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Post by Neo Zeed on Sept 22, 2022 14:07:55 GMT
Even though the demise of the National Football League was a steady downward spiral throughout the 70's, it was still one of the most shocking news stories of the year when the 58 year old league announced that it was finished in February 1978. This is a timeline of events that led us to where we are at this point in the early Spring of 1978. - December 28th, 1958: The NFL Championship Game between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants goes into sudden death overtime(the first game to ever do so) on live primetime network television, producing a climactic finish that triggers a boom in interest in the National Football League across the USA.
- 1959: The rise in interest in the NFL on TV created a demand for the league in cities across the United States. Cities everywhere wanted an NFL expansion team but the tight knit group of 12 NFL owners at the time had no interest in expanding the league with new teams. Lamar Hunt, Bud Adams, Bob Howsam and Max Winter all separately unsuccessfully tried to buy controlling interest in the Chicago Cardinals to move the team to their respective markets once the team became available. Each want to be owner found themselves left out in the cold after the Bidwell family maintained majority ownership of the club and moved them to St. Louis in 1960. In the aftermath Lamar Hunt organized Howsam, Adams, and Winter to form their own league, the American Football League. The original group of AFL owners were eventually nicknamed "The Foolish Club" for their brazen attempt to challenge the 40 year old NFL head to head.
- September 11th, 1960: The inaugural season of the American Football League kicks off with 8 teams, the Buffalo Bills, Boston Patriots, Los Angeles Chargers, New York Titans, Houston Oilers, Dallas Texans, Oakland Raiders, and Denver Broncos. The NFL countered the launch of the AFL by launching the Dallas Cowboys expansion franchise in 1960 and stealing away the planned Minnesota AFL franchise for what would become the Minnesota Vikings in 1961. The AFL pulled off a major coup by signing 75% of the NFL's first-round draft choices in 1960, including the Houston Oilers signing Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon from LSU.
- January 29, 1964: The AFL signed a $36 million television contract with NBC(beginning in the 1965 season), securing the financial future of the league and giving it the strength to compete with the NFL. The war between the two leagues reached new heights going into 1965 as both leagues fought for the top talent coming out of college. AFL raided the NFL rosters for veterans and stole away the best college talent such as Joe Namath, who signed the biggest rookie contract in pro football history up to that point when he signed with the New York Jets in the AFL for $427,000( and a new car).
- June 8th, 1966: Due to soaring player salaries due to bidding between the NFL and AFL several of the owners in both leagues arranged secret meetings to discuss a potential merger in the spring of 1966. The details were worked out and the official announcement for the AFL-NFL merger rocked the sports world on June 8th. The terms of the agreement included a common NFL/AFL player draft for college talent beginning in 1967. The plan was made for the two leagues to fully merge in 1970 with NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle remaining as commissioner of the merged league. The two leagues agreed on an "NFL vs AFL World Championship Game" held between the two league champions at the end of the 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969 seasons before the official merger. Another term of the agreement was that the AFL teams had to return all of the veteran talent that had been poached from NFL teams during the 1966 off-season and the AFL would pay $18 million of indemnities to the NFL over a 20 year payment plan.
- January 12th, 1969: Joe Namath follows through on his guaranteed victory as the AFL's New York Jets defeat the NFL's Baltimore Colts in one of the biggest upsets in all of sports history in Super Bowl III, the 3rd AFL vs NFL World Championship of Professional Football. The victory was the AFL's first win over the NFL in the series after being blown out in the first 2 games in 1967(Green Bay Packers 35 Kansas City Chiefs 10) and 1968(Green Bay Packers 33 Oakland Raiders 14). Namath shocked the sports world after the game when he threw down the Super Bowl trophy and declared the AFL Championship Trophy to be the real title in pro football. Namath listed off several NFL legends in his speech, Jim Thorpe, Vince Lombardi, George Halas, before saying that they can all kiss his ass. Namath announced that the AFL would not merge with the NFL and that the AFL was the superior league.
- January 19th, 1969: Just 1 week after Super Bowl III AFL commissioner Al Davis held a press conference and backed up Joe Namath's claim, announcing that the AFL has decided to back out of their planned merger with the NFL set for the 1970 season. Davis told the media that the AFL had too much momentum and the owners felt that there was no reason to give that momentum away to someone else. NFL owners and officials were outraged. By the preseason of 1969 lawsuits and countersuits were filed by the AFL and NFL as a legal battle broke out. Both leagues went on with the 1969 seasons as planned and how they went down in real life, nothing on the field is changed here in this alternate reality, not yet. Super Bowl IV goes down with the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs utterly destroying the NFL's Minnesota Vikings to further solidify the renegade league's claims as the premier league in pro football.
- June 30th, 1970: The AFL wins a major court battle by winning the rights to the term "Super Bowl" to be used for the AFL Championship Game at the end of every season. Courts ruled in favor of the AFL in the battle for the trademarks just one month after the AFL signed an exclusive television contract with ABC to air "Monday Night Foootball" live on primetime on Monday nights starting in 1970. AFL Monday Night Football on ABC becomes an instant hit and solidifies the AFL as the more colorful, charismatic, and entertaining brand of pro football. The two leagues play on as separate entities in 1970 with the NFL Championship Game going head to head with the AFL's "Super Bowl" at the end of the season. The NFL Championship Game between the Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Colts goes down as the "Blunder Bowl" in a mistake ridden sloppy outing while the Oakland Raiders thoroughly handle the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl V to win the AFL Championship.
- January 16th 1972: A major turning point in the ongoing war between the AFL vs NFL occurs when the 1971 NFL Championship went head to head with the AFL's Super Bowl VI. Ratings plummeted during the NFL Championship Game in a boring rematch between the Cowboys and Colts finished with a 6-0 score while ratings for AFL Super Bowl VI soared as a thriller between the Kansas City Chiefs vs Miami Dolphins unfolded as an all time classic that finished in double overtime. This was a major blow by the AFL to the NFL just as they had continued to steal away all top draft picks coming out of college, including #1 NFL pick Archie Manning. The AFL capitalized on their momentum with an aggressive push to strategically pluck away some of the NFL's brightest young stars, legends, even MVP's, even going as far as bringing 35 year old Jim Brown out of retirement just days after being inducted into the NFL Hall Of Fame. Brown's endorsement of the AFL and his return to the field gave the league a huge publicity boost and legitimacy that it needed.
- 1975: The AFL dominates the NFL at the box office and on television ratings as polls suggest for the first time that the AFL is preferred over the NFL by American football fans. The AFL steals away all the top college talent coming up as well as most of the popular NFL players causing many of the weaker NFL teams such as the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons to fall into financial peril. A planned NFL expansion team in Tampa Bay falls apart at the last second due to financial problems within the NFL, the AFL swooped in and stole the Tampa franchise to add as an AFL expansion team in 1976. Meanwhile the AFL completes plans to expand into Seattle Washington with the construction of the new Kingdome and the materialization of the new Seahawks franchise set to debut in 1976. Even as the AFL eclipses the NFL in popularity the hardcore fans of the sport yearned for the return of the AFL vs NFL format of the Super Bowl as the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers emerge as a true powerhouse winning the 1974 and 1975 NFL Championship with one of the best defenses in NFL history. Many fans of both AFL and NFL dreamed of a matchup between the three time(72, 74, 75) NFL Champion Steelers and three time(70, 74, 75) AFL Champion Oakland Raiders.
- February 1976: Just 1 week after the end of the 1975 NFL season the Atlanta Falcons announced that they were suspending operations indefinitely due to financial collapse. Later in the offseason the AFL solidified their place as the #1 pro football league in America by inking new television contracts with ABC, NBC, and CBS, in a deal that industry sources considered to be the largest single television package ever negotiated. Just weeks later an earth shattering development unfolded as the Pittsburgh Steelers sue the NFL in an attempt to leave the league to join the AFL. The NFL blocked the move but a federal court ruled an injunction to allow the Steelers to jump from the NFL to the AFL due to a loophole in Art Rooney's original agreement when he purchased the NFL franchise in the 1930's. The Steelers filed the suit under the guise that they were losing money by operating in the NFL due to the league losing it's key television contracts. The move ended up being a crushing blow to the NFL as they were decimated in the ratings during the 1976 season. An opening day meeting between the Raiders and debuting Steelers broke AFL television ratings. The two teams met in a rematch in Super Bowl XI in a game that would go down as one of the most watched sporting events in US Television history. After the end of the 1976 season the NFL's Atlanta Falcons announced that they were filing for bankruptcy while the New Orleans Saints ownership officially folded the team due to mounting debt and lack of fan support.
- February 1978: The National Football League officially folds after 58 seasons. The AFL purchases the rights to all trademarks and video library of the NFL shortly after. An agreement was made between AFL owners to expand by adding the Browns and Colts, two teams that were already in negotiations to jump from NFL to AFL during the season. A deal is made to handle the influx of free agents in order to keep player salaries from skyrocketing and prevent bidding wars within the AFL clubs with a special "NFL Player Allocation Draft" held for AFL teams to draft the rights to active players under contract with defunct NFL teams prior to the 1978 season.
Super Bowl Results
Game/Site/Date | Winner | Loser | Score | MVP | Halftime Performance | Super Bowl I LA Memorial Coliseum January 15th, 1967 | Green Bay Packers | Kansas City Chiefs | 35-10 | Bart Starr | N/A | Super Bowl II Miami Orange Bowl January 14th, 1968 | Green Bay Packers | Oakland Raiders | 33-14 | Bart Starr | N/A | Super Bowl III Miami Orange Bowl January 12th, 1969 | New York Jets | Baltimore Colts | 16-7 | Joe Namath | N/A | Super Bowl IV Tulane Stadium January 11th, 1970 | Kansas City Chiefs | Minnesota Vikings | 23-7 | Len Dawson | N/A | Super Bowl V Miami Orange Bowl January 17th, 1971 | Oakland Raiders | Cincinnati Bengals | 38-13 | Daryle Lamonica | N/A | Super Bowl VI Tulane Stadium January 16th, 1972 | Miami Dolphins | Kansas City Chiefs | 30-27(2OT) | Larry Csonka | Al Green | Super Bowl VII LA Memorial Coliseum January 14th, 1973 | Miami Dolphins | Oakland Raiders | 21-7 | Jake Scott | Elvis Presley | Super Bowl VIII Rice Stadium January 13th, 1974 | Miami Dolphins | Oakland Raiders | 27-14 | Larry Csonka | The Rolling Stones | Super Bowl IX Tulane Stadium January 12th 1975 | Oakland Raiders | Miami Dolphins | 28-26 | Ken Stabler | Stevie Wonder | Super Bowl X Miami Orange Bowl January 18th, 1976 | Oakland Raiders | Cincinnati Bengals | 34-30 | Ken Stabler | Paul Mccartney and Wings | Super Bowl XI Rose Bowl January 9th, 1977 | Oakland Raiders | Pittsburgh Steelers | 24-7 | Ken Stabler | The Eagles | Super Bowl XII Houston Astrodome January 15th, 1978 | Denver Broncos | Oakland Raiders | 21-17 | Bill Thompson | Kiss | |
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Post by 🤯 on Sept 22, 2022 15:22:31 GMT
Loving Joe Namath pulling a Shane Douglas!
