Tag Archives: Super Bowl Rings

SUPER BOWL XIV RUNNER UP 1979 LOS ANGELES RAMS

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If you ever wanted to look up the definition of unfulfilled promise, look up the 1970’s Los Angeles Rams. From 1973-1979 the Rams had won 6  straight NFC West titles. Of all the teams that dominated their respective divisions, the Rams couldn’t duplicate their regular season when the playoffs began.

14conf2Los Angeles had ruled their division with a great suffocating defense and a solid running game. However they never had a top flight quarterback to push themselves over the top. From an aged John Hadl to James Harris to Ron Jaworski and finally settling on Pat Haden, the pedestrian quarterbacking failed them in the postseason repeatedly. They lost defensive battles with the Minnesota Vikings but it was against the Dallas Cowboys the worst losses were afflicted.

In ’75 the 12-2 Rams were gearing up for an NFC Championship against the Minnesota Vikings. No one expected the wild card 10-4 Dallas Cowboys to upset them with The Hail Mary. Los Angeles had finished on a 6 game winning streak, which included a 10-3 win over the defending and eventual Super Bowl champion Steelers.

sbxiv2Once Pittsburgh vanquished the Raiders over in the AFC Title Game, all they had to do was beat the “lucky to be there” Cowboys for the NFC and punch their ticket to Super Bowl X. Staubach sliced them up with a 37-7 defeat at home. They lost in an epic rout where their great defense let them down. It was a defense that had only given up 3 touchdowns in their last 30 quarters and held 5 of those 6 opponents to less than 10 points per game.

After two more losses to the Vikings in ’76 and ’77 Head Coach Chuck Knox moved on to coach the Bills. Defensive Coordinator Ray Malavasi was promoted and the reigns of the offense were placed in Pat Haden’s hands as the full time starter. The consensus was he could gain experience in time to win it all within the next couple years with an aging but still formidable defense.

The 1978 season saw the Rams go 12-4 and become the first team to earn homefield throughout the playoffs. They had the #1 defense which registered wins in regular season games against the Steelers 13-10, and 27-14 over Dallas. Back in the NFC Championship, they hosted the defending champion Cowboys and were shut out 28-0. Dallas wrecked another trip to the big game and it seemed the window had closed for the Rams.

super-bowl-logo-1979A tumultuous off-season ensued, concluding with the drowning death of Owner Carroll Rosenbloom. Then the controversial ownership transfer to his wife Georgia and not his son Steve.

The tumult in the front office mimicked what was happening on the field once the season began. The defense was a step slow as the team began 5-6 and the playoffs were in jeopardy. They had just lost 4 of those last 5 and had given up 29.25 points in those including a 30-6 loss to the hated Cowboys. Now they lost starting QB Pat Haden for the year. Where was this group headed??

They turned to flashy 3rd year runner Wendell Tyler as they eased backup QB Vince Ferragamo into the lineup. Tyler got the hot hand rushing for 520 of his 1,109 yards on the season in the final 5 weeks. Ferragamo finished with less than 50% completion rate and threw 5TDs to 10 interceptions. So these unlikely players were going to lead the 9-7 Rams into the playoffs.

Most had buried the Rams as a team that didn’t have heart. The Dallas Cowboys had ripped it out in 2 championship games already. Dating back to the ’78 NFC Championship Game, they were 0-2 with a combined losing score of 58-6. So now with Vince Ferragamo and Wendell Tyler (new ’79 midseason starters) they were supposed to go to Dallas and win in the divisional round??

After sending Dallas home 21-19 in Roger Staubach’s last game and the 9-0 NFC Championship win over Tampa, the Rams fought tooth and nail with Pittsburgh out in Pasadena. Inspired by Jack Youngblood who was playing with a lower leg fracture from the Cowboy game on, the Rams exhibited all the toughness, heart, and desire they hadn’t shown in their previous playoff years.

Falling to Pittsburgh 31-19 in Super Bowl XIV kept the Rams from final glory. However they set the precedent that a team can get hot right as the playoffs near and ride that momentum to the Super Bowl. Even in that game, the lead changed hands 6 times as they wouldn’t give in to the established champion Steelers. Only a late game interception by an inexperienced Ferragamo kept the game from a 7th.

A truly Herculean effort that just came up short.

