1971 Falcons at Lions GOTW week 3

[Music] the lair of the lion a jungle called tiger stadium in detroit in the third week of the nfl season the hungary detroit lions sought to devour the atlanta falcons and a sellout crowd awaited the bitter battle that would be waged inside [Music] then the lions and the falcons took the field coach joe schmidt has greatly changed the face of the lion in his four years there 11 of the 22 starters are his own draft picks not the least to which is greg landry the 24 year old quarterback from umass who schmidt says always generates something when he's in there landry was not sharp in the lion's opening day loss to the vikings but the following week against the patriots receiver larry walton charlie sanders in a powerful running attack helped landry guide his team to an easy win the great strength of the lions however is their defense led by mike lucci at times they play with too much abandon and as a result have been burned by the big play but this gambling punishing style was the essence of the lion's success last year and carried them to the playoffs coach norman brooklyn has finally brought the falcons in from the cold he too has made many changes since he took over only now starting to pay dividends quarterback bob berry played briefly for the dutchman at minnesota and went to his alma mater oregon gun maybe this is why he's remained in the dutchman's favor which is not an easy task then brockton loves to get to the goal line fast and quick and he's installed two rookie receivers to help barry do this they may have to the falcons defense although young and strong up front is weak in the secondary and so far this year they ranked 10th in total defense but with an opening day win and a tie last week atlanta was first in the nfc west and sensed a chance for their best season ever the lions just have to keep on winning to keep pace with the vikings hoping to squeeze in as a wild card if they don't win their division the nfc central i'm bob delaney and this is the nfl game of the week the detroit lions versus the atlanta falcons [Music] on the first series of the game the falcons and bob berry attempted to run on the second best rushing defense in the nfc barry and setback art malone found out that this was not to be the strategy to beat the lions the falcons went gradually backward twice and hit disaster on the third try as cannonball butler fumbled into the hands of mike wieger number 28 and the lions had a quick seven to nothing lead [Applause] [Music] on a repeat of the fumble butler on a quick trap was hit hard at the line and wieger caught the ball on the fly watch lem barney trailing the play turn it on to make the key block that allowed wieger to score untouched the lions defense began the scoring as they did the week before against new england and led seven nothing the falcons second series saw the very same thing happen a fake a pitch out a fumble a lion recovery on a repeat we can see that the falcons were using the i formation then shifting out of the set this moved linebacker mike lucci over to keon setback malone on the play and he tried to get the ball as malone fumbled [Applause] [Music] a perfect play by the linebacker although it was the lion's other veteran backer wayne walker who came up with it at the falcons 25. the lions offense now had its first possession and behind the running of number 42 audi taylor drove goalwork running and short passes this is the heart of the lion's offense but a great individual effort by greg brazina stopped their next play [Applause] however a major penalty cost atlanta 15 and from the two steve owens rumbled through a gaping hole over right tackle with six minutes gone it was 14 to nothing lions the easy way and it looked like atlanta was in for a long day in the jungle down by 14 and steaming mad at his player's inability to hold the ball then brockland ended all semblance of the running game barry now came out firing on this last play linebacker mike lucci number 53 again keyed on malone following him on his pass route and saving a longer gain with this tackle barry was passing nearly every down the lions knew it but couldn't stop him or his receivers especially jim mitchell number 86 [Music] now at the lions 13 it was barry to mitchell again and the big tight end made a beautiful catch for the score [Music] on a repeat of the score watch center jeff van note keep out number 77 dick eby and give barry time to hit mitchell wide open in the end zone mitchell was the falcon's leading receiver last year and it put atlanta back in the game to stay 14-7 [Music] down by seven atlanta kicked off to ron jesse it was a poor kick but good coverage made it work in their favor as jesse pussyfooted around and was trapped on his five jesse would later make up for it the falcons kept detroit deep in a hole on this series landry under threw mccullough and was almost intercepted by safety tom mccauley as so he went back to his strong running game which worked for a while [Applause] with owens farr and taylor the lions boast a multi-style