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Post by Neo Zeed on Sept 22, 2022 15:25:28 GMT
NFL Player Allocation Draft The free agent market was flooded with talent after the death of the NFL following the 1977 season. In order to prevent bidding wars for the top stars from the NFL, a special allocation draft was planned to help keep player salaries from skyrocketing. The 15 AFL teams drafted a 5 round draft for the rights to the NFL's top stars. Any player that wished to forego signing with the AFL team that drafted them had the option to sit out the 1978 season to become an unrestricted free agent for 1979. The best of the best NFL free agents were selected in the first 2 rounds of the allocation draft, with the results as follows: With the first pick in the allocation draft the Tampa Bay Buccaneers select... Roger Staubach, Quarterback With the second pick in the allocation draft the Kansas City Chiefs select... Walter Payton, Running Back With the third pick in the allocation draft the Buffalo Bills select... Jack Youngblood, Defensive Lineman With the fourth pick in the allocation draft the New York Jets select... Steve Bartkowski, Quarterback With the fifth pick in the allocation draft the Seattle Seahawks select... Ron Yary, Offensive Lineman With the sixth pick in the allocation draft the Cleveland Browns select... Dan Dierdorff, Offensive Lineman With the seventh pick in the allocation draft the San Diego Chargers select... Tony Dorsett, Running Back With the eigth pick in the allocation draft the Houston Oilers select... Roger Wehrli, Defensive Back With the ninth pick in the allocation draft the Miami Dolphins select... Randy White, Defensive Linemen With the tenth pick in the allocation draft the Cincinnati Bengals select... Drew Pearson, Wide Receiver With the eleventh pick in the allocation draft the New England Patriots select... Harry Carson, Linebacker With the twelveth pick in the allocation draft the Pittsburgh Steelers select... Conrad Dobler, Offensive Lineman With the thirteenth pick in the allocation draft the Baltimore Colts select... Harvey Martin, Defensive Lineman With the fourteenth pick in the allocation draft the Oakland Raiders select... Lawrence McCutcheon, Running Back With the fifteenth pick in the allocation draft the Denver Broncos select... Tom Banks, Offensive Lineman Second Round results: Tampa Bay Buccaneers- Alan Page DE Kansas City Chiefs- Ed Too Tall Jones DE Buffalo Bills- Ron Jaworski QB New York Jets- Dave Butz DT Seattle Seahawks- Cliff Harris FS Cleveland Browns- Harold Carmichael WR San Diego Chargers- Charley Watters SS Houston Oilers- Billy Joe Dupree TE Miami Dolphins- Golden Richards WR Cincinnati Bengals- Herm Edwards RCB New England Patriots- Lenn Hauss C Pittsburgh Steelers- Mark Mosely K Baltimore Colts- Dennis Lick RT Oakland Raiders- Brad Van Pelt MLB Denver Broncos- AJ Duhe DT
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Post by Baker on Sept 22, 2022 15:32:04 GMT
Now we're getting real fan ficcy. To nitpick again you should have expanded the AFL to 16 teams. It's a perfect number. The player allocation draft reminded me of an idea I already had- do some real life NFL redrafts. Somebody ( pduh I think) started an NBA redraft thread a while back. That was pretty fun for a few days.
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Post by Neo Zeed on Sept 22, 2022 15:43:31 GMT
1978 AFL College Draft The Houston Oilers traded up to take 1977 Heisman Trophy winning running back out of the University of Texas, Earl Campbell with the #1 pick overall. Campbell ran the ball 267 times for 1,744 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns in 11 games for the Texas Longhorns in 1977. Overall in 4 seasons with the Texas Longhorns Campbell racked up 4,443 rushing yards and 40 rushing touchdowns in 40 games. Other notable picks included the Seattle Seahawks taking Wide Receiver James Lofton out of Stanford with the 6th overall pick. The Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Colts from the NFL were put into the draft order according to their records from the 1977 NFL season, with Cleveland picking up Linebacker Clay Matthews out of USC with the 7th overall pick in the first round, then trading up to take Tight End Ozzie Newsome with the 12th overall pick in the 1st round. San Diego Chargers picked up Wide Receiver John Jefferson in the 1st round. Notable later round picks include the Miami Dolphins picking up Quarterback Doug Williams out of Grambling in the 2nd round and the Houston Oilers drafting Quarterback Warren Moon out of the University of Washington with their 3rd round pick.
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Post by Neo Zeed on Sept 22, 2022 15:55:50 GMT
Now we're getting real fan ficcy. To nitpick again you should have expanded the AFL to 16 teams. It's a perfect number. The player allocation draft reminded me of an idea I already had- do some real life NFL redrafts. Somebody ( pduh I think) started an NBA redraft thread a while back. That was pretty fun for a few days. I feel you. A lot of what I booked here was inspired by and a homage to how the whole deal with the All America Football Conference played out like what if that would have happened with the AFL vs NFL war with the NFL going down. They added the Colts, 49ers, and Browns then held a draft for the rest of the players: www.wikiwand.com/en/1950_AAFC_dispersal_draftAlso felt like Tampa, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Cleveland all being added so quick was a lot but at this stage I feel like with the NFL dead it would have been like the wild wild west like after WCW died in pro wrestling with WWF just making hasty ego-driven moves on the fly some of that probably would have happened here with the AFL. Maybe nothing could be worked out with the other remaining owners so they couldn't get a 16th team out of the NFL, so I'd imagine they would want to wait and plan for another expansion team for the 16th spot, another western team to even out the conferences. Also I don't think I did a good enough job of building up this narrative with what is going on with Al Davis and the power struggle of AFL owners I envision that led to the league backing out of the merger. If Al Davis was able to win over support from a majority of the owners and take control of the AFL it makes for an interesting sub plot behind all the football stuff going on here. I have some interesting ideas to explain some of the breaks the AFL got in the 70's that will make this a fun project. But I envision at this point Al Davis seizes total control of the AFL with the leverage he has with the other owners and Lamar Hunt loses power over the league he founded, further fanning the flames of the rivalry between the two going forward in this project. So in this universe the AFL Championship trophy for the Super Bowl never gets called the Lamar Hunt trophy(one minor thing I plan to fix as I transfer over from the other forum). This also explains the power the Raiders had over the AFL on the field appearing in 8 out of 11 Super Bowls there including 6 in a row where they won a threapeat, essentially becoming the Yankees or Celtics of the AFL. I imagine in this universe the Raiders get some lucky calls from the refs in those wins over Pittsburgh with all that was on the line there.
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Post by 🤯 on Sept 22, 2022 16:09:41 GMT
Now we're getting real fan ficcy. To nitpick again you should have expanded the AFL to 16 teams. It's a perfect number. The player allocation draft reminded me of an idea I already had- do some real life NFL redrafts. Somebody ( pduh I think) started an NBA redraft thread a while back. That was pretty fun for a few days. I had the same initial thought re: 15, but I actually kinda like it. Leaves room for the next expansion team to come in with more of a spotlight. Plus, I'm intrigued to see the challenges of scheduling a non-bracketable number of teams for playoffs.
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Post by Neo Zeed on Sept 22, 2022 16:11:51 GMT
Pro Football News April 1978
Roger Staubach refuses to play for AFL's Buccaneers, announces retirementThe AFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers are left back at square one looking for a quarterback after their 1st overall pick in the NFL Player Allocation Draft refused to play for the AFL and announced his retirement. Staubach got emotional during the press conference as he reflected back on his career with the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, saying that he is proud to retire as a Cowboy. The Buccaneers have struggled mightily since joining the AFL as an expansion team in 1976, going 0-14 their inaugural season and then following up with a 1-13 campaign last year. Analysts have been critical of Tampa's decision to use the 1st overall pick on the aging quarterback in the twilight of his career when several good young players were available at positions they desperately need help in.
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Post by 🤯 on Sept 22, 2022 16:13:52 GMT
I imagine in this universe the Raiders get some lucky calls from the refs in those wins over Pittsburgh with all that was on the line there. Ah, ok, this makes sense and makes me feel sooo much better about my Stillers getting spanked at every turn once making the jump. They're getting that 2003 WWE Goldberg treatment!
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Post by Baker on Sept 22, 2022 16:18:49 GMT
NFL purist Roger Staubach telling the AFL to stick it was a great swerve. Disagree 🤯. 15 is an awful number! Means one team has a bye every week and the divisions are lopsided. It's just so awkward. And why would the AFL tell so many major markets like Dallas, Chicago, Philly, etc. to stick it? Oh well. At least it gives me something to look forward to in the future since I'm sure Nobi plans on resurrecting some of these markets through expansion....and perhaps some new team names?
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Post by Neo Zeed on Sept 22, 2022 16:19:28 GMT
I just don't see an Al Davis run AFL letting Pittsburgh walk out of those games against Oakland with victories with all that was at stake there with them being an(former) NFL team. Pittsburgh 0-4 against the Raiders going into this 1978 season I envision them having the defense that the AFL had never seen anything like it those first 2 years but maybe not well suited for the different AFL rules, lots of penalties maybe, and an offense that struggles to keep up with the high scoring style of the AFL, and also maybe beat up and burned out from the 3 NFL title runs the years before switching leagues. Will be interesting to see how they do in 78 now that Chuck Noll has had 2 seasons to adapt to the AFL rules.
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Post by 🤯 on Sept 22, 2022 16:22:45 GMT
NFL purist Roger Staubach telling the AFL to stick it was a great swerve. Disagree 🤯. 15 is an awful number! Means one team has a bye every week and the divisions are lopsided. It's just so awkward. And why would the AFL tell so many major markets like Dallas, Chicago, Philly, etc. to stick it? Oh well. At least it gives me something to look forward to in the future since I'm sure Nobi plans on resurrecting some of these markets through expansion....and perhaps some new team names? I know it's awful, but that's what makes it intriguing! 16 is too "perfect world". It's fun to throw intentional monkey wrench challenges into revisionist history. Plus, you also named three markets that I'd absolutely tell to stick it. Burns me up Cleveland & Baltimore weren't told to stick it too... -_-
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Post by 🤯 on Sept 22, 2022 16:24:12 GMT
I just don't see an Al Davis run AFL letting Pittsburgh walk out of those games against Oakland with victories with all that was at stake there with them being an(former) NFL team. Pittsburgh 0-4 against the Raiders going into this 1978 season I envision them having the defense that the AFL had never seen anything like it those first 2 years but maybe not well suited for the different AFL rules, lots of penalties maybe, and an offense that struggles to keep up with the high scoring style of the AFL, and also maybe beat up and burned out from the 3 NFL title runs the years before switching leagues. Will be interesting to see how they do in 78 now that Chuck Noll has had 2 seasons to adapt to the AFL rules. You can rectify things by turning the Stillers' Super 70s into the 80s Greaties with a Crazy 8 run of Super Bowl wins. They don't have to be consecutive per se. But I demand 8 rings all within the next decade.
