May 11, 2022 19:02:03 GMT KING KID said:

Neo Zeed ,I would love a breakdown of the 2010 Chargers from you man.

How did this team rank 1st in total offense, 1st in total defense, finish 9-7 and miss the playoffs?!

They're the Chargers.

Speaking of the Chargers, I love how there was a badass linebacker whose name was pronounced Junior Say Ow. GOAT NFL name? Gotta be up there. It's like a library cop named Bookman or an ice cream man named Cone.

images.app.goo.gl/3HHNSDe72ryMjYY9A

Looking back at how the Vikings got Moon in 1994 for a 4th round draft pick in that years draft(and a 5th in the ‘95 draft), it’s interesting to think with hindsight 20/20 what other teams would have been better off going after him that offseason in 1994. Moon played at a high level from 94 to 96 where he struggled and was benched and released by Minnesota. He was back in prime form in 1997 with the Seahawks and continued to play well into 1998 before injuries got him. He was still on the Chiefs roster as a backup in 1999.

With that said look back at all the teams moves for quarterbacks in the 94 offseason, Washington and Tampa wasted top draft picks on Shuler and Dilfer, the Saints traded for Jim Everett, Atlanta made a move for Jeff George, Detroit went with unproven Scott Mitchell, probably other teams like the Giants, Rams, Bears, Colts, and Bengals all these teams would have been better off trading for Moon that year. Hell I got to believe even old man Moon would have did better that Tony Banks and Scott Mitchell on that 1999 Ravens team.

As an Oilers fan Moon was always my favorite, I felt like they never should have let him go. But I did root for him in Minnesota, him and Chris Carter was a good duo. But damn looking back at that offseason a lot of teams really slept on Moon. Seems like he would have been worth at least a 2nd round pick, some of those teams had that to give up for him if not even a 1st. Would have been cool to see him in Redskins gear those years from 1994 to 1998 with Norv Turner with Terry Allen and Henry Ellard. Surely would have been better than Shuler, Frerrotte, and Hostetler.

I posted that in one of the Facebook groups I’m in and somebody chimed in that Moon wasn’t even the Vikings first choice that offseason, they went after Scott Mitchell first but he chose to take Detroit’s offer, that would have been something to see Moon with Detroit with Herman Moore and Barry Sanders in 94-95. Not sure he would have got them any further than he did Minnesota though, I don’t believe they ever won a playoff game with Moon if I remember correctly they didn’t even make the playoffs in 95, which is crazy.

I’ve decided to focus all my old school football energy into the 1993 season. I’m getting my repaired laptop back today so expect another Odyssey thread soon.

I'm watching through a 1993 NFL playlist of full games that is majestic as it is glorious and brutal. After a game the next game comes up and its a game that I'm not all that interested in but then I get glued to it and it ends up being fucking fascinating. Such is this Cleveland Browns at LA Raiders game from week 3 that I just finished.

Both teams were 2-0 going in. This was Belichick's 3rd season as a head coach with the Browns, the Raiders were in their first year with Jeff Hostetler at QB.

This game was just super brutal. The late hits, and it was like NFL referees collectively just decided not to call pass interference at all in 1993, like fuck it let these guys earn their yards this year. I've been paying attention to these games to see why scoring was so low in 1993 in the NFL, whether it was offensive ineptitude across the league or if defenses were just really that much better that year. In the case of this game it was certainly the latter.

This was just such a different game back then. There was no artistry at the quarterback position like the modern Manning/Brady era, these quarterbacks had no chance to drop back and ready any coverage, they were getting maimed defenselessly within seconds of the ball snapping in 1993. Instead of the artistry the quarterback back in 1993 was all about how much of a savage beating your body could take with you not being too rattled to run an offense and actually keep fighting to win.

Raiders QB Jeff Hostetler took a beating in this game. That was always one tough dude, the play that always comes to mind is when he got literally flattened in Super Bowl XXV on that one play. If you know you know.

Raiders backup Vince Evans comes in throughout the game and does well, he was #11 which made me think of when I played little league for the Raiders I wore #11 because of Mark Rypien and somebody already took #1.

