateral and did so right before writing this…

The conclusive evidence is the 4th replay as Joe Theismann, Paul Mcguire, and Mike Patrick exalts “From THAT angle…” and I tried to argue for years it was a forward lateral.

It was the end of an era as Hall of Famers Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, and Bruce Smith were let go at the end of the season. They were the last of the Bills that had played in the 4 Super Bowls at the beginning of the decade. The football gods struck back for doing Flutie dirty and benching him going into the playoffs. It was only the 2nd time in NFL history where a backup was named to start the playoffs without an injury. Only the Jets in 1986 when Pat Ryan was named to start the ’86 AFC Wildcard over Ken O’Brien after the Jets lost their last 6 games was the other occasion.

As for the Titans… they rode this incredible momentum all the way to Super Bowl XXXIV where Kevin Dyson wound up in another famous play. Mike Jones tackling him at the 1 yard line as time ran out. Over the next 8 seasons the Titans were an elite team as Eddie George and Steve McNair became household names. Kevin Dyson had a good NFL career and is now Principle of a local school in the Nashville area.

The Music City Miracle didn’t become as famous as The Immaculate Reception…however had the Titans won a Super Bowl in the years that followed, it would have.

In January of 2000 it was played on ESPN and NFL Shows the rest of the month as it was truly a great play. One for the ages for everyone that wasn’t a Bills fan. We still bristle.

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If The Bills Lose This Wildcard to Jacksonville HC Sean McDermott Will Be Fired

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You heard it here first! Yes Sean McDermott will be let go if they lose to the Jacksonville Jaguars in this weekend’s wildcard round.

The first thing that comes to mind is the Patriots have been resurrected after a 4 year slumber to snatch the AFC East from Buffalo. A proven NFL Coach in Mike Vrabel and brain trust from the Belichick regime have built a facsimile of the dyanasty whose ashes have just gone out will be around for a long time. The Bills brass will make a move just as the Ravens did realizing the current regime has underachieved in aiding their franchise quarterback with the horses to get to the Super Bowl.

They have gone as far as they could with Josh Allen and a couple guys from the local bar. The Bills need blue chip talent and can’t waste all of Allen’s career. A new offensive approach needs to be installed taking the ball out of Allen’s hands and reducing the number of hits he takes each year. I explained this fully back in November when The Chancellor offered “Has Buffalo’s Super Bowl Window Closed?” Sad to say as a Bills fan I concluded it had.

Josh your mission should you choose to accept it is to beat a rising Jaguars team that has won 7 straight or 8 of their last 9. The team from Duvall beat down the #1 seeded Denver Broncos just 3 weeks ago where we had embarrassing road losses in Miami & Atlanta. One team fired its coach (Falcons – Raheem Morris) and the Dolphins should have fired theirs.

McDermott guys are “try hard Rudy’s” in a sea of blue chip NFL talent. When Josh Hines-Allen & Travon Walker come off the corner this weekend. I pray we have worked on half roll plays and work in some runs with Allen as its imperative to get off to a big 1st half lead…. If we don’t there will be a coaching change as the Bills will realize we have wasted a significant prime of Josh Allen’s career.

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Thoughts On The Ravens Firing John Harbaugh

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John Harbaugh being let go needed to happen as his message had become stale in the locker room. Beyond that you can’t waste the career of a franchise quarterback in the prime of his career when you have Super Bowl aspirations. Even The Chancellor had them picked to appear in Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara.

Lamar Jackson isn’t innocent in any of this as his playoff performances have been skittish and incomplete. He has been 3-5 in the playoffs and has yet to play a complete game. Jackson supporters point to last year’s playoff loss in Buffalo blaming TE Mark Andrews’ 2 point conversion dropped pass but omit Jackson’s 5 of 9 103 yds and an interception falling behind 21-10 at the half.

What about the 2023 AFC Championship when he came out hot but fell in a rut while Patrick Mahomes built a 17-7 lead? As a #1 seed with homefield advantage and the #1 defense, their star QB went 5 of 12 for 67 yards and 1 TD in the 1st half. The worm started to turn in many circles as ’23 mirrored ’19 where the defense had been dominant but Jackson and the homefield throughout Ravens fell 28-12 in the divisional to the Tennesee Titans. You don’t want the stats and Jackson didn’t get the Ravens a touchdown until 11 minutes left in the 4th quarter. What went wrong??

