Evan wrote:We had a "favorite season" thread back in 2011 that was not limited to the 1970s, but since my favorite season happened to be in that era, I'll re-post my comments here:
For me, it was 1976, and here are some of the storylines that made it memorable for me:
The Build-Up
• The spirited, festive summer that seemed to have competition and celebration in the air with the Bicentennial, the Olympics (with Bruce Jenner and Sugar Ray Leonard), the Carter/Ford campaign, the undefeated Indiana hoops team, the phenomenon of Mark Fidrych, and the classic Celtics/Suns Finals game.
• The importance of pre-season football magazines, then in its heyday with titles like Prolog, Pro Football Illustrated, Street & Smith’s Pro Football, Football Digest, Pro Quarterback, Football Forecast, Petersen’s Pro Football, Pros Football, Pro Football Weekly. They would all come out at about the same time and just light up the magazine rack at the local stationary store. Once you got one in your hands, football season had begun.
• The anticipation of the return from the WFL of Csonka, Kiick, Warfield, Hill with new teams.
• The Steelers gunning for their third straight title with all their key pieces intact.
• The intrigue of the rumored trade of OJ to Los Angeles.
• The free agency signings (a very odd concept at the time) of John Riggins, Jean Fugett, John Gilliam, Ed Marinaro, Ahmad Rashad and others.
• The promise of Hank Stram saving New Orleans with his new rookie Thunder and Lightning backfield of Muncie and Galbreath.
• The Giants shutting out the Steelers 17-0 in pre-season and setting New York alight with optimism.
• The pre-season return of Duane Thomas to the Cowboys.
The Season
• The blazing hot start of the season of Roger Staubach (five games, five wins, 83 of 113, 73.5%, 1,198 yards, 7 TD, 2 Int – 120.7 rating).
• San Diego’s 3-0 start after starting 0-11 the year before.
• The odd start (a 6-1 record with more points allowed than scored) and hot finish of the Raiders.
• The 6-1 start with just 63 points allowed of San Francisco.
• The emergence of exciting rookies, second- and third-year players like Walter Payton, Steve Grogan, Delvin Williams, Sammy White, Mike Haynes, Monte Jackson, Dave Casper, Roger Carr, Don Calhoun, Rick Upchurch, Cleveland Elam, Jim Zorn and Steve Largent.
• The exciting debut of the Seahawks (with the scrambling of Zorn) and the punchline that became the Buccaneers.
• The Cowboys’ addition of a red stripe down the middle of their helmet for the Bicentennial, beginning a feeling that led to them being coronated as America’s Team several years later.
• The kick-blocking mystery and mastery of the Vikings.
• The remarkable stats – Stabler’s 27 TD passes, James Harris’s 436-yard passing day, OJ’s record 273-yard Thanksgiving, Grogan’s 12 rushing TDs plus a fumble recovery TD, the 61 sacks of San Francisco’s Gold Rush.
• The OJ-Payton duel for the rushing title after OJ’s holdout and slow start.
• The exciting long bombs to Roger Carr (25.9 average, 11 TDs) and Cliff Branch (24.2 average, 12 TDs).
• Dave Casper’s 10 catches in the first half against New England.
• The record twelve 1,000-yard rushers.
• The importance of Howard Cosell’s Halftime Highlights; Brent, Phyllis, Irv and Jimmy on The NFL Today; and Saturday’s NFL Films shows Pro Football Playback and NFL Game of the Week. They were all “can’t miss TV” as they gave us our only video glimpses into the league at large.
• The drama of the Steelers’ comeback from a 1-4 start behind their rookie backup QB, surreal defense and awesome running game.
• The establishment of the Colts as no fluke from 1975 and a young team on the rise.
• The turnarounds from 1975: Patriots from 3-11 to 11-3, and the Browns from 3-11 to 9-5.
• The unthinkable decline of the Dolphins to a losing season.
• The sad end to the Namath era in New York.
• The terrific performances in their heyday of classic 70s powerhouses Oakland, Pittsburgh, Cincy, Baltimore, Dallas, St. Louis, Washington, Minnesota and Los Angeles.
• The dramatic withering of the Giants after a pre-season that generated huge optimism.
• The tie-breaking knot of Cincy, Pittsburgh and Cleveland all entering the final week with 9-4 records.
The Memorable Games:
o The Raiders opening day comeback against the champion Steelers
o The Seahawks nearly stunning the Cardinals in their first game ever
o The incredible start of the Patriots - beating Miami, Pittsburgh and Oakland.
o The brutal hitting of the Vikings-Rams tie
o The Bengals-Colts duel between Anderson and Jones
o The Colts-Cowboys high-powered clash
o The controversial inadvertent whistle that might have cost the Bears a win over the Raiders
o The Niners mauling the Rams on MNF
o The Expansion Bowl between Seattle and Tampa Bay
o The Falcons stunning the powerhouse Cowboys, and also losing to the expansion Seahawks
o The Cardinals-Redskins Monday Night mud bowl with Eddie Brown’s punt return TD
o The Raiders beating the Bengals when the thinking was they would roll over to sink the Steelers
o The Steelers road win in the snow at Cincy to keep their playoff hopes alive
o The Redskins securing a playoff spot with a win at Dallas in the final week
The Playoffs
• The classic Raiders-Patriots game with controversy abounding (Atkinson breaking Francis’s nose, the Sugar Bear roughing the passing call).
• The Steelers erupting on the Colts with 526 yards of offense and Bradshaw going 14 of 18.
• The Rams upsetting Dallas with a dramatic 4th-down stop of Billy Joe Dupree a foot short of a first down.
• The Vikings blocking the Rams kicks and Super Bowl dreams.
• The Raiders knocking off the short-handed Steelers.
• The Super Bowl would not be called a great game under just about any parameters. But it was an appropriate long-awaited crowning moment for the Raiders, and did have a fair share of dramatic moments, they just didn’t add up to a dramatic game.
Superior recap!! I'm almost sold! Didn't know Duane Thomas was (back) in the picture in Big D that preseason. Niners 6-1 start (shutting out Rams in LA) - I'm sure the Bay Area was geeking up over a possible late-January showdown between both their teams. Yes, plenty of stock was put in those MNF halftime recaps. I miss them. And so did the players. Wasn't it in America's Game '81 Niners where one of the players said he was so looking forward to what Howard would say about they crushing Dallas the day before to go 4-2 only for nothing to be said at all. MNF definitely dropped the ball there. You can say it was that 3-0 start gone bad the previous year that made them not want to speak too soon, but still...they (6-10 previous year) beat DALLAS! And beat them handily! Back to '76, yes indeed a historic season. What would have given it an ever greater boost, however, would be if Steelers (win or lose) would have had Franco & Rocky and, of course, the AFCC being a close game; SBXI as well.
