1976 NFL Week 13

naturally the object of the miami dalton defense was to stop o.j simpson they failed miserably as the incomparable one rushed for 203 yards including this 75-yard touchdown burn while oj rocketed around like a phantom jet the buffalo bill defense resembled a jumbo cargo plane in a 60-minute holding pattern airborne the dolphins scored easily and often and rolled up 45 points [Music] the real thorn in buffalo's hoofs was number 86 fast freddie solomon the dalton's wide receiver return specialist and icbm who scored three long range touchdowns the first score came on a 79-yard punt return the second resulted from a hail mary pass by don strzok that ended quite righteously in the heavenly hands of solomon [Music] to document his status as a bonafide triple threat solomon's last score came as a runner when a double reverse climax did a 59-yard touchdown [Music] while fast freddie's bravura performance may have temporarily saved don chula from his first losing season in philadelphia a winning season is harder to accomplish than punching your way out of a paper bag facing the talent-laden dallas cowboys the eagles and in particular bill burkey number 66 tried to intimidate drew pearson number 88 the nfc's leading wide receiver the eagles who have not scored more than two touchdowns in any one game scored one against dallas when roman gabriel found number 85 charlie smith unattended in the end zone for the first time in weeks roger starbuck was able to mix in some runs with the passing that has been the staple of the cowboy attack the balance in their arsenal was provided by number 44 robert newhouse whose prolonged absence this season has cost the cowboys a potential thousand-yard runner before newhouse nursed himself back to health dallas relied on the doomsday defense and the spectacular play of their special teams this blocked punt by rookie aaron kyle was the unit's third snuff of the season and the second consecutive game in which they registered a safety young players naturally used special teams as a stepping stone to starting as a regular one such man is rookie butch johnson number 86 who was a third string receiver on the depth chart when training camp began johnson's touchdown nailed down a 26-7 victory and more importantly the title in the nfc east for the dallas cowboys while dallas gained a playoff berth for the 10th time in 11 years the grizzled old washington redskins were still in the fight for the wild card spot [Music] the redskins set up a summit meeting with dallas this week by bruising and burying the hapless jets 37 to 16. when number 84 gene puket turned around number 47 rookie tommy marveso he turned around the offense as well recently the smoldering washington offense has been blistering hot everything is so sympatico in fact that billy kilmer resurrected a favorite old play the pose pattern to almost forgotten roy jefferson number 80. george allen's redskins are resilient so often they are knocked down and prematurely counted out but they always shake off the cobwebs take a whiff of ammonia and wait for the final bell to ring [Music] last week after a long injury-caused layoff pittsburgh's terry bradshaw was ready to return to action as the steelers playoff hopes flickered like a flame in the wind bradshaw seemed to be in top elusive form and the winless tampa bay buccaneers were no match for the world champs who put 42 points on the blinky board the steel curtain rose to its fourth shutout of the season a new team record but while the red hot steelers were marching to their ninth win of the year they were not the captains of their destiny instead they had to rely on an oakland win over cincinnati in last monday night's game to keep their title hopes alive and when lynn swann offered a prayer of supplication someone up there hurt him as the raiders whipped the bengals 35 to 20 and the steelers playoff flame roared to life and warned the rest of the nfl that they'd better get on their asbestos underwear meanwhile in minnesota the green bay packers were making life tough for the vikings as ollie smith's catch set up a six to six tie a little impromptu chest massage kept the packer heart beating until the beginning of the fourth period in the meantime the vikings displayed a routine that was part marx brothers park keystone cops and minimally successful when one considers the energy expended late in the game however the purple gang got back into grind it out football a duller but more effective routine robert miller's dash set up the second of chuck forman's short touchdown bursts as the purple horde notched victory number 10 20 to 9. [Music] in denver craig penrose a rookie from san diego state was in the hot seat as the playoff bereft broncos hosted the kansas city chiefs penrose took charge immediately by hitting number 25 haven moses for eight yards and a seven to nothing first quarter lead then kansas city punter gerald wilson learned that punting can be painful the broncos have been intimidators on defense all season and last week was not the exception although the chiefs made it close on a mike livingston pass to tight end walter white they could not hold back the inevitable [Music] performing like a seasoned veteran penrose took a deep drop and fired over the middle to riley odems whose great catch and run helped denver gain victory 17 to 16. [Applause] meanwhile somewhere in new jersey lions quarterback greg landry was the scapegoat for a season's worth of frustration that's been suffered by the new york [Applause] giants [Applause] the mauling that landry took left him capable of putting a mere 10 points on the scoreboard against a giant defense that has been characterized as a trifle less than ferocious meanwhile craig morton was letting it fly to xwfl receiver ed marshall number 89 whose disappointment was but a passing fancy soon to be dissolved by some fancy passing with his passing game clicking morton stayed up top for much of the day and found no greater success than when he went to the talented