But man what an interesting game. Nick Saban is on the sidelines with Belichick on his staff. Bernie Kosar stinks up the joint so Belichick yanks him and puts in Vinnie Testaverde who Cleveland got from Tampa Bay in 1993. Vinnie connects with another former Bucc in receiver Mark Carrier and together they bring Cleveland back from a 4th quarter deficit with some nice drives.

It all comes down to the end with the Raiders giving up a safety. Browns return man and one of my all time favorites Eric Metcalf had a huge return on the free kick then ran in the game winning touchdown. Jim Brown was on the sidelines with the Browns celebrating and I've never seen Bill Belichick this animated about a win before, he's literally jumping for joy and sprinting onto the field to jump on the players after the game. Cleveland takes it to go 3-0 in a fascinating game with a great finish and some gladiator brutality. These Browns were pretty damn good but they ended up going 7-9 in 1993, the Oilers swept them that year and Belichick has said in documentaries they were one of the most talent loaded teams he's ever faced. This Browns team they loaded up through free agency for this 1993 season, they had some great talent so it's odd that with Belichick and Saban et al they were one of the teams on the outside of the AFC playoff picture that season. It says a lot about how good Houston was to handle this Browns team twice so easily and being the difference in them being 7-9 and 9-7. 

Aug 28, 2022 1:33:56 GMT Neo Zeed said:

Raiders backup Vince Evans comes in throughout the game and does well

Weird kiddie me was fascinated by Vince Evans (and Don Strock) because they were career backups who played FOREVER. I just didn't get how you could be in the league that long and never start unless the real starter got injured. It's like "they suck....but not hard enough?" Nowadays it's nothing special after living through decades of McCowns, but the oddity of their careers made them Baker Boys to the equally odd young Baker.

Probably the dude I have looked up the most on Pro Football Reference, I keep forgetting he existed.

Aug 28, 2022 1:49:46 GMT Neo Zeed said:

Probably the dude I have looked up the most on Pro Football Reference, I keep forgetting he existed.

Last five people I looked up are Kendall Trainor, David Browndyke, Tommy Hodson, Wendell Davis, and Barry Foster a week or two ago after using Trainor in The Name Game. Can you REALLY call yourself a football fan if you've never had The Great David Browndyke vs. Kendall Trainor Debate?

Aug 28, 2022 2:27:52 GMT Baker said:

Aug 28, 2022 1:49:46 GMT Neo Zeed said:

Probably the dude I have looked up the most on Pro Football Reference, I keep forgetting he existed.

Last five people I looked up are Kendall Trainor, David Browndyke, Tommy Hodson, Wendell Davis, and Barry Foster a week or two ago after using Trainor in The Name Game. Can you REALLY call yourself a football fan if you've never had The Great David Browndyke vs. Kendall Trainor Debate?

HA! I'm not being worked into PFR'ing those fake names bro I'm not a mark. 

Barry Foster, Madden 94 legend 

In my quest to collect the full 1993 Houston Oilers season I have finally got my hands on the week 3 game going into San Diego to take on the Chargers. It is downloading to my hard drive as we speak, I was able to watch half of it Thursday night and the rest of it Friday after work. I was going to save my thoughts until my Whomp There It Is 1993 NFL Odyssey but I cant wait, its best to post some notes here while still fresh on my mind. 

The Oilers and the Chargers going into the 1993 season were everybody's picks to win the AFC. Peter King of Sports Illustrated predicted a 49ers vs Chargers Super Bowl a year early in the 1993 pre-season and we heard about an All Texas Super Bowl all year in Houston, it only grew once the team got rolling on that win streak(the hype for that team was at it's apex after they beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh then San Francisco on Christmas). 

Going into this game both teams are 1-1, Oilers are coached by Jack Pardee and Chargers by Bobby Ross, two head coaches I believe were about on the same level with each other. It is mind numbing to me that Ross was able to take this Chargers team to an AFC Championship victory while Pardee with this loaded Oilers team couldn't even get past the second round. 

