Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Teams often experience emotional letdowns after close games or coming from behind.  Here are some examples:

1. Dallas Cowboys 1972

Regular Season Record
Dallas Cowboys 10-4-0
San Francisco 8-5-1

Washington Redskins were 11-3-0; Washington lost its last two games, which were meaningless.  The previous two years, Dallas defeated San Francisco in the NFC Title Games to go to the Super Bowl. It looked like 1972 would be different. On Thanksgiving Day in Dallas, the 49ers won an easy 31 to 10 victory. San Francisco linebacker Skip Vanderbunt scored two touchdowns. In the first round of the playoffs in San Francisco, the 49ers led 28 to 13 after three quarters. Roger Staubach came off the bench to lead the Cowboys in the first of his many comeback victories-a field goal early and two touchdown passes in the last three minutes. Final Dallas 30 San Francisco 28.

The next week in the NFC Championship game at Washington the Cowboys were flat. The Redskins shut down both Calvin Hill and Walt Garrison and were in Staubach's face the entire game. Final Washington 26 Dallas 3.

2. Oakland Raiders 1974

Regular Season Record
Miami Dolphins 11-3-0
Oakland Raiders 12-2-0
Pittsburgh Steelers 10-3-1

In the first round of the 1973 playoffs Oakland beat Pittsburgh 33 to 14. Their 12-2 record in 1974 was the best in the league. Among those wins was a 17 to 0 shutout at Pittsburgh in the third game of the season. Oakland beat Miami 28 to 26 in a real exciting game in the first round of the playoffs. This ended Miami's streak of three consecutive Super Bowl trips, the last two they won. I can still see Kenny Stabler throwing the winning touchdown pass to Clarence Davis while a Miami lineman had almost tackled him. This was in the last 30 seconds and Miami had just scored.
 
The following week the Raiders hosted Pittsburgh in the AFC Title Game, were have heavy favorites, and came out dizzy. Pittsburgh held the Raiders, a team loaded with great running backs, to 29 yards rushing. Kenny Stabler was 17 for 36 and Cliff Branch caught seven passes. However, Stabler threw three interceptions-all of them led to Steeler touchdowns. Franco Harris gained 112 yards and Rocky Bleir 90. Oakland's defensive line was suspect.
Final Pittsburgh 24 Oakland 13.

3. Dallas Cowboys 1979

Regular Season Record
Dallas Cowboys 11-5-0
Los Angeles Rams 9-7-0

In the 1978 NFC Title Game, after a scoreless first half, Dallas shutout the Rams 28 to 0. They also defeated the Rams easily 30 to 6 at home during the 1979 season. In the final game of the regular season, Roger Staubach fired two touchdown passes in the last three minutes game to beat Washington 35 to 34. This eliminated the Redskins from the playoffs after a 10-6 season.

Dallas hosted Los Angeles in the first round of the playoffs and were heavy favorites. In his last game, Roger Staubach ran out of miracles. Vince Ferragamo fired a 54 yard touchdown pass to Billy Waddy. The Rams stunned the Cowboys 21 to 19.

4. Dallas Cowboys 1980

The Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, and Atlanta Falcons all had 12-4 records.

Dallas beat the Los Angeles Rams in the wild card game 24 to 19. The next week at Atlanta, the Cowboys trailed 24 to 10 after three quarters. Danny White took over where Staubach left off and threw three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. Two of them came in the final five minutes.

Final Dallas 30 Atlanta 27

In the NFC Championship games at Philadelphia, the Cowboys were off key on both offense and defense. On the Eagles' first play, Wilbert Montgomery ran 42 yards for a touchdown. Philadelphia sacked Danny White 8 times. The Cowboys had only one sustained drive. One the of best coordinated defensive plays in Eagle history occurred in the third quarter with the Eagles clinging to a 10 to 7 lead. White handed off to Tony Dorsett, who began to move laterally meaning this play would gain nothing. What I did not expect was the great threesome display. Randy Logan hit Dorsett, slowing him to turtle speed; Roynell Young stripped the ball loose; and Jerry Robinson recovered and ran 22 yards. Robinson's run was only 10 yard less than Dorsett's yardage the entire game. Later Wilbert Montgomery had a 54 yard run.

Final Philadelphia 20 Dallas 7.

I view it more as simply the better team winning. In 72, Staubach sat out almost the entire season with a shoulder injury. How many teams have started a QB in a championship who had only 20 pass attempts on the year? That is a short list. The Redskins has beaten Dallas earlier in the year, won the division over Dallas, and beat them in the playoffs at home.

In 74, the Raiders were only 5.5 point home favorites....not exactly heavy IMO. The Steelers were statistically better than the Raiders, and the Raiders defense during the year was middle of the pack and very poor against the run. The Steelers defense kept the game close and the offense had success running on the Raiders. Not all that surprising.

79, the Cowboys were fortunate to make the playoffs. There defense was middle of the pack, with some weaknesses in the defensive secondary. Ferragamo threw three long TD passes and that was basically the game.

80, similar to 72 in that the Cowboys had lost to Philly earlier in the year and had finished behind Philly in the division. The Cowboys defense again was middle of the pack while giving up over 2000 rushing yards at 4.4 yards per carry. The Eagles dominated the Cowboys on the ground at home.

I definitely think you're onto something with 1974. Not only had the Raiders knocked off the two-time defending champion Dolphins in the AFC semifinal, after that game they celebrated like they'd just won the S.B. which is something (that I've read, anyway) PIT didn't take kindly to. At all. 1975 - that was a tough break for the Raiders, having to play in PIT (and in those icy conditions) for the AFC championship. But I've long felt that the Raiders, NOT the Steelers, should have been the AFC representative in the Super Bowl in January of 1975.

That 1975 Steelers-Raiders game had so many turnovers that both sides acted like they didn't want to win. I never expected the 41 yard field goal from George Blanda. He had not kicked anything over 37 yards during the season.