In my original series Shameful Impatience With Black Quarterbacks, one of the warnings I gave when Lamar Jackson was coming to the NFL was this: “One is the lack of commitment to fully developing black qbs to be more than an offensive anomaly for a few years.” In this instance they didnt but under the guise of hiring 4 different offensive coordinators in 5 years, they ran practically the same offense – Read Option run first from the Pistol. What I meant originally and expanded on elsewhere is the coaching to bring the QB out of the running stage of his career into one where he passes more as the years went on. The specificity of pass play dynamics from under center on time to intermediate routes. This was Harbaugh’s failing.

Keep in mind my article was right before the 2018 NFL Draft when the Ravens selected Jackson.

Also from Shameful Impatience  “Its on the offensive coaches to gradually mature these scramblers into pocket quarterbacks. Landry did it with Roger Staubach and Bill Walsh and Mike Holmgren did this with Steve Young. It takes years… it takes commitment.” I reminded you that Buddy Ryan brought in BYU passing guru Doug Scovil to coach the passing game to a young raw Randall Cunningham in the mid 80s.

They leaned as much for Lamar to “use his legs” at 29 years of age as he had at 21 years of age and the punishment is catching up with him. He has missed 17 games over the last seven years due to the blows he takes. Think back to Steve Young in 1987 with the 49ers, he was scrambling while learning The West Coast Offense out in San Francisco. Fast forward 7 seasons and in 1994 he was winning his 3rd straight passing crown and taking the 49ers to Super Bowl XXIX. There he carved the Chargers up for a record 6TDs to win the game. Throwing from the pocket… if you don’t remember click here.

Harbaugh is the Head Coach and should have told his OC I want to utilize Jackson running more back in that ’23 AFC Championship since he came out cold throwing. He didn’t… He never adjusted to an OC that didn’t run the same college plays that don’t bode well in the NFL playoffs nor teach Lamar an offensive approach allowing for audibles to a more sophisticated pass play when he needed to. There were times he needed to tell OC Todd Munken to get Derrick Henry in the game and stop going with lesser running backs. Asert yourself as the Head Coach and override your OC trying to show how much of a genius he is. Especially when its your ass on the line for winning and losing these big games.

In the NFL you can’t waste the prime of a franchise quarterback and Jackson just finished his 8th year and just turned 29 years old today! His 29th birthday and here we are he hasn’t been submerged in a true NFL passing attack. He should be much further along and has maybe another 3 years playing in the style he’s accustomed to. The Ravens need to bring in a real offensive approach with their next move whether a defensive coach and an OC who can teach true QB play. They don’t need to bring in one of these Madden Coaches who doesn’t understand the importance of full dimensional football which includes a Derrick Henry in the attack.

They had a good run with Jackson being named MVP on 2 occassions but they need a change to prolong Jackson’s tenure as a franchise quarterback and reach the Super Bowl. They have to get him under center and teach the full nuance of playing NFL quarterback and get him out of these garbage read option college plays. If they don’t he will never beat a sophisticated defense in an AFC Championship Game.

Jonn Harbaugh will go on and coach again in the NFL but he needs to reboot with a team playing more traditional offense. With this marriage it was just time.

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The Truth About Jordan Love

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Now I don’t want to go off on a ran here…but its time to talk about Jordan Love’s performance thus far. He earned the large contract and was on a trajectory to become one of the faces of the NFL but something happened. For clarity sake I am fond of the history of the Packers organization and championed the positions of black quarterbacks (Shameful Impatience w/ Black QB series) through many articles.

Its been a heavy burden filling Aaron Rodgers shoes and leading this football team. He’s done it admirably and when there were questions if he was the right quarterback he silenced them with his performance in the 2023 playoffs. After squeaking into the playoffs at 9-8 they were a heavy underdog and Love cooly led the Packers to a 20-0 start in Dallas on the way to a 48-21 upset. He went an efficient 16 of 21 for 272 yds throwing 3 TDs and never showed the nerves that most QBs face in their first playoff game.

