Thanks to Super Bowl XXVI that happened in January 92 I started out as a Redskins fan, plus my uncle was a big fan and caught a few games with him that 92 season(including the Skins win over Dallas later that year in a game that had it's own tuck rule controversy). But that Christmas I got a bunch of outdated football cards from like 89-90 and the Warren Moon cards looked the coolest, the Oilers uniforms and colors were the coolest.

^I had that one it was one of my favorite cards that and the Bucky Richardson card, not sure why I loved that guy so much but sure thought he was or was going to be awesome. 

But X-mas '92 I got a big huge full box of Pro Set cards like this: 



The Comeback was the game where I actually would say I became a real Oilers fan. I liked the Bills a lot too and just thought the whole fucking thing was awesome. Look at the colors of that game and the contrast between those two uniforms that day, the look and feel of that stadium, the crowd was white hot for that comeback once it got going it was just nuts. It was easily still got to be one of the best NFL games I ever saw for sure and again just a big reason I became such a nerd for the sport going into the 1993 season all in on the Oilers and Moon.

I remember my takeaway watching it at the time was Moon playing his ass off to get Houston into range for that field goal at the very end that put it into overtime, it's been a while since I watched the full game but if I remember correctly Buffalo had pulled ahead 38-35 or something and Houston had to answer back to put it into overtime even after the collapse. Moon maybe at my favorite point of his career right there on that drive just from remembering it at the time watching it live, super clutch performance in HOSTILE territory after Buffalo had ran that crowd hot and he was able to put it into OT. Of course they lose it in OT and it doesn't matter and is forgotten. But that was where I became a Moon/Oilers fan and it grew from there into the 93 preseason it was on that year buddy. 

^Popped so hard for the mention of Texas A&M legend Bucky Richardson. My god, what a deep cut. I didn't know/had forgotten he made it to the NFL.

Nov 12, 2023 19:11:59 GMT Neo Zeed said:

1993 core memories unlocked:



The fucking Colts, Bengals, Seahawks, Patriots pencils would try to give them away nobody would even take them. God these teams were bad that year. 

Wow, this brought back so many memories of my child hood. The Buc's was the one that nobody wanted at my school lol

Dec 10, 2023 1:47:17 GMT Baker said:

^Popped so hard for the mention of Texas A&M legend Bucky Richardson. My god, what a deep cut. I didn't know/had forgotten he made it to the NFL.

Bucky deserves his own post, he was definitely a strange 1993 Houston football odyssey, something these weirdo cucks from Tennessee hollering Luv Ya Blue these days would know absolutely nothing about. If you had a Bucky Richardson Oilers card in H-town school in 1993 it was basically like a form of currency for trade or whatever and also like a status symbol of how hardcore you were. 

I put on The Comeback but didn’t watch the full game just fast forwarded to the last drive of regulation to check my memory. Buffalo was winning 38-35 and Houston got the ball around their own 20 with a little less than 2 minutes. Moon was on the money on this drive, the Run N Shoot was working guys were getting open there were too many guys for Buffalo to cover. This was the drive that made Warren Moon my guy when I was little. There was a huge 4th down play where he hits probably my favorite pass he ever threw to save them, huge clutch play that nobody remembers or he gets any credit for.

Thing was they had all 3 timeouts and there was still over a minute left when guys were running sideways to get out of bounds. One play in particular a receiver made a catch 2-3 yards short of a 1st could have easily lunged forward to get it but ran like 10 yards sideways to get out instead. They were playing to tie the game and go to OT, which is brain dead fucking mindless retarded to think about. Moon was making the throws and guys were getting open had they attacked the end zone they would have won this game 42-38. Instead they set it all up for a field goal. Moon throws an interception in overtime and it’s over with. Crazy game where the strategy could be picked apart and analyzed like an old battle in a war.

I really enjoyed watching Hardy Nickerson in the Bucs game I watched earlier in this thread so I looked to see what other games from their 93 season were on Youtube. Actually surprisingly not much. I did find the Tampa Bay vs LA Raiders game. I forget how much I loved the Raiders, mostly because of the NFL's Greatest Games tapes I got around the same time I got Super Sunday(the Sea Of Hands game was on one of those).

But man how loveable is this 93 Raiders team, Howie Long was back(did he retire or something in 92?) and had a awesome year in his last season, Tim Brown at his best here in this game runs across the middle of the field to catch a pass and take a car crash hit from Hardy Nickerson, just gets up like it's no big deal, first down, another day at the office.

Hostetler how great of a fit was he for the Raiders? It was like the perfect guy I thought he was a cool Raider. Raiders very well could have been like my favorite team if the circumstances were different, I was rooting for them in the 2001 playoffs and always disliked Brady and that Super Bowl because of that game. It was not the Super Bowl I wanted, I fell asleep at halftime and woke up and NFL season was over it was like fuck, and the Patriots beat the Rams? Wow.

Whatever game from 93 you load up on Youtube you can count on seeing cut in highlight updates of Jerry Rice fucking dominating the league that day, unbelievable catch vs the Lions here in this Bucs/Raiders game I'm watching.

I forget this was the last season before Fox got the NFL and changed everything. I get frustrated watching old games that they rarely ever show the score or what quarter it is, and the first down marker on the screen was huge. Somebody needs to George Lucas these old games with that shit. 

