The NFL's Best Ever Teams

stadiums are the landmarks on the landscape of professional football they are brave yards for some teams fortresses for others they appear forbidding and fraught with pearls for teams on the road through a season Robert Louis Stevenson once said that it is better to travel in Hope than to arrive teams arrive in different fashion losers arrive storm-tossed winners arrive Starkist for the best teams arrival marks the beginning rather than the end but they realize that there is only one thing to be in the NFL and that is champion up most teams claim to number one lasts only a game for others possibly a season however the greatest team survived the test of time and possess special qualities one embodied the essence of the word t another displayed true grip that made them America's Team one reached out and touched perfection another endured for all reasons and all seasons as professional football evolves into the 1980s the elements that make the game Sparkle today can be traced to Los Angeles California over 30 years ago where the modern Pro offense was born offensively the Los Angeles Rams were decades ahead of their time and in 1950 were the most explosive team in the history of the sport with quarterbacks Bob water-filled and norm Van Brocklin throwing to a bounty of all-pro receivers the Rams presented a carnival a big play a merry-go-round offense with a simple philosophy to hell with how many points the opposition scores will just go or more in one season the Rams scored 466 points 39 against a pinnacle unmatched by any NFL team before or since ironically the Rams did not win the league title in 1950 that distinction belong to a group of upstarts the Cleveland Brown who join the NFL and won the championship in their first year of play their creator Paul Brown was a master innovative the fabric a pro football was altered by this man and his team from sending in plays from the sideline to the invention of a facemask it was Browns intention but everything his team did would be ahead of its time and that meant being the best quarterback Otto Graham and a thundering fullback named Marion McClay fueled a string of 10 consecutive division or league titles the Browns dominated much of the 1950s then gave way to a team that had been losing as much as the Browns had won a small town in Wisconsin was turned into the capital of football excellence by the Green Bay Packers while there was talk of new formations momentum and mystique the Packers went back to basics and proved the game was still one of blocking and tackling they were a mix of old men reborn and golden boys with prompts blended by Vince Lombardi who demanded total dedication from his team and got the packer offense was not explosive rather it was a power game not built on deception but on precise devastating execution of a handful of players from the simple screen pass to the sweet to the trap play their charge was as unified as Patton's Third Army the Packers preferred the feel of a power suite to the Ark of a long time but Green Bay Pass plays were carried through for the same lean and lethal style Lombardi emphasized simplicity on defense as well it was a basic one-on-one me against you approach there were old-fashioned virtues stamped all over Packer teams hard work second effort loyalty and luck in seven years those virtues carried the Packers to five NFL championships and wins in the first two Super Bowl the Packer experience was unique extolled by Jerry Kramer number 64 be all you can be we were everything we could possibly be we gave everything we had we didn't save anything there weren't any tomorrow's for us it was a great personal pride a great emotional feeling I've you never are sure whether winning breeds that warmth or that warmth breeds winning but you never have one without the other the roots of the pack of Psych e were exposed to the limit in the 1967 championship game in a survival test that called for guts and desire the Packers marched a final 67 yards to Doomsday's doorstep five star coming over to check with coach Vince Lombardi 20 seconds remaining in this football game the Packers inches away from something that has never before happened in pro football history a third straight NFL championship the Packers come out a bottle as the Twilight deepened and the cold intensified the Packers were down to one final play star begins the count have the Packers won the game easily they would have been remembered as the team of the 60s but winning the way they did they became a team for the ages in an era where teams ascend then plummet like comets the Oakland Raiders have remained a fixed stock 17 straight winning seasons nine division titles two Super Bowl championships from top to bottom managing general partner Al Davis designed the blueprint for the organization while Davis pattern Raider uniforms after the army football team the Black Knights of a Hudson he shaped their image after black beard the pirate their players were cut from a different cloth renegades with faces only a mother could love the rate is cultivated then reveled in their ominous image we were the black colors the skull and the glass bones and you know we didn't represent everything it was offensive we probably led the league in booze you know Bo oh boo because everywhere we'd go you know we'd go on the road and but but it was a means of acceptance of the worst thing for your football team to go out on the field would be to complete silence it's like there's no one there and weak and it did encourage that and the players kind of like you know that you know everyone's against us you know we have to band together nowhere was this thinking more