Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

I've always kind of ignored this chapter in NFL history, but I went back and watched these games, many of which I had seen or read very little about. A general thought is how much stronger the AFC was overall compared to the NFC. The NFC had two legit teams (Redskins, Cowboys), and maybe you could consider GB a sleeper team that year. The rest of the field was terrible...Lions, Cards, Bucs, Vikes, Falcons. Only the Lions had a + point differential, and that was only +5. The AFC was pretty loaded. Imagine if the Jets had won the Super Bowl that year...they would have had to face 7-2 defending champ Cincy, 8-1 Raiders, 7-2 Dolphins & 8-1 Redskins...all on the road. That is crazy.

Thoughts on the games:

GB 41 STL 16 = Lynn Dickey was lights out and the Cards fell behind by a lot early in the game. Just no resistance.

Mia 28 NE 13 = Pats score a meaningless TD at the end to make it close, but the Dolphins dominate both sides of the ball. Funny play where Mark van Eeghan tries to cut block a blitzing Duhe, but he manages to dive between Duhe's legs and Grogan gets clobbered.

Raiders 27 Browns 10 = amazed that this game was tied 10-10 due to a long pass from McDonald to Feacher. The Browns defense didn't do anything and the Raiders pulled away.

Was 31 Det 7 = another stomping. Game was 31-0 until late DET TD. Lions defense was nonexistent.

Dal 30 TB 17 = this game was ridiculous. A 'rematch' of the 1981 playoff where Dallas won big, the Bucs looked fairly miserable throughout the game. Doug Williams (8 of 28 with 3 INT) was all over the place, yet the Bucs actually led 17-16 going into the 4th period. Danny White lost the ball while attempting to pass, Hugh Green caught the fumble in midair and ran for a 60 yard TD. Dallas took the lead in the 4th when an unknown DB named Monty Hunter had a pick 6 (Hunter's only INT in his NFL career). Dallas scored again for the final margin.

Vikings 30 Falcons 24 = another crazy game. The Falcons scored 2 special teams TDs and another defensive TD, yet still lost. The Vikings fumbled 4 times and recoverd all 4. Atlanta's offense was surprisingly ineffective. The game went back and forth, but neither the Falcons offense or defense played with any consistency, allowing the Vikings to take the lead for good. One of the dumbest plays I've ever seen involved a fake FG option play, where Mike Moroski pitched the ball to Mick Luckhurst who ran the ball in for a TD. Wow...a play designed with a dropback QB pitching the ball to a Kicker....not exactly JC Watts/Billy Sims stuff.

NYJ 44 CIN 17 = Bengals were favored and playing at home, and they got up early 14-3. Outscored 41-3 the rest of the way. Pretty incredible. Not Ken Anderson's finest moment, but the Bengals D collapsed allowing 200+ rushing yards to Freeman McNeil and 500+ total offense.

SD 31 PIT 28 = classic game, rehashed many times already.

NYJ 17 Raiders 14 = tough matchup for the Raiders of an immobile Plunkett vs the Sack Exchange. But the Jets completely stuffed Marcus Allen and the Raiders' run game. A game with Plunkett & Todd is guaranteed to be a turnover-fest, and both teams had 5 apiece. The difference in the game was Tom Flores leaving slow-footed Ted Watts on Wesley Walker...Walker 7-169-1 and also setup Scott Dierking's short TD plunge. Raiders were actually driving for the win late in the game when Lance Mehl made a fine INT grab.

Mia 34 SD 13 = Chargers were surprisingly a road favorite for this game. While the Chargers were bad on D in 81, they were even worse in 82. One thing I noticed was how easy it was for Miami to run up the middle, something they couldn't do in the 81 playoff. Dwight Stephenson made a big difference. James Brooks fumbled the opening kickoff for the second week in a row. This time, Miami went up 24-0 and cruised to an easy win. Dan Fouts was terrible, Kellen Winslow only caught one pass, and David Woodley couldn't miss as SD's secondary could not cover anyone.

Bryan wrote:Thoughts on the games:

GB 41 STL 16 = Lynn Dickey was lights out and the Cards fell behind by a lot early in the game. Just no resistance.

Mia 28 NE 13 = Pats score a meaningless TD at the end to make it close, but the Dolphins dominate both sides of the ball. Funny play where Mark van Eeghan tries to cut block a blitzing Duhe, but he manages to dive between Duhe's legs and Grogan gets clobbered.

Raiders 27 Browns 10 = amazed that this game was tied 10-10 due to a long pass from McDonald to Feacher. The Browns defense didn't do anything and the Raiders pulled away.

Was 31 Det 7 = another stomping. Game was 31-0 until late DET TD. Lions defense was nonexistent.

Ha! I watched a highlight package of those games just the other day! The MIA - N.E. one came just a few weeks after the "Snowplow Game" up in Foxboro. Makes sense that the Dolphins weren't going to fall prey to the Patriots again (that soon).

Great revenge win for Shula, Arnsparger and the Dolphins against the Chargers.
Defense was incredible and the Chargers might have overlooked them with another chance to play in the AFC Championship game, where the Jets upset the Raiders in the other playoff game.

You forgot the Dall-GB game Bryan. An exciting game and Danny White's last playoff win for his career though he won an exciting game against the Giants in wk 15 of the 1985 season to win the division.

The Jet win at the Mausoleum wasn't that big of an upset. The 82 Raiders weren't as good as the 1983 version. They were lucky to be 8-1.

Also, it's maybe not that surprising how SD's defense regressed even more in 1982. They got rid of Jack Pardee, and they hired Tom Bass to be their new DC. He switched to a 3-4 system. They also brought in veterans like safeties Bruce Laird and Tim Fox and OLB Dave Lewis.

I meant the Dallas-Green Bay game. Corrected it. The Bengal-Jet game was exciting till the Jets pulled away. I liked the Falcon-Viking game as well but QB Bartkowski was under siege being totally immobile. 1983 would really be his last decent season but just took too many hits.

Jets nearly choked that Raiders game away in 1982. Mehl has a late int with the score 17-14, the Jets are trying to run the clock out...but Freeman McNeil fumbles. Raiders get the ball back...and Lance Mehl inmediately picks off another pass from Plunkett

Also remember a beautiful defensive play during the game when Branch caugh a sideline pass, a Jet defender hit him beautifully. Textbook. The ball popped out of his hands and right into the hands of a Jets defender

sheajets wrote:
Also remember a beautiful defensive play during the game when Branch caugh a sideline pass, a Jet defender hit him beautifully. Textbook. The ball popped out of his hands and right into the hands of a Jets defender

It was Jerry Holmes IIRC.

No discussion of the 1982 playoffs is complete without mentioning John Riggins. Before the playoffs started, Riggins went to Joe Gibbs and said he wanted the ball, and when Gibbs accommodated his request, he ran for 610 yards on 136 carries in four playoff games to lead the Redskins to their first Super Bowl victory. He was 33.