Edit: Also, this would be the Super Bowl 9 years later

From December 93, funny that anytime the NY/LA teams were shit it’s like the NFL is dying

Dec 15, 2023 18:02:45 GMT Neo Zeed said:

From December 93, funny that anytime the NY/LA teams were shit it’s like the NFL is dying

Cant post pics via mobile for some reason. I can't find the actual article from the cover, I wonder what the 10 things were. It is odd that the rest of the NFL world thought the league was in need of being saved meanwhile the league was experiencing a renaissance in Texas, Cowboys became worldwide popular team with generations of fans 30 years later that were a product of that 92-93 team, Houston was abuzz over the Oilers in 93 as well. With the Jets on the cover and Giants losing #1 seed/NFC East I'm assuming this was NY based writer. I also just now fully realized that we got a New York vs Texas double header in the final week, Dallas vs Giants for the East and #1 seed, then Jets vs Oilers with Jets playoff spot on the line. Both NY teams lost. 

We've dropped just about everything from this 1993 season from pencils to football cards to coin op plastic helmets, magazine covers, might as well cover the big daddy that needs to be mentioned for sure: VIDEO GAMES

When you look at it 1993 has to really be the big year where football video games fucking exploded, like a renaissance in quality and quantity. Football video games on computers were pretty deep in the late 80's, but for the home console football was really crude on the NES prior to Tecmo Bowl in 87. Tecmo SUPER Bowl in 1991 on the NES was the game changer but the previous year on the Genesis seen the first Madden and Joe Montana games in late 1990. Other than that all football games were mostly bad. The SNES dropped in 91 and football games sucked for it, the first Madden was bad for SNES(bad port of the Genesis version which was over a year old by then).

1992 you had Madden 93 and Sports Talk Football but in 93 you suddenly seen a bit of an explosion of the genre on the SNES and Genesis(and the Sega CD add on that attached to it). Madden 94 and NFL 94 dropped in August 1993, with Madden 94 being developed by Visual Concepts for SNES was one of the best football games on the system up to that point. While the Visual Concepts SNES version of Madden 94 was better than anything else on that console up to that point, it still paled in comparison to the Sega Genesis version. The Sega version the collisions had more pop, the game felt more violent, the AI seemed smarter, and it just overall felt smoother and faster(plus you didn't need a password to save your season, the Genesis version had battery for saves).

This was also the first year where Madden got the NFL license and had real teams/helmets etc. They still didn't have real player names yet but NFL 94 for Sega did have the full NFL license with all the real players names, plus it had running commentary which looking back at it now was pretty fucking rad for it's time.



1993 was also the year they ported Tecmo Super Bowl to SNES and Genesis. It wasn't as good as the NES version but still some of the best football games ever up to that point(to me the Tecmo Super Bowl games are the best football games for SNES). We also got Bill Walsh College Football from EA in 1993, which was like the cousin of Madden 94. This is a game that has a big cult following and is pretty well regarded as one of the better football games for the Sega. Then there was also Mutant League Football released in 93 for the Genesis.



A bit of an overlooked football game from 1993 would have to be Joe Montana's NFL Football for the Sega CD, the little add on that connected to the side port of the Genesis to play CD rom games(and listen to CD's on your TV). This has to be one of the first real attempts to take football video games 3D, very crude and primitive looking back now but this was a big step for the genre for 1993.




All of that variety and all those different elements and styles all those different developers were experimenting with, seems like a golden age for football video games. Fast forward 30 years to present day 2023 and all you have is Madden 24.... and that's... it? You can get it for the PS5 or the whatever model XBOX they are on but as far as I can tell both versions are identical. Somehow this is better than the way it was 30 years ago? IDk man. 

Tired Old NFC Dogs(The New York Giants & Minnesota Vikings)

As we hit the final day of 2023 and enter the dog days of the 2023 NFL season lets take a look back at two teams led by 2 tired old dogs of war from the 80's NFC still battling it out into the 93 playoffs 30 years ago; the New York Giants LT and Jim Mcmahon in his last real year as a starter with the Vikings. For Minnesota this was Dennis Green's sophomore season as head coach, coming off of that pretty sweet 11-5 division title season in 92 where they were blown out at home 24-7 in the Wild Card by the 9-7 Redskins(in Gibbs final season of his original run). The 93 team had Brian Billick as offensive coordinator and Tony Dungy as defensive coordinator, while Monte Kiffin was linebackers coach(he would go on to be the mastermind behind the Tampa defense in late 90's early 2000's).

The big signing for Minnesota was picking up quarterback 34 year old Jim Mcmahon for 1993. Mcmahon won Super Bowl XX with the Bears but he seemed like he stayed hurt the following 3 seasons missing major chunks of the 86, 87, and 88 seasons before leaving Chicago to play for the Chargers in 1989. Buddy Ryan the Bears defensive coordinator during Mcmahon's heyday in Chicago brought Jim to Philadelphia to backup Randall Cunningham in 1990. Mcmahon rode the bench behind Cunningham(who had MVP caliber season that year) for the entire 1990 season, his days as a starter were thought to be pretty much over. Then Cunningham goes down in 1991 early in the year with a season ending injury. Mcmahon comes in and goes 8-3 as a starter and leads Philly to a 10-6 finish but they miss the playoffs since he got hurt again and missed time at the end of the year(forcing Philly to rely on 3rd and 4th string QB's in the final games). Cunningham returned in 1992 for the Eagles and Mcmahon was back on the bench for all but only 1 game that year. So for unrestricted free agency to open up the market in 1993 Mcmahon seemed like a gamble at quarterback, he was always hurt but look at his win-loss record, and his 1991 performance for the Eagles was still fresh on the mind.