Then the following week again on the road against the favored 2nd seeded 12-5 49ers, Love outplayed Brock Purdy. Going into the 4th quarter the Packers held a 24-14 lead before a defensive collapse and a costly 4th quarter interception. San Francisco didn’t take their 1st lead until McCaffrey’s 6yd run with just 1:07 to go in the game. Love had the Pakcers on the brink of the NFC Championship Game with a 21 for 34 performance 194 yds 2 TDs and 2 Ints, yet everyone left that game feeling Love showed growth solidifying his status as a franchise quarterback. Every pundit lauded his performance and couldn’t wait to see what was to come.

He was sailing along smoothly the following season until he came up against the new bullies of the block in Dan Campbell’s Detroit Lions. These were the two surprising teams from  the previous season showing promise and the 11-1 Lions were hosting Love’s 9-3 Packers with the winner having inside track to homefield throughout the playoffs. Love was never in the game and came out slowly in a 34-31 loss. Hey were the Lions just that good or…. hmmm? Then two weeks later a repeat performance against the red hot 13-2 Vikings, falling behind 27-10, ultimately losing 27-25.

They had gone from playing for a chance at homefield advantage and the best in the NFC to 3rd place in just the NFC North. Love and the offense were anemic at the start of each game and then scrambled back to make the score look respectable. When the eventual Super Bowl champion Eagles vanquished them 22-10 in the playoffs we were left with “Which is the real Jordan Love?” The Daniel who took his slingshot after 2 Goliaths in the ’23 playoffs or the disinterested lackluster QB we saw in 3 gigantic games with most of America watching when all was on the line?? All 3 happened in primetime and we needed to remove the stink that those 3 games gave us.

He now has the big contract and clearly the most important player on the Packers with a 9-6-1 record and losers of 3 straight.and barely hanging on in the 7th seed. Seriously?? Micah Parsons knee injury late in the year didn’t help but hold on with the excuses… Love went 18 of 25 for 183 yards in an inexplicable 13-10 loss to the 4-12 Browns. The opposing QB Joe Flacco, was traded just weeks later. Love could only muster 13 points in a loss to the Carolina Panthers in Lambeau & only 7 American points in a loss to the Eagles in back to back weeks. Each of the teams he was facing have had terrible offensive seasons where Bryce Young may not be back in Carolina and turmoil is abound in Philadelphia over Jalen Hurts play.

Love and the Packers were 3-5 against winning teams in 2024 & 2-4 in 2025. There could be more but 4 teams they faced this year are currently 8-8 but this has been a poor follow-up to the ’23 playoff run. This is a team that acquired a bellcow runner in Josh Jacobs (1,329 yds in ’24) they haven’t had since Ahman Green. Made a trade for impact defensive terrorist Micah Parsons to bolster the defense and his receivers? Well Josh Allen would light the NFL up if he had Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Dontayvian (what kind of name is that?) Wicks, and Jayden Reed. Ask any Bills fan to which I am one if we would trade receiving staffs even up with the Packers… in a New York minute!!

All these moves were made to aid Love in fulfilling the promise from 2 seasons ago and we just haven’t seen any progress. Every time he has faced the teams with winning records he has come out with the yips. Only scoring 10 in a home loss to the 8-8 Panther team who were 4-5 at the time with only 1 win on the road (Jets)? They breathed playoff life into a team when they should have buried them. Same with only scoring 10 in a loss to the 4-12 Browns constitutes a bigger pattern. Love and the Packers keep playing with their food when it comes to weak teams also. After two years of this underperfomance and watching Malik Willis play well in relief it may be time to ask “Is Jordan Love the franchise quarterback we thought he was after 2023?”

I’m leaning toward no for an answer and he has to prove it or watch over his shoulder for a replacement in 2026. He may need a deep playoff run to stem the tide but this is a very large sample size to analyze & he may have become Pope Dak Prescott II. I don’t see him coming out of this as he hans’t exhibited a killer instinct to put his opponents away. That is something that can’t be coached…it has to be already in a player especially a franchise quarterback.