ground game suited for any defense and they gained over 70 yards in the first half the lions offensive line however was having much less success giving landry time to throw he had to eat it on third down and a short punt set atlanta up in lion land [Music] barry attempted an infrequent run and the result was as expected another fumble the falcons kept this one however but were unable to convert it to seven as the lion's pass rush reared its ugly hand larry hand number 74 as the first quarter ended [Music] the second quarter began with more good defense from mike lucci and the lions atlanta had to settle for a three-pointer from rookie bill bell it was now 14 to 10 lions [Music] remember ron jesse the lion's return man who pussyfooted the last kickoff this time jesse chose the straight and narrow ducked one man used his screen blocking and went 97 yards to a touchdown the lions were playing opportunistic football their offense had not outgamed the falcons and would total only 120 yards for the half but their defense and special teams had produced two scores and they now led 21 to 10. it took bob barry just four plays to get it back the first play was unique a run that didn't result in a fumble but barry was kidding no one passing was his forte he led the nfc before this game and he continued to go up top on nearly every play using rookie ken burrow number 82 as his prime target two plays later barry hit burrow on a deep post beating wayne rasmussen and barney for the touchdown the king falcon was picking the lion's secondary clean and would gain nearly 200 yards passing in the half alone the lions bugaboo the big play had again cost them and the falcons were down by four with two minutes gone in the second quarter 21-17 landry went to the air on his next series and the lions offense which hadn't shown much so far began to roll first to earl mccullough then to larry walton number 49 and landry's passing which did not look sharp so far this year had the lions over midfield then landry tried to force a pass to his big receiver tight end charlie sanders and he paid for it rookie tom hayes number 27 stole the underthrown pass away and atlanta had a chance to take the lead for the first time [Music] after a penalty set them back it looked like they would another buried a borough bomb another long gain 66 yards to the lion's 25. [Music] burrow hurt his wrist and wisely removed himself from the game after a brilliant first half performance first and ten on the 25 the lion's man-to-man coverage had been burned badly but mike wieger adroitly saved a score here a beautiful play-action fake set up the lions on second down but wieger again came over to prevent a longer gain then on third down barry went for the score again but like landry forced his throw into a horde of lions wayne rasmussen came up with a big play and the lions defense had saved themselves on a repeat watch number 53 lucci read the pass and react quickly as barry's pass was intercepted by the leaping rasmussen [Music] a personal foul gave the lions the ball on the 10 with under two minutes left in the half thumbelitis strikes again this time it hit alti taylor on his own 10. greg brzezina scooped it up and almost went in for a touchdown the falcons had the ball on the lions three in a wild first half that still had plenty to see art malone dove over from the one and it was now 24-21 falcons with 25 seconds left the falcons went for the short squib kick to prevent jesse from returning it was a calculated risk on van broglin's part but in retrospect it backfired the lions recovered but more important they had field position at their 47 with 17 seconds left it looked as if time would run out as landry was dumped on his own 37 but detroit called time time for one last play five seconds left against a prevent no way to score right wrong larry walton's 56-yard touchdown catch and run was the perfect ending to a first half that was a 30-minute halftime carnival in itself a pandora's box had opened in almost every possible thing that could happen had happened 28 24 lions with 30 minutes yet to play [Music] in the second half the detroit lions almost lost their 28-24 lead on their first series but quarterback greg landry is a third runner in the lion backfield and his footwork often delivered detroit from sticky situations whenever the running game would start to bog down landry steamed one of his infrequent passes only five times in the second half did landry choose the overhead route [Music] the lions reached the atlanta 16 solely on landry's arm and his ability to make the most out of treacherous situations from the 16 landry went for six but his bullet sailed away from wide open charlie sanders number 88. shrewdly the young general came back to sanders on the very next play and the result was a lions touchdown and a harsh landing for the all-pro tight end a second look reveals that landry's protection was immaculate and that his feathery throw made sanders stretch every fiber of his body allowing him no time to cushion his crushing rendezvous with the