The Vikings rolled the dice on Jim Mcmahon to bring him in in 1993 as the day 1 starting QB for the season. His performance was not great in the first 6 weeks, throwing for 3 touchdowns and 5 interceptions, averaging 150 yards per game but the Vikings did win with him, getting off to a 4-2 start(including a sweep over his former team the Bears, beating them in week 2 and again 5 weeks later). Then Mcmahon went down with an injury in week 7 vs the Lions, forcing the Vikings to rely on backup Sean Salisbury for 4 critical weeks in the middle of the season. The Vikings would go 1-4 while Mcmahon was hurt, falling to 5-6 after back to back losses to Tampa and New Orleans. At 5-6 Minnesota was barely alive in the NFC Wild Card race. Mcmahon returned to the starting lineup and led the Vikings on 4-1 finish to the season, including winning out their final 3 games to not only make the playoffs but move up into the #5 seed at 9-7.

Jim Mcmahon played maybe some of his best football of his career in those final 3 wins that got Minnesota into the 93 playoffs, 6 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 652 yards, 65% completion percentage, 101.1 rating. Take a look at the backfield for the 93 Vikings they had Roger Craig, 21 year old Robert Smith, and Barry Word(had 1 big 1,000 yard season with the Chiefs in 90). None of them cracked over 500 rushing yards on the season though, Craig was about done only carried the ball 38 times in 93(the Vikings signed him in 92). Tight end Steve Jordan played 13 seasons for Minnesota was 6 time Pro Bowler played what was really his last real year with the Vikings in 93 with 14 games over 500 yards receiving and 57 receptions(he only played 4 games in 94 before retiring).

Randall Mcdaniel at Guard was All Pro and Pro Bowl in his prime at 29 years old in 93, but other than him the Vikings OL seems to be their weakness in 93. Minnesota finished 4th in points scored in 92 but dropped to 20th in 1993 averaging just 17.3 points per game. The strength of the Vikings in 93 has to be their defensive line, John Randle, Henry Thomas, and Chris Doleman combined for 34 sacks between the 3 of them. Jack Del Rio was an awesome middle linebacker had 4 interceptions that year, while cornerback Audray Mcmillian was one of the best in his final season with 4 picks.

To me back in 93 the Vikings were one of the coolest teams in the NFL. One of the reasons why is that they had one of the Ismail brothers, The Missile; Qadry Ismail. These two guys fall into the category with Bucky Richardson in that their football cards were a bigger deal than they should have been back in the day. As valuable as their football cards were you'd thought they were future HOF but not even close. Ismail was a bad ass kick returning in 93 though, as a rookie he was hot shit in the moment that year, he had over 900 yards on 42 returns. With his 200 receiving yards that year it put him over 1,100 total yards from scrimmage. His brother Rocket was a bigger deal but I only just now remember how big of a deal Qadry was in 93, how he never really lived up to that potential so it's been forgotten. Not once did he ever make a pro bowl but he did have a bit of a career resurgence in 99-00-01 wth the Ravens(he had over 1,000 yards receiving in 99 and 2001 and won a ring with the 2000 team).

The Vikings also still had the 5'11" 168 pound hero from the 1987 playoff run Anthony Carter, who finished 2nd on the team in catches and receiving yards with 60 for 775 in his 15 games he played. This would be Carter's final season with the Vikings he would play 2 more years with the Lions mostly injured or on the bench in 94-95.

The coolest player for the Vikings though was for sure Cris Carter, who had his breakout year in the NFL after 6 average years in the league. Carter was let go by Buddy Ryan in Philly after 3 seasons, then took a few years to get going in Minnesota(he had over 900 yards receiving in 1991 but missed 4 games with an injury in 92). In 93 Carter had his first great year with 86 receptions for 1,071 yards and 9 touchdowns. Carter in his 7th season was only getting started in 1993, he would end up dominating as one of the best receivers in the NFL for the entire rest of the 90's decade.

The Vikings ended up going 6-2 in their division and taking the #5 seed in the NFC with the 9-7 finish, setting them up for a road playoff game against the 11-5 Giants in New York in the Wild Card round.


The 1993 Giants are the most interesting case for me on this look back. In real time I never realized how good this team was, and maybe it's been forgotten how good they were. This was the first year with Dan Reeves as head coach after the 2 years of Ray Handley in 91-92. Reeves first move was controversial in that he chose to go with the aging old Phil Simms and let Jeff Hostetler go to the Raiders as a free agent. I also never realized that this was the final year of Lawrence Taylor's career(for some reason I always assumed 92 was his last year and that he missed time injured). LT actually played a full season in 93 and finished with a fumble recovery and 6 sacks, leading the best defense in the NFL in 1993. The Giants only allowed 205 points all year(averaging 12.8 per game), only 7 points more than the 1985 Chicago Bears. At one point the Giants had the best record in the NFL at 11-3. The 93 Giants held 8 opponents to 10 points or less and only gave up more than 20 points in 2 games all year. 