Dedicated to the memories of Ray Malavasi, Jack Faulkner, Carroll Rosenbloom & Bud Carson.

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SUPER BOWL XIII CHAMPION 1978 PITTSBURGH STEELERS

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In the “Battle of Champions”, Super Bowl XIII on January 21, 1979 the defending champion Cowboys took on the Steelers in deciding who was to be the team of the decade. The first Super Bowl with a kickoff pushed back so that it would conclude in front of a primetime audience.

xiiipsThis was arguably one of the best Super Bowls of the first 25 that were played. Even though the Steelers had bested Dallas in Super Bowl X, this could make things even.  The discrepancy of 10 Steelers in the Hall of Fame vs. 3 for Dallas is beyond ridiculous considering Pittsburgh barely won 35-31.  Of course Cowboy fans point to a bogus “incidental contact” pass interference call between Benny Barnes and Lynn Swann, then you have the Jackie Smith dropped pass…nevertheless referee Fred Sweringen blew that interference call…it’s important because John Stallworth was out for the second half and the Steelers couldn’t move the ball.

Let’s take a trip back in time. Aside from Oakland and Miami, the Steelers and Cowboys were viewed as the best teams of the 1970’s.  The Steelers had won it all in 1974 and returned to the Super Bowl as a powerful defending champion. Pittsburgh repeated as champions and established themselves as a dynasty.  They dropped off the championship mantle for ’76 and ’77 yet were poised to return in 1978.

xiiips2In their absence the Dallas Cowboys had retooled themselves and ascended to the Super Bowl XII championship with Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett added to the mix. The young players that joined the Cowboys in 1975 like Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson, and Randy White were now starters and superstars.  Now they were set to do what Pittsburgh had done and repeat as Super Bowl champions.  So for the second time they’d meet in a Super Bowl with one team coming in as a defending champion.

In 1978, the NFL saw rule changes that allowed receivers to only be chucked within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. This “Mel Blount rule” along with a rule allowing pass blockers to extend their arms liberalized the passing game. Terry Bradshaw and the Steelers became a new team as he led the league with 28 TDs thrown. The Steel Curtain wasn’t as stout as it had been in the mid 70’s yet they allowed the fewest points in the first 16 game season with 195 allowed. Franco Harris was still a 1,000 yard rusher at this time.

So this powerful 14-2 challenger went down to Miami’s Orange Bowl to take on the defending champion Cowboys who finished 12-4. For only the second time in the 13 year history of the Super Bowl, we would have two teams facing that each previously had won the game before. The first was the Steelers meeting the Cowboys in X, so everyone anticipated a great game for XIII. Two prime champions faced off and an epic battle ensued.

The Steelers opened up the scoring 7-0 with a Bradshaw to John Stallworth pass from 28 yards out.

After the Cowboys came back and tied the game with a Staubach to Tony Hill pass, Dallas “Doomsday Defense” struck. “Hollywood” Henderson and Mike Hegman sacked Bradshaw with Hegman stealing the ball and scoring with it. The Steelers were down 14-7 when a few plays later…

Each team’s defense forced multiple turnovers during the first half. The majority of the 2nd quarter had the teams deadlocked at 14 when the Steelers sustained a drive just before halftime. With seconds to go, Bradshaw connected on his 3rd TD of the half with this pass to Rocky Bleier.

Terry finished the first half with 253 yards with his 3 touchdowns and would become the first QB to throw for over 300 in a Super Bowl. Keep in mind this was the same quarterback that had nearly played his way out of a job in 1974. All the footage of his mistake prone ways as a young player were being extinguished in the mind as he put on this bravura performance in the 1st half.

Up 21-14, the Steel Curtain started to crack as Staubach started to move the ball in the 3rd quarter. Right when they were going to tie the game at 21, Jackie Smith dropped a sure touchdown on a 3rd down forcing them to settle for a field goal and a 21-17 deficit. Dallas, demoralized by the turn of events lost momentum for most of the second half.

After the most questionable pass interference in NFL history put the Steelers on the Cowboys 22, Franco scored on this trap to make it 28-17. We were getting late in the 4th quarter also.

Following an accidental squib kick, DT Randy White mishandled the football and fumbled as he was hit by Tony Dungy. Now the Steelers were poised for the kill at the Dallas 18 yard line.

