Best Year of the 1970s

[Reaser]

I like 1978 and 1979 less than the other 8 seasons in the decade due to league structure and rules.

Then I imagine if I was alive in the 70's I would have preferred to have a team in Seattle which with '78 and '79 out, I would have to choose between 1976 and 1977, which I guess I'd take '76 since I would have found it interesting to watch what I consider the last two 'true' expansion teams in their first seasons, plus I like the playoff teams, especially partial to the '76 Raiders among my favorite SB champions.

Taking any Seattle reasoning out of it, I'd pick 1972 as my favorite/the best, for many of the reasons stated by Bryan, as well as liking games and HL's from that season more than others - though 1970 becomes a close second strictly on how much I like to watch any film from any given season in the 70's.

[BernardB]

My preference is for 1971. George Allen's first year in Washington was remarkable in so many ways. The Redskin/Cowboy rivalry: the start of something very good (at least with division titles on the line).

The underappreciated John Brodie's last good year.

The Colts and Dolphins stage a great division race. Some hint that the Colts did not give it their all in the last regular season game in order to play and easier Browns team in the playoffs.

Jim Plunkett shows signs of being a great QB (not as good a debut as Greg Cook in 1969 but then who did).

Last hurrah of Stram's Chiefs.

A number of memorable games:
The week 10 game between Miami and Baltimore (an all-time favorite of mine).
The week 6 contest between an undefeated Washington team and KC.
Archie Manning beating LA in dramatic fashion in week 1 was the talk of the NFL.
KC beating Oak in week 13.
George Allen back in LA in week 13.
And finally, Miami "beating" KC in the playoffs was not the worst game I ever watched but it ranks pretty high.

Tom Landry, Bob Lily and all the rest earning a long overdue NFL title.

A good year.

[NWebster]

1975 & 1978 were very interesting years, but my personal favorite is 1972.

-Bobby Douglass 1000-yard season

968 actually.

I meant 1000-yard season in passing yards. That was a big deal for Bobby! j/k

HA - literally laughed out loud!!!

[JohnH19]

My preference is for 1971. George Allen's first year in Washington was remarkable in so many ways. The Redskin/Cowboy rivalry: the start of something very good (at least with division titles on the line).

The underappreciated John Brodie's last good year.

The Colts and Dolphins stage a great division race. Some hint that the Colts did not give it their all in the last regular season game in order to play and easier Browns team in the playoffs.

Jim Plunkett shows signs of being a great QB (not as good a debut as Greg Cook in 1969 but then who did).

Last hurrah of Stram's Chiefs.

A number of memorable games:
The week 10 game between Miami and Baltimore (an all-time favorite of mine).
The week 6 contest between an undefeated Washington team and KC.
Archie Manning beating LA in dramatic fashion in week 1 was the talk of the NFL.
KC beating Oak in week 13.
George Allen back in LA in week 13.
And finally, Miami "beating" KC in the playoffs was not the worst game I ever watched but it ranks pretty high.

Tom Landry, Bob Lily and all the rest earning a long overdue NFL title.

A good year.

Another memorable 1971 game was in Week 11 when Joe Namath, after missing something like 19 consecutive games over two seasons, replaced the injured Bob Davis in the third quarter and almost pulled off a comeback win against the 49ers after being down 17-0. A late end zone interception thwarted Joe's heroic 3 TD pass effort and SF hung on for a 24-21 win.

The atmosphere in Shea that afternoon was absolutely electric from the moment Namath entered the game until well after the game ended. There is an excellent NFL Game of the Week program featuring that game and it was also highlighted on the recent Joe Namath - A Football Life program.

[SixtiesFan]

My preference is for 1971. George Allen's first year in Washington was remarkable in so many ways. The Redskin/Cowboy rivalry: the start of something very good (at least with division titles on the line).

The underappreciated John Brodie's last good year.

The Colts and Dolphins stage a great division race. Some hint that the Colts did not give it their all in the last regular season game in order to play and easier Browns team in the playoffs.

Jim Plunkett shows signs of being a great QB (not as good a debut as Greg Cook in 1969 but then who did).

Last hurrah of Stram's Chiefs.

A number of memorable games:
The week 10 game between Miami and Baltimore (an all-time favorite of mine).
The week 6 contest between an undefeated Washington team and KC.
Archie Manning beating LA in dramatic fashion in week 1 was the talk of the NFL.
KC beating Oak in week 13.
George Allen back in LA in week 13.
And finally, Miami "beating" KC in the playoffs was not the worst game I ever watched but it ranks pretty high.

Tom Landry, Bob Lily and all the rest earning a long overdue NFL title.

A good year.

Another memorable 1971 game was in Week 11 when Joe Namath, after missing something like 19 consecutive games over two seasons, replaced the injured Bob Davis in the third quarter and almost pulled off a comeback win against the 49ers after being down 17-0. A late end zone interception thwarted Joe's heroic 3 TD pass effort and SF hung on for a 24-21 win.

The atmosphere in Shea that afternoon was absolutely electric from the moment Namath entered the game until well after the game ended. There is an excellent NFL Game of the Week program featuring that game and it was also highlighted on the recent Joe Namath - A Football Life program.

I saw this 49ers-Jets game on TV. On the pregame show it was announced that Joe Namath had been activated the morning of the game. The atmosphere was indeed electric and Davis' injury and Namath's entry into the game seemed pre-ordained.

Joe Namath had a way about him.

[Veeshik_ya]

Speaking of Namath, in a recent interview with Jenny Vrentas (writing for Peter King's NFL business and politics site,The MMQB) he had some interesting comments about Don Shula, the coach he beat in Super Bowl III.