The 93 Giants entire season really all came down to the season finale against Dallas at home in New York. Both teams were 11-4, Dallas had won the meeting earlier in the season in Dallas. The winner of this game would take the NFC East crown as well as #1 seed in the NFC. It's always remembered that the 92-93-94 seasons were all about Dallas vs San Francisco but I think going into that 93 final game with Dallas vs NY you could make a case that the Giants were #2/#3rd best team in the NFL. It's kind of forgotten that San Francisco actually kind of struggled in 93 and finished 10-6 in the regular season, the Giants easily had the better year in the NFC. They got off to a 5-1 start before dropping back to back games(including the 31-9 loss to Dallas) to fall to 5-3, then they won 6 in a row to get to 11-3. The upset loss to the Cardinals 17-10 in the second to last game had to have really been the sign on the wall that this team was losing it's momentum going into those 93 playoffs. That loss dropped them to 11-4 and put all the pressure on the finale against the Cowboys. This was the game where Emmitt Smith played through the separated shoulder to carry Dallas to victory in overtime to drop the Giants to 11-5 at the #4 seed as a Wild Card team(despite having better record than the #2/#3 seed division winning 49ers and Lions, both 10-6). 

It's another interesting what-if to think if the Giants had been able to hold Emmitt Smith off in that game to hold onto the win, securing a 12-4 record and giving them #1 in the NFC that year, giving them a week off to get ready to host the 9-7 Favre/Reggie Packers in the divisional, setting up a Dallas @ San Francisco divisional showdown on the other side. Who knows how all that plays out in this alternate reality where NY holds Emmitt to stop Dallas in that finale. But as it stands, Emmitt played through the pain in one of the toughest gutsiest performances in NFL history to give Dallas the win. 

This set up the Wild Card showdown with Jim Mcmahon taking the Vikings into NY to play the Giants in the cold wind. I recently watched this game for the first time and it was a fun watch, in what was LT's final home game at Giants stadium the G-men held on to win a defensive battle 17-10. The Vikings moved on from Mcmahon the next year to go for Warren Moon. Mcmahon reunited with Buddy Ryan one more time in Arizona in 1994 but only played 1 game before spending his final 2 seasons in 95-96 on the bench in Green Bay backing up Bret Favre(he won a ring on that 96 team). 

The Giants would go on to San Francisco the next week to get crushed 44-3. I recently watched this game for the first time as well and seeing LT in tears on the sideline in his final NFL game at the end was for sure one of the most powerful scenes of the entire 1993 NFL season. It's a scene that you never read or hear about or ever see brought up but it's pretty strong stuff. I can't think of any other NFL legend that cried on the field in his last game, that's a lot of passion and emotion in a moment I found to be pretty fascinating. Like 14 months later he would be in WWF Wrestlemania XI taking out Bam Bam Bigelow. 

One has to wonder if they made the right move going for Simms over Hostetler. I always found that interesting that that controversy with those 2 spread out over 91-92 after that Super Bowl XXV win. Simms ended up retiring after 93 and the Giants went years without a QB while Hostetler was at least solid for the Raiders well into 95. 

Also had to sting after all they had been through in the 80's and 1990 that LT's career comes to an end in San Francisco of all places in a 44-3 blowout to the 49ers of all teams. The Giants vs 49ers rivalry from is maybe underrated nowadays. Think about it LT lost in a blowout on the same field in the 81 playoffs when San Fran won the Super Bowl his rookie year.

LT vs 49ers rivalry 1981-1993

1981- 49ers beat Giants 17-10 at Candlestick(Giants would win out to make the playoffs after that loss)
1981- 49ers beat Giants 38-24 at Candlestick NFC playoffs(49ers go on to win Super Bowl XVI)
1984- 49ers beat Giants 31-10 in NY
1984- 49ers beat Giants 21-10 at Candlestick(49ers go on to win Super Bowl XIX)
1985- Giants beat 49ers 17-3 in NY NFC playoffs(think this is the game where they broke Montana's back)
1986- Giants beat 49ers 21-17 at Candlestick
1986- Giants beat 49ers 49-3 in NY NFC playoffs(Giants go on to win Super Bowl XXI)
1987- 49ers beat Giants 41-21 in NY(scab game played during player strike)
1988- 49ers beat Giants 20-17 in NY(49ers go on to win Super Bowl XXIII)
1989- 49ers beat Giants 34-24 at Candlestick(49ers go on to win Super Bowl XXIV)
1990- 49ers beat Giants 7-3 at Candlestick(big MNF game where both teams were like 10-1)
1990- Giants beat 49ers 15-13 at Candlestick NFCCG(killed Montana, Giants go on to win Super Bowl XXV)
1991-1992- both games were big primetime opening season games, Giants won in 91, San Fran won in 92
1993- 49ers beat Giants 44-3 at Candlestick NFC playoffs(LT's final game)

Nowhere To Run(Denver Broncos, LA Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers)

The hopes for the 1993 Pittsburgh Steelers had to have been pretty high going into that season. The 1992 season was Bill Cowher's rookie year as Steelers' head coach and he took them to an 11-5 division title season, they got the #2 seed in the AFC(but got knocked off at home by Buffalo in the divisional round). So with Cowher going into his sophomore season in 93 they had to be considered a top contender in the AFC. They had the NFL rushing leader in 92 with Barry Foster(along with a really solid offensive line), plus a great defense coordinated by Dom Capers(which featured Marvin Lewis on his staff as LBs coach). 