Very bad low level VHS video quality for this video. But you can still feel the vibe of the footage, sunny beautiful California day in September in San Diego at Jack Murphy Stadium on grass field with the baseball diamond dirt. Great aesthetic with the classic white Oilers uniforms(I love how by the end of the game Ray Childress has the dirtiest uniform showing how hard the dude worked) and to me one of my favorites the dark blue home Chargers unis that always looked so fucking sharp to me, especially with the players that wore a visor, Leslie O'Neal with the red visor in these unis was one of the coolest looking players to me. 



So I guess I'm in the minority here but I prefer this Chargers darker uniforms over anything else they wear these days. Not a fan of the powder blue look, once they switched to these I felt like they got it right, sharp and mean looking. 

So what made this game interesting is Warren Moon vs Junior Seau, a showdown between two excellent Hall Of Famers and it was one of the more interesting Quarterback vs Linebacker showdowns I've seen because of the Oilers Run N Shoot and how San Diego defended it. The Oilers stuck to their guns in this game with the Run N Shoot, there wasn't anything new they tried to introduce to the offense in 1993 and I feel like that was why this team failed. They came out with 4 receivers Jeffries, Slaughter, Duncan, and Givens. San Diego defended it by having Seau as the only linebacker in the middle(he usually played on the right side if I remember correctly) and they fielded 6 defensive backs(2 safeties and 4 cornerbacks). So this really felt like a one on one game between Moon vs Seau at times, Moon the quarterback of Houston's offense vs Seau quarterbacking San Diego's defense as the lone linebacker. Great stuff. 

Seau won this showdown with Moon for sure, he has an amazing interception to set the tone of the game early on. The standing ovation from the crowd as he comes off the field was goosebumps. He has another incredible interception later where he leaps seemingly 5 feet into the air to grab one. San Diego shuts the Run N Shoot down pretty easily and Moon throws 4 interceptions overall. 

Chargers quarterback Stan Humphries is also terrible and gets yanked for John Friesz, who leads a comeback in the end. The Chargers take a lead then the Oilers bench Moon for Cody Carlson. Carlson comes in and leads the offense right down the field. 

The big moment I wanted this game for years happens in the 4th quarter with San Diego leading 15-14. Cody Carlson gets the Oilers down into the red zone and hits Jeffries for what looks like a touchdown. The referees call it incomplete and there is no review or anything, Houston has to settle for a field goal that puts them up 17-15. See for yourself the screwjob here. 

Without the touchdown the Chargers were able to drive down and win it with a game winning field goal 18-17, it was John Carney's 6th field goal of the day since San Diego couldn't get in the end zone all day. Had the correct call been made on that touchdown for Houston they surely would have held on to win this game. 

So it's odd to me that this play is just kind of forgotten about whenever the story of the 1993 Oilers is told. It was never mentioned in the Football Life documentary on the team. But if the correct call is made here all Houston football history changes, the Oilers finish 13-3 instead of 12-4, which gives them the #1 seed in the AFC instead of #2, so instead of Marcus Allen and Joe Montana in their home playoff game they play Jeff Hostetler and the Raiders, who would have been eaten alive by that Oilers defense(they had no run game). So that means that the AFC Championship would have been in the Astrodome, who knows how that goes but it's a cool what if. 

Aug 28, 2022 14:10:48 GMT Neo Zeed said:

Aug 28, 2022 2:27:52 GMT Baker said:

Last five people I looked up are Kendall Trainor, David Browndyke, Tommy Hodson, Wendell Davis, and Barry Foster a week or two ago after using Trainor in The Name Game. Can you REALLY call yourself a football fan if you've never had The Great David Browndyke vs. Kendall Trainor Debate?

HA! I'm not being worked into PFR'ing those fake names bro I'm not a mark. 

All real! Come on, man. I wouldn't Fairy Tale you. They're all late 80s LSU or Arkansas stars. 

Trainor & Browndyke were top notch kickers who admittedly weren't on PFR because they never made the NFL but that's only because NFL teams were STUPID in the late 80s. I had to go to Sports(?) Reference to find their stats. And I really have tried to debate people over them! Only problem is nobody this far north knows who they are. Buncha Maryland rubes out there pretending they're football fans smh. 