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Post by Neo Zeed on Sept 22, 2022 16:24:30 GMT
NFL purist Roger Staubach telling the AFL to stick it was a great swerve. Disagree 🤯 . 15 is an awful number! Means one team has a bye every week and the divisions are lopsided. It's just so awkward. And why would the AFL tell so many major markets like Dallas, Chicago, Philly, etc. to stick it? Oh well. At least it gives me something to look forward to in the future since I'm sure Nobi plans on resurrecting some of these markets through expansion....and perhaps some new team names? I think Cowboys owner(Bum Bright?) and president Tex Schramm would have been especially betrayed by the AFL backing out of the merger since he was one of the key figures that negotiated the deal on the NFL's behalf. I don't think he would have wanted to do business with the AFL owners after that, not sure they would want to do business with him either after the toxic nature of that war in the 1970's with these guys livelihoods at stake. Halas I can see being another not wanting to take the Bears to the AFL, he was pure blooded NFL to a fault. Philly I could imagine would have been a mess with little to no fan support with the state of this alternate universe NFL, Philadelphia can now just watch Steelers games on TV. I imagine also there would be a huge risk of taking on a team like the Bears or Packers or Lions into the AFL and it just fails because those were NFL towns, kinda like WWF trying to take over WCW's TBS deal those towns could have high risk of just rejecting the AFL and those teams failing. But the AFL owns New York and Cali with the Jets and Raiders/Chargers, also Texas with the Oilers now being the only team in the state with homegrown superstar Earl Campbell state hero they become Texas' team. I think also some of the NFL owners could potentially plan to start up a new league down the road the ones who didn't go broke from the dying days of the NFL, Halas, the city of Green Bay, the Bidwells, H. R. "Bum" Bright(Cowboys), the Ford family, Jack Kent Cooke, maybe Eddie Debartalo Jr and Max Winter maybe they can get something else going later in the 80's when there are more distribution outlets looking for content. As of 1978 they are all fucked. The Death Of The NFL should be nominated for Fed Of The Year it's a dramatic story of a group of greedy rich billionaires that were too stuck in their ways and got passed up by something new and flashy and edgy and their ship went down like a fucking titanic that hit an iceberg. Epic of the cinema
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Post by Neo Zeed on Sept 22, 2022 17:15:05 GMT
1978 AFL Pre-Season Scouting Report1977 AFL MVP Archie Manning, Quarterback(Denver Broncos) The American Football League will enter it's 19th season in 1978, the first season after the death of their rival NFL. The AFL will add 2 teams from the NFL in the Baltimore Colts and Cleveland Browns. The AFL will maintain a 14 game regular season. At the end of the season the division winner will face the runner up from the opposite division in the AFL Divisional Playoff games. The winners of the 2 divisional playoff games will face off in the Super Bowl XIII live from the Orange Bowl in Miami Florida. Denver Broncos: The Orange Crush phenomenon swept the AFL in 1977 as the Broncos dominated with one of the strongest team defenses in AFL history to date. Broncomania was running wild in Denver in 1977 and will continue to run wild as head coach Red Miller returns for his second season with new stars acquired from the NFL Allocation Draft in all pro center Tom Banks and NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award winning defensive tackle AJ Duhe. The 1977 AFL MVP passer Archie Manning will return to lead the Broncos offense along with running back Otis Anderson, but wide receiver Gene Washington's presence will be sorely missed after he announced his retirement in the off season. The Broncos' strength is their Orange Crush defense, led by 1977 AFL Defensive Player Of The Year Lyle Alzedo, Tom Jackson, Randy Gradishar, and Bill Thompson, all returning to the Broncos in 78 to defend their AFL Title. Oakland Raiders: The Silver and Black commitment to excellence has brought the Raiders 5 AFL Championship Titles, more than any other team in AFL history. The Raiders have played in 8 of the first 12 Super Bowls so far, capturing AFL Championship Titles in 1967, 1970, 1974, 1975, and 1976. The Raiders quest for a 4th consecutive AFL Super Bowl Championship was derailed by the Denver Broncos last year. Coach John Madden returns for his 10th season with the Raiders in 1978. Also returning is 2 time AFL MVP, 3 time Super Bowl MVP quarterback Ken "The Snake" Stabler. The core unit of the Raiders offense will remain intact for 1978 as Cliff Branch, Dave Casper, Fred Biletnikoff, Art Shell and Gene Upshaw all return for 1978, with running back Lawrence McCutcheon being acquired through the NFL Allocation Draft, adding some much needed youth and speed on offense. On the defensive side the Raiders will field another strong unit as Lester Hayes, Jack Tatum, Phil Villiapano, and Ted Hendricks hope to take the Raiders back to the AFL Western Division Title and avenge their loss to the division rival Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII. Baltimore Colts: The Colts were one of only two NFL teams that will make the transition into the AFL starting in the 1978 season. Baltimore enters the AFL as one of the most dynamic and exciting teams in the final 3 years of NFL play. The Colts made a run to the NFL Championship Game in 1977 where they fell short in a dramatic finale against the Dallas Cowboys, the final NFL game ever played and one of the greatest pro football games ever played. The Colts biggest weapon is strong armed quarterback Bert Jones, who led a high powered offense that broke NFL records for passing yards, points scored, and yards gained. Jones will be better protected after the Colts picked up NFL all pro lineman Dennis Lick through the Allocation draft. Baltimore already had one of the best defenses in the NFL in 1977 but they will be even better in the AFL in '78 after acquiring Cowboys defensive lineman Harvey Martin. The Colts enter the AFL Eastern Division with built in rivalries with the Dolphins and Jets, as the Dolphins are coached by former Colts head coach Don Shula, who was fired shortly after the Colts lost the huge upset to the Jets in Super Bowl III a decade ago. Pittsburgh Steelers: Head coach Chuck Noll and his "Steel Curtain" defense dominated the NFL in 1972, 1974 and 1975, winning back to back NFL Championships before making the move to the AFL in 1976. The Steelers lost Super Bowl XI to their arch rival Oakland Raiders and then were defeated again at home by Oakland in the playoffs in overtime after a controversial clipping penalty on the opening kickoff set Oakland up in favorable field position to march down for the game winning field goal in their opening possession. Pittsburgh will return for their 3rd season in the AFL in 1978 with revenge on their minds, hoping to finally defeat their rivals in Oakland(Raiders are 4-0 vs Pittsburgh so far). On offense Pittsburgh will again be led by quarterback Terry Bradshaw, with running back Rocky Bleier and Franco Harris returning as well as wide receivers John Stalworth and Lynn Swann. All pro center Mike Webster will be joined on the offensive line by Conrad Dobler, whom Pittsburgh acquired through the NFL Allocation Draft. Pittsburgh's defense has dominated the AFL in 76 and 77, capturing back to back AFL Eastern Division titles and setting new records for fewest points and yards allowed. The Steel Curtain will return in 78 as Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Mel Blount, Jack Lambert look to finally break through and win the AFL Super Bowl title. New England Patriots: Chuck Fairbanks enters his 6th season as the Patriots head coach in 1978, with new acquisitions from the NFL in young linebacker Harry Carson and powerful center Lenn Hauss joining the team. The Patriots emerged as one of the premier teams in the AFL in 1976 and 1977 but they fell short in both seasons with back to back playoff heartbreak. Quarterback Steve Gogan and fullback Sam Cunningham remain as the stars of the Patriots offense, with offensive lineman John Hannah leading the way as one of the premier linemen in all of the AFL. The Patriots defense will be led by standout cornerback Mike Haynes, who will be entering his 3rd season. Cincinnati Bengals: It was just 2 years ago that quarterback Ken Anderson burned the AFL for over 3,000 passing yards and 21 touchdowns to lead the Bengals to an 11-3 record and a trip to the playoffs in Paul Brown's final season as head coach. Bill Johnson took over coaching duties in 76 and 77 and the Bengals have missed the playoffs despite finishing with winning records both seasons. Johnson hopes to return the Bengals to the playoffs in 1978 after adding wide receiver Drew Pearson and defensive back Herm Edwards through the NFL Allocation draft. The big story for the Bengals in 1978 will be the arrival of a new foe in the form of the Cleveland Browns from the now defunct NFL. The backstory of the Browns and Bengals creates a built in rivalry between the two Ohio teams. Head coach Paul Brown was the popular figure in Ohio that the Cleveland Browns were named after. Brown led Cleveland to 4 consecutive AAFC Championship title from 46-49 before the upstart league folded and the Browns were brought up to the NFL starting in 1950. The Browns dominated the NFL in the 1950's, winning 3 NFL titles in 1950, 1954, and 1955. Cleveland transitioned in ownership with new owner Art Modell firing Paul Brown in 1962. Paul Brown would go on to found the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFL after leaving Cleveland behind in the NFL. The bad blood still exists between Paul Brown and the team that he helped mold in his image in Cleveland, the Bengals and Browns will finally clash on Monday Night Football in the first week of the 1978 season in one of the most anticipated games in AFL history. Miami Dolphins: Don Shula's Dolphins were the most dominant team in AFL history from 1971 to 1973, winning 3 Super Bowl titles in a row, going undefeated in 1973. The Dolphins dynasty was brought to an end with a heartbreaking last second loss to Oakland in Super Bowl IX followed by another tough loss to the Raiders in the 1975 Divisional playoffs. Last year the Dolphins missed the playoffs for the second year in a row. Shula will return in 1978 with a younger Dolphins defense, adding the dominant defensive tackle Randy White through the NFL Allocation draft. The Dolphins also acquired rookie QB Doug Williams in the 1978 AFL draft, Williams is expected to back up the aging veteran Bob Griese, with veteran Golden Richards joining the Dolphins offense at wide receiver. With all pro linemen Bob Kuechenberg, Jim Langer, and Larry Little returning and one of the best coaches in the history of the sport, the Dolphins are built to make a strong comeback in 1978. Houston Oilers: Oilers head coach Bum Phillips has been quietly building a contender down in Houston ever since he took over the job in 1975. Phillips has won over his players with his down home country vibe and his defensive minded coaching took the Oilers back to the AFL playoffs in his first season. The Oilers offense struggled in 1976 and 1977 but they hope to solve their problems with new rookie Heisman Trophy winner Earl Campbell at running back, all pro tight end Billy Joe Dupree brought from the upstate Dallas Cowboys through the NFL Allocation draft, and new rookie quarterback Warren Moon set to backup the veteran Dan