At the beginning of the season I was of the ilk this is the season Jordan Love would stake his claim and take the Packers to the NFC Championship. I was high on Love to rebound but as the season wore on I knew. This was why I predicted they would lose 2 weeks ago to Chicago whose overtaken them after predicting they would finish ahead of the Bears in my NFC North Preview. Caleb Williams has grown to the place Jordan Love did not. I have seen enough!

Should they trade Jordan Love and go with Malik Willis next year?? *shrugs shoulders*

What do you think?

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The Immaculate Reception: Before There Were Hail Marys

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Reissue of article July 30, 2011 -A year and a half before A Football Life’s version

NFL Films had a video of the 100 greatest touchdowns in NFL history that came out in the 1990s which labeled Franco Harris’ Immaculate Reception in the 1972 playoffs, as the greatest ever. It was a completely fair assessment.

It launched a Hall of Fame career for Franco,  launched the greatest NFL playoff rivalry of the Super Bowl era, and was the birth of one of the greatest dynasties sports has ever seen. Although the Raiders did get revenge in the 1973 playoffs, Al Davis and the Oakland faithful vehemently disagree with the referee’s ruling that day.

Coach John Madden has said on numerous occasions how he disagreed with the officials not signaling touchdown when the play was over. the refs had a conference first before ruling the touchdown stood that gave Pittsburgh a 13-6 lead with 5 seconds left. So what led to the animosity and fame of this touchdown??

Before the rule changes of 1978, a deflected forward pass could only be caught by an offensive player unless it was touched first by a defensive player. It couldn’t bounce from one offensive player to another like we have now with a Hail Mary. By the way, The Hail Mary is also a nickname for a famous last second touchdown in the 1975 playoff win by Dallas over Minnesota and not the creation of Tom Landry…yet I digress.  The Immaculate Reception had everything: drama, controversy, and extreme importance.  What started the controversy is the lingering question: Did the ball hit Oakland Raider Jack Tatum or Pittsburgh’s John “Frenchy” Fuqua before deflecting to Franco Harris?

Franco Harris going in for a touchdown with the Immaculate Reception

Alright lets set it up for you: The Pittsburgh Steelers were experiencing their first real winning season in 39 years in 1972. They were powered on offense by a rookie running back from Penn St., Franco Harris. He had powered for 1,055 yards and 10 TDs to give the Steelers their first breakaway runner. He seemed to be the centerpiece for a team Chuck Noll had been building through the draft over the last 4 years. Pittsburgh had made the playoffs for the first time ever and on December 23, 1972 would host the Oakland Raiders in a AFC Divisional Playoff Game.

Meanwhile the Raiders had been mainstays in the postseason over the 6 previous seasons. They had made it to Super Bowl II before the 1970 AFL/NFL merger, and the 1968 and 1969 AFL Championship Games. After losing the first ever AFC Championship Game in 1970 to the Baltimore Colts, they were a team in transition and missed the playoffs in 1971. However with an infusion of new Raiders to put the team in the winner’s circle again, they won the AFC West and were back in ’72 and after that elusive first Super Bowl championship. First they had to go to Pittsburgh….

On a cold, dark and dreary day these two teams met and slugged it out in one of the most physical games of the era. We had two smothering defenses pounding the offenses into the ground and late in the 4th quarter the Steelers had a 6-0 lead. Desperate for some offense, John Madden inserted a young, mobile Kenny Stabler in for an anemic Darryle Lamonica which produced immediate results. On a last second desperation drive, the Raiders came scrambling downfield with their young QB in his first significant action in an NFL playoff game.

At the Steelers 30 with less than 1:30 to go, Stabler avoided the Steel Curtain, took off and scored on a 30 yard TD run to give the Raiders their first lead of the game 7-6.  “The Snake” had done it!! A hero was born!! There was bedlam on the Oakland sideline and with 1:13 to go began to make reservations for they would host the AFC Championship Game against the undefeated Miami Dolphins.

A confident Raider defense took the field expecting to thwart the Steelers final offensive attempt. After three failed passing attempts the Steelers were faced with a 4th and 10 from their own 40 yard line with :22 left in the game. The Raider defense had played a defensive masterpiece on the road. One more play and it was on to face the Dolphins. They hadn’t given up a touchdown all day…what could possibly happen?? Terry Bradshaw dropped back, this was the Steelers last chance, he scrambled to the right to avoid the rush and as two Raiders converged…Bradshaw stood his ground and heaved one down the middle to an open “Frenchy” Fuqua. However the late Jack Tatum was closing on the spot where Frenchy reached up to make the catch and….

