WEBVTT - The NFL Strikes: 1982 and 1987 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.480 Welcome to Special Teams, a production of I Heart Radio 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:23.479 Greetings and Welcoming side Special Teams, the podcast where we 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:26.799 take a look back at special teams and specific years 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:29.720 of sports and what made those teams so memorable. Jason 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:32.320 Smith and Mike Harmon from Fox Sports Radio, we are 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:35.639 your genial hosts as we're gonna do something special. As 0:00:35.640 --> 0:00:38.280 we're in a time going on where the coronavirus pandemic 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:41.120 has shut sports down for a good period of time, 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:44.720 we're looking back at some what some special teams did 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:47.960 during some years in which there was either no games 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:51.400 played or we had big interruptions, and there were large 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:54.720 swaths of time where there were no games played. Last 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:57.920 week we look back at Major League Baseball strike which 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:01.320 cost Major League Baseball over fifty games for a team, 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:06.600 and the lockout which there was no World Series. This episode, 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:10.280 we look back at the NFL strikes of nine eight, 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:14.400 two and seven. And if you thought, if you listen 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:16.800 to last week's podcast and you thought major League Baseball, 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:19.280 especially in nine eight one, did some lacky things, well, 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:23.120 let me tell you exactly what the NFL strike was 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:26.920 all about. Because Mike, at this point I was used 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:28.480 to it. I mean, I was eleven years old, but 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:31.039 I had just seen a baseball strike and I kind 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:34.520 of understood, Okay, the players wanted something. They wanted to 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:38.759 be treated better, and the owners didn't want to treat them. Well, 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:40.160 that's kind of what I thought of when I was 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:42.480 ten years old, not knowing the business aspect of it. 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:44.640 And then the NFL strike comes up, and I'm thinking 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:47.080 the same thing. The players want to be treated better 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:49.080 and the owners don't want to do it for him. 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:52.320 So I was always a players guy during strikes as 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:55.160 a kid, just as I didn't understand the machinations of everything. 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:57.200 So again I'm here going, okay, now we're not gonna 0:01:57.240 --> 0:02:00.560 have football games because the owners and in the league 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:02.480 doesn't well, don't want the players to have more than 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:06.360 what they have right now. Well, sure, and watching television 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:08.760 or listening to whatever you were around the house. I mean, 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:12.200 it was about the working man, right. That was the 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:15.160 theme of a lot of sitcoms when we were growing up, 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:18.119 was how they were getting screwed by the man. Uh 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:20.720 So it was easy to identify. And here from the 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:24.960 NFL perspective, you don't recognize how much revenue is generated 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:27.720 on a weekly basis when you're ten or eleven or 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:31.520 eight years older, you know, and rolling through you're you're 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:34.280 thinking about, I just want my guys beating the hell 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:37.200 out of each other on a Sunday, my team to 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:42.440 win jets uh, and and that you were just excited 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:45.080 for each of those weeks done fold because we didn't 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:48.040 have it multiple days. I mean, you had some Monday 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:50.480 night football actually, because you didn't have the rest of 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:54.320 the rest of the mechanics that we do now. So 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:57.959 I mean Sunday really was held to that sacred spot 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:01.000 and you had no idea what is being fought over 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:03.960 because it would always be couched in in big rhetoric 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:09.399 of you know, how you get into larger union strife, 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:13.799 whether it's these pro athletes or any other business in America. 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.440 So in the players, what they mainly wanted was a 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:20.760 bigger percentage of gross revenues, which is what players want 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:23.240 all the time now. Every time you hear a CBA negotiations, 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:25.360 a you guys have a lot of money, you got 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:27.080 to give us more money, and the owners go on, 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:29.120 we don't have any money, we can't do this for you. 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:31.799 So even back in two this is what they were 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:34.600 fighting about and same thing for the NFL now whenever 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:39.120 they get into cb A situations a fifty seven day strike. 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:42.480 What this meant was the NFL season was going to 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:46.520 be nine games long. Alright, so nine games in the playoffs, right, 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:52.040 But they decided to make a special sixteen team playoff tournament. 