Hodson was a record setting QB at LSU who was actually drafted pretty high by the Patriots and played a few years in the NFL.

Wendell "The Veteran" Davis was a WR who served as Hodson's top target. He held a bunch of LSU/SEC records at the time which made kiddie me think this college dude was a grizzled veteran  :lol:  He was another high draft pick who played a few years with the Bears.

And of course you know Steelers legend Barry Foster who first got on my radar with an 80 yard TD run right up the middle against the hated Miami Hurricanes. Same game saw "Automatic" Kendall Trainor actually miss field goal as time expired when his 58 yard attempt hit the bottom crossbar and bounced the wrong way. I was gutted. Great game though!

Aug 28, 2022 14:10:48 GMT Neo Zeed said:

Aug 28, 2022 2:27:52 GMT Baker said:

Last five people I looked up are Kendall Trainor, David Browndyke, Tommy Hodson, Wendell Davis, and Barry Foster a week or two ago after using Trainor in The Name Game. Can you REALLY call yourself a football fan if you've never had The Great David Browndyke vs. Kendall Trainor Debate?

HA! I'm not being worked into PFR'ing those fake names bro I'm not a mark. 

Barry Foster, Madden 94 legend 

In my quest to collect the full 1993 Houston Oilers season I have finally got my hands on the week 3 game going into San Diego to take on the Chargers. It is downloading to my hard drive as we speak, I was able to watch half of it Thursday night and the rest of it Friday after work. I was going to save my thoughts until my Whomp There It Is 1993 NFL Odyssey but I cant wait, its best to post some notes here while still fresh on my mind. 

The Oilers and the Chargers going into the 1993 season were everybody's picks to win the AFC. Peter King of Sports Illustrated predicted a 49ers vs Chargers Super Bowl a year early in the 1993 pre-season and we heard about an All Texas Super Bowl all year in Houston, it only grew once the team got rolling on that win streak(the hype for that team was at it's apex after they beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh then San Francisco on Christmas). 

Going into this game both teams are 1-1, Oilers are coached by Jack Pardee and Chargers by Bobby Ross, two head coaches I believe were about on the same level with each other. It is mind numbing to me that Ross was able to take this Chargers team to an AFC Championship victory while Pardee with this loaded Oilers team couldn't even get past the second round. 

Very bad low level VHS video quality for this video. But you can still feel the vibe of the footage, sunny beautiful California day in September in San Diego at Jack Murphy Stadium on grass field with the baseball diamond dirt. Great aesthetic with the classic white Oilers uniforms(I love how by the end of the game Ray Childress has the dirtiest uniform showing how hard the dude worked) and to me one of my favorites the dark blue home Chargers unis that always looked so fucking sharp to me, especially with the players that wore a visor, Leslie O'Neal with the red visor in these unis was one of the coolest looking players to me. 



So I guess I'm in the minority here but I prefer this Chargers darker uniforms over anything else they wear these days. Not a fan of the powder blue look, once they switched to these I felt like they got it right, sharp and mean looking. 

So what made this game interesting is Warren Moon vs Junior Seau, a showdown between two excellent Hall Of Famers and it was one of the more interesting Quarterback vs Linebacker showdowns I've seen because of the Oilers Run N Shoot and how San Diego defended it. The Oilers stuck to their guns in this game with the Run N Shoot, there wasn't anything new they tried to introduce to the offense in 1993 and I feel like that was why this team failed. They came out with 4 receivers Jeffries, Slaughter, Duncan, and Givens. San Diego defended it by having Seau as the only linebacker in the middle(he usually played on the right side if I remember correctly) and they fielded 6 defensive backs(2 safeties and 4 cornerbacks). So this really felt like a one on one game between Moon vs Seau at times, Moon the quarterback of Houston's offense vs Seau quarterbacking San Diego's defense as the lone linebacker. Great stuff. 

