Buffalo vs. Miami in the 1970s

[7DnBrnc53]

Agree with your assessment of Miller as a personnel guy (anybody remember Steve Schindler?) While John Ralston was criticised for not being an X's & O's type of coach he was way better than Red at evaluating talent. After their loss to Dallas in Super Bowl XII Miller appeared to be looking to replace Craig Morton. In 1978 Broncos assistant Babe Parilli informed Morton that he was in "Red's dog house." During their 42-7 loss at Pittsburgh on a 1979 Monday Night game Miller candidly said, "If I had a Terry Bradshaw I'd play him all the time." During the '79 season an NBC reporter examining the unstable Broncos QB situation identified their starter as "Morton-Weese-Penrose." Morton & Miller had a heated exchange after their frustrating loss in the '79 Wild Card game at Houston. By 1980 Red thought he had finally found his QB but Matt Robinson (minus his week 2 performance against Dallas) was not the answer and Miller was often forced to summon Morton off the bench to bail the team out.

Schindler was terrible. Ralston knew about him in 1976 when he was with the Pats and Steve was at BC. In an old football magazine I used to have, it talked about how Schindler would be the next John Hannah

As for Morton, Red was too hard on him. Those Bronco teams had below average offensive lines and no ground game. In SB 12, Morton was hung out to dry.

[Retro Rider]

Schindler was terrible. Ralston knew about him in 1976 when he was with the Pats and Steve was at BC. In an old football magazine I used to have, it talked about how Schindler would be the next John Hannah

As for Morton, Red was too hard on him. Those Bronco teams had below average offensive lines and no ground game. In SB 12, Morton was hung out to dry.

What are your thoughts on Otis Armstorng? Miller liked having a "stable" of running backs and didn't want one player getting too many carries so they would always be fresh. This may have helped Denver in the late stages of the '77 AFC Championship game but overall I think it was a mistake for them not to use Otis Armstrong more often. He was clearly the best RB on the club during Miller's tenure (1977-1980). He was off to a great start in 1980 as Miller seemed to be using him more often Then he suffers a neck injury and is told to quit or risk paralysis. He was a potential superstar who accepted a diminished role without complaint.

[7DnBrnc53]

What are your thoughts on Otis Armstorng? Miller liked having a "stable" of running backs and didn't want one player getting too many carries so they would always be fresh. This may have helped Denver in the late stages of the '77 AFC Championship game but overall I think it was a mistake for them not to use Otis Armstrong more often. He was clearly the best RB on the club during Miller's tenure (1977-1980). He was off to a great start in 1980 as Miller seemed to be using him more often Then he suffers a neck injury and is told to quit or risk paralysis. He was a potential superstar who accepted a diminished role without complaint.

The turning point for Armstrong may have been his 1975 injury against the Steelers. He only had one more 1,000 yard season after that (1976). Also, Miller's platooning wasn't that great (I'm not sure that Lytle was a great draft pick). I don't really remember the 1980 injury. That's ashame. I do know that he would try to hunt down Jack Tatum and give him a hard shot (when they would play Oakland or Houston) during his last few years. The reason: Otis grew up with Darryl Stingley. They were best friends.

[BD Sullivan]

I do know that he would try to hunt down Jack Tatum and give him a hard shot (when they would play Oakland or Houston) during his last few years. The reason: Otis grew up with Darryl Stingley. They were best friends.

Both were from Chicago and played at Purdue, with both being first rounders in the 1973 Draft. The injury came against the Oilers in Week 9, when he was described as having a pinched nerve--as well as a concussion. After the official diagnosis came out, he spoke about getting a stinger the year before in a preseason game that was dismissed by the medical staff at the time as something that he'd recover from.

[Jay Z]

The 1976 Patriots would be a good candidate for a Missing Rings episode if they ever bring that back.

I agree, I wish there were dozens more of the Missing Rings episodes. I think the premise of those was that they only did them for franchises (Buffalo, Minnesota, Cincinnati, San Diego) that had yet to win a Super Bowl, thus disqualifying the Patriots. However, not to hijack the thread, but here is a wishlist of the three interviewees for hypothetical Missing Rings episodes, one for each year of the 1970s that I think many of us would like to see :

NOTE: I know that several of the proposed interviewees below are no longer with us, but please indulge a little writer's privilege in this Fantasy Series of Missing Rings episodes.

1970 Lions - Joe Schmidt, Mel Farr, Lem Barney (I've never heard any of them talk, so would be curious just to hear what they sound like. This was the best Lions team for quite a while, so I wonder if they had a sense that they would be around for a while and take over that division, and how they coped with the subsequent years where they didn't really contend)

1971 49ers - John Brodie, Gene Washington, Jimmy Johnson (Brodie and Washington I both enjoy listening to, never heard Johnson but I think he would represent the defense well. I'd like to hear perspectives on the 49ers teams of that early 70s era before the Rams emerged)

1972 Redskins - George Allen, Billy Kilmer, Pat Fischer (Imagine how great an interview Allen would have been in this format. I see his quotes as kind of a combination of Joe Kapp and Sam Wyche -- ballsy, folksy and corny all at the same time. Kilmer symbolized that team, he would HAVE to be one of the three. Fischer seems like he might give a good ole' crusty Mike Curtis-type of interview.)

