Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Todd Pence wrote:

Rupert Patrick wrote:
I do think the 1979 Dallas Washington Week 16 game is the greatest regular season game of all time, when you look at the stakes of the game, the historical implications, and the game that played out, but I would love to hear arguments for other games.

Redskins-Raiders 1983 would be on my short list. That should have been the Super Bowl.

I agree. That would be one of the top 20 best regular season games since the merger. Others for greatest regular season game since the merger would include:

1972 Jets-Colts
1974 Bills-Raiders
1982 Chargers-49ers
1983 Redskins-Packers
1983 Rams-Saints
1984 Redskins-Cardinals
1984 Cowboys-Dolphins
1986 Jets-Dolphins
1986 Vikings-Redskins
1990 Bills-Giants
1990 Raiders-Lions
1993 Giants-Cowboys
1994 Chiefs-Broncos
1997 Lions-Jets
2000 Dolphins-Jets
2004 Jets-Rams
2009 Lions Browns
2011 Packers-Lions

Of the group I listed above, I think the best of the best might be the 1984 Redskins Cardinals game. A Cardinals win would give them the number two seed in the NFC, but a loss shuts them out of the playoffs, and it came down to a last second field goal try by Neil O'Donoghue that failed. Many of those were offensive shootouts, others had historic implications, but all were classics.

Super Bowl XIII is still the greatest Super Bowl. Not only was it a great game in and of itself but it had the most riding on it. It's still the only SB where the title of "Team of the Decade" was on the line.

MatthewToy wrote:Super Bowl XIII is still the greatest Super Bowl. Not only was it a great game in and of itself but it had the most riding on it. It's still the only SB where the title of "Team of the Decade" was on the line.

I don't necessarily agree. Had the Steelers lost, presuming they had still gone on to beat the Rams in Super Bowl XVI, they would have wound up the decade 3-1 in Super Bowls, while Dallas would have had a 3-2 record in Super Bowls in the decade. Also, the two teams would have split the two Super Bowls they played. It had some great plays, but it had become a 35-17 game in the fourth quarter, before the Steelers went into the stupid prevent defense and Staubach came back for two TD's. The Steelers got a TD on the bad call from the ref on the interference call on the bomb to Swann, where Harris ran it in from 22 yards or so out on the next play, that should have been rule incomplete as their legs got tied up and it clearly wasn't interference. I loved Super Bowl XIII, but I believe Super Bowl X was a much better game, and was in doubt until the final play of the game, and Dallas led for much of the game.

I'm doing some research on lead changes in playoff games, and do you know the Super Bowl with the most lead changes, not counting the initial score of the game? Super Bowl XIV, where the lead changed hands six times between Pittsburgh and LA. Next are Super Bowls XXIII (SF v. Cincinnati 2), XXV (NY Giants v. Buffalo), XXXVIII (New England v. Carolina) and XLII (NY Giants v. New England 1), each with four lead changes.

Rupert Patrick wrote:

MatthewToy wrote:Super Bowl XIII is still the greatest Super Bowl. Not only was it a great game in and of itself but it had the most riding on it. It's still the only SB where the title of "Team of the Decade" was on the line.

I don't necessarily agree. Had the Steelers lost, presuming they had still gone on to beat the Rams in Super Bowl XVI, they would have wound up the decade 3-1 in Super Bowls, while Dallas would have had a 3-2 record in Super Bowls in the decade. Also, the two teams would have split the two Super Bowls they played. It had some great plays, but it had become a 35-17 game in the fourth quarter, before the Steelers went into the stupid prevent defense and Staubach came back for two TD's. The Steelers got a TD on the bad call from the ref on the interference call on the bomb to Swann, where Harris ran it in from 22 yards or so out on the next play, that should have been rule incomplete as their legs got tied up and it clearly wasn't interference. I loved Super Bowl XIII, but I believe Super Bowl X was a much better game, and was in doubt until the final play of the game, and Dallas led for much of the game.