A bloody playoff rivalry was born and from 1972-1976 these teams met every year in the playoffs. The Raiders gained some revenge in 1973 with a 33-14 thrashing. Then Pittsburgh turned the tables winning the 1974 and ’75 AFC Championships over Oakland before winning Super Bowls IX and X. Then when the Steelers were going for a three-peat, ran into a 13-1 Oakland team that defeated them 24-7, on their way to their first Super Bowl win in the 11th edition over the Vikings. It all started with the ’72 playoffs and The Immaculate Reception.

Tatum hitting the ball and Fuqua.

Tatum hitting the ball and Fuqua.

In Columbus Ohio in Winter 1991, I had the good fortune of running into Franco Harris and James Lofton who were there for the Archie Griffin Tennis Classic I believe. Anyway, sitting at the bar and prying him with beer I could not get Franco to admit the ball had bounced off Frenchy Fuqua and therefore should have been incomplete. “Come on, its just us sitting in a bar. Who would know?” I kept prodding him. Lofton was just laughing his ass off because Franco would just grin and shake his head every time I asked him.

Franco grabbing the ball just inches from the turf a second later.

Franco grabbing the ball just inches from the turf a second later.

It was cool talking football with him and for the record… I believe the ball bounced off of the back of Fuqua’s helmet.  Follow the replay and you’ll see Fuqua flash in front of Tatum who the ball was headed for. If Tatum was in front of Fuqua, he would have put out his hands to knock the ball down, not brace for impact.  When was the last time you saw a football hit someone on the shoulder pads and bounce 15 yards (45 feet) away??  Lets have it ….What say you?? Did the ball bounce off of Frenchy Fuqua or Jack Tatum??

Epilogue: My initial thought of the ball bouncing off Fuqua, maintained for decades, I have changed my mind. After blowing it up and slowing the footage down, you can see the ball move past Fuqua and hit somewhere on Jack Tatum’s right shoulder / chest. I magnified the footage and slowed it frame by frame. It’s still the greatest play in the history of the NFL and I know the debate will rage on.

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Epilogue:  Now that we’re 3 years removed from Franco’s passing just days before his jersey was to be retired, its time to share how the Steelers should have had this moment many years before. I had been looking forward to it posting on social media as early as September expressing how great this moment would be with the once hated Raiders in town. Secretly I had worried about how late this was happening being it was a 50 year anniversary ofThe Immaculate Reception, with many of his contemporaries having passed.  When I received the word of Franco’s passing from my wife who had gone to work before me I was devastated hence I’m jotting this down many years after the fact.

Contrary to popular belief I struggle when it comes to remembering our friends lost and there are so many times I learn of player’s passing when I wake up and see a historical article read more often than usual. With Franco it just seemed to hurt more as he was a great player from my youth as my love for football grew. Than meeting him a few times over the years his inviting personality made it feel like I had known him over the decades. In 2018 at the Pro Football  Hall of Fame he not only gave me crap about prying him with beer to  get him to talk about this famous play, he sat and drank with me and friends into the early hours of the morning talking about great games gone by as though he knew Vance, Ryan and I for years.

This article nor my words will ever do him justice but the football world lost a tremendous man and his jersey retirement moment should have been much sooner.

RIP Franco Harris Pro Football Hall of Famer…Thanks for the memories

 

On This Date In 1977: The Ghost To The Post – Oakland Raiders v Baltimore Colts

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During the 1970’s, the NFL would reach the playoffs by the time we made it to Christmas and in 1977 we were treated to one of the best ever. The Baltimore Colts hosted the Oakland Raiders, who were defending Super Bowl Champions. In all honesty the Colts under Head Coach Ted Marchibroda were one of those really good teams that seemed to be forgotten. From 1975-1977 this was one of the NFL’s best teams. Those three years they were powered by RB Lydell Mitchell, who rushed for over 1,000 yards and was a Pro Bowl performer in each of those seasons.  Bert Jones was the quarterback who in our CEO’s estimation was who John Elway reminded him of. Tall, mobile with a rocket arm. He made the 1976 Pro Bowl with Mitchell after throwing for 3,104 yards 24 TDs and only 9 interceptions.