evident or more persuasive than on defense where the motto was might makes right the mauling brawlin rated defense has traditionally been one of the most intimidating most penalized and most effective units in the game when the radar sends fear anxiety or weakness they go for the throat beneath this unwavering ferocious image was a compelling flexible philosophy this is a goal-oriented organization and our goal is to win to be on top to maintain our level of excellence so that everything we do has singleness of purpose if it's going to interfere with our winning we're going to make a change so that we don't we're not slaves to routine Al Davis has a saying that I think a lot of us have picked up we don't say never we don't say always to us it's much more important to be right at the moment than it is to be consistent al Davis dresses in the past but thinks in the future he is called the genius and his signature is written on every offensive play in the deeply rutted path of conventional football he paid some artfully new directions Davis disdained possession football for an all-out assault on the endzone every play was designed to reach this goal the idea was to keep the defense off balance by always pushing for hurrying the ball downfield the Raiders became the second highest scoring team over the last 20 years by developing an offense that made the long pass as reliable a weapon as the off tackle play like the New York Yankee emblazoned in pinstripes the wear of silver and black was a special person in their search for these special players the Raiders operated as lone wolves ignoring talent pools and scouting combines men like Fred Biletnikoff number 25 fit hand in glove with their unique system when we bring people in here we're looking for people who will fit the philosophy of football that we believe for instance when Lamonica was here he was known as the Mad Bomber we didn't throw along because we had lamonica we got lamonica because we wanted to throw long while most teams employed the bomb only as a desperate measure the Raiders used it as a matter of routine they were the first team to extensively and effectively utilize setbacks that complement receivers in long-distance patterns Oakland knew well that linebackers were ill-equipped to cover running backs in the open field the position of tight end once the province of lumbering lineman was streamlined by the Raiders into one of grace and speed Oakland also tinkered with old notions about offensive linemen and came up with a lineup of giants many chuckled when they transform the huge college all-american taco named Gene Upshaw into a guard as usual the last lab came from the regulars the rate of running game effectively count appointed their ambitious passing philosophy here a succession of rough-and-tumble backs beginning with number 44 marb Hubbard proved not to be trifled with no fancy faints and jabs here just heavyweight right hands under the heart the Raiders have been the winningest team over the past 20 years test dirt that their body of football philosophy remains effectively alive the Raiders were a team of character and characters and despite their reputation as an ill wind there were some breezy free spirits even Johnny John Mac who won 100 games in 10 years use some bizarre methods now I used to say something before a game every game before we got and I and sometimes even at half time before we got I had no idea what it meant but I heard it someplace and it sounded like a pretty good idea the last thing I'd say was don't worry about the horse being blind just load the wagon and let's go I have no idea what it meant but you know some guys kind of got excited when I said Oakland Trails 22:14 ten seconds left the crowd takes up a Chan of defense robe ischium Banaszak of the max slot right branch inside Bradshaw stay back Rogers bunched up look forward as well word on the most swing the play was aptly called the Holy Roller another chapter in radar folklore they were the unquestioned kings of the improbable impossible victory fantastic finishes and storybook endings lent almost a mythic quality to the team it's not real 52,000 people - a few lonely writer fans are stunned a man would be a fool whoever try and write a drama and make you believe it this one will be relived forever that's one thing that we've always taken great pride in when we were behind and we had to move the ball and we had to get something done that we'd do it when you get in a pressure situation there's no one that you'd rather have involved in that plays in Kenny Stabler he has the uncanny knack of putting a ball of between people in between hands and just being able to slip things in there from all different angles and that's exactly what he did you Jenny the snake stapler possessed a Midas touch and the Oakland Raiders found a pot of gold under his rainbow the greatness of state globe was not measured by statistics though they were impressive it was gauged by his O'Rourke's in the clash nowhere was this trait more evident than on December 21st 1974 when a playoff victory appeared certainty for Don Shula's Dolph the gun body even though it was called the greatest game ever play it was not until three years later that the Raiders were considered a great team from the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena California it is Super Bowl 11 this is Bill King with a welcome there are no substitute for a world's championship the only thing the Raiders had never won second this was their albatross the blood on their spotless record but even this flew away and was erased dramatically in Super Bowl 11 against the Minnesota Vikings the Raiders closing in on a Super