I'm doing some research on lead changes in playoff games, and do you know the Super Bowl with the most lead changes, not counting the initial score of the game? Super Bowl XIV, where the lead changed hands six times between Pittsburgh and LA. Next are Super Bowls XXIII (SF v. Cincinnati 2), XXV (NY Giants v. Buffalo), XXXVIII (New England v. Carolina) and XLII (NY Giants v. New England 1), each with four lead changes.

Between Super Bowl X and XIII (the two Pittsburgh-Dallas games from the 70's), Super Bowl X was the better game. The Steelers entered the game as healthy favorites, yet Dallas held the lead entering the fourth quarter and had a chance to take the lead as late as five minutes left. Then, of course, the game went down to the final play--three weeks after Staubach and Pearson had hooked up on their Hail Mary in Minnesota. That's not even including Swann's two memorable catches.

Rupert Patrick wrote:The Steelers got a TD on the bad call from the ref on the interference call on the bomb to Swann, where Harris ran it in from 22 yards or so out on the next play, that should have been rule incomplete as their legs got tied up and it clearly wasn't interference. I loved Super Bowl XIII, but I believe Super Bowl X was a much better game, and was in doubt until the final play of the game, and Dallas led for much of the game.

I think the Franco Harris run is really an underrated play in the Steelers dynasty era. Cowboys players and fans like to point solely to the interference call, which was a bad call, but the Cowboys subsequently had the Steelers in 3rd-and-9 at the 22. If they stop the Steelers there, then Roy Gerela is asked to kick a FG (something he was not good at in Super Bowls), and at worst its a seven point game at 24-17. The fact that Franco Harris ran straight up the middle not only for a first down but all the way for a TD really changed the complexion of the game. Issue is also made of Charlie Waters running into official Art Demmas on the play, which prevented him from tackling Harris, but it looked like Ray Pinney was setting up to block Waters anyways.

As for comparing SB XIII to SB X, I will say that SB X is probably my favorite NFL Films highlight video. Watching both games in their entirety, I think SB XIII is the better game. In SB X, after Dallas scored an early TD, much of the game was Dallas not doing anything on offense, punting the ball to Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh getting a big play with their passing game, and Roy Gerela missing a FG. SB XIII had an electricity to it, especially in the first half. Lead changes, big plays, etc. The Steelers offense was really affected by John Stallworth sitting out the 2nd half, and the Cowboys had bad luck with the Jackie Smith play. But their were still several 'talking points' in the 2nd half of that game, even if many of them were negative. I think the fact that the Cowboys were defending champs in SB XIII added something to the game, whereas the 1975 Cowboys were more of a Cinderella story and not really on the same elite level as the Steelers. JMO.

James wrote:The 1958 NFL Title Game was NOT the greatest game ever played. Far from it, in my opinion.

When they coined that game the "greatest," don't know that they meant the game/gameplay itself as much as its historical/cultural impact. There are certainly a handful of games every year that are as thrilling as the 1958 game.

jeckle_and_heckle wrote:

James wrote:The 1958 NFL Title Game was NOT the greatest game ever played. Far from it, in my opinion.

When they coined that game the "greatest," don't know that they meant the game/gameplay itself as much as its historical/cultural impact. There are certainly a handful of games every year that are as thrilling as the 1958 game.

From a passage I wrote about the game for the upcoming PFRA book about the 1958 Colts:

At the time this game was played, baseball and college football were more popular than pro football, and this game was definitely a turning point in the sport, and showed that the NFL was a game that was designed for television. It could also be argued that the national interest in pro football that was generated in the wake of this game led to the creation of the AFL in 1960, which brought pro football to a number of cities and regions of the country that were not covered by the NFL. A number of men who were involved in this game – Gifford, Unitas, Huff, Lombardi, Landry, Summerall to name a few – would become household names. From a historical standpoint, this was the most important game in pro football history.

I love the original Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniforms.

Bring back the 00, like Jim Otto and Ken Burrough.

The 2007 New York Giants are the only SB team ever that didn't have an impressive home win.

They didn't beat a team above .500 at home and only seemed to give a damn when they played on the road.