Pastorini, with wide receiver "#00" Kenny Burrough. The Oilers defense looks to be stronger than ever in 1978 with veterans Elvin Bethea and Curley Culp anchoring the front line, with "Dr. Doom" Robert Brazille at linebacker, and defensive backs Ken Houston and Roger Wehrli, two of the best ever at their positions. San Diego Chargers: The Chargers hired new head coach Don Coryell in 1978, the man that made the St. Louis Cardinals one of the best teams in the league during it's final years. Coryell's Chargers will be well equipped on the offensive side of the ball after the drafting of Tony Dorsett in the NFL Allocation draft. Dorsett, along with rookie wide receiver John Jefferson and veteran Charlie Joiner will provide quarterback Dan Fouts with enough firepower to make a run for the AFL Western Division title in '78. Cleveland Browns: The Browns will be starting a new era in 1978 as they make the transition from the now defunct NFL to the AFL with a new head coach in Sam Rutigliano. Cleveland was one of the most dominant pro football teams in the 1940's and 50's in the AAFC and NFL. Cleveland won the 1964 NFL Title but have struggled ever since the retirement of their star running back Jim Brown. Cleveland struggled in the NFL in the 1970's so far, going 0-2 in the playoffs, the Browns haven't seen postseason play in 5 years. Cleveland made moves in the draft to trade up and pick up tight end Ozzie Newsome and linebacker Clay Matthews before picking up one of the premier offensive linemen out of the NFL in the Allocation draft in Dan Dierdorff. The Browns also picked up Harold Carmichael at wide receiver to help out quarterback Brian Sipe. The Browns defense is a work in progress that is not built to compete against the high powered offenses of the AFL. Seattle Seahawks: The Seahawks entered the AFL as an expansion team in 1976 and have built a strong contender in just 2 seasons. Head coach Jack Patera hopes to take the Seahawks to the top of the AFL Western Division in his 3rd season. On offense quarterback Jim Zorn will be working with Steve Largent, rookie James Lofton, and legendary veteran offensive lineman acquired through the NFL Allocation draft, Ron Yary. On the defensive side the Seahawks are built to make a run in 1978, with defensive tackle Lee Roy Selmon entering his 3rd season quickly becoming one of the best defenders in the AFL. Selmon will get some help in the secondary with the addition of Cowboys all pro safety Cliff Harris acquired through the NFL Allocation draft. New York Jets: The Jets begin a new era in 1978 after the retirement of Joe Namath and the debut of Steve Bartkowski as the new man at Quarterback. NFL All Star defensive tackle Dave Butz will join Joe Klecko and Claude Humphrey on the defensive line in 1978. Head coach Walt Michaels enters his second season as the young Jets hope to rise out of the AFL Eastern Division cellar and become a playoff contender for the first time in 5 years. Buffalo Bills: The biggest star of the Buffalo Bills and perhaps all of the AFL over the past decade will be returning after signing a new contract extension, "The Juice" OJ Simpson, the all time leading AFL rusher and one of the greatest human beings that ever lived. Even in the twilight of his career and beyond his future off the field OJ Simpson is sure to be an incredible ambassador to the AFL and nothing could ever hurt his legacy as the best player of the 1970's. The Bills hope to make a run at the AFL playoffs in 1978 with new head coach Chuck Knox. Knox picked up his former defensive standout from the LA Rams in the NFL Allocation draft when they picked up Jack Youngblood in the first round. Youngblood has been a beast that has led the NFL in sacks during the last few years. The Bills also picked up quarterback Ron Jaworski, who is expected to compete for the starting job with Joe Furgeson in the preseason. Simpson will be running behind star linemen Joe DeLamielleure. Knox's defense will be a young one in 1978 as he starts to rebuild around Jack Youngblood. Kansas City Chiefs: The Chiefs hired new head coach Marv Levy in the offseason before drafting the best player in the NFL when they picked 1977 MVP Walter Payton in the second overall pick in the NFL Allocation Draft. The Chiefs also picked up Cowboys all pro defensive end Ed "Too Tall" Jones to anchor a young defense that will start 4 rookies. Even with the addition of Payton and Jones the Chiefs have a lot of work to do to get out of the AFL West cellar. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: The Buccaneers in their first 2 seasons in the AFL as an expansion team have been the red headed step child of the league. Due to agreements with the Seahawks that had already been made before Tampa was stolen away from the NFL, they had second dibs with draft picks and veteran talent in the expansion draft. The Buccaneers were no match for the stacked teams of the AFL in 1976-77 and finished with only 1 victory and 27 losses combined. The team was struck a devastating blow when their 1st overall pick in the NFL Player Allocation Draft, Roger Staubach, refused to play with the team and retired. The Buccaneers did select another former NFL legend in defensive lineman Alan Page from the Minnesota Vikings. Page was the 1971 NFL MVP and leader of a Vikings defense that won 3 titles from 1969 to 1973.
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Post by Neo Zeed on Sept 22, 2022 17:53:12 GMT
1978
1978 AFL Standings
Eastern Division
Pittsburgh Steelers 13-1 New England Patriots 11-3 Miami Dolphins 11-3 New York Jets 8-6 Buffalo Bills 8-6 Baltimore Colts 5-9 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1-13
Western Division
Houston Oilers 10-4 Seattle Seahawks 9-5 Oakland Raiders 8-6 Denver Broncos 7-7 San Diego Chargers 7-7 Cleveland Browns 6-8 Cincinnati Bengals 4-10 Kansas City Chiefs 2-12
1978 AFL MVP:
Terry Bradshaw(QB, Pittsburgh Steelers), 2,788 yds, 25 tds
1978 AFL Playoffs New England Patriots 10 @ Houston Oilers 24 Seattle Seahawks 3 @ Pittsburgh Steelers 28
AFL '78: The Road to Super Bowl XIII The 1978 season was the dawn of a new era for the American Football League. The AFL stood victorious as the only pro football league in America in the Fall of 1978 after winning a 19 year long war against the rival National Football League. To the victors go the spoils of war, and in 1978 the AFL brought over 2 NFL franchises to add to the league, storied former NFL Championship teams in the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Colts. The Baltimore Colts transition to the AFL was met with a lot of hype and high expectations as they were coming off of a stunning performance in the final NFL game ever played, a heartbreaking last second loss to the Dallas Cowboys in the 1977 NFL Championship game. The Colts were one of the best teams in the NFL in 1975, 1976, and 1977 and were heavy favorites to run the table in their first season in the AFL in 1978. Instead the Colts fell on hard times after the preseason injury to their star quarterback Bert Jones. The Colts defense struggled to adjust to the wide open offensive style of the AFL and the Colts fell to a 5-9 record by the end of the year. The Cleveland Browns on the other hand struggled after an impressive 2-2 start that seen them defeat their upstate rivals the Bengals in a highly anticipated showdown on Monday Night Football. The Browns fell apart and went on a 6 game losing streak before rallying late in the season to finish strong and win each of their last 4 games to finish with a 6-8 record. The Browns young quarterback Brian Sipe came on strong in the end of the year with the help from offensive talent Harold Carmicheal who had 980 receiving yards. Veteran offensive lineman Dan Dierdorff shined in his first season in the AFL, as did rookie tight end Ozzie Newsome. Head coach Sam Rutigliano has the Browns on the right track and will be looking to returning the former NFL powerhouse to glory in his second season next year. Along with the elite franchises in the Colts and Browns being acquired by the AFL, the league also brought over the best talent from the defunct NFL and distributed throughout the AFL teams through a special draft held prior to the 78 season. Without a doubt the best of that talent was running back Walter Payton who was picked up by the Kansas City Chiefs. Payton was generally regarded as the best player in the NFL in the league's dying days, and he made a smooth transition into the AFL in 1978 despite playing for the worst team in the league. The Chiefs struggled through injuries to it's defense and a struggling quarterback as they stumbled to a 2-12 finish, the second worst record in the league. Walter Payton was the lone shining star of the Chiefs as he ran for over 1,288 yards, 2nd most in the AFL in 1978. The Chiefs will have a long way to go to become a contender in the AFL next year but with Walter Payton second year head coach Marv Levy will have one of the best players in the league to build around. Another star running back that was acquired in the NFL veterans draft was former Dallas Cowboy Tony Dorsett, who was picked up by Don Coryell's San Diego Chargers. Dorsett made an immediate impact with Chargers along with quarterback Dan Fouts but San Diego's young defense struggled later on in the season and they finished with a 7-7 record. Other teams that showed promise but finished with losing records in the cellars of their respective divisions included the Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, and New York Jets. Former AFL MVP Ken Anderson missed 5 games with the Bengals due to injuries and struggled with over 20 interceptions, while over in Buffalo it was the end of an era as OJ Simpson likewise struggled through injuries, missing 4 games and only running for 527 rushing yards. Chuck Knox put together a tough defense in his first year at the helm of the Buffalo Bills, reuniting with former Rams player in his years coaching in the NFL Jack Youngblood. Both Bills quarterbacks Ron Jaworski and Joe Fergeson struggled and Buffalo would miss the playoffs. As for the Jets the Steve Bartkowski era kickstarted with disappointing results as he threw 19 interceptions and just only 9 touchdown passes. Despite the sputtering offense a tough defense anchored by Joe Klecko, Claude Humphrey, and Dave Butz kept the Jets competitive in 1978 as they finished with an 8-6 record. Just as the AFL began a new era in 1978, one of it's most storied franchises was closing the curtains on the end of an era as the Oakland Raiders struggled and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1966. Oakland's once high powered offense struggled as stars Ken Stabler, Fred Biletnikoff, and Dave Casper showed their age. The Raiders started with a 1-3 record but rallied late in the season to finish 8-6, missing the playoffs by just 1 game. Another former powerhouse in the AFL began their ascension back to the elite class of the league as Don Shula's Dolphins rebounded in 1978 and finished with a winning record to make up for last year's disappointing finish with the help of their NFL veteran draft acquisition Randy White and rookie backup quarterback Doug Williams filling in for the injured Bob Griese, helping Miami knock on the door of the Eastern Division Title and come so close to a trip to the AFL playoffs with an 11-3 record. Last year's AFL Champions the Denver Broncos struggled with injuries on the defensive side while quarterback Archie Manning had his best season yet, leading the AFL with over 3,300 passing yards. The Broncos defensive woes and their lack of a running game doomed them to a disappointing 7-7 finish. It was a new threat that emerged in the AFL Western Division in 