Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

I just want to say a few things about this title game. The announcers said that after Wilbert Montgomery went 42 yards for a touchdown they knew the Eagles would win. That was allot of nonsense. We left too many chances to score go by. When teams do that, a lead can often turn into a loss. Dallas put together a 68 yard drive with Tony Dorset scoring from three yards out. The game was tied at 7.

The Eagles got moving and were at the Cowboys 25 yard line. Ron Jaworski threw a touchdown pass to Harold Carmichael. However, the Eagles were holding and had to settle for a field goal. Tony Franklin missed the mark. The halftime score was a tied at 7 . The score should have been 14 to 7.

In the third quarter, an Eagle punt put the Cowboys at their 15. Danny White dropped back to pass; but Charlie Johnson and Claude Humphrey really nailed him causing a fumble and the Eagles recovered. It was a first down at the 4 yard line. Then came three failures to move the ball. Tony Franklin had to kick and Philadelphia led 10 to 7. The score should have been 21 to 7.

At that time, I really thought the Eagles would lose. I remember those two plays that finally tilted the win for the Eagles.
A brilliant 3 on one defensive play causing Tony Dorset to fumble. As he moved laterally, Randy Logan slowed him down, Roynell Young stripped the football from him, and Jerry Robinson recovered and ran 22 yards. A few plays later Leror Harris ran 10 yards for a touchdown. The Eagles led 17 to 7.

The other play was Wilbert Montgomery’s a 54 yard run. The Eagles kicked a field goal and finally won 20 to 7. On other thing, the previous weekend, in a Wild Card Game, Dallas scored two touchdowns in the last six minutes to defeat the Atlanta Falcons 30 to 27. The Cowboys may have been emotionally trained.

I read about this game literally today in Jimmy Grant's book Blue Collar Birds. As a kid I remember in the week leading up to this game everyone was making a big deal about the Eagles choosing to wear their white jerseys since the Cowboys were only 1-3 that year wearing blue.

Other than the big runs by Montgomery, the Cowboys defense played well. The offense just didnt show up after blowing their load in Atlanta. The game in Dallas was huge for Jaworski, who led a comeback that fell short but allowed the Eagles to win the division. Imagine had the Vikings not turned the ball over in the divisional playoffs against Philly, but the Eagles took control.

Had Atlanta held on and defeated Dallas, I don't think the Eagles win the NFC. Atlanta had the Eagles number having defeated the Eagles three consecutive times, including a 20-17 Falcons win in 1980 at the Vet. The NFC Championship would have been played in Atlanta and I can't envision the Eagles winning on the road against the Falcons.

I would have loved to have collected a Philly-Atlanta Championship game in Atlanta to go with my copy of the first official NFC Wild Card game from 1978 in Atlanta but Danny White and Drew Pearson once again broke the Falcon's heart ...