How big of a game that must have been set for opening week in 93 when the Steelers took on the 49ers, two of the best teams in the NFL the previous 92 season(San Fran was #1 seed in NFC and Pitt was #2 seed in AFC in 92 playoffs). The 49ers would take a 17-0 lead into the half and would hold on to win it 24-13 in Pittsburgh. One of the most interesting things to watch out for in this opening day game was the matchup of Steve Young and Jerry Rice, the NFL's best offense in 1993 taking on the NFL defensive player of the year Rod Woodson(who picked off Young twice in this game). Jerry Rice had 2 touchdowns. Barry Foster was held to just 80 yards while Neil O'Donnell was knocked out of the game(backup Mike Tomczak threw 2 ints). Then in week 2 the Steelers faced off against Jerome Bettis in his rookie season with the Rams facing off against his future team(with Steelers new free agent linebacker Kevin Greene facing his former team). Pittsburgh just got spanked out in Anaheim 27-0 with Jerome Bettis scoring his first ever TD on a 29 yard run in the fourth quarter to seal the win, dropping Pittsburgh to 0-2. 

Cowher's Steelers rebounded with big wins in the next 2 games, 34-7 over a really bad Bengals team then 45-17 over the Deion-less Falcons. Pittsburgh jumped out to a 4-2 record after big wins over really good teams in New Orleans and San Diego, setting up the big 1st place showdown with the rival Cleveland Browns(coached by Belichick).

Both teams were 4-2 with 1st place in the old 4 team AFC Central on the line. In what was truly one of the best NFL games of the entire 1993 season in Cleveland the game would end up with the nickname of "The Eric Metcalf Game". A 91 yard Metcalf punt return for a touchdown put Cleveland up 14-0 in the second quarter. Pittsburgh answered with back to back Barry Foster touchdowns to tie the game 14-14 going into the half. The lead swapped back and forth in the 3rd quarter, a Pittsburgh FG put them up 17-14, then Cleveland retook the lead with a Vinny Testaverde TD pass to go up 21-17. Pittsburgh retook the lead with back to back Gary Anderson field goals, going up 23-21 in the fourth quarter. This set up the game winning walk off 75 yard Eric Metcalf punt return for the game winning touchdown giving Cleveland the victory 28-23, dropping Pittsburgh to a 4-3 record. 

We've already covered Bill Belichick's 1993 Browns' season here but it was clear that after that big game in Cleveland both teams went opposite directions, Pittsburgh would end up overtaking Cleveland for the Wild Card spot while the Browns would collapse to a losing 7-9 finish. The Steelers bounced back from the loss to the Browns with big wins, completing the sweep over the Bengals with a 24-16 win in Cincy, followed by a huge Monday Night Football win over the best team in teh AFC, the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo was 7-1 going into the primetime showdown while Pittsburgh was 5-3. The Steelers would dominate Buffalo with a 23-0 shutout in Pittsburgh to make a huge statement, restoring their status as legitimate contender in the AFC with a 6-3 record. 

The big win over Buffalo came at a huge cost, Barry Foster was lost for the season with an ankle injury while on pace to have another huge season(he finished with over 700 yards and 8 touchdowns averaging 4.0 yards per carry with 7 games left to play). Pittsburgh was faced with a brutal 2 game road trip after losing Barry Foster against the Bills, first to Denver then to the Astrodome to play the Buddy Ryan 46 Oilers that were on a roll. They would lose both to fall to 6-5 back to the brink of not even making the playoffs. They would salvage their season with a gross 17-14 win over a 1-10 Patriots team, then the win over the Steve Deberg Dolphins to put themselves right back into contention for the AFC Central title at 8-5. This all set up yet another big 1st place showdown with the 8-5 Steelers hosting the 9-4 Houston Oilers with the AFC Central title at stake. 

Pittsburgh's upset loss to the Oilers at home at Three Rivers Stadium sealed their fate, they were outhit by Buddy Ryan's 46 defense for one of Houston's signature wins of that season(they jumped out to a 20-0 lead and would hold on to take it 26-17). That loss overshadowed one of the more overlooked upsets of that 93 season when the Steelers went up to Seattle and got beat by the Rick Mirer Seahawks the next week, dropping them to 8-7. The Steelers were able to beat the Browns in the finale to finish 9-7 and make the playoffs as a Wild Card team, where they lost a 4th quarter lead to get eliminated by the Joe Montana Chiefs. This 93 Steelers team to lose Barry Foster for the last 7 games was just as devastating a loss as the Dolphins losing Dan Marino for the year, that was definitely an injury that changed the course of that entire 93 NFL season. Really maybe it was even worse considering Foster never looked the same after he came back, the Steelers were missing that rushing threat in 94 and 95(they ended up getting Bettis from the Rams in a trade in 96). 