1978, the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks entered only their 3rd season in the AFL after entering as an expansion team in 1976. It only took them 3 years to put together a strong contender, with quarterback Jim Zorn leading an effective offense featuring two of the best receivers in the league in James Lofton and Steve Largent, with an offensive line anchored by NFL veteran Ron Yary. The Seahawks shined on defense with the leadership of Lee Roy Selmon. Seattle stole the 2nd place spot and a birth in the playoffs from the Broncos and Raiders with some big wins to make the playoffs for the first time in the team's brief history. The Seahawks road to the Super Bowl hit a roadblock in the first round of the playoffs as they were stifled by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Over in the Eastern Division it was the New England Patriots who emerged as the leaders of the pack for the first time after finishing as bridesmaids for the last 2 years. New England broke the AFL record for team rushing yards in a single season as 4 Patriot running backs had over 500 yards. Sam Cunningham led the team with over 800 rushing yards behind the dominant offensive lineman John Hannah and NFL veteran draft acquisition Lenn Hauss, while star defensive back Mike Haynes led the AFL in interceptions. New England again suffered playoff heartbreak with their 3rd consecutive loss in the first round, this time an upset loss to to the upstart Houston Oilers. The Houston Oilers rose to the occasion in 1978 and created a frenzy in the city of Houston that the AFL has never seen before. It all started on Monday Night Football where rookie running back Earl Campbell ran for 199 yards and 4 touchdowns in a heroic performance for the ages, a performance that captivated the city of Houston and created the "Luv Ya Blue" phenomenon. Houston then took down the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers weeks later to take the lead in the Western Division for good. Former Heisman Trophy winner out of the University of Texas Earl Campbell led the AFL in his first season in the league with over 1,400 yards, carrying the Oilers on his back to the playoffs where they upset the Patriots on the road to earn their very first trip to the Super Bowl. Earl Campbell was shut down by the Steelers as Pittsburgh routed Houston 35-10 in Super Bowl XIII. Even though they were defeated badly in the Super Bowl the Houston fans welcomed the Oilers back home with a hero's reception Hands down without a doubt the 1978 season will go down as the year of the Pittsburgh Steelers, The Steel Curtain. The Steelers dominated the NFL in 1972, 1974 and 1975, winning back to back NFL Championship games before shaking the sports world to it's core when they left the NFL for the AFL in 1976, a defection that many point to as the turning point in the war between the two rival leagues. The Steelers would falls short of the AFL title in their first year in the league when they lost to the Raiders in Super Bowl XI. Pittsburgh would fall short again in 1977 when they were upset at home in the divisional playoff game after a questionable clipping penalty set Oakland up for the drive for the game winning field goal in overtime. This year the Steelers finally broke through and ran roughshod over the entire AFL. Pittsburgh's defense led by Jack Lambert, Mel Blount, and "Mean" Joe Greene dominated the AFL, while Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Lynn Swann, and Jon Stalworth soared to new heights, taking Pittsburgh to a 13-1 record, best in the AFL. The Steelers finally defeated their rivals the Oakland Raiders for the first time on Monday Night Football early in the season. Pittsburgh's only loss came to the Houston Oilers in week 7 but they never lost again, winning each of their last 9 games. After decimating the Seahawks in the AFL Playoffs Pittsburgh met Houston in a highly anticipated rematch in the Orange Bowl in Miami for Super Bowl XIII. The Steelers defense completely eliminated Earl Campbell from the game and intercepted Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini 5 times to route the Houston 35-10 and finally capture the AFL Championship. With the victory the Steelers became the only team to ever win an NFL Championship and an AFL Championship, in doing so not only did they prove that they were finally the undisputed #1 team in pro football, but perhaps one of the greatest teams in the entire history of the game.
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Post by 🤯 on Sept 22, 2022 18:00:04 GMT
Thank you!
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Post by Neo Zeed on Sept 23, 2022 3:19:51 GMT
AFL Offseason News January 5th, 1979
Madden retires, Raiders name Tom Flores succesorOne of the most successful head coaches in AFL history retired when John Madden stepped down from the Raiders after 10 years at the helm. During Madden's time coaching the Raiders they won 4 Super Bowl titles, winning Super Bowl V, IX, X, and XI. The Raiders missed the playoffs in 1978 for the first time in 14 years. The Raiders made the announcement shortly after Madden stepped down that assistant coach Tom Flores would take over as head coach of the team in 1979. New England Patriots name Dick Vermiel new head coachNew England released Chuck Fairbanks after their loss to the Houston Oilers in the playoffs(their 3rd divisional playoff game loss in a row). This week former UCLA and Philadelphia Eagles head coach Dick Vermiel was announced as the new head coach of the Patriots. Vermiel got his start as an assistant coach for the LA Rams from 1969 to 1974 before being hired as the head coach of the UCLA Bruins for 2 seasons. Vermiel took over the ailing Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL in 1976 and coached them in the final 2 seasons of the NFL before the league folded following the 1977 season. Bill Walsh named new coach of Cincinnati BengalsFormer Stanford college football coach Bill Walsh was signed as the new head coach of the Bengals after Bill Johnson was relieved of his duties after 2 highly disappointing seasons. Walsh has a lot of history with Cincinnati since he was a longtime assistant under Paul Brown's coaching staff. Walsh had a falling out with Brown and the Bengals franchise after he was passed over for the head coaching job when Brown retired two years ago. Walsh spent the last two years coaching a strong program at Stanford in the college game before Bengals owner Paul Brown reached out to him to make things right with his former student and offer him the job once it became available.
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Post by Neo Zeed on Sept 23, 2022 19:14:25 GMT
1979 AFL Draft The 1979 AFL Player Selection meeting was held on the first weekend of May with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers opening up the ceremonies with the first pick. The Bucs looked to solve their woes at the quarterback position with the selection of Jack Thompson from Washington State. Kansas City selected Mike Bell, defensive lineman from Colorado State with the second pick in the draft. Below is a brief summary of the draft focusing on the most impactful players selected by the AFL's 15 teams: Notable first round picks: With the 4th overall pick in the 1979 AFL draft, the Baltimore Colts select... Dan Hampton, Defensive Lineman(Arkansas) With the 5th overall pick in the 1979 AFL draft the Cleveland Browns select... Otis Anderson, Running Back(Miami) With the 6th overall pick in the 1979 AFL Draft, the San Diego Chargers select... Kellen Winslow, Tight End(Missouri) With the 13th overall pick in the 1979 AFL draft the New England Patriots select... Phil Simms, Quarterback(Moorhead State) Notable later round picks:
With their 2nd round pick in the 1979 AFL draft the New York Jets select... Mark Gastineau, Defensive Lineman(East Central Oklahoma State) With their 3rd round pick in the 1979 AFL draft the Kansas City Chiefs select... Joe Montana, Quarterback(Notre Dame) Notable late round picks:
Cincinnati Bengals select Dwight Clark, TE Seattle Seahawks select William Andrews, RB Cincinnati Bengals select Max Montoya- OL Kansas City Chiefs select Roy Green- WR
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Post by Neo Zeed on Sept 23, 2022 20:02:51 GMT
1979 AFL Pre-Season Scouting Report The American Football League will enter it's 20th season in 1979, coming off of yet another record breaking year in 1978 that seen the league set new all new marks in overall attendance and television ratings. The league announced that the 1979 season would be the last under the current format before they expand the schedules to 16 games starting in 1980 and adding an additional "Wild Card" playoff game between 2nd and 3rd place teams in the divisions. The 1979 AFL 20 year anniversary season will culminate with the mega spectacular Super Bowl XIV on January 20th 1980 live from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena California with special halftime performance by rock icons Queen! Pittsburgh Steelers:Stadium: Three Rivers Stadium Head Coach: Chuck Noll Notable Assistant Coaches: N/A 1978 Record: 13-1 Impact Players: QB- #12 Terry Bradshaw HB- #32 Franco Harris WR- #88 Lynn Swann WR- #82 John Stallworth C- #52 Mike Webster G- #69 Conrad Dobler DT- #75 Joe Greene OLB- #59 Jack Ham ILB- #58 Jack Lambert CB- #47 Mel Blount K- #3 Mark Mosely The Pittsburgh Steelers enter the 1979 AFL season as the defending Super Bowl Champions. Pittsburgh's victory in Super Bowl XIII was their 4th Pro Football title of the 1970's across 2 separate leagues. The Steelers dominated the NFL in 1972, 1974, and 1975 before winning a federal injunction that allowed for the team to jump from the ailing(now defunct) NFL to the AFL in 1976. The Steelers avenged their losses to their rival Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XI and the 1977 AFL Divisional playoffs by finally defeating them for the first time in 1978, moving on to run the table and destroy the Houston Oilers in Super Bowl XIII. Chuck Noll hopes to take the Steelers back to glory in 1979 to further cement their claim as the best team that ever played the game. Houston Oilers:Stadium: Houston Astrodome Head Coach: Bum Phillips Notable Assistant Coaches: Joe Bugel(offensive line), Wade Phillips(defensive line) 1978 Record: 10-4 Impact Players: QB- #7 Dan Pastorini HB- #34 Earl Campbell FB- #44 John Riggins WR- #00 Kenny Burrough WR/KR- #84 Billy "White Shoes" Johnson T- #72 Leon Gray DT- #78 Curley Culp DE- #65 Elvin Bethea OLB- #52 Robert Brazile CB- #28 Ken Houston FS- #22 Roger Wehrli The Houston Oilers experienced a phenomenon in 1978 as rookie running back Earl Campbell took the AFL by storm and kickstarted the "Luv Ya Blue" craze that has the city of Houston in a frenzy about their football team. The Oilers were the only team in the league in 1978 that managed to defeat the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers when they ended their undefeated streak in their first meeting. The victory propelled the Oilers to a run to Super Bowl XIII but they were shut down in a rematch with the Steelers in a 35-10 blowout loss that was over before the half. The team came back home to Houston to a jam packed Astrodome as the fans welcomed their team back with open arms in a homecoming celebration never before seen for a team that lost a title game. Head coach Bum Phillips is poised to push the Oilers to greatness as many believe Houston is the only team that stands a chance against the Steel Curtain in 1979. Houston added even more power to their backfield with the signing of veteran free agent fullback John Riggins. The Oilers 1978 late round draft prospect quarterback Warren Moon sat his rookie season on the bench