It was not all over… Although the Steelers led 35-17 with a little more than  6 minutes left in the game, Staubach’s championship mettle shone through. The crack in the Steel Curtain became s fissure as the Cowboys scored twice from 90 and 48 yards out respectively. Yet Pittsburgh held on to win 35-31 and unseated the Cowboys as champions.

super-bowl-logo-1978Super Bowl XIII was a celebration with the two best teams facing off in the big game.  Rarely does that happen. Great games like that to climax the season leave you wanting more but you have to wait until next season to get that fix. To think the NFL’s #2 (Cowboys) and #3 (Steelers) ranked defenses were shredded by 35 and 31 points respectively. No one saw that coming.

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Bradshaw was the runaway MVP as he passed for a Super Bowl records for yardage (318) and touchdown passes (4). Much like Ben Roethlisberger today, it was the defense and the running game that carried the QB to his first Super Bowl win. Terry had a good game in his second, Super Bowl X, but it was this one that validated his career and sent him to the Hall of Fame.

It’s impossible to see this championship ring and not think of the Super Bowl game first.

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RIP Coach Noll

RIP Coach Noll

SUPER BOWL XII CHAMPION 1977 DALLAS COWBOYS

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Super Bowl XII, Cowboys 27-10 over the Denver Broncos…very painful game…didn’t get to watch it…long story …and LIVED in Denver at the time…I’m still upset at my Mom for that!! TV with a blown picture tube and couldn’t go to a friend’s house to watch th……sigh…deep breaths Jef. Remember how many of us played this game over and over on electric football?

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This team was known for several firsts:

  • The 2nd Super Bowl champion to finish #1 offensively and defensively. *Updated as the ’72 Dolphins were 1st.*
  • The first Super Bowl where the participants faced each other during the season.
  • Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett were the first pair of Heisman winners in the backfield of an NFL champion.
  • The Cowboys were the first dome team to win a Super Bowl. Lets face it… Dallas played in a dome with a hole in the roof. It was a cheap way to not have air conditioning at Texas Stadium.
  • It was the first time since the AFL NFL merger where a quarterback faced his former team in the championship game (Craig Morton)
  • Super Bowl XII was the first played in a dome. The first NFL championship game played indoors was actually 1934.

Everyone talks about Dallas and the great train heist that was the Herschel Walker trade… what about the deal to get Tony Dorsett??Seattle traded their #1 pick to Dallas for several picks in 1977. The Cowboys landed Tony D. and Seattle got some substitute teachers and their cars washed. Overnight the Cowboys returned to the league’s elite because they were down in 1974 where they missed the playoffs. Dorsett became the anchor for the Cowboys rushing for 1,000 yards in 8 of the next 9 seasons.

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This game ruined the legacy of the Orange Crush defense because they were special…after 7 turnovers they still only gave up 27 points.

*How did Butch Johnson’s touchdown not be ruled an incomplete pass?*

 

Enough of that Cowboy haterism….Did you know that this was the only Super Bowl champion to finish the season #1 on offense and #1 on defense in the same year?? To say that the Dallas Cowboys weren’t the best team in football is to deny what was Tom Landry’s best team ever. Pittsburgh was run over in Denver in the 1977 AFC Divisional playoff 34-21, so Steeler fans you gotta stay quiet with this one and they got handled in that game. Randy White, Ed “Too Tall” Jones mixed in with Larry Cole and Harvey Martin were the sickest pass rush in football. Unofficially Martin recorded 26 sacks in just 14 games.

Yet this team had a supernova at OLB with “Hollywood” Henderson. He was easily the fastest linebacker in football blitzing or covering speedy backs on flares and seem routes. He blanketed from sideline to sideline with an athleticism that would come to define the position over the next decade. He flashed everywhere on the football field.

In ’77 he was a defensive anomaly that struck with lethal scores from long distances. Illustrated by his 79 yard pick six against Tampa and returning kicks for TDs on reverses. He was the emerging star on a defense that grew from the “Dirty Dozen” 1975 NFL Draft. This was the year Landry had 12 rookies that now were 3rd year veterans in their physical prime.

