Favorite NFL Films season team highlight

[Bryan]

What is your favorite singular season team highlight from NFL Films? My favorite is the 1969 Raiders. For starters, its a bit longer than most of the other highlight films (24 minutes). John Facenda is the narrator, which is another plus. I preferred the format where you would be given a recap of each game, with talk of the individual units interspersed. Some of the NFL team highlights would spend 10 minutes talking about the offense, 10 minutes talking about the defense, then give you a postseason recap. The 1969 Raiders takes you through the regular season as well as the postseason.

Those late AFL years of 1968 and 1969 were incredibly interesting, with lots of superstar players in their prime. Every team had exciting players...the Raiders went 12-1-1 with their loss being to the last-place Bengals (Greg Cook) and their tie being to the last-place Dolphins (Jim Kiick). The Raiders themselves made numerous big plays on both offense and defense. Lamonica to Wells and Lamonica to Biletnikoff was unstoppable.

It was about this time that Steve Sabol moved from the "marching band" soundtrack to a more jazzy, "London Beat" soundtrack to his films. The music NFL Films used from the late 60's to the early 70's is my favorite, with much of the scores being written by English composers like Keith Mansfield and Johnny Pearson.

All in all, a 10/10 score from me.

[Reaser]

AFL team HL's are among my favorites (even the early AFL years / not NFL Films) for the added bonus of there not being game film (or even game HL's) of the games, so it's the primary way to see AFL footage.

[MatthewToy]

Still waiting on NFL Now to post them all and there's some good ones I've only seen once, like the 73 Dolphins, to name a definitive answer. But I'll go with the 74 Steelers for now. Game by game recap format. Excellent music choices that thanks to the interwebs I now have in my collection. And of course John Facenda.

[Retro Rider]

Many favorites, but these seem to stand out:

1960 Patriots - in color!
1963 Chargers - "World Champions" (b&w)
1963 & 1964 Bills
1964 Rams
1964 Redskins - awesome color
1965 Jets
1965 Packers - World Champs
1966 Chiefs - AFL Champions
1967 Raiders - AFL Champions
1969 Bills
1969 Vikings - "40 for 60"
1970 Raiders - "Challenge of the '70's" - probably my favorite HL film
1970 49ers - groovy soundtrack
1971 Redskins "Three Cheers for the Redskins"
1972 Redskins - NFC Champs (especially like the NFC playoff segment vs. Green Bay)
1974 Jets - "A Tale of Two Seasons"
1974 Oilers - "Turnaround '74"
1975 Oilers - "Hang on to That Rope!" narrated by Rex Allen
1975 Colts - "Miracle on 33rd Street"
1978 Oilers

[Gary Najman]

One I recently viewed was the 1983 New Orleans Saints, which I believed was one of the last ones John Facenda narrated. I especially like the part on Ken Stabler, it reminded of highlights made ten years earlier, like the 1973 Bufallo Bills, wich is my all-time favorite.

[Andrew McKillop]

One I recently viewed was the 1983 New Orleans Saints, which I believed was one of the last ones John Facenda narrated. I especially like the part on Ken Stabler, it reminded of highlights made ten years earlier, like the 1973 Bufallo Bills, wich is my all-time favorite.

I'm glad that I'm not the only one that thought the '83 Saints film was nicely put together.

[JohnH19]

I don't have a particular favorite but I also like the game by game format much more than the films that focus on the players that made up the team. The 1961-63 Giants and 1963-64 Cardinals films are terrific.

[JohnTurney]

see them. Back, maybe 10 years ago there was a deal with Hulu, you could see lots of the NFL Films products, but back then the advertising may not have met the value, but I want the best of both worlds, for NFL Films to get fair advertising value for showing them, and access to fans willing to pay a fee.

[JohnR]

A film I really like that I found a few years back on ebay is the color 1957 Lions. It has rich hues and not faded a bit. It covers both the reg season meeting & playoff vs the Niners. Other games covered are the Colts, Browns, Bears, & the championship. After seeing just b/w from the 1950s for so many years, I really got a kick out of it. I wrote NFL Films back in the '90s asking about their back catalog of films, and when they sent a list I ordered the '70 & '73 Raiders. They are still my favorites. The way the Sabols used ambient stadium roar when Rod Sherman hauls in that pass against the Dolphins in '70, perfect example of less being more.

[JohnR]

AFL team HL's are among my favorites (even the early AFL years / not NFL Films) for the added bonus of there not being game film (or even game HL's) of the games, so it's the primary way to see AFL footage.

I'm always looking for those as well simply because that's all that's left. You may have copies of the '60 & '62 Texans films? Those came from Chris Burford's VHS tapes. He was very kind to have loaned those, and they are treasures.