marshall [Music] this amazing score gave the giants a 24 to 10 win their third in a year that's gone from bitter to sour to sweet last saturday in los angeles the voracious ram defense held the atlanta offense to a total of 15 yards in the first half and never allowed a white shirt anywhere near the ram gold line starting his fourth straight game at quarterback number 11 pat hayden looked for wide receiver ron jesse for the big plays [Music] hayden completed 13 of 21 passes and led the rams to 359 yards worth of passing offense for the afternoon number 12 james harris mopped up in style as the rams clinched their fourth straight nfc western title with their greatest scoring onslaught since the days of waterfield and van brookland except for three missed extra points it would have been even worse but for the falcons 59 to nothing was bad enough [Music] in seattle's kingdom the bears also had some fun bob abellini broke open a close game in the third quarter with three long touchdown passes in just three minutes and instead of trailing seven to six chicago suddenly led 27-7 then number nine virgil carter mopped up in the same manner as james harris [Music] but the big story of the game was number 34 walter payton who carried 27 times for 183 yards his best day in pro football peyton ran his season yardage to a league leading 1341 enough to top gail sayer's club record by more than 100 yards [Applause] bob abellini and walter payton led the young bears to more than 500 yards of offense and this week chicago will be shooting for its first winning season since 1967. in saint louis last week bert jones the nfl's top ranked quarterback led the nfl's top-ranked offense with passes like this one to roger carr the baltimore colts have scored 359 points so far this season the most in the nfl and that is due in good part to the classic rifle belonging to the jones boy this touchdown by number 87 tight hand raymond chester brought the colts close in the third quarter but baltimore could get no closer partly because of some new red dogging defenses which the cardinals coaches devised especially for bert jones and the colts the main difference in the game was that the cardinals suffered only one turnover while taking five away from the usually sure-handed colts [Music] baltimore has been the league's best pass rushing team for the past two seasons but this quality was nullified by the great wall of st louis allowing jim hart and the nfc's top ranked offense enough time to hit for big plays through the air number 88 third year tight end jv kane came up with several clutch catches for the big red the game's biggest play was the kind everyone has come to expect from mr wonderful terry metcalf the cardinals had to win and they did win 24-17 st louis was still in the playoff picture and hoping for some help this weekend from the dallas cowboys in their game against the washington [Applause] redskins every season the nfl produces some surprises one of this year's is monty clark's 49ers winners of just five games in 1975 san francisco was still alive for a playoff berth going into the 13th weekend of the season but when mercury morris scored in overtime enabling the chargers to beat the 49ers 13-7 san francisco's hopes were over [Music] the fact that the 49ers could still have made the playoffs at such a late date surprised the experts but an even greater shocker is the cleveland browns who suffered a 3 and 11 season in 1975. [Music] this year the browns are loose and not because they have nothing to lose on the hard rock surface of municipal stadium the browns remained in contention for a post-season date it was not easy for cleveland had to overcome the tough defense of the houston oilers and the frozen field frosted fingers [Music] factor the 23 degree temperatures undoubtedly helped freeze both teams attacks but even more alert defense by the oilers forced the browns into five fumbles and two interceptions in return the browns forced three fumbles and three interceptions so it was not surprising that there was only one score in the first half set up when ricky feature number 83 bobbled a punt naturally but then sped 49 yards [Music] features returned set up a brian's site to paul warfield touchdown pass of 37 yards and that score plus two second half don cockraw field goals were enough to edge the oilers 13 to 10 and keep the brown season going [Music] sure it's a long shot that both the steelers and bengals will lose this week giving cleveland the division title but the fact that the possibility even exists is one of the many surprises of 1976. the maxi surprise is the new england patriots the pats like the browns won only three games a year ago but last week new england clinched a playoff spot with a 27-6 victory over the saints the patriots in the playoffs is not the only surprise many are calling them the best team in the league and not without reason the new england running game that trampled over 330 yards two weeks ago against denver ran up 220 yards against new orleans last week [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the patriots brilliant young quarterback steve grogan scored his 10th and 11th touchdowns to tie johnny lujack and tobin wrote record for touchdowns by a quarterback in one season [Music] [Applause] [Music] the patriots can pass too grogan threw two more scoring passes against the saints for a season total of 18. [Music] it seems the patriots can do no wrong a stingy defense good special teams and the afc's second highest scoring offense make it look so easy despite the fact that new england can't sneak up and surprise anyone anymore [Applause] with tampa bay coming up this week don't be surprised if the surprising patriots turn last year's three and 11 record into this year's 11 and three and don't be surprised if the patriots go even further once the playoffs begin

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Id: VdZLmDnUtuE

Length: 20min 21sec (1221 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 05 2021