Hollywood years later showing off his XII ring to a kid wh was pulling for Denver. LOL

Drew Pearson was in his 5th, while rookie Tony Hill was doing his thing at receiver spelling Golden Richards. Coupled with Hall of Famers: Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett at RB…they made you hate them with their air of invincibility if you weren’t a Cowboy fan. It was at this point when NFL Films dubbed them “America’s Team” that has stuck to this day…whether or not it bothered you or other players and teams. For one year this was about as powerful a champion as you can find.

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Sour grapes? Maybe but Dallas’ pass rush was ridiculous. Craig Morton should have been the MVP for all the Halloween candy he passed out in interceptions that day. Yet Randy White and the late Harvey Martin earned the honor of the only Co-MVPs in Super Bowl history. Amazingly that gave the Cowboys 2 Super Bowl MVPs wearing the number 54 (Chuck Howley in V). We should have seen the loss coming, for both teams had identical 12-2 records and Dallas beat Denver in the last game of the regular season. So you couldn’t say it was a fluke.

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Dallas’ 2nd best team of the 70’s was the team that lost in the chance to repeat in Super Bowl XIII to the Steelers, but this team in 1977, was solid at every position, and spectacular at others, and Staubach quarterbacked them to their second Super Bowl win.

With the Cowboys one of the NFL’s youngest teams, Tom Landry seemed destined to win more Super Bowls.

SUPER BOWL XI RUNNER UP 1976 MINNESOTA VIKINGS

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January 9, 1977 was a day that the Minnesota Vikings again fell short of the Super Bowl win they so desperately wanted.  The 32-14 loss to the Oakland Raiders was the last hurrah for a team that dominated the NFC for much of the 1970s. They almost went to 4 Super Bowls in a row.  That famous “Hail Mary” against Dallas in the ’75 NFC Divisional playoff should have been called pass interference on Drew Pearson.

vikxiThink of how rewritten the 1970s in the NFL would have been had they won those Super Bowls…

  • Had they won Super Bowl IV against the Chiefs there would still be talk of inferiority between the AFL and NFL even though they were merging the following year.
  • Had they won Super Bowl VIII in Chuck Foreman’s (The U) rookie year the Dolphins do not repeat and do not become a dynasty.
  • Had they won the next year in Super Bowl IX the Steelers dynasty does not take place.
  • Which leads to Super Bowl XI, had the Vikings won that gamevikxi.1 it would have added to Oakland’s (at that time) failed legacy and would have handed them their 8th loss in AFL or AFC Championship games including 2 Super Bowls in 10 years.

 

This team has never received their due.  They dominated the black and blue division and were the scourge of the NFC for many years.  The legacy of the players was too damaged for not winning the Super Bowl.  Come on, the length of time it took for Paul Krause, the NFL’s all time leading interceptor, to get into the Hall of Fame was ridiculous.  The fact that Jim Marshall and Chuck Foreman aren’t in the Hall is a travesty.

11This team was one of the best in the 1970s and this team was the last one to reach the Super Bowl.  Buddy Ryan coaxed a good year out of a “Purple People Eater’s” defense that was aging. Ahmad Rashad and Sammy White were decent receivers and the aforementioned Chuck Foreman (The U) teamed with Fran Tarkenton (the all time touchdown and yardage leader at the time) to form a formidable offense.

An interesting contrast in handling coming up short in the Super Bowl is between Fran Tarkenton and Head Coach Bud Grant. Tarkenton told NFL Films how those games have haunted him all these years. How it robbed the Vikings of their dignity and celebrity which cost teammates Hall of Fame votes. Where Bud Grant said he never looked at any of them on field and it doesn’t bother him one bit. Always looking ahead.

super-bowl-logo-1976Yet if you catch the end of Super Bowl XI as the cameras panned the Viking sideline, you could see a deep hurt in every Viking player’s face. It was as though you could see the last of their prime as an elite team evaporate from the players as the final moments ticked down. Unlike the Buffalo Bills 4 year Super Bowl run, this one lasted 8 years starting with their appearance in IV.

Chuck Foreman only had 1 more 1,000 yard season in 1977 before his career wound down. DT Alan Page was with the Chicago Bears in 1978, Jim Marshall, Carl Eller, and Fran Tarkenton were gone after 1979. Even Metropolitan Stadium was gone by 1982 as the team moved indoors with the Metrodome. The end of an era for a once proud franchise. One last look back is in order:

This was the last conference championship ring the Minnesota Vikings won.  1976 NFC Champions.