Over this time period, the Colts were 31-11 posting 10-4, 11-3, and 10-4 seasons. An even closer look shows that after starting 1-4 in the ’75 regular season and before a 3 game losing streak near the end of ’77, they had gone 29-4 during the meat of these seasons. Three of those losses came from playoff bound teams. Baltimore’s only problem was in both 1975 and 1976, they fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs. So 1977 was the year where they had to prove they were more than just a team that won during the regular season. Much like the Atlanta Falcons have to in our time. They’re mission, should they choose to accept it, was to knock down the defending champion Raiders at home in a divisional playoff.

Oakland having won Super Bowl XI had enjoyed the fruits of finally becoming a champion. From 1967-1976 they had played for the AFL or AFC Championship 8 times with a ninth possible appearance if they made it past Baltimore. For all the talk of the Dallas Cowboys during the same era, just stop and think about the winning this organization had for this 10 year period. They won the AFL championship and faced Vince Lombardi’s Packers in Super Bowl II. They lost the AFL’s last two championship games to the Jets, and Chiefs. Once the AFL / NFL merger took place they even made it to the first AFC Championship Game. They lost that one to John Unitas and the Baltimore Colts 27-17. Four championship appearances in a row and the Raiders of the late 60s finished 45-8-3 in those years….but no Super Bowl championships to show for it.

ken_stabler_1977_12_24It looked like the Raiders were a team in decline and needed to be rebuilt. Holdovers like Hall of Famers WR Fred Biletnikoff, CB Willie Brown, G Gene Upshaw, and T Art Shell taught the Raider way to newcomers to forge a new team by 1972. They transitioned new blood into the team with S Jack Tatum and moved CB George Atkinson to safety to forge a ferocious secondary. They lost in the 1972 playoffs in Pittsburgh with the controversial Immaculate Reception, a game they were winning with :22 seconds away from making it back to the conference finals. Starting the following year they made it to the AFC Championship 4 straight years, finally winning the championship in 1976.  Now they were an established champion with QB Ken Stabler, RBs Clarence Davis, Mark Van Eeghen, TE Dave Casper, and Cliff Branch teaming with Biletnikoff to form the league’s best offense. With a win on Christmas Eve in Baltimore, they would make it to a record 5th straight conference final.

This was the end of the run for the mid 70’s Baltimore Colts. Within a few years, Lydell Mitchell was traded to the San Diego Chargers. Bert Jones was never the same quarterback. His career was marred with injuries after that and his potential went unfulfilled. Head Coach Ted Marchibroda went on as a successful offensive co-ordinator, most notably with the 4-time AFC Champion Buffalo Bills in the 1990s. He then returned as head coach in Indianapolis for several years after that. However none achieved the successes they had as members of the Baltimore Colt years.

As for the Raiders, they returned to a record setting 5th straight AFC Championship Game where they lost to the Denver Broncos 20-17. Again the loss was shrouded with another controversial fumble non call when the late Rob Lytle was hit by the late Jack Tatum at the goal line in the 3rd quarter. The Raiders over a 6 year period had gone 66-15-2, played in 5 AFC Title Games and won one Super Bowl. If you’re keeping count that is 111-23-5 over an 11 year period. John Madden became the first coach to win 100 games within a decade and was enshrined in Canton in 2006. A younger generation came to know of him through broadcasting and his likeness and involvement with the popular video game series that bears his name.

This era of Oakland Raider football came to a close when Coach Madden, Biletnikoff, and Willie Brown (all Hall of Famers) retired after the 1978 season. Within two years the team was revamped and they went on to win Super Bowls XV and XVIII under former Raider assistant Tom Flores. Yet for one space and time these two teams met and gave football fans a playoff game for the ages. A six quarter epic that saw each team give all they could. Which leaves us with the obvious question: Had the Raiders beat the Colts in a four quarter game instead of one so draining, would they have had enough energy to beat Denver the following week in Mile High??

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