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:55.080 Not not we're gonna play this that playoff teams, No, No, 0:03:55.480 --> 0:04:00.160 they put in sixteen teams, eight from each con from 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:02.000 So this is before expansion, so by this is like 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:06.480 the NBA, where everybody made the playoffs. Division standings were ignored. 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:07.840 It didn't matter if you played in the A f 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:11.000 C East an f C West. Eight teams the top 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:14.640 eight from each conference were seated one through eight, best 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:17.120 record to worst, as they wanted to make sure the 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.520 best teams got in just because over half the season 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:22.080 was playing. Now, this last part, I understand wanting to 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:23.919 put the teams in with the best record because you 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.240 had some teams sitting at you know, five and four 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:29.040 leading their division. It's okay, you're really not that good, 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:32.119 but you know, you don't just get in just because 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:34.600 you win a division after playing half a season. They 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:37.040 wanted to make sure the best six team teams got in. 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:39.799 I don't know that they needed sixteen teams. For some reason, 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.279 they decided sixteen was a big number, and so they 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:45.640 wound up letting in teams with losing records into the playoffs. 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:48.159 But this was their thing. They wanted to get everybody in. 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.600 So it was a very, very weird situation. So they 0:04:51.640 --> 0:04:54.800 seeded all the teams one through eight, and one played 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:56.560 eight in the first round of two played seven, and 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:58.719 three played six, and four played five. And there's all 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:00.919 kinds of games going on the weekend. It was like 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:04.080 a normal NFL week, and I remember watching game after 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:06.440 game after game, going, boy, this is kind of cool 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:09.479 with all these playoff games going on. I'm ready for 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:14.160 the n c Double A tournament. Now let's go bracketology 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:19.400 two style, there's no question. But what's interesting, though, is 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:22.320 I think you'd also have people proposing in this day 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:25.920 and age, can we just simulate those last games of 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:29.159 the regular season so we just get the sixteen. Hey, 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:31.400 but at least they did better than baseball. Everybody had 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:35.599 played the same number of Damn, it's a little easier 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:38.200 in football. There's only a lot less games going on. 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:42.120 I know it's not in the wink to the insane 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:45.280 effort of trying to do the schedule as it did. 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:47.760 You played a hundred and four, you played a hundred 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:50.800 twelve as same thing. Let's go so before we get 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:53.679 to the special teams that really stood out here, Uh, 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:56.800 this is just some things that went on during the 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:59.880 players strike and some changes that came to the NFL. Now, 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.840 eight eighty two was the first year sacks became an 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:05.240 official statistic in the National football This is why the 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:08.159 all time sack record is meaningless because they just started 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:10.400 keeping it in eighty two, and you had guys that 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:13.479 probably had thirty forty sacks in a season, but doesn't 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:16.920 matter because we didn't start keeping until so it's kind 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:18.920 of meaningless and also, you know, cheapened by the whole 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:22.960 straight hand far thing. And for the for the first time, 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:28.080 many uh East Coast games were in a four pm 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:31.679 Eastern time window. Now, for years and years and years, 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:33.720 you and I have woken up and it's always been 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:35.480 we have the early games, you have the late games. 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:39.479 But that wasn't always the case. Usually every game at 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:42.680 that time was one o'clock local time, regardless as to 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:44.680 who was home. So you had you were you had 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:46.320 a home game, you were one o'clock. If you were 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:48.400 on the East coast to West coast, whatever home team 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:50.400 you were in, you played at one o'clock. Now you 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:53.280 had East Coast games late, so you got to see 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:56.279 better games later on in the day. And I remember 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:59.920 how weird that was, seeing boy the Jets. It's dark out. 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:04.080 They gotta turn the lights on. It's seven o'clock that 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:07.360 Jets are playing. I don't understand this. And my grandmother 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:09.240 was always yelling, cause I live with my grandparents gone. 