Elsewhere in the AFC Wild Card scene the LA Raiders vs Denver Broncos ended up being one of the defining rivalries of the 1993 NFL season. The teams would end up facing off 3 times that year, their 2 scheduled regular season games and a 3rd meeting in the AFC Wild Card playoffs. The Raiders vs Broncos season finale in the LA Coliseum ended up being another one of the signature games of the 1993 NFL season and a big part of what made that season special; all of the division titles and Wild Card playoff spots all being on the line in those dramatic late season games, Pittsburgh vs Houston for the AFC Central in week 16, Denver vs LA for the right to host the AFC Wild Card game, Dallas vs NY for the NFC East, Green Bay vs Detroit for the NFC Central all in week 18. 

For the Broncos this was their first year without Dan Reeves after promoting defensive coordinator Wade Phillips to head coach. Supposedly there was an ugly falling out between Elway and Dan Reeves there at the end(Reeves wasted a pretty high draft pick on QB Tommy Maddox in 92 with alleged plans of him taking over at QB that ended up costing Reeves his job). The LA Raiders were coached by former Hall Of Fame offensive lineman Art Shell, who took over the team in 1989 after an ugly falling out between Mike Shannahan and owner Al Davis mid-season. So you had an interesting contrast in head coaches there in LA and Denver with Art Shell vs Wade Phillips in 1993. Wade was on his father Bum Phillip's coaching staff with the Houston Oilers Luv Ya Blue back to back AFCCG runs in 1978-79, while Art Shell played with John Madden and won Super Bowl XI in 1976. Wade's defense was one of the best in the NFL in 1989 and 1991, while Art had taken the Raiders to the AFC Championship in his first full season as head coach in 1990. Wade's Broncos got destroyed 55-10 by the 49ers in Super Bowl XXIV while Art Shell's Raiders got killed 51-3 by the Bills a year later in the 1990 AFC Championship. Both the Broncos and Raiders missed the playoffs in 1992. 

The Raiders would make a big move in free agency by signing former Giants Super Bowl winning QB Jeff Hostetler. Both the Raiders and Broncos started the 93 season off going 2-0 and both were on track to a showdown on Monday Night Football in week 7, with both teams going in with identical 3-2 records. The Raiders would take the first meeting 23-20 with a game winning 53 yard field goal by Jeff Jaeger in a game I remember watching in real time. Both teams would have their second bye week the very next week. Denver came out of the bye winning 6 of their next 8 games to get to 9-5, while the Raiders won 5 of their next 8 to get to 9-5. Both teams would end up dropping big games in week 17 to set up the 1st place rematch for the AFC West title in week 18 at the LA Coliseum, with both teams going in with matching 9-6 records. 

Over 66,900 packed into the Coliseum to see the season finale between the Raiders vs Broncos on January 2nd 1994(30 years ago). Both teams were locked in to play each other the following week in the AFC Wild Card game, but the winner of this regular season finale would determine which team would host the game(the winner would take #4 seed and loser would be #5). Denver took a 13-0 lead in the first quarter. Both teams went back and forth in the 2nd quarter but Denver held onto a 27-13 lead at the half. Another field goal put Denver up 30-13 early in the 3rd quarter. 2 Jeff Hostetler touchdown passes and a Jeff Jaeger field goal tied it up and put it into overtime at 30-30. Jaeger would nail his 4th of the game for 47 yards in overtime to give the Raiders the 33-30 win. A smaller crowd of just over 65,000 returned the next week to see the rematch at the LA Coliseum in the AFC Wild Card game. After a competitive first half the Raiders pulled away for a 42-24 blowout win, completing the 3-0 sweep over Elway's Broncos in 1993. 

The Broncos seem better than their 9-7 record suggests in 1993. They had the 3rd best offense in the NFL and 10th ranked defense. Elway had statistically one of his best seasons with 4,030 passing yards and 25 touchdown passes(his best season since 1987). Shannon Sharpe had over 900 receiving yards. Karl Mecklenberg and Steve Atwater had Pro Bowl seasons on defense while Simon Fletcher had 13.5 sacks. 

The Raiders season would come to an end a week later in a 29-23 loss to the Bills in fridge temperatures in Buffalo. Jeff Hostetler looked good as a Raider with 3,242 yards 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions with 3 fourth quarter comeback wins/game winning drives(he had 310 yards and 3 touchdown passes in the big comeback win over the Broncos in the finale). Tim Brown had over 1,100 receiving yards while I remember Rocket Ismail was a star kick returner who's football cards were a big deal that 93 season. Howie Long put in a full 16 game season in his final year with 6 sacks before retiring to take a spot in the NFL on Fox pregame show when it launched the following 1994 season(where he still holds that spot today 30 years later). 

Didn't realize Barry Foster was done after another late season injury in 94. I thought he stuck around a few years after that(could have swore he was on the expansion Panthers in 95?). Foster was on the 90 and 91 Steelers teams but seen little to no action until the 92 breakout year, 1,690 rushing yards led the NFL that year, he finished 2nd in MVP votes behind only the winner that year Steve Young. Then the injury in week 7 of 93 crippled that Steeler team and practically ends his career. But looking closer at his 94 season he missed 5 games mid season but played in both of Pittsburgh's playoff games that year, running for 133 yards in their win over the Browns in the Divisional round then only 47 yards in the upset loss to San Diego in that AFCCG.

