Professional Football Researchers Association Forum
PFRA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the history of professional football. Formed in 1979, PFRA members include many of the game's foremost historians and writers.
RichardBak wrote: ↑Thu May 07, 2026 7:23 pm
If you can't find video, check out Baltimore's 1980 guide. Sounds like the kind of arcana that usually appears in the player's notes or in the game recaps.
It is not in Mike-Mayer's profile in Baltimore's 1980 media guide, and the recap of the game in that book is terribly done. It only lists the one blocked PAT and does not mention what happened after the other touchdowns.
The Patriots' 1980 guide lists everyhing on Oct. 28, 1979 as kicks.
It just goes to show, once again, that what we PFRA types find interesting the rest of the world just goes, "Meh." Including the interns who put together the media guides.
TodMaher wrote: ↑Mon May 04, 2026 6:17 pm
This was a kick not a run.
Thank you for your feedback. For a play with inconsistent record keeping due to its near-automatic nature, the Steve Mike-Mayer play is easily the most inconsistent. My research shows that a slight majority of the dozen or so local newspaper box scores I reviewed had the Mike-Mayer play as a run and not a kick. Interestingly, a Delaware paper has the only mention I found of the play in a game description; it noted it as a kick in the article but listed it as a run in the box score. I suspect the lack of mentions in game articles was because it was a close high-scoring game and newspapers did not want to use column space on an XP in the first quarter. The LineScore shows as a run, ProFootball Reference lists as a run in the box score and a kick in the play-by-play (https://www.pro-football-reference.com ... 80clt.htm), while the Gamebook and Pro Football Archives show it as a kick.
Despite the split in scoring the play, my strong belief is that it was a run. Because PAT runs were very unusual and kicks were a near-certainty, it is highly improbable a scorer would mistakenly list it as a run when it was actually a kick. On the other hand, scorers often were on “automatic pilot” for extra points and marked the play as a kick out of habit. Additionally, because the kicker ran in the PAT, not the holder, it is easy to speculate that the scorer would more easily make a mistake about the type of conversion. Earlier I tried contacting Mike-Mayer with no luck. I still hope to find definitive proof either way, hopefully via video, but I think the circumstances heavily favor it being a run.
The Steve Mike-Mayer PAT in question was def a run. Although I'm in Detroit, the reason I remember it (if vaguely) is because Mike-Mayer had kicked for the Lions a couple years earlier, and the play was kind of unusual, so it had a somewhat local connection. The mention of it popped up on a sports hi-lites show--TV or radio, can't remember---and its mention may have had something to do with the Lions' loss that same day to Buffalo, whose kicker was Steve's brother, Nick. It's all a jumble, but just for the hell of it I checked a few online newspapers. About 1 out of 3 described it as a run in the box score, but even in those instances there was no mention of it in the main piece. If you can't find video, check out Baltimore's 1980 guide. Sounds like the kind of arcana that usually appears in the player's notes or in the game recaps.
My source is the gamebook.
The scoring plays and the play-by-play both say it was a kick.
Well, I guess it's possible that two members of the Colts stat crew could have gotten that play wrong.
There are highlights of this game on YouTube, they even show Washington's run - twice (once in slo-mo). But the PAT was so UNREMARKABLE that it's NOT included in the highlights.
Obviously the only way to settle this once and for all is to ask Mike-Mayer himself. It can't be that hard to get hold of the guy. I'm sure he still has an agent or someone handling inquiries, interview requests, etc. Maybe ask the NFLPA for contact info?
Failing that, ask whoever the holder was on the kick. Maybe he remembers it. Or whoever else may have been on the field. FWIW I'm convinced it was a run. Why else would it be described as so in several newspapers? Maybe not in the majority of papers, but still....a kicker running in an extra point sure wasn't a common occurrence in the 1970s.
TodMaher wrote: ↑Mon May 04, 2026 6:17 pm
This was a kick not a run.
Thank you for your feedback. For a play with inconsistent record keeping due to its near-automatic nature, the Steve Mike-Mayer play is easily the most inconsistent. My research shows that a slight majority of the dozen or so local newspaper box scores I reviewed had the Mike-Mayer play as a run and not a kick. Interestingly, a Delaware paper has the only mention I found of the play in a game description; it noted it as a kick in the article but listed it as a run in the box score. I suspect the lack of mentions in game articles was because it was a close high-scoring game and newspapers did not want to use column space on an XP in the first quarter. The LineScore shows as a run, ProFootball Reference lists as a run in the box score and a kick in the play-by-play (https://www.pro-football-reference.com ... 80clt.htm), while the Gamebook and Pro Football Archives show it as a kick.
Despite the split in scoring the play, my strong belief is that it was a run. Because PAT runs were very unusual and kicks were a near-certainty, it is highly improbable a scorer would mistakenly list it as a run when it was actually a kick. On the other hand, scorers often were on “automatic pilot” for extra points and marked the play as a kick out of habit. Additionally, because the kicker ran in the PAT, not the holder, it is easy to speculate that the scorer would more easily make a mistake about the type of conversion. Earlier I tried contacting Mike-Mayer with no luck. I still hope to find definitive proof either way, hopefully via video, but I think the circumstances heavily favor it being a run.
The Steve Mike-Mayer PAT in question was def a run. Although I'm in Detroit, the reason I remember it (if vaguely) is because Mike-Mayer had kicked for the Lions a couple years earlier, and the play was kind of unusual, so it had a somewhat local connection. The mention of it popped up on a sports hi-lites show--TV or radio, can't remember---and its mention may have had something to do with the Lions' loss that same day to Buffalo, whose kicker was Steve's brother, Nick. It's all a jumble, but just for the hell of it I checked a few online newspapers. About 1 out of 3 described it as a run in the box score, but even in those instances there was no mention of it in the main piece. If you can't find video, check out Baltimore's 1980 guide. Sounds like the kind of arcana that usually appears in the player's notes or in the game recaps.
The Official Score Sheet makes no mention it being a run, something I think would have noted in the "Miscellaneous Notes" section. I think the "run" comes from the AP. The box scores in the AP say run, but UPI says kick. Also, the Boston Globe and Baltimore Sun (who had reporters at the game) list it as a kick.
I think when the NFL put together the summaries for 1980 Information book, they went with by the AP boxes.
UGH!
Doesn't NFL Films have film of this game? Maybe Chris Willis could track this down for us...?
NFL Films has highlights of game, but I can not find full game. The holder was Greg Landry, going to try him, and give Mike-Mayer another shot. Thanks again everyone.
The same thing happened in 1972 at Philadelphia in a game involving the Bears and Eagles. Douglass recovered a missed snap from center and threw to Butkus for the XP late in the 4th quarter. The play can be seen here at the 3:16 mark: https://youtu.be/8u9U2NN_pGI?si=ieiJofj4aMVCIcQt
