1969 NFL Div Playoff Rams at Vikings

I'm Jack Whittaker and this is the NFL game of the week the Eastern and Western Conference playoffs the first part of our story tells how the West was won from sunny California came the Los Angeles Rams seeking revenge for an earlier defeat by their opponents today the Minnesota Vikings led by swarley Roman Gabriel and the fearsome foursome coach George Allen came north to Minnesota in hopes of fulfilling a season-long goal Allen's counterpart but grant also had a similar goal and his hopes rested with the four Norseman and a California bred quarterback named Joe Kapp two teams with similar assets similar styles and similar goals when an immovable object meets an irresistible force something's got to give and on this December 27th 1969 the purple gang from the north would bring Romans Empire tumbling down in the Western Conference playoff as if in the heavyweight championship both teams disdained a feeling out period and came out slugging from the heels they fought the first quarter to a standoff although the Vikings suffered too early bad breaks Bill Browns fumble on the second play and an offsides penalty that nullified a 60 yard touchdown by Carl eller that followed Browns fumble after the penalty Roman Gabriel led the Rams to the first score of the day and his strategy was to go with the short game this consisted of quick traps up the middle by rookie setback Larry Smith number 38 and short flips to his receivers such as number 14 Wendel Tucker the strategy worked well on the hard-charging Viking line and the Rams finally scored when Gabriel caught the Vikings own secondary asleep on a roll out spotting tight end Bob Klein in the open for a seven nothing lead and the first touchdown scored against the Vikings in the first quarter this season [Music] Minnesota equaled the Rams long drive with one of their own to tie the score however Joe Kapp unlike Roman Gabriel came out winging figuring the Rams secondary to be their weak link cap surprised the Rams with heavy emphasis on passing since he had beaten them three weeks before with his ground game stylistically cap does everything wrong but completes his passes anyway his strategy was to roll out to his left away from Deacon Jones and Merlin Olsen and his target was usually Jean Washington number 84 one of the great receivers of the game now inside the five Dave Osborne drove over to tie the game it was an impressive start for both teams [Music] the Rams continue to run well on the hurled at Purple People eaters as Smith and Willie Ellison followed superb line blocking for big games but this drive ended in a missed field goal as the second quarter began the Rams completely dominated this quarter of play shutting off every phase of the Viking offense while not allowing them to score at all the key to their success was the containment of cap and the tight coverage on Jean Washington by quarterback Clancy Williams number 24 [Music] offensively the Rams stuck with their short game and Gabriel was not afraid to run when he had to despite Minnesota's hard-hitting defense in fact this was one of the roughest hitting games ever seen and on a very cold Minnesota day it was a wonder the players were able to hold on to the ball at all [Music] Gabriel converted three third down situations in this Drive with quick flips to set back less Josephson number 34 but on a third and six at the Viking 18 he failed as Carl Kisuke came up fast to deny the first down and force a field goal that put Los Angeles in front by three [Music] then later in the quarter Gabriel and his tight end Billy Truax would lengthen the Rams lead-210 Truax number 87 was an integral part of the RAM game plan and his diving catches led Los Angeles downfield as Gabriel was now 10 of 13 from the to a great play action fake held the defense in and Karl eller failed to get to Gabriel Truax beat his man and his third catch of this drive put the Rams into a commanding lead Gossett's extra point made it 17 7 at the half as the Rams took momentum and a 10-point lead into the locker room a wise old man once said a football game is 60 minutes long the Rams were about to discover that the Purple Gang from Minnesota unlike many other teams refused to fold under a 10-point deficit in fact for the next 30 minutes Minnesota's defense would more than vindicate their first half performance they didn't change their strategy they just kept hitting and hitting until Romans Empire truly began to fall [Music] the four Norseman or front for eller Marshall page and Larson along with their linebackers in secondary completely stifled the Rams offense shutting them out in the third quarter Gabriel and the Rams were now going backwards not forward [Music] on offense Joe Kapp was helped by his first big break an interference penalty on cornerback Jim Nettles number 19 from here like a championship leader he quickly capitalized on the break a bomb to Washington and a penalty took the ball to the six [Music] then the aggressive biking quarterback hardened by years of play in the rough Canadian league ran right into the Rams defense and almost went over Osbourne vaulted over for his second score and it was now 1714 the rest of the quarter saw Kap move his team downfield again only to throw up his first interception near the goal however the Rams could not convert it into points a minute later capped through his second interception and it looked like Los Angeles would now build on its three-point lead this the Rams did but not as much as they would have liked the rock strong Gabriel challenged the Vikings himself and got a first down as the third quarter ended there were now 15 minutes left 15 minutes of confrontation between two grudgingly tough teams Gabriel could not pick up a key first down through the great effort by the four Norseman and the Rams had to settle for three in what would turn out to be an important four points the Rams would never see [Music] down by six caps stuck to his game plan continuing to pass freely to his wide receivers Washington and number 80 John Henderson caps line was giving him superb protection and once the fearsome foursome is negated the Rams are a vulnerable team milk Sunday number 64 led the way on this pass to Bill Brown that set up a third and 1 on the Rams 19 [Music] then on a big play Dave Osborne twisted and turned for the first down to keep the must drive going the Vikings seemed to be playing on hard and guts alone now as their rugged leader refused to be intimidated a trademark that has made him a truly remarkable quarterback when he finally took it over himself from the two Joe Capet put his team into the lead 21 to 20 and for the first time in the game the Rams had their backs to the wall caps confidence is reflected in his walk to the bench as he gallantly counseled his Purple Gang to suck it to the good guys in the white suits Tyler must have heard his plea on the very next play from scrimmage eller beat his man to Gabriel and gave the Vikings a three-point lead with a safety it was the culmination of a super game for the all-pro defensive end and his teammates let him know it while the man he beat all-pro tackle Bob Brown number 76 dejectedly went to the bench this play perhaps the biggest of the game deserves another look watch Yeller at top left hand fight his way to Gabriel for the safety with eight minutes left Minnesota now led 23 20 the Vikings could move after the safety but got another big break when cap was rocked on third down and fumbled but his teammates recovered though a punt follow the Rams would have to start their final drive from their own 15 not the Vikings 40 so with five minutes left the Viking defense dug in to preserve their precarious three-point lead but Gabriel led the Rams upfield again using screens and hitch passes for short but certain games heating up the yards and the time [Music] on a fourth down play Truax made a clutch catch and the rams eventually moved to the Vikings 44 beating only one more pass to get into field goal range to tie the game and send it into sudden death there were 39 seconds left now and even the Viking frontline was playing cautious watching for the screens and flares this defensive strategy paid a huge dividend as Alan Paige blocked and caught Gabriel's attempted pass page race downfield and ended the imposing RAM threat and with it the game a repeat of this game ending play shows that the ball hit number 88 page in the chest flew up and took the proverbial lucky bounce right into his arms as number 84 Jack snow watched what he knew was the Rams last gasp for 1969 after only a decade of existence the Minnesota Vikings were about to reach the highest plateau in their conference something that has eluded the Rams for 15 years [Music] seconds later a jubilant coach ran off the field to the cheers of his loyal fans but gran has seen it's determined Central Division team put together 30 minutes of perfect football to hold off the tough Los Angeles Rams 2320 in what was one of the cleanest roughest most exciting games of this or any other season so the good guys in the white suits went back to Hollywood proud but dejected while the purple gang from Minnesota wrote ever onward towards its goal an NFL championship and a Super Bowl this has been the story of How the West was won [Music]

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Id: 4Sy_8KbjHB8

Length: 13min 36sec (816 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 17 2018