1975 Hail Mary Playoff Game

[sport historian]

Last night on the NFL Network, I saw the replay of the 1975 Dallas-Minnesota Conference Playoff game. The NFL Network is showing "classic games." What was interesting was that it was the actual videotape, rather than an NFL Films product. Johnny Unitas was the analyst. Is this the oldest game they have on videotape?

The NFL was more defense-oriented then than now. The 1978 rules changes would open up the passing game. Tarkenton and Staubach were the two highest rated QB's in the NFC that year. Tarkenton averaged about 214 passing yards a game, and Staubach around 190, which would be low today.

Golden Richards didn't look good for the Cowboys at WR. He dropped a perfect pass midway in the 4th quarter that would have gone for a long TD. Ed Marinaro started that season for the Vikings in a split backfield with Chuck Foreman and caught 54 passes.

During the broadcast, Unitas quoted Tarkenton as saying, "Brent McClanahan can run a lot better than Marinaro." McClanahan was a black RB who was then playing behind Ed Marinaro. In this game Marinaro caught 5 passes for 64 yards.

Marinaro signed as a free agent with the Jets after that season. Marinaro was a runner who had to carry the ball a lot to be effective. So did O.J. Simpson. The Jets were one of the worst teams in the league in 1976, but Marinaro had two 100 yard games rushing. One week after outgaining O.J. something like 119 to 53, he tore up his knee and eventualling went into acting. McClanahan started the next two seasons for the Vikings and did little.

Just before the Hail Mary pass, Staubach hit a 4th and 17 pass to Drew Pearson at midfield. Pearson made a good play on the Hail Mary, catching the ball on his hip, and coming back on an underthrow. Ironically, the 4th down reception may have been a tougher play by both Staubach and Drew Pearson.

 

[jaxvid]

I saw a black football player recently with the first name Golden, maybe he was named after one of his mama's teeth. It was like a white guy with the name of DeShaunte'. There outta be a law!

 

[Kaptain]

I've wrote about some aspects of this game before on CF. On that 4th and seventeen pass I believe Pearson caught the ball a couple of yards out of bounds but was it was ruled that he was forced-out. Of course there was the controversial non-call on the Hail Mary followed by a referee that was knocked-out by a whiskey bottle. After the game Tarkenton was called out of his locker room and told that his father died of a heart attack while watching the game. Lots of drama - can't write a movie script more dramatic than that.

 

[Bear Backer]

I love those old games. Plenty of white players showing they have the ability to play in the NFL with blacks. It is not at all like the false product you see on the field today where fans are tricked into believing that they are seeing the best players play at the highest levels. You are also right, defense was so much more a part of the game than it is today, and that is primarily a result of the increase in black players who are not fundamentally sound on the defensive side of the ball. The NFL is a circus act today that tries to pass off flash as speed for quality. The excitement in those old games came from quality teams clashing in a battle of wills and classic psychology like what you used to see in championship prize fights. Todays NFL excitement comes almost exclusively at the expense of busted plays and poor fundamentals. Real football fans should be ashamed of todays NFL quality, not to even mention the thuggish and clownish antics of the players. Sometimes I literally feel like I am watching professional wrestling when I watch the NFL. Undoubtedly though, the majority of the casual fans prefer this type of buffoonery that the NFL calls football. You water down a product enough and reach out to a large enough audience and you can get away with almost anything. However, I think maybe we are at the very beginning of a trend though with the dropping NFL ratings, that may suggest this is slowly changing.
As the old saying goes "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

 

[Don Wassall]

Over and over you hear from the mediathat today's players "are bigger, faster and stronger" than ever before. I'll buy that they're bigger, as in fatter, but the rest of it I don't buy. It's a watered down product with bad fundamentalsboosted by the media because it's the country's secular religion. And they're definitely not tougher than players from previous eras, though many are of very low character.

 

[sport historian]

One reason that I recommend this game is that people who weren't around then can see how the game was played over 30 years ago. I agree with Don that while the players are "fatter," they are not better.