as the 3rd QB on Houston's depth chart. The young rocket armed passer was relegated to the practice squad during this year's training camp after Houston decided to go with only 2 quarterbacks on the roster. New England Patriots:Stadium: Shaefer Stadium Head Coach: Dick Vermeil Notable Assistant Coaches: Marion Campbell(defensive coordinator) 1978 Record: 11-3 Impact Players: QB- #16 Vince Ferragamo QB- #11 Phil Simms(R) HB- #45 Chuck Foreman FB- #39 Sam Cunningham WR- #28 Ahmad Rashad WR- #86 Stanley Morgan G- #73 John Hannah ILB- #57 Steve Nelson ILB- #53 Harry Carson CB- #40 Mike Haynes The New England Patriots and longtime head coach Sam Cunningham mutually parted ways after their 3rd consecutive heartbreaking playoff loss in 1978 when they fell to the Houston Oilers in the divisional round. The Patriots hired former Philadelphia Eagles(NFL) and UCLA head coach Dick Vermeil in the offseason and signed key unrestricted free agents in Chuck Foreman, Ahmad Rashad, and quarterback Vince Ferragamo. Miami Dolphins:Stadium: The Orange Bowl Head Coach: Don Shula Notable Assistant Coaches: N/A 1978 Record: 11-3 Impact Players: QB- #12 Bob Griese QB- #17 Doug Williams G- #66 Larry Little T- #78 Jackie Slater T- #67 Bob Kuechenberg DT- #54 Randy White OLB- #58 Kim Bokamper The Dolphins aging offense will be supported by one of the fastest improving young defenses in the AFL. Head coach Don Shula looks to add to his legacy as the greatest head coach in AFL history by returning the Dolphins to the glory they experienced earlier in the decade when they won 3 consecutive AFL Championships(1971, 1972, 1973). Seattle Seahawks:Stadium: The Kingdome Head Coach: Jack Patera Notable Assistant Coaches: N/A 1978 Record: 9-5 Impact Players: QB- #10 Jim Zorn HB- #36 William Andrews(R) WR- #80 Steve Largent WR- #81 James Lofton DE- #63 Lee Roy Selmon SS- #43 Cliff Harris The Seahawks surprised everyone by rising up to steal 2nd place in the West away from Oakland and Denver to make their first AFL post-season appearance in only their 3rd season. Seattle will look to repeat as the top team in the west in hopes of taking the next step and making a run to Super Bowl XIV. Oakland Raiders:Stadium: Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Head Coach: Tom Flores Notable Assistant Coaches: N/A 1978 Record: 8-6 Impact Players: QB- #12 Ken Stabler WR- #21 Cliff Branch TE- #87 Dave Casper G- #63 Gene Upshaw G- #51 Randy Cross T- #78 Art Shell DE- #72 John Matuszak OLB- #83 Ted Hendricks OLB- #41 Phil Villapiano CB- #37 Lester Hayes SS- #32 Jack Tatum P- #8 Ray Guy The Raiders have stood out over the first 19 seasons as the New York Yankees of the AFL. The Raiders missed the playoffs last year for the first time since 1966. Head coach John Madden retired at the end of the year and Al Davis promoted assistant coach Tom Flores to take over for Madden in 1979. Flores enters his first season as head coach of the Raiders with the tall task of rejuvenating a sagging old offense in hopes of taking the Raiders back to the AFL playoffs where they belong. Denver Broncos:Stadium: Mile High Stadium Head Coach: Red Miller Notable Assistant Coaches: Joe Collier(defensive coordinator) 1978 Record: 7-7 Impact Players: QB- #8 Archie Manning HB- #24 Otis Armstrong FB- #44 Ricky Bell DE- #77 AJ Duhe OLB- #57 Tom Jackson ILB- #53 Randy Gradishar CB- #20 Louis Wright The Broncos Orange Crush defense dominated the AFL and brought the team a Super Bowl victory in 1977. Last year the Broncos suffered key injuries and struggled to a disappointing 7-7 record. This year a healthy Broncos unit will look to reclaim their place as best in the west and make a return to the Super Bowl. San Diego Chargers:Stadium: San Diego Stadium Head Coach: Don Coryell Notable Assistant Coaches: Joe Gibbs(offensive coordinator), Ernie Zampese(wide receivers) 1978 Record: 7-7 Impact Players: QB- #14 Dan Fouts HB- #33 Tony Dorsett WR- #89 Wes Chandler WR- #83 John Jefferson WR- #18 Charlie Joiner TE- #80 Kellen Winslow(R) DE- #71 Fred Dean FS- #41 Charlie Waters The Chargers struggled early last year under Don Coryell's first season as head coach. San Diego quickly improved and showcased one of the best offenses in the league towards the end of the season. The Chargers look to carry over their momentum from the end of the season last year into the 1979 season as they take the field with 3 speedy receivers, arguably the fastest running back in the AFL, and one of the best tight ends in the AFL. Cleveland Browns:Stadium: Cleveland Municipal Stadium Head Coach: Sam Rutigliano Notable Assistant Coaches: Dick Macpherson 1978 Record: 6-8 Impact Players: QB- #17 Brian Sipe HB- #32 Otis Anderson(R) WR- #80 Harold Carmichael TE- #82 Ozzie Newsome T- #75 Dan Dierdorf DE- #77 Lyle Alzado OLB- #57 Clay Mathews The Cleveland Browns made some moves in the offseason by drafting rookie power running back Otis Anderson as well as picking up former AFL Defensive Player Of The Year Lyle Alzado through a draft day trade with the Denver Broncos. New York Jets:Stadium: Shea Stadium Head Coach: Walt Michaels Notable Assistant Coaches: N/A 1978 Record: 8-6 Impact Players: QB- #10 Steve Bartkowski HB- #27 Wendell Tyler DT- #73 Joe Klecko DT- #67 Dave Butz DE- #99 Mark Gastineau(R) DE- #87 Claude Humphrey Walt Michaels enters his second season as Jets head coach with one of the strongest defensive lines in the AFL adding even more muscle when they drafted Mark Gastineau in the later rounds of the 1979 draft. Buffalo Bills:Stadium: Rich Stadium Head Coach: Chuck Knox Notable Assistant Coaches: N/A 1978 Record: 8-6 Impact Players: QB- #7 Ron Jaworski QB- #12 Joe Ferguson HB- #31 Wilbert Montgomery HB- #32 OJ Simpson WR- #81 Mel Gray G- #68 Joe Delamielleure DE- #85 Jack Youngblood ILB- #58 Isiah Robertson Chuck Knox enters his second season as head coach of the Buffalo Bills amid a quarterback controversy as both Ron Jaworski and Joe Ferguson are neck and neck in competition for the starting job. Wilbert Montgomery was signed to carry the load of the running game while an aging legend in OJ Simpson could very well be entering his final season in 1979 with hopes of going out as a Super Bowl Champion. Cincinnati Bengals:Stadium: Riverfront Stadium Head Coach: Bill Walsh Notable Assistant Coaches: Chuck Studley(defensive coordinator), Dennis Green(running backs/special teams) 1978 Record: 4-10 Impact Players: QB- #14 Ken Anderson WR- #81 Drew Pearson TE- #84 Dwight Clark(R) T- #65 Max Montoya(R) ILB- #66 Bill Bergey CB- #47 Herman Edwards SS- #49 Gary Fencik The Cincinnati Bengals signed longtime assistant coach and owner Paul Brown's protege Bill Walsh as new head coach in 1979. Walsh worked for Paul Brown as an offensive assistant in Brown's last years as head coach. The student had a falling out with his master when Paul Brown overlooked Walsh and named a different successor when he stepped down and retired as head coach of the Bengals. Walsh spent the last 2 seasons building a strong college football program at Stanford while the Bengals struggled. Bengals owner Paul Brown reached out to Walsh to offer him the head coaching job to rebuild the Bengals into a contender for the 1980's. Bill Walsh hopes to get the most out of Ken Anderson, the former AFL MVP that thrived when he was working with Walsh as an assistant coach in the past. Baltimore Colts:Stadium: Memorial Stadium Head Coach: Ted Marchibroda Notable Assistant Coaches: Buddy Ryan(defensive coordinator), Joe Vitt(strength/quality control) 1978 Record: 5-9 Impact Players: QB- #7 Bert Jones WR- #81 Roger Carr DE- #65 Harvey Martin DT- #99 Dan Hampton(R) The Baltimore Colts struggled last year in their inaugural season in the AFL. The Colts were a Championship caliber NFL franchise that shined in the final 3 years of the doomed league, losing the NFL Championship Game to the Dallas Cowboys in the final NFL game ever played in 1977(a game that went down as perhaps the best ever in pro football history of any league). The Colts made the transition to the AFL last year after the NFL closed up shop following the 77 season. Baltimore's star quarterback Bert Jones suffered an injury and the Colts fell apart in 1978, finishing with one of the worst records in the AFL. Jones will return healthy in 1979 and the Colts defense will look to improve after the signing of new defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan. Ryan served as assistant coach on Weeb Ewbank's coaching staff for the Jets Super Bowl III winning team in 1969. Ryan spent the final years of the NFL as the defensive line coach with the Minnesota Vikings in 1976 and 1977, where he was instrumental in their 1976 NFL Title run with his unit "The Purple People Eaters"(one of the best defensive units in the NFL). One of Buddy Ryan's first moves was the drafting of defensive tackle Dan Hampton, one of the best young defensive lineman in the nation. Kansas City Chiefs:Stadium: Arrowhead Stadium Head Coach: Marv Levy Notable Assistant Coaches: N/A 1978 Record: 2-12 Impact Players: QB- #19 Joe Montana(R) HB- #34 Walter Payton WR- #82 Roy Green(R) ILB- #55 Dewey Selmon K- #3 Jan Stenerud The Kansas City Chiefs went through one of their worst seasons in 1978 as the team only won just 2 games. Kansas City built for the future by selecting Notre Dame quarterback Joe Montana and receiver/return man Roy Green in the draft. The Chiefs added former NFL veteran muscle to their linebacker crew with the signing of free agent linebacker Dewey Selmon.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Stadium: Tampa Stadium Head Coach: John McKay Notable Assistant Coaches: N/A 1978 Record: 1-13
Impact Players: DE- #88 Alan Page The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in crisis mode going into 1979 as they have only won a total of 2 games over their first 3 seasons since joining the AFL as an expansion team in 1976. The Buccaneers were left with leftovers after the Seahawks took the first picks in the expansion draft and college draft that built the 2 expansion teams. The team was heavily criticized for not taking better advantage of the NFL Player Allocation Draft to build the team since they wasted their #1 overall pick on quarterback Roger Staubach, who was at the tail end of his career and refused to play for the AFL(choosing to retire instead). The Buccaneers used the NFL Player Allocation Draft of 1978 to select older veterans from the NFL that they thought would sell tickets and PSL's, not build a winning football team around for the future. One veteran NFL legend that did shine for Tampa in 1978 was former NFL MVP defensive lineman Alan Page. Page feasted on AFL linemen in his AFL debut season racking up 13 sacks. The AFL is watching the Tampa franchise closely in 1979 if they continue to play as bad as they have in their first 3 seasons there are rumors of giving the team extra draft picks or even another veteran "Expansion" style draft to make the team more competitive. The struggles of the Buccaneers have been cited by the league as their reason to be hesitant to add another expansion team even though the league currently has an odd number of teams at 15.
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Post by Baker on Sept 23, 2022 23:29:54 GMT
It's getting wild now as you get deeper and deeper into the realms of true fanfic. Hats off to you for managing to keep it all straight with so many player moves. I can definitely see myself getting frustrated and throwing in the towel after forgetting this particular HoFer now plays for this team. The AFC West is looking STACKED in the upcoming years. Prediction: Chiefs end up being the team of the 80s. I popped for you singling out Joe Vitt. At the risk of becoming a bigger namedropper than stupid Amanda...
