1976 NFL Week 11

the oakland raiders came to philadelphia confident of expending little energy and fully expecting to clinch their fifth straight championship in the afc west with the help of a non-existent eagle offense the raiders attained both goals without breaking a serious sweat the silver and black tuned up for the playoffs by stampeding into roman gabriel's past pocket and ruining the big quarterback's 1976 debut [Music] but just by oakland's magnificent offensive line raider backs churned out 250 yards rushing scored two touchdowns and made everything look as simple as a half speed dummy drill [Music] with quarterback ken staber throwing sparingly but as usual effectively the raiders won 26-7 instead of throttling back the raiders intend to shift their momentum flush forward to ensure home field advantage in the playoffs in oakland they believe neither snow ice wind rain or the hot breath of their challengers can stay their appointed destiny in atlanta roger starbuck's crooked pinky was not the only thing bent out of shape for the flat and still deflating dallas cowboys dallas game plan was to resuscitate their vanishing ground game a vital element in the cowboys complex and ornamental yet wonderfully conceived [Music] offense for three quarters things worked out marvelously as dallas ran well built a ten to nothing lead and always seemed on the verge of blowing out the falcons for 50 minutes the doomsday defense led by ed too tall jones number 72 did not allow atlanta to penetrate their 40-yard line but suddenly the cowboys offense self-destructed and the disaster they had flirted with in recent weeks could not be avoided in a five-minute stretch in the final period dallas committed almost more errors than they had for the entire season and atlanta eventually turned every mistake into points mike esposito number 26 a seldom used running back keyed the upset with a 35-yard touchdown burst as they beat the cowboys on one of those any given sundays 17 to 10. unlike dallas the saint louis cardinals have shown no signs of turning stale and against the redskins terry metcalf number 21 demonstrated the quick strike potential of the nfc's top-rated offense but at this time of the season even the slickest teams skate on the thin ice that borders the wild and woolly and the downright dangerous thus a cardinal screen pass that eventuated into a flea flicker from their own end zone can be termed suicidal [Music] however it was not soft-headed plays but a solid defense that denied saint louis and sacked jim hart in crucial situations [Music] even behind a patchwork offensive line nifty mike thomas number 22 has been the wheelhorse of the attack thomas rushed for 195 yards scored their lone touchdown and gave them a lead from which they were never headed [Applause] trailing 16 to 10 st louis made a belated comeback bid on the wings of a jim hart pass to mel gray [Music] grey's heroics fell just short of the tying touchdown as st louis dropped their second straight to washington george allen's tired remnants and retreads keep hanging in losing some they should win and winning some they should lose but in the end when a title or a wild cardboard is in the office these salty old dogs are yapping and howling in the final scramble for that super bowl bone last sunday in milwaukee the packers gave the vikings headaches as fran tarkenton said their defensive line was just exceptional everybody tries to earn their reputation against a good team like ours the score was tied at three with just a half minute left in the second quarter when tarkenton and chuck forman pulled off this 25 yarder on 4th and 21 with just six seconds left in the half tarkenton finally put minnesota on top with this pass to running mate robert miller number 35. in the second half the old statue of liberty play put chuck foreman back in business chuck foreman needs only 58 more yards for another thousand yard rushing season and he has also caught an even 50 passes for another 500 plus yards chuck foreman is one big reason the vikings clinched their eighth division title in the last nine years another reason was fran tarkenton's 303rd career touchdown pass it went to ahmad rashad in the fourth quarter as minnesota squeezed past green bay [Music] 17-10 in buffalo last week no titles were won in fact there occurred some of the strangest looking plays of the season this end zone recovery gave the bills their only touchdown while san diego's dan fouts bombed away to charlie joyner the nfl leader in receiving yardage with 970. the chargers won their first in five games and in so doing handed the bills their seventh consecutive loss in buffalo's longest season in several years the weather was better downstate on long island where steve grogan and company worked out against the jets andy johnson's effort resulted in the first patriot score and in all steve grogan accounted for three touchdowns through the air [Music] richard todd started again for new york and threw a scoring pass of his own to surprising rookie of the year candidate clark gaines number 21 as has become custom lately with the jets joe namath relieved todd after the game's first two series and he added still another touchdown pass but the jet quarterbacks could not keep the ball away from the greedy new england defenders of 10 total turnovers for new york seven were interceptions and two were returned for long touchdowns by number 34 prentice mcrae the patriots won their eighth game which assured them their best season in the last 10 years in tampa cleveland brown's quarterback brian seif gave florida fans a pretty good chance to reminisce over an old friend 12-year wide receiver paul warfield number 42 midway in the third quarter found warfield for the touchdown which broke a 7-7 tie [Music] this rare buccaneer touchdown play from steve spurrier to essex johnson had averted a possible fifth shutout for the nfl's bottom ranked offense [Music] unfortunately for steve spurrier the buccaneer offensive line is not yet capable of giving him much protection and cleveland took full advantage of this weakness the browns rolled to their sixth victory in the last seven games 24-7 and remained tied with pittsburgh for second place in the amazing afc central division [Music] with bearded terry bradshaw injured and a young upstart rookie named mike krutziket quarterback one has to