Seau won this showdown with Moon for sure, he has an amazing interception to set the tone of the game early on. The standing ovation from the crowd as he comes off the field was goosebumps. He has another incredible interception later where he leaps seemingly 5 feet into the air to grab one. San Diego shuts the Run N Shoot down pretty easily and Moon throws 4 interceptions overall. 

Chargers quarterback Stan Humphries is also terrible and gets yanked for John Friesz, who leads a comeback in the end. The Chargers take a lead then the Oilers bench Moon for Cody Carlson. Carlson comes in and leads the offense right down the field. 

The big moment I wanted this game for years happens in the 4th quarter with San Diego leading 15-14. Cody Carlson gets the Oilers down into the red zone and hits Jeffries for what looks like a touchdown. The referees call it incomplete and there is no review or anything, Houston has to settle for a field goal that puts them up 17-15. See for yourself the screwjob here. 

Without the touchdown the Chargers were able to drive down and win it with a game winning field goal 18-17, it was John Carney's 6th field goal of the day since San Diego couldn't get in the end zone all day. Had the correct call been made on that touchdown for Houston they surely would have held on to win this game. 

So it's odd to me that this play is just kind of forgotten about whenever the story of the 1993 Oilers is told. It was never mentioned in the Football Life documentary on the team. But if the correct call is made here all Houston football history changes, the Oilers finish 13-3 instead of 12-4, which gives them the #1 seed in the AFC instead of #2, so instead of Marcus Allen and Joe Montana in their home playoff game they play Jeff Hostetler and the Raiders, who would have been eaten alive by that Oilers defense(they had no run game). So that means that the AFC Championship would have been in the Astrodome, who knows how that goes but it's a cool what if. 

The Chargers were my squad on Madden 92.   Leslie O'Neal was so fast in that game he could catch onside kicks before they hit the ground. You also could rush him between the guard and the tackle and he would sacks almost every time.    Marion Butts also required about half your defense to tackle consistently.  The WR's were garbage but you didn't really need them.

Also Neo Zeed there is no such thing as a bad Chargers uniform. I prefer the light blues they wear nowadays but the dark blues they wore in the 80s & 90s were also a Top 5 uniform in the league.

Aug 28, 2022 2:27:52 GMT Baker said:

Last five people I looked up are Kendall Trainor, David Browndyke, Tommy Hodson, Wendell Davis, and Barry Foster a week or two ago after using Trainor in The Name Game.

Whoops. Forgot to mention spectacularly named Baylor great J.J. Joe also being a part of my last __ Reference binge. Dang it Nobi. Wanted to write about a Disco/Eaton match real quick and now I just know I'm going to spend the next half hour looking on __ Reference until it's time to attend a social function for the second afternoon in a row. Oh well. Blaise Bryant, Brian Pruitt, Randy Cuthbert, and a pair of record setting Houston Cougar QB's let's go!

Aug 28, 2022 14:52:08 GMT thereallt said:

Aug 28, 2022 14:10:48 GMT Neo Zeed said:

HA! I'm not being worked into PFR'ing those fake names bro I'm not a mark. 

Barry Foster, Madden 94 legend 

In my quest to collect the full 1993 Houston Oilers season I have finally got my hands on the week 3 game going into San Diego to take on the Chargers. It is downloading to my hard drive as we speak, I was able to watch half of it Thursday night and the rest of it Friday after work. I was going to save my thoughts until my Whomp There It Is 1993 NFL Odyssey but I cant wait, its best to post some notes here while still fresh on my mind. 

The Oilers and the Chargers going into the 1993 season were everybody's picks to win the AFC. Peter King of Sports Illustrated predicted a 49ers vs Chargers Super Bowl a year early in the 1993 pre-season and we heard about an All Texas Super Bowl all year in Houston, it only grew once the team got rolling on that win streak(the hype for that team was at it's apex after they beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh then San Francisco on Christmas). 

Going into this game both teams are 1-1, Oilers are coached by Jack Pardee and Chargers by Bobby Ross, two head coaches I believe were about on the same level with each other. It is mind numbing to me that Ross was able to take this Chargers team to an AFC Championship victory while Pardee with this loaded Oilers team couldn't even get past the second round. 