I once had a pretty lengthy conversation at a bar with Baltimore's own Joe Vitt. Guessing this would have been the first half of 2005 for a variety of reasons. This was smack dab in the middle of my big drinking phase. Practically every night my friends and I would go to this bar we worked across the street from. Bartender was a cool dude. Big sports guy and for some reason a massive Oklahoma Sooners fan. Approximately 15 years older than me. He ran some sort of betting ring on the side. I never got involved in that though. Anyway, one night he's like "I have somebody I want you to meet. NFL coach Joe Vitt!" And I totally no sell it with an "Umm. Who?" And this normal looking dude on the other end of the bar (it was a pretty small establishment) is like "Me." So I talk to him for a good 15-20 minutes. He was just a normal dude. Cool as can be. No ego at all. Later that year (assuming my educated guess is correct) he became the Rams interim coach. And now I knew who he was!
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Post by rad on Sept 24, 2022 10:00:23 GMT
Bengals hired Bill Walsh, you say?
As if I wasn't loving this already....
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Post by Neo Zeed on Sept 24, 2022 15:29:52 GMT
Bengals hired Bill Walsh, you say? As if I wasn't loving this already.... Whats up dude I'm fucking stoked that you are even here. I am copying and pasting the old thread over from Wrestlingclique but there have been a few changes I've made. This one with Walsh and Vermiel is a MAJOR change. In the original project Walsh took over New England and Vermiel took over Cincy. I have to slow down my copy pasting now because everything changes, I'm pasting everything now into text documents in a folder so I can slow down and take my time here and relish this. I have a few more big changes too that I always thought about that will make this even better. But in real life man Bill Walsh should have been the Bengals head coach. He was Paul Brown's protege and it seemed like he was being groomed to take over, I don't know what happened between them but I do remember reading that Walsh was pretty devastated when Brown passed him over for the head coaching job. Walsh getting his revenge over Cincy in Super Bowl XVI and then the epic win over them again in his final game in the 88-89 Super Bowl is pretty poetic stuff. Super Bowl XXIII the more I learn about the context I feel like is a really underrated game and probably a top 3-5 game ever in NFL history. It's crazy to think about the butterfly effects of this in real life NFL had Paul Brown passed the Bengals HC job along to Bill Walsh how all of NFL history through the 80's and beyond changes.
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Post by Neo Zeed on Sept 24, 2022 15:41:52 GMT
It's getting wild now as you get deeper and deeper into the realms of true fanfic. Sig worthy quote from the man here. I sat here stoned thinking about this sentence way longer than I should have At the heart of this project and what it is, is 2 things: 1. I have always loved zoning out on the franchise mode of Madden 2005 just simulating through seasons and managing my team to win as many Super Bowls as I can. This fan fiction is like a pen and paper version of that where I have full control over the whole league. The pen is my keyboard and the paper is a text file document and sometimes I use dice roller at random.org with the attribute system I used in my old UFC thread to determine who wins games. So there is a pen and paper RPG element to all this too. 2. AFL Full Color Football as an alternate history at heart is one big "what if?" that spirals into a chain reaction series of "what if?" butterfly effects, what if Al Davis pulled off a coup of the AFL owners to overpower Lamar Hunt and tell the NFL to stick the merger up their ass after Super Bowl III? What if the NFL died? What if Paul Brown gave Bill Walsh the Bengals coaching job? What if Bo Jackson retired from baseball and played football full time? What if the Chargers didn't lose Fred Dean in 1981? What if Warren Moon didn't have to play in Canada because of racism? What if certain key injuries never happened? What if injuries that didn't happen did happen? It just gets crazy, and now that I can make some changes and tweaks I think it will get even crazier. What we have here now is a 15 team pro league with no other pro league, the AFL has played 20 seasons and I imagine with them being able to keep developing it would have been just a completely different sport than what we had in the real life 1980 NFL. With only 15 teams that's only the best of the absolute best making it onto a team, rosters would have been stacked deep with talent. Now that the NFL died in 77 though I can imagine the AFL is starting to have a heavy NFL influence with an influx of those players/teams and coaches coming over. Take Pittsburgh's defense dropping into the AFL in 1976 it would have changed the entire league, then other teams would have copied what Noll was doing. Just really fascinating stuff to think about really.
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Post by Neo Zeed on Oct 9, 2022 18:27:58 GMT
19791979 AFL Standings
Eastern Division Pittsburgh Steelers 12-2 New England Patriots 11-3 Miami Dolphins 7-7 New York Jets 7-7 Buffalo Bills 7-7 Baltimore Colts 2-12 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1-13
Western Division San Diego Chargers 12-2 Houston Oilers 8-6 Seattle Seahawks 8-6 Cleveland Browns 7-7 Denver Broncos 7-7 Oakland Raiders 6-8 Kansas City Chiefs 4-10 Cincinnati Bengals 3-11
1979 AFL MVP:
Dan Fouts(QB, San Diego Chargers); set new AFL single season record with 4,060 passing yards, threw for 20 touchdowns to lead Chargers to AFL best 12-2 record.
1979 AFL Playoffs
AFL Divisional Championships Houston Oilers 18 @ San Diego Chargers 7 New England Patriots 7 @ Pittsburgh Steelers 29
AFL '79: The Road to Super Bowl XIV The American Football League took the field in 1979 for it's 20th anniversary season, a season that went down in the record books as the league soared in popularity. AFL Monday Night Football on ABC celebrated it's 10 year anniversary with great success, with the late season clash between the San Diego Chargers vs Pittsburgh Steelers(dubbed by the media as "Super Bowl 13.5") was among the most watched television programs of any kind in 1979. The AFL closed out it's second decade with one of the most exciting seasons to date as teams aired the football out more than ever in an explosion of offense in the passing game. New concepts by innovative head coaches like Don Coryell of the Chargers and Bill Walsh of the Bengals stretched defenses of the AFL with wide open, scientific passing games while new faces such as Chiefs rookie Quarterback Joe Montana gave football fans a preview of things to come in the next decade in the AFL. Montana started 13 games for the Chiefs in 1979, leading the team to a late 4th quarter come from behind victory over the Chargers in the Chiefs final game of the year. Joe Montana threw for 2,677 passing yards with 12 touchdown passes and 9 interceptions while he got help from Walter Payton, who ran the ball over 300 times for over 1,400 yards and 12 touchdowns. The Chiefs improved in 1979 and proved that they are a team on the rise going into the 1980's. The Cincinnati Bengals new head coach Bill Walsh made a strong impression in his first year in the AFL by rebounding the Bengals from an 0-10 start, leading them to win 3 of their last 4 games with one of the most improved offenses in the league. Meanwhile the Baltimore Colts struggled once again in their sophomore season in the AFL. Buddy Ryan's defense improved around rookie defensive tackle Dan Hampton but the Colts offense hit rock bottom with another injury to star quarterback Bert Jones keeping the team in the cellar of the AFL Eastern Division. The New York Jets and Buffalo Bills emerged from the bottom of the AFL East to improve in 1979. Buffalo's aging legend OJ Simpson faded out as the new star running back Wilbert Montgomery emerged, running for over 1,400 rushing yards. OJ Simpson bid his farewell and announced his retirement from the sport after Buffalo's final game of the season. The New York Jets fought to their best record in years on the strength of their stout defensive line. The Oakland Raiders fought through countless injuries to finish with a 6-8 record under Tom Flores' first year at the helm, while their ageless wonder Kenny "The Snake" Stabler proved that he still had what it took to win in the AFL. Another team that took strides to improve in 1979 was the Cleveland Browns led by one of the most productive quarterbacks in the AFL, Brian Sipe. Sipe finished 2nd in the AFL in passing yards with 3,437 with an AFL best 26 touchdown passes. Cleveland finished with a 7-7 record but looked like one of the more promising young teams in the AFL going into the 1980's. While some teams took steps forward other teams seemed to have taken steps backwards in 1979, teams like the Super Bowl XII Champion Denver Broncos, who's "Orange Crush" defense dominated the AFL just two years ago. The Broncos started strong in 1979 but lost all of their final 3 games to miss the playoffs with an 7-7 record. The Seattle Seahawks came so close to a playoff birth in only their 3rd year in existence but the team missed the playoffs this year after a heartbreaking loss to the Dolphins in a win or go home season finale in the Orange Bowl in Florida in one of the best games of the year. The Seahawks defense was top 5 in the league due to the strength of AFL Defensive Player of the Year Lee Roy Selmon, while Steve Largent led the AFL in receiving with 1,175 yards and 9 touchdowns. A new era began in New England as former NFL Philadelphia Eagles head coach Dick Vermiel took over as new head coach of the Patriots in 1979. Under Vermiel's leadership and tutelage veteran quarterback Steve Grogan threw for 25 touchdown passes, while receivers Stanley Morgan and Harold Jackson both finished with over 1,000 yards receiving. The Patriots clinched the AFL Eastern Division playoff spot by sweeping Don Shula's Miami Dolphins. Vermiel's Patriots went on the road to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFL Divisional Playoff where they were dominated by the Steel Curtain defense in a 29-7 route, New England's 3rd consecutive "one and done" playoff defeat. While the Miami Dolphins fell to the Patriots in both meetings in 1979 they still held their own against the rest of the AFL. Larry Csonka returned to action for the Dolphins in 1979 and Don Shula put together one of the fastest defenses in the league. The Dolphins won their last 3 games including a thriller over the Seahawks in the season finale to spoil Seattle's playoff hopes. The team that suffered perhaps the most severe playoff heartbreak in 1979 was the San Diego Chargers, a team that dominated the AFL in 1979 with one of the most potent offenses ever seen in league history. Don Coryell opened up the field in 1979 with a deep passing attack and one of the best quarterbacks in the AFL in Dan Fouts. Fouts led the AFL in passing yards with a new record 4,060 yards, breaking Joe Namath's legendary record from 1967. Charlie Joyner and John Jefferson both caught over 1,000 yards receiving while Tony Dorsett ran for over 1,000 yards rushing. The Chargers dream season came to a screeching halt when they were upset by the Oilers at home in the AFL Divisional Playoff game, a game they played without Dorsett or Joyner due to injuries late in the season. Even though they fell short in the post season the Chargers established themselves as one of the premier teams in the AFL going into the 1980's. One of the teams in the AFL that captured the hearts of America in 1979 was the Houston Oilers, led by their hometown country head coach Bum Phillips and Lone Star State hero Earl Campbell the Oilers sold out every game at home and on the road and drew record ratings for their Monday Night Football victory over the Steelers in October. Earl Campbell led the AFL in rushing but injuries to quarterback Dan Pastorini held the team back with a 4 game losing streak mid-season. Campbell suffered through injuries at the end of the season but Houston's defense rallied to win 3 in a row to secure 2nd place in the West and a return to the AFL playoffs. The Oilers were heavy underdogs on the road in San Diego with Campbell, Pastorini, and receiver Ken Burroughs out with injuries. Longtime veteran backup runningn back and part time fullback blocker John Riggins picked up the slack and ran the ball 23 times for 119 yards and a touchdown in a heroic performance that led one of the biggest upsets in recent memory over a high powered Chargers team on the road. The upset win over San Diego put Houston in the Super Bowl for the 2nd strait year, setting them up in a Super rematch against the Steel Curtain defense of the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers. The Oilers put up a strong fight in Super Bowl XIV in front of a record capacity crowd in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena California. Houston battered Terry Bradshaw and shut down Lynn Swann and John Stallworth to hold onto a 10-3 lead at halftime. Pittsburgh's defense keyed in on shutting down Earl Campbell but John Riggins was able to break a huge 47 yard touchdown run in the third quarter to give Houston a 20-10 lead going into the fourth quarter. Just as the sun set on the Rose Bowl and the dark of night settled in on Super Bowl XIV so did the hopes and dreams of all of Texas as Terry Bradshaw dropped 2 long bomb touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to lead the Steelers to a 24-20 victory. The Oilers returned home to Houston to discover the streets lined with fans giving them a warm welcome home all the way from the airport to the Astrodome. Head coach Bum Phillips addressed the packed Houston Astrodome and gave the Oilers fans hope that 1980 would finally be their year: The Pittsburgh Steelers thrilling last second victory over their rival Houston Oilers cemented their legacy as one of the all time greatest teams to ever play the game. The victory in Super Bowl XIV gave the Steelers their 2nd consecutive AFL Championship, their 5th overall pro football title(they won the 1972, 1974 and 1975 NFL Championships). The Steelers dominated the AFL in 1979 in every aspect of the game. The Steelers offense shined in 1979 with Terry Bradshaw having his best year yet, throwing for 3,399 passing yards and 24 touchdowns. Mean Joe Green led the Steelers vaunted Steel Curtain defense that once again smothered the opposing offenses of the AFL. Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, and Mel Blount fought to keep the Steelers reputation as the best defense in the AFL. The Steelers finished 2nd in the AFL in fewest yards allowed and 3rd in fewest points allowed. The Pittsburgh Steelers run in the 1970's will go down as one of the most impressive in the history of any sport. No other team was able to win multiple Championships in 2 different leagues in the same decade with the level of dominance that Pittsburgh has done it with. Head coach Chuck Knoll will bring his Steelers back in 1980 on a quest for a 3rd consecutive AFL Championship, a feat that has only been done by the Miami Dolphins in 1971-1972-1973 and the Oakland Raiders in 1974-1975-1976.