wonder how the steelers have managed to win six in a row well they haven't been doing it with mirrors until last week's battle with the houston orders the pittsburgh defense had allowed but three points in their last four outings while the steelers were racking up 109 for themselves needless to say pittsburgh's title hopes have been kept breathing not by an iron lung but by a steel curtain however last week veteran quarterback john hadel gave the steelers a few depressing moments as he led his team to two touchdowns including this 69-yard pass to ken burrow [Music] despite the momentary generosity the steelers kept their eye on the playoff picture as they ran the victory 32 to 16. meanwhile in san francisco ram quarterback pat hayden was first a juggler and then a doormat in the face of a withering attack with the apt name 49ers gold rush hayden found himself a man trapped in a flesh slide despite his early difficulties the first year signal caller finally got all day to throw and made it pay off on a 49-yard strike to wide open receiver ron jesse try as he might 49er quarterback jim plunkett could get nothing going all day monty jackson's theft and touchdown run made the final score rams 23 49ers three and was certainly worth some celebration as it gave los angeles a one and a half game lead in the nfc west with but three games to go though the picture looks bleak for the 49ers at present they should take heart for anything can happen in this topsy-turvy season just ask the atlanta falcons last week in seattle the seahawks were everybody's favorite after battling the vikings in a narrow 2721 loss the previous week who could blame seahawk fans for having great expectations against the new orleans saints definitely there were moments to applaud like this bill munson to steve largent pass [Music] once again quarterback jim zorn proved to be a man of much potential as he rolled in for a seahawk score even the poorest seattle defense had a fleeting moment of goodness [Music] but then it all fell apart as the saints began marching in on the legs of number 42 chuck muncie [Music] much traveled quarterback bobby douglas rolled around end for three yards and one new orleans [Music] score then a flare pass and a shoulder flapping run by number 34 tony galbraith brought the saints knocking again this time it was chuck muncie's turn to do the honors and can it be as easy as it looks [Music] to take away some of the suspense let it be known that new orleans scored a whopping 51 points last week but it wasn't all because the seattle defense was ineffective safety tom meyer's fumble recovery and return was good for another new orleans score [Music] and somehow you got the picture that the saints were living saintly lives when a bill munson hookup to defensive tackle alex price accounted for 23 yards and yet another new orleans tally with a final score a near embarrassing 51-27 one must wonder how long it will be before the seattle defense will speak to the seattle offense tradition haunts the kansas city chiefs but this year's squad is marching to the beat of a different drummer the resurgent chief offense has ranked at or near the top of the american conference for the entire season former world football league star tommy riemann number 21 is one reason for the turnaround but even more influential has been the superb season-long play of quarterback mike livingston after years as len dawson's heir apparent livingston inherited the starting job this season and his performance has been nothing short of remarkable the chief's air game is currently pro football's best but kansas city's ability to score points simply can't overcome its defense's tendency to give them up for the fact is the chief defense is the most generous in football [Music] archie driven 77 sprint inspired cincinnati's normally sluggish ground attack as the bengals rolled up 269 rushing yards and four touchdowns on route to a 27-24 victory cincinnati's performance confirmed at old maxim about defensive football if you can't stop the other guy you ain't going nowhere the denver broncos specialize in stopping the other guy last week the bronco defense held new york in check while otis armstrong and company controlled the football rushed for 97 yards but the bronco attack could eke out only 14 points still it proved to be enough for what little forward progress new york could muster came from their special teams new york did manage an offensive touchdown later in the game but in typical giant fashion they blew a conversion chalk up lost number 10 for the g-man in detroit the stage was set for another disappointment detroit's league leading defense put its ranking on the line against the nfl's leading rusher walter payton against the lions it was no contest [Music] the swarming lion defense limited payton to a scant 40 yards then proceeded to dismantle the bear air game as well [Music] bob abellini and the bears broke out of the lion's den only once when rookie speed merchant james scott outran detroit's coverage [Music] walter payton james scott and the bears bright young offensive stars were overshadowed last week by a nine-year veteran whose star has finally arrived for years detroit fans have waited patiently for quarterback greg landry to realize his enormous football potential landry's day seems to have arrived [Music] landry currently is the number one passer in pro football last week landry hit on 15 of 26 passes for two touchdowns including this perfectly executed post pattern to wide receiver larry walton the lions are hard to figure with the league's leading passer and stingiest defense detroit owns the ingredients of a champion but those dreadful mistakes continue to plague the lions has detroit heads for yet another second place finish behind the vikings [Music] one of these days one of these teams the bears or the lions will challenge minnesota's dominance in the nfc central division but this season the status quo has been preserved while the bears and lions and packers continue to beat up on one another the vikings can still beat them all so has it been for nearly a decade and so will it be in the black and blue division until a contender can emerge from the pack of also rams

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Id: RDdN8aM_Frk

Length: 20min 29sec (1229 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 31 2020