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:12.360 When can I have dinner? My grandfather go after the game. 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:15.360 There's two more minutes left, that's gonna be half an hour. 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:18.280 We'll eat down here, bring our food down to the basement. 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:19.480 That was the best because I got to eat in 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:21.640 the basement and watch the end of Jets games, because 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:23.720 you know, they would play at four o'clock and and 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:26.679 sometimes go all the way untill seven, seven thirty seven. 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.440 And my grandmother's like, Jason's gotta get ready for school, 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:32.360 He's gotta take a bath, he's gotta finish his all 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:34.960 for the game will be over soon, don't worry about it. 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:39.320 Take a bath. Oh yeah, filth those days, you know, 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:41.760 And I don't know why, because all the other times 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:44.520 I would take showers, but for some reason, on Sunday nights, 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:46.440 my grandmother wanted me to take a bath. I don't 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:48.760 know why. I'm like, I'll just take show ease your 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:51.680 lead baths free. I'll just I'll just gonna take a shower. No, no, 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:54.440 take a bath Sunday. I could shower all the other days, 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:56.560 but Sunday was a bad I don't know why Sunday 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:58.680 was a bath day. I really don't get it. So 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:00.880 that was kind of a fun little tweak now of 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:03.440 the countant. Can you imagine not playing the way you're 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:05.480 playing at one o'clock no matter what, We're missing all 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:07.480 these great games and not being able to move things 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:11.160 for TV. So that was the first time that happened. Now, 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:16.840 during the strike, they decided to have to all Star games. Right, well, 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:19.560 the strike is going on to a f C NFC 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:23.440 All Star games, and one was in Washington, one was 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:26.640 in Los Angeles. Now, not many star players came to 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:28.600 play in this. In these two games, it was away 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:30.520 for the NFL to say, well, with some kind of 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:32.480 football out of here, so we'll have an All Star 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:35.120 game and people able to play One of the stars 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:37.199 who played was John Riggins, who went on to be 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:40.280 Super Bowl m v P later on, and he actually 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:43.400 said during a postgame interview, well, I'll do anything for money, 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:46.040 because you know, these guys aren't getting paid. And he said, 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:48.319 I'll I'll do I'll do it. You're paying me, Ylcolm, 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:50.880 I'll do anything for money. So this is what it 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:53.360 was like at the time. We're trying to feed a 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:57.240 football you know, a country that's just starting to become 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:00.800 football reliant, football crazy. Let's have a couple of All 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:02.959 Star games. We can't get good players. Oh, you'll pay 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:04.880 me a couple of guys will show up at least. Look, 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:07.160 here's what I mean. In the Pro Bowl, the the 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:12.440 winner only got five grand. Well five grand I want 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:14.199 to know what they're paying for these All Stars. I 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:16.240 know five grande and eighty two has got to be like, 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:21.960 you know, fifteen grand now, Uh, we gotta wait, I 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:25.840 gotta calculate that one. So while that happened on the 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:27.959 field during the strike, I mean, how insane is that 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:29.680 during a strike, we're gonna have games. Wait I thought 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:31.720 we were striking. No, No, we're gonna have games. You 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:34.319 know what You're I'm too bad off. I gotta stop 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:37.560 you because I got the answer. Oh uh yeah, it's 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:41.040 worth about thirteen thousand three. Oh. I was really close 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:43.160 with that, and you're a lot closer than I would 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:45.080 have expected. Good for you, and I am not good 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:48.920 at math. That is also that was fantastic spitballing right there. 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:52.120 So while the league is trying to figure out things 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.400 with these two a f C NFC All Star games, 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:59.880 what did the television stations do? NBC aired CFL game, 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:04.240 They aired Canadian Football League games before they decided no 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:06.720 one's watching these things and they just stopped airing them. 