Super Bowl 10

[Sonny9]

1:33 left in the game. The clock stopped as the Cowboys used their last timeout
Steeler ball on Dallas 41 4th and 9. Why in the world did they go for it instead of trying a pooch punt. A touchback they still get 20 net yards. That much afraid of a blocked punt?

Stram and the other announcer didn't say much about going for it. Stram did say they were going to run off as much time off the clock as they could. He does he not know the clock stops on a change of possession? Dallas gets the ball on the Steeler 38 with 1:22 left but no timeouts.

Why wouldn't the announcers be all over Noll for going for it?

[GameBeforeTheMoney]

Rocky Bleier told me that it was because the Cowboys blocked a punt earlier in the game. Noll was concerned they'd do it again.

It was a different era of announcing. They didn't assume to be better coaches. Sometimes you'd hear things like, "Well, I'm not sure what he's thinking here, but I'm sure he's got a reason." Now people sitting in a booth seem to find it necessary to criticize as much as they can while the game is going on. Maybe it's me being grumpy about it, but there seemed to be a lot more analyzing in the 70s and 80s and a lot less criticizing. With officials maybe back then -- they'd say it was a bad call, and leave it at that. Unitas said "sometimes things get missed" when an obivious penalty didn't get called in one game. That was it.

I don't ever remember Hank Stram saying, "Why is he doing this? Why wouldn't you punt?" on the air. It might be selective memory, but I don't remember him saying anything negative on air.

[Brian wolf]

Watching the game in hindsight, I felt it was pure arrogance on Noll's part but he truly believed his defense would stop them. Stram did question Landry though, feeling the Cowboys never opened up their offense like they had done all year but Blount and Smith were beating up the receivers.

[SixtiesFan]

Watching the game in hindsight, I felt it was pure arrogance on Noll's part but he truly believed his defense would stop them. Stram did question Landry though, feeling the Cowboys never opened up their offense like they had done all year but Blount and Smith were beating up the receivers.

I remember commentary saying Noll trusted his defense to stop the Cowboys.

[Terry Baldshaw]

The story goes that the Steelers had several punts nearly blocked and Noll had doubts about aging punter Bobby Walden. Noll shunned the punt and challenged his great defense to win the game. I recall watching the game, stunned at his decision. Made a great game that much more compelling, though.

[JuggernautJ]

Watching the game in hindsight, I felt it was pure arrogance on Noll's part but he truly believed his defense would stop them. Stram did question Landry though, feeling the Cowboys never opened up their offense like they had done all year but Blount and Smith were beating up the receivers.

I remember commentary saying Noll trusted his defense to stop the Cowboys.

Mike Wagner on the NFL's America's Game series said the same.

Something like "He's trusting the defense to win the game... oh wait.. he's trusting the defense to win the game!"

[Bryan]

One somewhat related thing that LC Greenwood mentioned, which was true in both Steelers-Cowboys Super Bowls, was that Dallas was never able to move the ball against the Steelers regular defense in either Super Bowl. It was only when the Steelers went to their 'prevent' defense toward the end of the 4th quarter did Dallas ever move the ball and score points. In SB X, the Cowboys scored right away when they were given a short field from a botched Walden punt, then really didn't do anything the rest of the time until the Steelers went prevent. Same story in SB XIII, the Cowboys had success early in the game with Tony Dorsett and Staubach got a TD to Tony Hill, but after that the offense didn't do much until it was 35-17 in the 4th and the Steelers went prevent again.

I get Noll's thinking, because Walden was snake-bitten in Super Bowls, but its also questionable because the Cowboys had just quickly scored on the Steelers prevent defense on their last drive. I guess that's what makes football analysis fun.

[74_75_78_79_]

Looked back upon as a "bonehead" call had Dallas ended up winning; and Noll's legacy seen in a different light. Even my Dad (who inspired me to be a Steeler-fan in the first place) said long ago that he thought it was a stupid call. And if Percy Howard would have better-timed his jump in the end-zone just right...but he didn't! 'Almost' doesn't count.

Noll simply daring "Captain Comeback" to do just that on the Biggest Stage at the most-crucial time (with 'Hail Mary' just three weeks fresh), and the Steel Curtain still takes care of biz...this, to me, is the "last-but-not-least" example as to why I see that 12-1 team going into their meaningless finale who swept both 11-3 Cincy & 10-4 Houston, suffocated a hot-Colts team/Bert Jones' offense, besting Madden's Raiders again for the conference, etc, as the best team of all-time regardless of era (of course, JMHO).

Not too long ago, I once thought '78, but as of late it is that very installment three years prior. Not by too much, but not at all by a photo-finish either. The same applies to me thinking that SBX was a better game than SBXIII.

One somewhat related thing that LC Greenwood mentioned, which was true in both Steelers-Cowboys Super Bowls, was that Dallas was never able to move the ball against the Steelers regular defense in either Super Bowl. It was only when the Steelers went to their 'prevent' defense toward the end of the 4th quarter did Dallas ever move the ball and score points. In SB X, the Cowboys scored right away when they were given a short field from a botched Walden punt, then really didn't do anything the rest of the time until the Steelers went prevent. Same story in SB XIII, the Cowboys had success early in the game with Tony Dorsett and Staubach got a TD to Tony Hill, but after that the offense didn't do much until it was 35-17 in the 4th and the Steelers went prevent again.

I get Noll's thinking, because Walden was snake-bitten in Super Bowls, but its also questionable because the Cowboys had just quickly scored on the Steelers prevent defense on their last drive. I guess that's what makes football analysis fun.

As Legendary as Landry is and should be, it did help that Tom would be either too conservative at the wrong time or try to get "cute" at the wrong time vs the 'Burgh. Example of the latter, of course, was beginning of SBXIII not only calling that trick-play that was lost for a fumble after Dorsett was tearing things up, but not really properly ever going back to #33 the remainder of the contest. Their approach was too 'robotic' compared to the, at least relatively, more too-the-point approach of the Champs. This gets discussed in this SI article below following 'Super Bowl XIII and 1/2'...

https://vault.si.com/vault/1979/11/05/c ... in-defense

[Gary Najman]

The story goes that the Steelers had several punts nearly blocked and Noll had doubts about aging punter Bobby Walden. Noll shunned the punt and challenged his great defense to win the game. I recall watching the game, stunned at his decision. Made a great game that much more compelling, though.

That appears in the classic Super Bowl X highlights narrated by John Facenda. Walden had dropped one punt and nearly had two more blocked in the game.

[Brian wolf]

I somewhat, disagree on the 1978/79 SB. Dallas moved the ball just fine and should have tied the score at 21 but Smith dropped the TD pass. What was dumb was Randy White trying to handle it on special teams with a cast on, that resulted in another turnover ... Bradshaw to Swann during those drives put the pressure on the Dallas to score quickly. Dorsett and Staubach had played well.