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SUPER BOWL XI CHAMPION 1976 OAKLAND RAIDERS

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Al Davis said he wanted a ring so nice that he wanted a Raider to be able to meet the Queen of England and not feel he had to take it off. Mission accomplished!! One of the unique features to every Raider championship ring is that Al Davis uses the AFL logo “A” and not the AFC “Block A” on the side. This was the bauble for winning Super Bowl XI on January 9, 1977 over the Minnesota Vikings 32-14.

They finally clutched the prize, Madden, Stabler, Biletnikoff, Tatum, Hendricks, Matuszak, Sistrunk, Villapiano, Atkinson and Raider Nation.  What is strange is how the Raiders could have totally written sports history.  They played in 5 other conference championships before winning the Super Bowl in 1976.

That’s without talking about the “job” they got in the Immaculate Reception in the 1972 AFC Divisional playoff that would have put them in a SIXTH. I cornered Franco Harris in 1991 & again in 2018 and tried to get him to exact the ball hit Fuqua and not Tatum and he wouldn’t do it!! sigh…yet I digress  After playing in Super Bowl II, the Raiders could have been in Super Bowls 3,4,5, 8-10, & 12. So this was the culmination of pushing to be the best over all those years.

Yet stop and think about how history could have been written had they won those games.

  1. We wouldn’t have had Joe Namath’s guarantee in Super Bowl III
  2. The Raiders would have played the Vikings in Super Bowl IV, who was the original AFL team to be in Minnesota, until the NFL undercut the AFL by giving the owners of that territory an NFL franchise. This is ironically how the AFL got to Oakland in the first place.
  3. They would have stopped Johnny U. and the Colts from making the “Blunder Bowl” or Super Bowl V and could have been going for a threepeat. Had they won in 69 and 70 it would have made them the last AFL Champion as well as the first AFC Champion.
  4. They would have stopped the Dolphins from being a dynasty by keeping them from winning back to back Super Bowls. By the way, remember the undefeated 1972 Dolphins and their record 18 game winning streak?  Who did they lose to? The Raiders in early 1973 in a game played at Berkeley because the A’s were in the World Series. Footnote this with it was the Raiders who in the ’74 Divisional playoff, the “Sea of Hands” play stopped the Dolphins from going to 3 Super Bowls in a row…so this isn’t far-fetched folks.
  5. They would have stopped the Steelers dynasty from taking off (Super Bowls IX & X) and would have been crowned team of the 70’s by this time easily. Don’t start Steeler fans because these were some battles with the Raiders.
  6. They would have stopped the Broncos miracle ’77 season keeping them out of Super Bowl XII.

Stabler & Rockford Files star Hal Garner as Super Bowl XI was ending.

As for the team that always threw deep, I find it ironic that the Super Bowl XI MVP was a supposedly slow, couldn’t get deep, that left the NFL as the leading playoff touchdown in receptions and yards before he left in 1977 and that is Fred Biletnikoff.  My man was busy cookin’ the best that the NFL had to offer at CB.

It was understood when the game was on the line they went to the diminutive route runner from Florida St. Fred Biletnikoff had only 4 catches in Super Bowl XI, yet those catches set up 3 Super Bowl scores, and was the focus of why the Raiders blew out the Vikings in Super Bowl XI.

super-bowl-logo-1976He was a tremendous performer and the predecessor of Lester Hayes’ use of stickum in 1980.   He was the all time post season reception leader and yardage when he retired. Who broke his record? Cliff Branch…the man he showed the ropes on being an NFL receiver.  Jerry Rice eventually broke these records but you have to appreciate how things became the way they are.

Now Raider fans, you guys have to let go of the Immaculate Reception as I had to after several beers with Franco.  You did get jobbed and that ’75 AFC Championship Game icy field in Pittsburgh was fair when you guys played head games with the Chiefs and others about leaving the water on all night, hence the wet field. It’s just gamesmanship.