If you haven't read it, this is what he said:

"He was a hero of mine, and he still is. Before we played him, he was a great coach, and afterwards he became an even greater coach. Coming where I came from, my respect for him overrode anything about that Super Bowl III game. Coach Shula and I have been together many times now, and I never opened my mouth about that game unless he brought it up or somebody else brought it up. I remember when I was first doing some color for TV on football, I went down to the Dolphins practice, and I took my father with me. At the time, my dad might have been in his 70s or early 80s. And Coach Shula put his arm around my father, and those guys start talking Hungarian. And I tell you what, he made my daddy feel so darn good. It was wonderful. Coach Shula has just been such a wonderful guy to me through the years. His sons have, too. I have enjoyed the family. We have never talked about the Super Bowl, and we don’t need to. We both moved on. One of the things I have said to other people and I said to you, too: it is the players on the field, for the most part, that execute. That team was so highly touted; they had accomplished so much that year in the NFL. They were called the best NFL team ever, the best defense ever, and I think they were overconfident. And if I am wrong—no, I know I am not. They were overconfident. And our guys, our team, our players, with our determination and urgency, outplayed them, and that was that."

Namath is often criticized for his candor, but this is classy stuff.

[BernardB]

Another memorable 1971 game was in Week 11 when Joe Namath, after missing something like 19 consecutive games over two seasons, replaced the injured Bob Davis in the third quarter and almost pulled off a comeback win against the 49ers after being down 17-0. A late end zone interception thwarted Joe's heroic 3 TD pass effort and SF hung on for a 24-21 win.

The atmosphere in Shea that afternoon was absolutely electric from the moment Namath entered the game until well after the game ended. There is an excellent NFL Game of the Week program featuring that game and it was also highlighted on the recent Joe Namath - A Football Life program.

You are so right SF/NYJ is worthy of being remembered, I even did not remember Joe Zagorski's fine CC article on the game. Also have a note in my Neft Ency that Rupert likes the high scoring NYG/GB game in week1. A feast of good games.

Something that happened more often in the 70's with the addition of the wild card were teams colliding three times in a year (could call them grudge matches). Prior to 1970 one could almost count the number of times this happened on both hands. The ones that come immediately to mind are 41 Bears/GB, 58 Browns/NYG, 65 Colts/GB. All three Colt/Dolphin games in 1971 were good, even the AFC title game was closer than the final score indicated.

[JoeZagorski]

Thanks for all of your responses guys! My vote goes to 1972 for many of the same reasons that Bryan mentioned, but I was surprised with a vote for 1970 and 1975. Great responses guys!

Joe Zagorski

[74_75_78_79_]

1978, 1978, &... 1978.

No explanation necessary.

I also have to go with 1978, with 1970 a close second. 1978 was a clear turning point in NFL history, as the league went to a 16-game schedule, along with adding two teams to the playoffs. There were two fluky games (Holy Roller and Miracle at the Meadowlands) which directly led to rules changes or changes in strategy. Also, the changes to the pass defense rules opened up the throttles on offenses, and the number of 10-3 games that we saw in 1977 were no longer as common in 1978, We also saw the end of the line for Fran Tarkenton and George Allen, and new stars like Earl Campbell come into the league. There was a very good Super Bowl between Pittsburgh and Dallas, and a number of other great games including the Miami Houston MNF game, the Denver Seattle OT game in which a Seattle win would have made them the AFC West Champion in their third year of existence, the Cleveland New York OT game, and the Baltimore New England MNF game to name a few. Steve Sabol has stated that he thought 1978 was the best season in NFL history.

"No explanation necessary" because...well, it's true IMO, and also because...I knew one of you here would give a better account than I as is the case with this very post I respond to. Didn't even think of the Colts/Pats (Washington) MNF game and am not aware at all of a Browns/Jets OT game (ought to research that). The Denver/Sea game you mention, Rupert, can only serve as further reminder of that intense division race that year in the AFC West. Yes, that was a game Seattle had to win to win division yet alone make playoffs, period. Because even if they would have beaten SD at the Murph in that penultimate game, Oilers would have gotten the tie-breaker for that final wild card spot due to better conference record (8-4 to 7-5). Don't know too much about that '78 Seahawks squad other than the obvious (Zorn/Largent) but having seen a Week #2 NFL Films recap not too long ago (Harry Kalas, I think, it was narrating to horrifically dated synthesizer background music), the Seahawks secondary (a la Atkinson/Tatum) were in Swann's face and taunting him after the whistle would blow, not quite in-awe of an established perennial contender, it seemed. As I mentioned in another post before, and not that it wasn't too crucial being neither three made playoffs anyway, SD should have been slated at 2nd in that division due not only to them actually having the better division-record vs Sea & Oak, but because they had the better record amongst the three (3-1, sweeping Sea; splitting w Oak) and Sea (2-2) should have got the nod over Oak (1-3) who they swept anyway along with having the better division-record. A no-brainer, to me. 'Record vs common-opponents' should not have been applied. Not that the Chargers should complain anyway - didn't they pick up someone by the name of...Winslow 1st round in the following draft? (Being that Oak wasn't on the clock 'til the 2nd round) I'm sure Zorn would have loved another fine weapon at his disposal; or would Seattle have still gone after a DT anyway?

[Reaser]

having seen a Week #2 NFL Films recap not too long ago (Harry Kalas, I think, it was narrating to horrifically dated synthesizer background music), the Seahawks secondary (a la Atkinson/Tatum) were in Swann's face and taunting him after the whistle would blow, not quite in-awe of an established perennial contender, it seemed.

Have the game, been a while since I've watched it but what sticks out is Zorn overthrowing a wide-open Largent on the first play of the game, should have been easy 80-yd TD pass. Also was some bogus officiating in the game, a handful of things but one that bugged me was Beamon ripping the ball out of Stallworth's hands but the officials blew it dead for unknown reasons.