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Post by 🤯 on Oct 9, 2022 21:41:15 GMT
Lynnsanity!
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Post by Baker on Oct 13, 2022 0:56:03 GMT
Respect Neo Zeed for not succumbing to his urges by giving his beloved Houston Oilers the super push. I know he wants to lol Still waiting for the Chiefs offensive juggernaut to come together and steamroll the competition. Montana & Payton on the same team makes life unfair for AFL defenses. Setting the over/under at three 80s Super Bowl wins for KC. I see this project ends in 1989. Predicting the NFL rises from the ashes in 1990.
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Post by Neo Zeed on Oct 16, 2022 15:57:17 GMT
Respect Neo Zeed for not succumbing to his urges by giving his beloved Houston Oilers the super push. I know he wants to lol Still waiting for the Chiefs offensive juggernaut to come together and steamroll the competition. Montana & Payton on the same team makes life unfair for AFL defenses. Setting the over/under at three 80s Super Bowl wins for KC. I see this project ends in 1989. Predicting the NFL rises from the ashes in 1990. Riggins and Earl Campbell being Houston's strategy to beat the Steel Curtain and it worked for 3 quarters until Bradshaw drops 2 perfect dimes to wrap it up. This Oilers team does make me giddy, in real life they traded Ken Houston to Washington shortly after the merger and he was one of the all time great safeties. They also got Roger Werhli in the NFL player allocation draft in 78 in this universe along with never losing Ken Houston. Having both of those legends in the secondary would have changed things as far as Houston vs Pittsburgh at this point. Then Joe Bugel was really Bum Phillips offensive line coach in real life with the Oilers in the 70's and he was the one who brought Riggins out of retirement so I worked that into this story that he gets him to sign with Houston as a free agent after he finds himself out of job after the death of the NFL in 78(and goes undrafted in the veteran player allocation draft). Also would have been interesting to see them clash at a neutral field in warm weather at the Rose Bowl, both of the AFC Championship games that Pittsburgh beat them in were on frozen wet soaked field in Pittsburgh. I think the conditions were perfect for the Oilers to win a title here but that's Houston football here that's too perfect and not realistic, for them to have it in the bag for 3 quarters and lose it on 2 plays that's Houston football.
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Post by Neo Zeed on Oct 16, 2022 16:05:34 GMT
I love Baker being the Baltimore guy that is team NFL here. Do you think the city of Baltimore would have still supported the Colts in this alternate universe or would the switch to the AFL league everybody would have been like "Not my Colts not my league" haha, especially since they fell apart with Bert Jones injuries. I think it's possible the city turns their backs on the AFL since they no longer have the Packers, Cowboys, Giants etc familiar rivals. They would have still had the Browns and a built in rivalry with the Jets that would have probably been a bigger deal in a smaller league. It's interesting to think about how the city would have responded having to adjust to a different set of rules in a new league, new teams and players coming to town, etc. At this point in this universe I figured the hype would have been through the roof for the Colts as awesome as their offense was in 75-76-77. They would have seemed like a perfect fit for the AFL rules and for them to be an NFL Championship caliber team switching to the AFL in 1978 would have been a major deal for them, possibly 3-4 primetime Monday Night games that year and expectations that they would contend for the AFL title that year. Only for it all to fall apart with Bert Jones shoulder. Absolutely devastating. This project will go on into the 1990's for sure but it changes in format and I start slowing down to go through a season week by week. Beginning with 1990 going forward each season will take so long I’d like for them to have their own threads, starting with the off-season news, the draft, ending with the Super Bowl.
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Post by Neo Zeed on Oct 16, 2022 17:03:03 GMT
AFL Offseason News February 1st, 1980
AFL expands playoffs, regular season, and announces new expansion team set for Minnesota in '82The AFL announced that starting with this upcoming 1980 season the league would expand the regular season schedule from 14 to 16 games. Another new change beginning this year will be the addition of a 3rd "Wild Card" team in the playoffs from each division. Under the new format the 1st place team in each division will receive a "bye" while the 2nd place teams in both divisions will host the 3rd place "Wild Card" teams in the first round(now to be called the Wild Card Round) of the playoffs. Plans were also made public to even the league out with the addition of a new expansion franchise to begin play in the AFL in the 1982 season in the brand new Metrodome in Minneapolis Minnesota. The yet to be named 16th franchise will play in the Western Conference. Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis announces relocation to Los Angeles set for 1981Even though Al Davis stepped down from his role as AFL Commissioner many still consider him to be the most powerful man in the AFL. His most recent flex came just days after Super Bowl XIV to announce his plans to move the prestigious Raiders franchise from Oakland into the LA Coliseum in Los Angeles starting next year in 1981. The league owners have adopted a strict policy against team's relocating to different cities but nothing stood in Al Davis' way to make this move. Al Davis' leverage within the power structure of AFL owners and the fact that Los Angeles is the 2nd biggest television market in the United States and sits empty without any pro football of any sort ever since the collapse of the NFL in 1977. The Los Angeles Rams were on of the finalists for NFL teams being considered to bring to the AFL in the frantic scramble in 1978. Negotiations bottomed out after it was revealed that the team was buried in debt, ultimately leading to the once proud franchise being among those that died with the NFL. The Raiders have won 5 AFL Championship games(1967, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976) while in Oakland and will play their final season in the city in 1980. Baltimore Colts fire Ted Marchibroda, defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan promoted to HCThe Ted Marchibroda era has come to an end in Baltimore as the Colts have decided to move on from their head coach following back to back disappointing seasons in the AFL. Marchibroda led the Colts to the final NFL Championship Game in 1977 where they lost a dramatic nail biter to the Dallas Cowboys in the final NFL game ever played. The Colts were one of two teams that were brought over from the NFL to the AFL in 1978 but Marchibroda struggled to adapt to the different style of play and the Colts found themselves in the bottom of the AFL East division in 78 and 79. The Colts named their defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan the new head coach. Ryan served as defensive coordinator for the Colts last year, prior to that he served as defensive line coach for the Minnesota Vikings in the final years of the NFL. Ryan served as defensive line coach for the New York Jets in the AFL from 1968 to 1975 where he was instrumental in the Jets defensive gameplan in their upset victory over the Colts in Super Bowl III. Tracking assistant coaching changes around the AFLDenver Broncos hire Dan Reeves as the new offensive coordinator. Reeves played in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys and took a job as an assistant coach on Tom Landry's coaching staff after retiring. Reeves was a part of the Cowboys coaching staff that won the final NFL Championship in 1977. San Diego Chargers hire offensive line coach Jim Hanifan. Hanifan served as offensive line coach for the St. Louis Cardinals in the NFL where he won NFL Assistant Coach of the Year honors in the final NFL season in 1977. The Cleveland Browns sign Marty Schottenheimer as new defensive coordinator. Schottenheimer is a former linebacker for the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills in the AFL from 1965 to 1970. Marty served as linebackers coach and then defensive coordinator for the New York Giants in the final years of the NFL. The Baltimore Colts signed Jerry Burns as new offensive coordinator. Burns reunites with Buddy Ryan whom he coached alongside with the Minnesota Vikings during Ryan's tenure there in 76-77. Burns was the offensive coordinator for the Vikings from 1968 until the franchise folded after the death of the NFL in 1977. Prior to his tenure with the Vikings Burns served as an assistant on Vince Lombardi's coaching staff with the Green Bay Packers during their 1966-1967 Super Bowl winning seasons. Cincinnati Bengals hire linebackers coach Bill Parcells and special teams coach Bill Belichick to join Bill Walsh's coaching staff. Parcells comes off of a head coaching stint at Air Force Academy in 1978-1979 as well as successful tenures as linebacker coach at Texas Tech and Vanderbilt. Belichick got his start as an assistant in the NFL with the Baltimore Colts and Detroit Lions before taking a job as special teams assistant with the Denver Broncos in the AFL in 78-79. The New York Jets sign Jerry Glanville as defensive coordinator. Glanville coached defensive backs on the historic Atlanta Falcons "Gritz Blitz" team that set new records in the NFL in 1977. Prior to that Glanville served as an assistant on the Detroit Lions coaching staff from 1974 to 1976.
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