1973 Rams - Chuck Knox, Lawrence McCutcheon, Jack Youngblood (TONS of candidates from this team. I think Knox would be good since this was his first year, McCutcheon said in Danyluk's "Super 70s" book that this team or the 1977 team were the best Rams squads of his career, and he seemed pretty forthcoming with opinions in Danyluk's interview, I've found Youngblood to be a great interview. Hard to leave off Hadl, H.Jackson, Tom Mack, Jack Reynolds, Isiah Robertson and of course Merlin Olsen and Fred Dryer who we know are great on camera.)

1974 Raiders - John Madden, Gene Upshaw, Jack Tatum / George Atkinson interviewed together (Could have gone with lots of guys on this team too. Even with all his overexposure, Madden is a must for any Raider documentary. Upshaw, Tatum and Atkinson both were pure RAIDERS and I think would have some colorful stories. I would love to see Tatum and Atkinson interviewed together to get them going with great stories. As for others, of course Villapiano is always great to listen to. I'm curious if Cliff Branch would be interesting here, this was his breakout year in a big way, I've just never heard him interviewed so I don't know how engaging he would be. Biletnikoff seems kind of quiet and introverted in the interviews I've seen, so he didn't make my top three).

NOTE: I think the Raiders were the main story of 1974 and were the confident pick for the Super Bowl title going into the playoffs, which made their Missing Ring all the more dramatic. But for that year, I could also easily go with 1974 Cardinals - Coryell, Hart, Dobler, if I had to pick a defender I guess Wehrli, who I've never heard speak, but I'm okay without a defender for this one as the Cards offense with all their long TDs was by far the main story of that team.

1975 Vikings - Fran Tarkenton, Chuck Foreman, Paul Krause - (The Missing Rings of the 1969 Vikings didn't really cover the mid-70s Vikes, who I must disclose are my favorite team of an era, so personally I would love to see this documentary with these three guys. Tarkenton has lots to say on everything and was the MVP that year so I think must be included, plus obviously he suffered one of the worst days of any athlete on Dec. 28, 1975. Foreman was a monster that year. I've met him and think a good interviewer could get some intriguing clips from him. Krause is a good interview and had a great view of the Hail Mary and aftermath. I thought of Alan Page but he is often not a great quote and usually downplays the significance of football, which I completely understand given what else he has accomplished. He could give a good perspective on the entire Bud Grant era however. Jim Marshall of course would be great but he was in the 1969 Missing Rings so I'd ask others first.

1976 Patriots - Steve Grogan, Russ Francis, Ray Hamilton (typically a coach gets picked, but I never got the sense that Fairbanks was a particularly compelling interview, but feel free to correct that impression if some of you know otherwise. I've talked to Francis and found him to be a great interview candidate, Grogan was a huge story that season, and Hamilton could represent the defense and of course discuss the key play in the playoffs)

1977 Broncos - Red Miller, Craig Morton, Lyle Alzado (The emergence of Miller and Morton from relative obscurity to Coach of the Year and AFC Player of the Year would be terrific to document. Alzado was wonderfully over the top and would give a Todd Christenson-like dramatic sense to all of his quotes. Tom Jackson loved to talk all the time, so this would be great for him too)

1978 Oilers - Bum Phillips, Dan Pastorini, Curley Culp (Bum might be the best interview in the history of the series and make the film editor's job impossible to keep the program within an hour. I haven't heard Pastorini interviewed, but his personal history of getting booed and beaten up, through the flak jacket drama, would make for good fodder. I thought Curley Culp was pretty interesting in his HOF induction, would like to see him interviewed in short format here. The obvious omission is Earl, and I see a good case for him, but he just had that super-thick drawl - remember the Skoal commercials - that made him a less than compelling interview candidate.

1979 Buccaneers - John McKay, Doug Williams, Lee Roy Selmon (McKay probably has the best collection of one-liners in NFL history. He would be perfect for this. Williams was compelling for so many reasons, Selmon I never heard speak but as an original Buc I think he needs to offer the valuable perspective of last-to-first.)

Lots of other great candidates for 1970 Missing Rings, certainly squads from the Colts, Cardinals, Bengals and many others would be great to hear too. I thought about proposing a blended 1976 Colts/Patriots episode where reps from the two teams would be interviewed together (Bert Jones and Steve Grogan, Lydell Mitchell and Russ Francis, Joe Ehrmann and Ray Hamilton) to see what kind of stories and perspectives they could give about how 1976 season played out.

Your thoughts?

I would go with when the team had the best chance to win it all. 1970 49ers, 1972 Redskins, 1976 Patriots, 1979 Rams are the best. 1977 Colts would be good.