Bowl championship Frances back the fast brother by Rebecca he's going on victory elevated both the Oakland Raiders and John Madden to pro football's most exalted station three years later another world's championship for the new coach and new stars confirm the Oakland Raiders as one of the best teams ever burning bright beneath the North Texas sky in the heart of the Lone Star State is a galaxy of extraordinary football player they are the Dallas Cowboys a freewheeling all-american Starkist team motivated and disciplined by the genius of a coach named land the Cowboys are pro football's glamour T dynamic progressive and spectacular consistency is a cowboy trade bar underscored by 15 straight winning seasons 11 division titles and two world champions their success is forged by a belief in acquiring outstanding natural athletes then molding them in the cowboy system athletes like Bullitt Bob Hayes number 22 who went from Olympic champion sprinter to all-pro receiving the Cowboys seldom allow time for rebuilding since winning waits for no such luxury time and time again the Cowboys retool on the move replacing one part of their smoothly running machine with another in 1972 the Cowboys won their first Super Bowl six years later pro football's premier team won their second inglorious tie Roger goes deep across the middle way down feel them but John's o'clock touchdown a world championship is the ultimate achievement in any sport but coach Tom Landry has learned more along the way to the Super Bowl than by winning I don't think I would enjoy my profession if I knew I was always a winner I think it's really the chase is important is the challenge that you're after much more than the winning the chase begins with defense in a royal succession of leaders from Bob Lilley to Randy white cowboy intensity is handed down from one generation to the next always the mix of budding stars and all pros they perfected the innovative flex defense that boiled in a melting pot called doomsday you in like manner that cowboy offense is intricately designed it looks like confusion to anybody who doesn't know much about the game because it looks like it just eleven men attacking each other at one time but as you learn the game it becomes very scientific especially in professional football and becomes very intriguing and exciting the cowboy is approached the end zone like a team attending a buffet supper sampling a wide range of delights before finishing the meal of the cowboy innovations include reviving the shotgun offense not used in 15 years sometimes you have to reach back to stay a step ahead what makes the Cowboys so appealing is what separates the good teams from the great ones the ability to come from behind to win shotgun formation Staubach looking into the face of a four-man rush throwing hot dope given a win or else situation in the closing moments no team was ever back I mean you gotta love the cowboy society team in the NFL I can pull it out 42 seconds left in the game Redskins lead by six second down and eight Staubach throwing in the end zone the Cowboys comeback charisma was embodied in Roger Staubach when he did his grand farewell to the game there were doubts that his magic could be replaced but Danny white who had once store-bought miracles from the sidelines for six years had that same penchant for saving lost causes with you our second arrow once again Danny back to throw into the end zone from Bob Haines to Drew Pearce from Bob Lilley to Randy white and from Roger Staubach to Danny white another cowboy transition was complete it's not so much that the Cowboys win football games it's the manner in which they win that makes them one of the best ever in 1972 the Miami Dolphins became the first and only team in NFL history to go through an entire season unbeaten the strength of Don Shula's team was in its balance rather than its breeze though there were performers of superstar quality on the roster basically Miami ran a conservative straight-ahead offense that featured number 39 fullback Larry Csonka it was grinding steady mistake proof football on defense as well Miami allowed its opponents no margin for error before the coming of Don Shula the Dolphins biggest name was flipper who frolic Tanna tank in the East End zone of a half-empty Orange Bowl the fans who were there enjoyed the Sun more than the outcome of golf and games but Shula soon changed sunbathers into flag wavers as Miami earned instant success under his command in 1970 Shuler's first season as coach a team that had won only three games the year before 110 and made the playoffs in his second season Miami won 12 and reached the Super Bowl in 1972 Schuler's third year the dolphins were literally unstoppable winning 17 straight including super bowl setter brainy Bob Griese was the Dolphins leader on the field he quarterbacked an offense that broke a 36 year old record to become the greatest running team in NFL history behind an offensive line that was simply awesome Miami became the first to have two thousand yard runners on the same squad the inside man was Anka the prototype for the bruising fullback he was perfectly complemented by the outside moves and speed of number 22 Mercury Mars and are any of this perfect season was that Bob Griese was lost in the fifth game with a broken leg but ageless veteran Earl Morrill replaced it and in one of the great relief roles in sports history the offense never missed a beat Miami's famous no-name defense also came to the rescue performing brilliantly and often putting points on the scoreboard themselves in Super Bowl seven only the Washington Redskins stood between Miami and football in mortality the Dolphins defeated