A whole bunch of candidates for this very season! Good luck coming up with your own personal Top 10. Talk about that Dallas comeback vs Miami...well how about the game at Soldier Field that was going on at the same time? Buddy Ryan vs Air Coryell that went into OT, Bears winning. Vikings/Chargers already mentioned as well but - rounding out the rest of the NFC Central - how about SD's games vs both Lions & Bucs? Also Bills dropping Chargers at the Murph to a threatening 8-6 late in season.Rupert Patrick wrote:1981 had in my opinion perhaps the greatest postseason of any year since the merger; I think you could make an argument for 2008 but I think it comes down to those two as numbers one and two.Teo wrote:For 1981 I would like to know who were the top regular season games. Of course, The Epic in Miami (San Diego-Miami) and The Catch (Dallas San Francisco) playoff games would be at the top of any list, but for the regular season I remember two games in particular (without looking up):
- Miami at Dallas (The Cowboys came from behind to win 28-27, Uwe von Schamman missed extra point was the difference).
- Minnesota at San Diego (The Vikings won 33-31, Terry LeCount had maybe the biggest game of his career).
A game that I remember very well was the Dallas-Detroit at the Silverdome. Dallas was leading by 7 with two minutes to play, Eric Hipple threw an 80-yard TD pass to Billy Sims to tie the score. Then the Lions got the ball back and Eddie Murray kicked the winning FG with no time left (later it was found that the Lions had 12 men on the play).
Thoughts?
As far as other memorable 1981 regular season games, I think the Jets Dolphins 28-28 tie comes to mind, as it demonstrated to the NFL that the Jets were not to be taken lightly. In the 20 regular season games before that tie, the Jets were 5-15, while in the 20 regular season games after that tie, the Jets were 15-5.
The two Colts-New England games which wound up deciding who would get the first draft pick were decided by a total of three points, with Baltimore winning both.
Another great game was the aforementioned Minnesota San Diego game from Week 6 where Tommy Kramer threw four TD passes as the Vikings won 33-31.
The Rams getting two long punt return TD's by LeRoy Irvin to beat the Falcons 37-35,
Dallas beating Philadelphia 17-14 as the Cowboys tied the Eagles atop the NFC East at 7-2 as Philly's season began to unravel.
The Chiefs-Chargers game in Week 9 had tremendous playoff implications. San Diego built up a 19-7 halftime lead, only to see the Chiefs come back to take the lead at 20-19 midway thru the fourth quarter. The Chargers won on a Rolf Benirschke FG with 13 seconds to play. If the Chiefs had won the game and the rest of the season had played out the same way, KC would have won the AFC West and San Diego would have been out of the postseason.
Billy Sims and Little Joe Washington engaged in a rushing battle as they combined for over 300 yards on the ground as Washington beat Detroit 33-31 in Week 10.
In Week 12, it was Sims again, rushing for 119 yards and catching an 81-yard TD pass as Detroit upset Dallas 27-24.
The Jets and Dolphins played another nail-biter, with New York pulling out a 16-15 win (and tying the Dolphins atop the AFC East) as Richard Todd connected with Jerome Barkum on the winning TD pass with 16 seconds to play.
Kramer threw four more TD's, this time in Week 12 against Atlanta, but it wasn't enough as the Falcons won 30-28.
In Week 13 Oakland finally played like the defending Super Bowl Champs when they came back from three TD's down to beat Seattle 32-31.
Week 16 had the NFC Central Championship game where Detroit hosted Tampa Bay, but the Bucs won 20-17.
Needing a Green Bay loss on Week 16 Sunday, the Giants were playing on Saturday and also needed a win over Dallas in Week 16 to snag their first postseason berth since 1963, and they did their part in beating the Cowboys 13-10 in OT.
Also in Week 16, you had the weird play-in game between Green Bay and the Jets, where the winner was in the playoffs and the loser was out, only it affected both conferences. A Jets win put the in the playoffs with the Giants, while a Green Bay win also put Denver in the playoffs. The Jets rolled 28-3.
Levy beating Noll opening day at Three Rivers (lead changing 7 times), Oilers over Rams the next game, Falcons comeback vs Pack following week, Philly over Bills at Rich the week after that (Thurs night) and - easy to overlook - both Eagles' MNF games vs Falcons & Dolphins. Can't forget 'Montana vs Bradshaw'!