ground [Music] sanders all-out efforts and diving grabs have meant many a frequent tko from the tiger stadium sod but atlanta's discomfort was even greater as they trailed the lions by 11 points 35-24 quarterback bob berry tried to deceive the lions with a false reverse and screen pass to cannonball butler but number 83 defensive end jim mitchell stayed at home and busted up the play then with the detroit ends and tackles stunting barry threw into the teeth of a double team on jim mitchell and paid for it with an interception by dick lebeau the theft was the 58th of lebeau's career and made him the nfl's third leading all-time interceptor the turnover had set the offense up nicely inside the falcons 20 but detroit found the young atlanta defense unyielding on three pops through the line so on fourth down they trotted out arrow man and his field goal enlarged the lead to 38-24 trailing by 14 points barry went to his burly tight end jim mitchell whose roughhouse style decimated the lion's secondary barry's attempt to balance out his attack with some running through fruitless so he came back throwing and pinpointed a perfect strike to set back art malone through two defenders [Applause] with it first and 10 on the detroit 25 the stubby quarterback found flashy ken burrow running unmolested behind safety wayne rasmussen and lobbed his third touchdown of the day another view shows that when barry's only tormentor number 74 larry hand was written out of the play he had many precious seconds to scan the secondary very wisely selected the sleek rookie from san diego state who on the day grabbed six passes for 190 yards now detroit's margin was only a touchdown and with time dying in the third quarter they unleashed the full fury of setback steve owens whose hard-running and surprisingly soft hands decided this game's outcome [Music] in the last quarter the lions came straight at atlanta it was basic bruising football more akin to the big ten than the nfl [Music] owens ripped through tiny scenes in the falcon defense carrying two and three tacklers with him on every play [Music] owens the former heisman trophy winner used to carry the ball 30 to 40 times a game at oklahoma where his durability wore down defenses as they weakened he seemed to grow stronger with every carry owens had many doubters when he came to the pros but now he was ramming the heisman jinx right down the falcons throat at the falcon 4 the lion drive ended when landry's pass trickled through earl mccullough's hands in the end zone on reviewing the last play we can see that landry never looked in mccullough's direction until the last instant his pass was true but mccullough never looked the ball into his hands and muffed a sure touchdown instead of seven points detroit settled for three as arrowman's field goal gave the lions a 41-31 spread [Music] the detroit drive had lasted almost seven minutes so bob berry went to the sideline pattern to preserve the clock [Music] a surprise quick hitter did not fool the quick hitting lions so barry went for the safety of the sidelines again and lem barney almost picked him clean on third and eight the determined running of cannonball butler picked up seven yards now it was fourth and one on their own 45 it was no time for conservative thinking so barry disdained the run barry caught the lions blitzing but it was trusty old dick lebeau who caught the misdirected pass with four minutes remaining and holding a 10-point lead detroit would try to chew up the clock once again it was steve owens carrying the ball and tacklers on every play owens running consumed almost three minutes as detroit powered inside the falcon 50 before they were forced to punt on fourth down all the white shirts came and airborne john small blocked herman weaver's punt it seemed that half the falcons team had a shot at the ball before their alert rookie cornerback tom hayes scooped it up and sprinted for the touchdown now the lion lead was just three points and if atlanta could recover their onside's kick a tie was just a field goal away only 30 seconds remain the onside's kick must combine spin with confusing bounces however bill bell's attempt had neither and went right into the hands of reserve tight end craig cotton number 87 and all chance for victory was lost the remorseless clock ticked away atlanta's fate as detroit earned their second victory in three games now the nfc central division was deadlocked in a four-way tie for first place with all its members possessing identical two and one records the atlanta falcons had done their thing as league leading quarterback bob berry passed for over 300 yards but detroit had done their thing also and rushed for over 200 yards on this sunday this very special black and blue division brand of crunch had its day and the detroit lions won 41 38. [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Comrade Dobler

Views: 3,720

Rating: 4.75 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: etkbvShuFOg

Length: 23min 12sec (1392 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 09 2020