Well the idea the refs were out to get you guys disappeared in the ’76 divisional playoffs with the Sugar Bear Hamilton roughing the passer call on Stabler.  That call was among the worst ever!! Remember that call?? In the AFC Divisional playoff in 1976 you were losing to the Patriots 21-17 and were about to have to face a 4th and 17 with 1:38  left. Just seconds away from being upset when the flag came in…

So Stabler scored the winning touchdown with :10 seconds left and you were off to the AFC Championship. Big beneficiary of a very bad call. Hamilton hit Stabler under the arm… however when it came to hitting the ’76 Raiders set the bar there for hits coming from the secondary:

OK then you guys got robbed in Denver on Lytle’s fumble in the 1977 AFC Championship game….ok maybe there is somethin’ to it.  The tuck rule with Tom Brady and the Patriots in 2001…damn you guys are on to something!! Just keep in mind you have had your share of calls also.

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SUPER BOWL X RUNNER UP 1975 DALLAS COWBOYS

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Heading into Super Bowl VI, Cowboy coach Tom Landry referred to the Miami Dolphins defense as “a bunch of no named guys.” The Dolphins and the sporting press spun Landry’s comment into the nickname “The No Name Defense”, that they would forever be known for. Yet little did he know he would return with an equally set of anonymous guys to the title game four years later.

1975.Dallas-Cowboys-Roger-Staubach-Super-Bowl-Ring-0002Don’t get us wrong there were known players on the Cowboy’s roster, they were aging and on the downside of their careers. Quarterback Roger Staubach had come of age in the 1975 playoffs and was in his prime. He took the Cowboys to Super Bowl X after engineering a miracle in Minnesota. A play that came to be known as The Hail Mary. However it was holdovers from the 1960’s defenses which included Middle Linebacker Lee Roy Jordan #55, Outside Linebacker Dave Edwards #52, DT Jethro Pugh #75, and future Hall of Fame CB Mel Renfro, that lent familiarity to long time fans.

1975.Dallas-Cowboys-Roger-Staubach-Super-Bowl-Ring-0003The 1974 season saw the Cowboys say goodbye to Hall of Fame Defensive Tackle Bob Lilly, Hall of Fame receiver Bob Hayes, and longtime CB Cornell Green. To replenish the cupboard, Gil Brandt, Tex Shramm and Tom Landry loaded the roster with new players. An amazing 12 rookies made the team and became known as “The Dirty Dozen”. Yet none were stars or household names. Well at least not at the time.

The plain truth is the basis for a team that made the Super Bowl 3 times in 4 years, and 3 more NFC Championships games in the ensuing 4 years after came from this draft. Long time MLB Bob Breunig, Hall of Fame DT Randy White, OLB Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson, DE Ed “Too Tall” Jones, S Randy Hughes, OLineman Herbert Scott, Pat Donovan, and Burton Lawless became mainstays from this team. Had the bounce of the ball gone differently in Super Bowl X and/or Super Bowl XIII this group would have been remembered in many ways close to the Steelers 1974 draft class.

1975.Dallas-Cowboys-Roger-Staubach-Super-Bowl-Ring-0001Just think about it… had the Cowboys won Super Bowl X or XIII the tally would have been 3 wins by both Dallas and Pittsburgh. Dallas sends more players to the Hall of Fame and fewer Steelers would have been enshrined.

Speaking of Tom Landry’s no-name bunch: Roger Staubach, Tackle Rayfield Wright and Safety Cliff Harris were the only Pro Bowl selections. In fact, the ’75 Cowboys are one of 3 of the first 42 Super Bowl participants to have the fewest pro bowl players with 3. When you think of the ’75 Cowboys who were the runners?? Calvin Hill, Dwayne Thomas, Walt Garrison?? All were gone from the team and Tony Dorsett was 2 years away.

The Cowboys had offseason acquisition Preston Pearson who had appeared in Super Bowls with both his previous teams. The Steelers of 1974 and Baltimore Colts all the way back in III when they lost to the Jets. He teamed with FB Robert Newhouse for a steady ground attack that would in time need to be improved but provided balance in ’75.

super-bowl-logo-1975Staubach’s taking the Cowboys to Super Bowl X was similar to John Elway taking the Broncos to the title game with “The Drive”. He capitalized on the momentum from the Viking playoff win and drove his team to the title game. He was the lone marquee name and took Super Bowl X down to the final play before falling 21-17.

The greatest of the first ten of these games stamped the Cowboys as a team to watch as the late 70’s beckoned.

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