Untamed Hearts(Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers)

Better late than never, we are firing this back up to get this finished. I really love these projects and had a blast reading back through this yesterday morning on some coffee. What an interesting and deep dive into the 1993 season, written 30 years later with so many parallels drawn to the ongoing 2023 NFL season that was going on at the time of writing. We are picking this up with a look at the 2 NFC Wild Card teams from the NFC Central, the Lions and Packers, who met in what has to be one of the best games of that entire 1993 season in the epic NFC Wild Card playoff game played in Detroit's Pontiac Silverdome on January 8th 1994.

The Lions big offseason move going into this 1993 season was the signing of Pat Swilling the awesome linebacker from the Saints Dome Patrol linebacker corps. It was documented often in this thread how the 1993 season was the first year of unrestricted free agency, which is wildly fascinating to look back on all of the player movement going on that offseason(basically turning the league upside down). Swilling was the Lions big signing and they even un-retired Joe Schmidt's #56 so he could keep his number that he had in New Orleans(Schmidt, one of the Lions all time greats just recently passed away, gave his blessing to un-retired the number so Swilling could wear it).

The big star of this Lions team in 1993 though is without a doubt Barry Sanders, the phenom, in his prime. Sanders was easily one of the most electrifying highlight reel machines in the entire NFL in 1993 and was for sure the workhorse that carried this Lions offense. What's interesting to look back on is how Sanders was basically like a savior for the entire Lions franchise when he was drafted in the first round of the 1989 draft.

This was a franchise that was hurt on a very deep level when their star runner Billy Sims suffered a career ending knee injury in the middle of the 1984 season. Sims was a major impact player on the Lions teams that made the playoffs in 1982 and 1983(where they were a missed Eddie Murray field goal away from beating the 49ers and advancing to the 83 NFCCG). After Sims was lost in his prime the Lions fell apart and lost the city of Detroit. Attendance stayed strong through their 7-9 campaign in 1985, started to decline in 1986, then bottomed out for the 2 "scab" games in 1987 during the player strike(less than 5,000 fans showed up for their loss to Tampa, then just over 8,300 for the loss to Seattle). Even after the player strike ended in 1987 Lions attendance never recovered, they never topped 50,000 the rest of the year after falling to a 4-11 finish. Just over 30,000 showed up for their 1988 season opener at the Silverdome vs the Falcons, with 3 games that year that drew under 30,000(only 2 of their 8 games that year drew over 40,000 as the team struggled to a 4-12 finish).

With the arrival of Barry Sanders in 1989(wearing Sims' same #20 number) things started to change. Fans started showing back up to the Silverdome by the end of Sanders' rookie season as the Lions won 6 of their last 7 games to finish 7-9. By 1991 the Lions were back in the playoffs with a 12-4 record and a run to the NFC Championship Game. The Lions had a bad 5-11 season in 1992 due to one of the worst defenses in the league and bad quarterback play but Sanders was still elite with over 1,352 rushing yards carrying their whole offense on his back. So the Lions looked to rebound and improve their defense in 1993 with the addition of Dome Patrolman Pat Swilling. Lets take a closer look at what went wrong with this Lions 93 season.

One thing I wanted to look closer at with this 93 Lions season was to check on a common ideology you see online that Barry Sanders succeeded in Detroit with a "terrible" offensive line. I've always argue that this wasn't true, that in fact Detroit had one of the better offensive lines those years in the NFC if not the NFL. Taking a closer look at Barry's o-line in 1993, first the center; Kevin Glover was one of the best in the NFL, period. I believe that Glover is one of those guys like former Patriots great Bruce Armstrong where their greatness was really lost and forgotten to time, especially since they were overlooked/snubbed on Pro Bowl/All Pro honors with no stats for O-linemen to really show how good they really were. Glover being injured for 9 games in 1992 was a big reason why Detroit struggled in 1992, but he was back healthy in 1993 playing a full season. Lomas Brown the LT made the Pro Bowl in 1993 for the 4th time in a row(the middle of a stretch where he made the Pro Bowl for 7 years in a row and was 1st team All Pro in 1995, 2nd team All Pro in 1991 and 1994).

The Lions fixed one of their weak spots on the o-line(RG, a position they struggled with in 1992 after Mike Utley was lost to the career ending neck injury in 1991) with an overlooked unrestricted free agent signing in 1993 when they picked up longtime Falcons veteran RG Bill Fralic. Fralic was a 4 time Pro Bowler and 2 time 1st team All Pro early in his career in the 80's. Fralic played really well in 1993 in the final season of his career for Detroit playing all 16 games making a big difference up front. The Lions biggest weaknesses on the 0-line in 1993 would be at left guard and right tackle, David Richards and Dave Lutz. Richards was an average left guard but Lutz was a solid right guard that missed only 1 game playing on the Chiefs o-line from 1989 to 1992, where he helped block for 3 different 1,000 yard rushers(including the NFL's leading rusher in 1989 Christian Okoye). 