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:09.320 So it's like, so if you were buying into the 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:12.840 Montreal Alouettes or the Saskatchewan rough Riders or the other 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:15.440 rough Riders team, or the Edmonton Eskimos or the BC 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:18.800 Lions or whoever was, and then they just you know, 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:20.960 it's not where we're staying to air these games anymore. Well, 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:22.680 how am I going to see the CFL games moved 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:27.360 to Canada? No? Uh? Now, now you just slap it 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:33.800 on another network. Uh. Some stations replayed Super Bowls on Sunday. 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:36.880 That doesn't sound familiar at all, No, not at all. Hey, look, 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:39.120 that's been going on with coronavirus. Right, we're seeing old 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:43.240 old Super Bowls on television. They also aired Division three 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:49.760 football games Division three, not Division one, Chicago games Division three. 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:53.600 Here's the Maroons getting after it in looking this up 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:55.440 right and saying, oh my god, what kind of Division 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:58.360 three football games did they do? And I looked for 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.040 audio of this and I couldn't find it. Pat summer 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:04.320 All in John Madden. Okay, Madden and summer All did 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:09.160 play by play of Baldwin Wallace versus Wittenberg. Oh, we 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:14.520 gotta put out a bounty for that, be dub versus Wittenberg. Okay, 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:19.360 summer All Wallace. How do you think that conversation went 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:21.640 when Summer All Madden are going, you know, we're gonna 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:23.640 take some time off wait for the strike. And oh no, 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:28.120 you're contracting you're doing Baldwin Wallace Whittenberg. What we're going? 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:33.400 Where to do? What? Division three football? Yeah? Not making 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:36.480 that trip. I'm calling my agent. Then the agent says, uh, 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:38.080 it's sort of in your contract. You gotta do a 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.440 game every Sunday so they can send you to Division three. 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:45.000 Uh yeah, um, you know what your next contract? What 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:48.520 do you mean I'm fired, I'm uh guess up the 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:54.800 Madden Cruiser get efforts. Yeah, something about it later. Wait, 0:11:54.840 --> 0:12:01.920 I can't say murders you wrote. I I really that 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:05.520 that you think about what what stations did to try 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:08.960 to figure things out. Now, Luckily, when we live in 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:12.040 this area now, in where there's thousands of other things 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:14.439 to do, you know we're not be holding on. I 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:17.960 gotta watch Baldwin Wallace Whittenberg. What's the point? Spread got Whittenberg? 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:20.520 Is Wittenberg? The college was Wittenberg the name of the coach? 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:28.640 Or is that the quarterback? I'll take Wittenberg taking the 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.560 jumper that Lorenzo Charles dunks. That's what I'm gonna have. 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:37.520 So that was what happened during the NFL. You thought 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:39.280 I was lying what I said. You like a Major 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:42.240 League baseball did? This is even more insane. Air comes 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:46.760 Baldwin Wallace. Wallace, Oh that's not the quarterback. Let me 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:53.520 cross that off. Baldwin's not there. Well, here's a handoff, boll. 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:56.000 I like the intensity of this kid. He's just about 0:12:56.040 --> 0:13:04.160 three steps slower than law Taylor. Three step slower. So 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:06.000 wait for that truck to come down. I wonder if 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:08.360 Pat Summer all said, I'm gonna say even less words 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:11.760 doing this. I'm gonna say a hundred words during this broadcast. 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:14.360 I'll parse it out till the end of the game. 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:16.320 But I'm only going to say a hundred words, and 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:28.320 you can't make first down tackle. Wait, wait, second down tackle. Uh. 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.320 So this is where we were at. But finally the 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:34.520 players came back to play and we had the playoffs 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:36.280 coming up. Next, we take a look at three of 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.840 the most special of all of these teams as we 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:43.360 steam forward here on Special Teams, looking back at the 0:13:43.400 --> 0:14:06.480 infamous NFL stray. Continuing on here on Special Teams are 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:12.000 NFL Strikes edition of fifty seven. Day strike has settled. 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:16.280 The NFL has a sixteen team tournament to determine the 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:19.320 playoff teams, in which some teams with losing records get 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:22.400 in the playoffs. The Detroit Lions actually found a way 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:25.280 to sneak into the playoffs. They were only four and five. 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:30.160 But three teams specifically made big leaps this year even 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:32.400 though they fell short of the Super Bowl. The first 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:37.080 one is the Jets. The Jets had a fantastic year. 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.440 They finished six and three. They upset the number one 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:42.960 team in the a f C, the Los Angeles Raiders. 