the Redskins and ended the year with 17 wins and no defeats for one season no team was ever better than Don Shula's 1972 Miami Dolphins for 40 years no team was ever as bad as the Pittsburgh Steelers their offense look as if it were directed by the Marx Brothers and on defense they went down like paper soldiers in the whip but the Steelers sad story became ancient history when owner Art Rooney hired Chuck Noll as head coach Knoll came from a winning background with Cleveland and recalled that the Browns used to make fun of the Steelers upon accepting Rooney's offer no vowed no one will laugh at this team ever again if you knew the Steelers before before he got here we had never won anything and I think we were pretty much you know joke and coached no got here it's sort of like Moses leading the people across the Red Sea in just four years no rebuilt the team and in 1972 the Steelers made the playoffs for the first time for connoisseurs of destiny it was a day to remember Bradshaw running out of the pocket looking for somebody to throw to fires it downfield and there's a Franco Harris's Immaculate reception marked the beginning of Pittsburgh's remarkable rise to power in the following years they would win more games in more different ways than anyone ever thought possible due to superb College drafting no team ever challenged its opponents with as many great athletes 13 Steelers have been named all-pro here comes Terry Bradshaw now where's it Terry Terry Terry good luck today man do you wanna go watching see you later the NFL's number-one pick in 1972 Terry Bradshaw experienced an erratic rookie season but no never gave up on the talented youngster this was paramount for Pittsburgh had a history of impatience with young play the most glaring example came in 1956 when a free agent named John Unitas was given a quick look and found one Earl Morel who was crated by Pittsburgh in 1958 went on to lead Miami to the Super Bowl Len Dawson the Steelers top draft picked in 57 was gone by 59 and Jack Kemp who won championships for Buffalo was cut in the mid fifties but Bradshaw was allowed to mature and he gave Pittsburgh stability at quarterback for the first time he also had one of the most powerful throwing arms ever seen and the Bradshaw bullet became legend in Pittsburgh while Bradshaw was brilliant the power gear of Pittsburgh's attack was the ground game that meant number 32 Franco Hawks Pittsburgh perennial thousand-yard Russia and the third leading runner of all time bradshaw's arm and Harris's flying thief were just two elements in the plentiful package of Pittsburgh talent another was the most awesome defense in the entire NFL Pittsburgh steel curtain simply manhandle opponents with sheer physical strength they played swarming smothering defense punctuated with a kind of vicious individual tackling that caused the enemy to forget the football no defense in football could equal pet birds invincible Steel Curtain in the mid 7 days Pittsburgh won with defense and Franco Harris in the late 70s their tactics change everybody knows we run Franco with run Franco and everybody's trying to stop Franco so we just decide fine you stop Franco will throw the football Carrie Bradshaw's targets where Lynn Swann and John Stallworth number 82 a Barnum & Bailey act in cleats the most dangerous pair of pass catchers in the league no story about the Steelers would be complete without Pittsburgh's fanatical father Steeler country included such characters as Hollywood bags Mean Joe Mad Dog and arrow head oh it was a collection as colorful as Steelers fans themselves and no one appreciated this close-knit camerado ray more than the Pittsburgh players Pittsburgh is a closed community it's tight they do get involved with with this football team and as I say they adopted this football team and we all we belong to them that's my Pittsburgh Steeler right there they really tremendous fans and they will not be outdone by any other national football league city you want to see the killer for Cleveland today right here pepper and I'd say wait here's the kicker come this you've got to see I know you ain't never seen this in you like here's the man right here insider it is little Kayne Hunter Killer but the real killer was the Terrible Towel it posed an insurmountable obstacle for Pittsburgh's oppose the Steelers have the terrible time going form yep this year we've had a revival of the Terrible Kyle it includes plates thanks for the Steelers and if need be hoses mysterious difficulties for the enemy you'll see upon thousands of Terrible Towels waving out in those stands today that terrible Kyle is poised to strike so are the Steelers Bradshaw during the barbed wire wire reverses at the he gives it back to Brad shop that's off by pathetic Oh expert much of all the cheers during the Steeler dynasty the most welcome was heard in 1974 super low our cronies team won the Super Bowl in 1974 and again in 1975 against the Dallas Cowboys two years later they defeated Dallas again for Super Bowl win number three then in 1980 they won over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl 14 the pittsburgh steelers made up for 40 years of defeat with a decade of victory a decade unequaled for sustained excellence eight straight playoff appearances four Super Bowl championship the Pittsburgh Steelers of a 19-7 the best team ever

Channel: Courtney Grant

Views: 68,291

Keywords: National Football League (Sports Association), the nfl's best ever teams, nfl, Oakland Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, Miami Dolphins, 17-0, documentary

Id: NS0Upfd4Ypo

Length: 55min 1sec (3301 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 08 2015