Weird play calls: 1983 Pats-Falcons

[Bryan]

8 seconds left in the half, Patriots 75 yards away from the Falcons endzone...Grogan drops back to pass...holds the ball a bit too long...is hit by Mike Pitts and fumbles...John Rade returns the ball 16 yards for a TD as the half expires. Pats go on to lose 24-13, missing the playoffs by 1 game with an 8-8 record on the year.

[BD Sullivan]

8 seconds left in the half, Patriots 75 yards away from the Falcons endzone...Grogan drops back to pass...holds the ball a bit too long...is hit by Mike Pitts and fumbles...John Rade returns the ball 16 yards for a TD as the half expires. Pats go on to lose 24-13, missing the playoffs by 1 game with an 8-8 record on the year.

Super Bowl XVIII, right near the end of the first half: Joe Theismann, meet Jack Squirek.

[JeffreyMiller]

New York Giants/Philadelphia Eagles ... Miracle at the Meadowlands ...

[7DnBrnc53]

2014: The Pats are beneficiaries of two bad play calls in the postseason.

There is the pass on the goal line in the SB, and then there is the pass that Joe Flacco made in the end zone in the divisional round that got intercepted. Baltimore had all the time in the world (down only four), and they had the ball around the NE 40. Why pass?

[BD Sullivan]

In the closing seconds of their second-ever game on 9/18/60, the New York Titans are set to punt from midfield, leading 24-21. The snap to punter Rick Sapienza is low, causing him to fumble the ball. Both teams go after the ball, with the Patriots' Chuck Shonta picking up the ball at about the Titans' 25 and running it in for a score with no time left to give Boston a 28-24 win.

[SixtiesFan]

8 seconds left in the half, Patriots 75 yards away from the Falcons endzone...Grogan drops back to pass...holds the ball a bit too long...is hit by Mike Pitts and fumbles...John Rade returns the ball 16 yards for a TD as the half expires. Pats go on to lose 24-13, missing the playoffs by 1 game with an 8-8 record on the year.

Super Bowl XVIII, right near the end of the first half: Joe Theismann, meet Jack Squirek.

Funny thing, Joe Theismann is being interviewed on Joe Buck's program (with multiple showings) this week. They go into some detail with several reruns of Theismann preventing the interception that would have put the Dolphins up by 11 in the third quarter of Super Bowl XVII. They don't show the Jack Squirek interception at all, or mention it.

[JWL]

The 1977 Colts getting a punt blocked for a touchdown to lose 10-13 in the waning moments of a game was a curious decision.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid= ... 7212&hl=en

[Citizen]

The 1977 Colts getting a punt blocked for a touchdown to lose 10-13 in the waning moments of a game was a curious decision.

Coincidentally, the week before against those same Lions, the Packers did what the Colts should have done: took an intentional safety while guarding a slim lead late in the game. These days, it's just understood that that's what you do under those circumstances, but the strategy of trading two points for better field position apparently was still somewhat novel then.

[Rupert Patrick]

The 1977 Colts getting a punt blocked for a touchdown to lose 10-13 in the waning moments of a game was a curious decision.

Coincidentally, the week before against those same Lions, the Packers did what the Colts should have done: took an intentional safety while guarding a slim lead late in the game. These days, it's just understood that that's what you do under those circumstances, but the strategy of trading two points for better field position apparently was still somewhat novel then.

I'd be curious to find out when the intentional safety late in the game strategy first began. The first time I saw it was in the final minute of the 1973 Dolphins Steelers game when Miami took an intentional safety (which surprised the MNF announcers) when Pittsburgh had them pinned deep in their territory and Miami was nursing a 30-24 lead and didn't want to risk a blocked punt in the end zone. Today it is a common strategy.

[Todd Pence]

Ted Marchibroda was asked why he didn't take the safety in the Colt-Lion game of '77, and was quoted as rationalizing "I didn't want go give them another play. Time would have run out if we had gotten the punt away."