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:45.520 They make it to the a f C Championship game, 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:48.760 but of course lose the mud ball, very famous game 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:53.520 to the Dolphins fourteen to nothing. And for my entire life, 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:57.280 I will believe the Jets when they say all week 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:00.680 long that field in Miami was suppo was to be covered. 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:04.280 Miami had like torrential rain all week long, and the 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:07.960 Dolphins never covered the football field, which they're supposed to do, 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:10.280 and you're supposed to keep the field nice. But they 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:13.880 decided not to cover the field because the Dolphins hallmark 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:16.800 was their great defense. The Jets hallmark was a high 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:18.880 flying offense. They were deep and running back deep at 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:21.640 wide receiver. They moved the football up and down the field, 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:23.360 and it was a mud bowl. You look at the 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:25.000 field and you go, oh, my goodness, how does the 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:27.720 NFL allow this game to happen? Sparely? The NFL didn't 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:30.920 care that the Dolphins didn't cover the field, so they 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:33.960 played this in mud. They could still be playing this game, 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.560 you know, thirty forty years later, and the Jets would 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:39.840 still have zero points. They didn't come close to scoring 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:42.560 a point in this game. X Jet would he Bennett 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:45.600 runs for a touchdown. A J Dewey has three interceptions, 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:48.320 including one he returns for a touchdown. The Jets were 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:50.440 never gonna win this game. They're never gonna do it, 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:53.000 and this is a great team. This was Free McNeil 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:56.800 leading the NFL and rushing the sack exchange Wesley Walker. 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:00.280 But Richard Todd throws five bleeping interceptions in this game. 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:02.960 He was absolutely terrible. But it didn't matter because the 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.560 Jets couldn't do anything, and the Dolphins win and they 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:08.320 wind up moving on in the playoffs. But this was 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:11.000 my first taste of, oh, my goodness, my football team 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:13.120 can be good, because the Jets have been terrible my 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:15.680 entire life. But now, oh my good the Jets are good. 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:18.200 They're almost in the Super Bowl. So now but now 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:20.080 I'm I'm hook line and sinker in on the Jets 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:21.680 for the rest of my life, which you know, in 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.200 retrospect was probably not the best thing for me. Uh. 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:26.600 This is also a great reminder of how different the 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:30.240 NFL is now than it was in nine two, because 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:32.800 there's no chance in hell this is ever allowed unless 0:16:32.800 --> 0:16:34.760 you're gonna try to go play a game in Mexico. 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:39.880 High where the field is a quagmire. I mean, you 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:44.080 still have some rules and regulations to the way they 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:47.120 do that. I mean like they I like the the 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:50.160 bravado of We're gonna do these international competitions, which gotta 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:53.200 make sure that the field is actually playable, right, I 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:55.800 mean they did not do their due diligence and had 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:58.760 to come back to the state side. But whenever you 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:02.280 see and and a lot of these stadium you know, 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:07.520 stad uh, there's still problems because if the building is old, 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:12.440 drainage isn't as great, but you still have the effort 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:17.200 some level of management, right whereas here it was whatever. No, 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:19.240 I know, that's the act sune where the NFL was man. 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:24.919 So the Dolphins, sorry, I know, fat Dolphins wind up 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:27.600 going to the Super Bowl this year. Hey hooray the 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:32.280 Dolphin went um. Meanwhile, another special team was the Green 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:35.439 Bay Packers, who made the playoffs for the first time 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:40.639 since Vince Lombardi was their head coach in Maine seventy two. Now, 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:44.080 this team was fun because this Packers team, they were 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:46.159 always a team that was on late and it was 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:50.119 I felt like the Packers were always down three or 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:53.160 seven late in the game. All they did was throw 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:57.280 the football. Right. This was Lynn Dicky a quarterback, John Jefferson, 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:00.640 James Lofton, Paul Coffin was the tight end, and all 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:02.720 they did was throw the football. And you're talking about 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:05.720 Hall of Fame caliber wide receivers in Lowthon and Jefferson 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:08.160 was so good with both the Packers and the San 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:11.479 Diego Chargers. But this Packers seems suddenly, Hey, all they 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:13.480 did was was go up and down the field, and 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:16.600 they were so much fun. And it was boy, look 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:18.920 at look at green Bay, look a look at something. Hey, 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:21.880 it's it's it's seeing one of those great heritage teams 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:25.440 be good again after not being good for a long time. 