So Barry Sanders did have a spectacular season in 1992 playing behind a struggling offensive line, but in 1993 they made some moves to improve and had one of the strongest lines in the NFC with the additions of Lutz and Fralic to support Glover and Brown. But, the big thing to look at is that Lomas Brown actually went down to injury early in the season and missed 5 of the Lions first 7 games of the season. Brown was out for the week 2 win over the Patriots where Barry ran for 148 yards to help the Lions win 19-16 in OT. Brown was also out for the Tampa game in week 5 where Barry ran for 130 yards and a touchdown(Detroit would lose 27-10). Brown finally returned for the final 9 games of the season, but Barry would go down with an injury and missed the final 5 of those games. So Barry Sanders only playing 11 games in 1993 finished with 1,115 yards was averaging over 100 yards a game, was on track to have his best season yet(on track to have over 1,600 yards) playing with one of his better offensive lines he ever had in Detroit. 

The Lions would go 3-2 without Barry in the final 5 games to finish 10-6 and win the NFC Central Division. Detroit only slightly improved on defense with the addition of Pat Swilling not really amounting to much. Swilling had down years in 1993 and 1994 with Detroit before going on to the Oakland Raiders where he had a career resurgence playing at DE in 1995-96. The big holdback for the 93 Lions(other than Sanders' injury) was their continued struggles at Quarterback. Rodney Peete was their opening day started but went down with an injury and missed week 4 and 5. They started Andre Ware when Peete went down and Ware did not play well, going 1-1(Lomas Brown was out with his injury for both of Ware's starts). So Detroit was sitting at 3-2 going into their first bye. Rodney Peete returned to the starting lineup after the first bye and helped Detroit win 4 in a row to get to 7-2, but they would lose 3 in a row after their 2nd bye week to drop to 7-5. Peete was lost for the season in week 12 and the Lions went with Erik Kramer for the rest of the year. Kramer went 3-1 without Barry with 8 touchdown passes and 3 interceptions to help Detroit win the division. 

The Lions biggest win of the season came in the final game, at home(in front of a crowd of over 77,000) hosting the Packers with both teams going in at 9-6 and the NFC Central title on the line. The Lions defense intercepted Favre 4 times, Lions backup running back Eric Lynch ran the ball 30 times for 115 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead Detroit to a 30-20 win to clinch the division. The win set up a rematch the very next week in the NFC Wild Card Playoff game.... 

For the Green Bay Packers in 1993 this was a turning point season for the whole franchise. Mike Holmgren took over as head coach in 1992 and led them to a 9-7 finish with new quarterback sensation Brett Favre taking over the position. In 1993 the team took the next step with the big unrestricted free agency signing of Reggie White. Holmgren's coaching staff in 1993 was pretty unreal, starring future Super Bowl winning head coaches Jon Gruden(quarterbacks coach) and Andy Reid(tight ends/assistant 0-line). 

The Packers would struggle out of the gate with an ugly 36-14 loss in Dallas dropping them to 1-3. The turning point in perhaps Favre's career, the Packers' 93 season, and the whole 90's renaissance of the Packers franchise was perhaps in their week 5 game at home against the 3-1 Denver Broncos. In a duel between all time legends John Elway vs Bret Favre(a preview of one of the all time great Super Bowls 4 years later), the Packers jumped out to 17-0 lead in the 1st quarter. The Packers grew their lead to 30-7 at the half but Elway fought back in the second half, falling just short running out of time in a 30-27 loss in one of the best games of the 1993 NFL season. Favre threw for 235 yards and a touchdown while Elway threw for 367 yards and a touchdown. Reggie White had 3 sacks. 

Wins over the Bears and Bucs brought the Packers season back to life putting them at 4-3. Tough, hard fought wins in 5 of their next 8 games gave Green Bay a shot at winning the NFC Central Division title in the finale in Detroit, but they would fall short, giving up a 20-16 lead in the fourth quarter to fall to the Lions 30-20. Favre finished the season with 3,303 passing yards with 19 touchdowns and a whopping 24 interceptions, but had 3 big 4th quarter comebacks/game winning drives and was named to the Pro Bowl for the first time. Sterling Sharpe set a record with 112 receptions for 1,274 yards and 11 touchdowns. Leroy Butler was named 1st team All Pro with 6 interceptions while Reggie White finished with 13 sacks.

The loss in Detroit in the season finale gave Green Bay another 9-7 finish and set them up in a rematch in Detroit the very next week in the NFC Wild Card playoff game for the ages. The 1993 NFC Wild Card playoff game between Detroit vs Green Bay that took place in January 1994 is widely considered one of the greatest games of the 90's if not all of NFL history. Interestingly the game drew around 9,000 fewer fans to the Silverdome than the week before with a crowd of over 68,000 in attendance. The Lions held onto a 10-7 lead going into the half and moved up 17-7 in the third quarter. Favre connected with Sharpe for the second time to close the gap to 17-14, then a 101 yard interceptions return by George Teague put the Pack up 21-17 going into the fourth quarter. The Lions retook the lead with a Derrick Moore touchdown run putting them up 24-21 but Favre connected with Sharpe with an insane 40 yard touchdown pass to win it 28-24.

Barry Sanders returned from his 5 game layoff to burn the Packers 9th ranked defense for 169 yards on 27 carries(though Green Bay held him out of the end zone all day). Reggie White had 2 sacks. Sterling Sharpe had 5 catches for 101 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Packers would go on to Dallas to lose in the divisional round the next week 27-17 but the playoff win over Detroit really gave Green Bay a big push going forward in the 90's, Favre would go on to win NFL MVP honors the very next year for the first of 3 times in a row, and within 3 years this team would be Super Bowl Champions.