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:28.080 And the Packers making the playoffs is a really big deal. 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:30.800 They wind up losing the second game they play. They 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:33.920 beat St. Louis, they lose to the Cowboys thirty seven 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:36.960 twenty six. But this was, man, You know, the Packers 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:38.840 are a lot of fun. Let's let's let's spend some 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:41.760 time going back and seeing a team that built the NFL, 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:45.560 you know, twelve or thirteen years ago. Well you got 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:51.400 Eddie Lee, Ivory, Harlan Hucklebe, Oh yeah, Harlan Hucklebee hitting 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:53.200 a couple of attempts in there. You just wanted to 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:56.960 say Harlan huckle Well, because if I remember right, Brent 0:18:57.040 --> 0:18:59.680 Musburger would I think it was Brent Musberger who would 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:02.439 always say Huckleberry and they would call him, you call 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:05.280 Harlan Huckleberry because we try to say Huckleby, we would 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:09.120 call him Huckleberry. I'm pretty sure it was Fred Musburger. 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:12.560 I'm pretty have to go and huckleberry. You were looking 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:18.880 live Mbo Field, Babe, I'll be your Huckleberry. You don't 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:21.480 have to double daremy start going in all my Toby 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:25.040 Keith discography as we go. But James Lofton one of 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:29.440 those guys and underappreciated receiver. I think Packers had a 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:32.000 couple of those, right because STERLINGK. Sharp. I mean, we 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:34.479 know Shannon through his work and you know in the 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:37.520 media and obviously a Hall of Fame career, but Sterling 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:40.800 Sharp was a beast for them later on, uh in 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:44.360 the decade. But James James Lofton was is a guy 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:47.399 that you know both as a player and then as 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:50.320 a commentator. I just lists eat up every word that 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:54.760 guy's got. He and John Jefferson together on that squads 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:58.119 a Bears fan. As a Bears fan, you know, I 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:02.080 had an early hatred of them. You appreciated, you know, 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:04.600 the skill level of the guys that they were running 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:08.160 again and against. And you know, obviously Lynn Dickey being 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:10.160 one of those legends. I actually had a helmet that's 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:13.280 signed by a bunch of old time greats and Lynn 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:17.000 Dickey's on there. Oh nice. Well, I remember Lofton too, 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:19.760 you know, at the end of his career, was one 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:22.040 of the most important players of the Buffalo Bills, the 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:24.000 teams that went to a bunch of Super Bowls, and 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:26.920 he was he was there, one of their big stars 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:30.360 on the team that wound up going to the Super Bowl, 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:33.359 losing the famous game of the Giants. And maybe this 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:36.720 is this is ten years later and James Lofton is 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:38.560 is still a really big player in the NFL at 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:41.479 wide receiver. I mean, this team started out, they were loaded. 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:44.399 They were a lot of fun, although I gotta say 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:48.880 not as much fun as the San Diego Chargers. This 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:51.480 year turned out to be the last playoff appearance for 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:56.520 Dan Fouts, Charlie Joyner, and Kellen Winslow. Now for my money, 0:20:56.640 --> 0:20:58.920 these Chargers. I mean I know that I was young 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:01.400 watching them, but they were the best team to never 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:04.560 win the Super Bowl. They were so loaded on offense 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:08.359 for so long. West Chandler was All Pro this year, 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:11.040 James Brooks at running back. You know, they had had 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:14.680 John Jefferson already. It was just their defense was never 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:17.199 good enough, and they thought, we're gonna keep throwing the 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:20.040 football and outscore you. And they lost in that that 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:22.359 a f C Championship game to the Bengals when it 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:24.960 was minus fifty degrees out and and you know, they 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:27.880 couldn't do do their thing there. And it was always, boy, 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:30.879 they were so talented, they never had the defense. And 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:33.280 it was the beginning of the teams that you would say, 0:21:33.480 --> 0:21:35.679 they can't win in the cold. They can't go on 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:37.440 the road and win in the playoffs. They have to 0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:39.600