Very bad low level VHS video quality for this video. But you can still feel the vibe of the footage, sunny beautiful California day in September in San Diego at Jack Murphy Stadium on grass field with the baseball diamond dirt. Great aesthetic with the classic white Oilers uniforms(I love how by the end of the game Ray Childress has the dirtiest uniform showing how hard the dude worked) and to me one of my favorites the dark blue home Chargers unis that always looked so fucking sharp to me, especially with the players that wore a visor, Leslie O'Neal with the red visor in these unis was one of the coolest looking players to me. 



So I guess I'm in the minority here but I prefer this Chargers darker uniforms over anything else they wear these days. Not a fan of the powder blue look, once they switched to these I felt like they got it right, sharp and mean looking. 

So what made this game interesting is Warren Moon vs Junior Seau, a showdown between two excellent Hall Of Famers and it was one of the more interesting Quarterback vs Linebacker showdowns I've seen because of the Oilers Run N Shoot and how San Diego defended it. The Oilers stuck to their guns in this game with the Run N Shoot, there wasn't anything new they tried to introduce to the offense in 1993 and I feel like that was why this team failed. They came out with 4 receivers Jeffries, Slaughter, Duncan, and Givens. San Diego defended it by having Seau as the only linebacker in the middle(he usually played on the right side if I remember correctly) and they fielded 6 defensive backs(2 safeties and 4 cornerbacks). So this really felt like a one on one game between Moon vs Seau at times, Moon the quarterback of Houston's offense vs Seau quarterbacking San Diego's defense as the lone linebacker. Great stuff. 

Seau won this showdown with Moon for sure, he has an amazing interception to set the tone of the game early on. The standing ovation from the crowd as he comes off the field was goosebumps. He has another incredible interception later where he leaps seemingly 5 feet into the air to grab one. San Diego shuts the Run N Shoot down pretty easily and Moon throws 4 interceptions overall. 

Chargers quarterback Stan Humphries is also terrible and gets yanked for John Friesz, who leads a comeback in the end. The Chargers take a lead then the Oilers bench Moon for Cody Carlson. Carlson comes in and leads the offense right down the field. 

The big moment I wanted this game for years happens in the 4th quarter with San Diego leading 15-14. Cody Carlson gets the Oilers down into the red zone and hits Jeffries for what looks like a touchdown. The referees call it incomplete and there is no review or anything, Houston has to settle for a field goal that puts them up 17-15. See for yourself the screwjob here. 

Without the touchdown the Chargers were able to drive down and win it with a game winning field goal 18-17, it was John Carney's 6th field goal of the day since San Diego couldn't get in the end zone all day. Had the correct call been made on that touchdown for Houston they surely would have held on to win this game. 

So it's odd to me that this play is just kind of forgotten about whenever the story of the 1993 Oilers is told. It was never mentioned in the Football Life documentary on the team. But if the correct call is made here all Houston football history changes, the Oilers finish 13-3 instead of 12-4, which gives them the #1 seed in the AFC instead of #2, so instead of Marcus Allen and Joe Montana in their home playoff game they play Jeff Hostetler and the Raiders, who would have been eaten alive by that Oilers defense(they had no run game). So that means that the AFC Championship would have been in the Astrodome, who knows how that goes but it's a cool what if. 

The Chargers were my squad on Madden 92.   Leslie O'Neal was so fast in that game he could catch onside kicks before they hit the ground. You also could rush him between the guard and the tackle and he would sacks almost every time.    Marion Butts also required about half your defense to tackle consistently.  The WR's were garbage but you didn't really need them.

Dude I know me and you arent like PW best buds and it seems like I never acknowledge you much but I just want to say that sometimes when you post stuff like this I want to elope with you. 

I started an Old School John Madden Football group on Facebook back when Madden died, after a few months of being the only nerd to post anything in there I'm proud to say the group is starting to lift off now, up to 135 members and other people are finally posting stuff. Madden 92 has been a popular topic and several agree with me that it's the peak of the Genesis series, exclusive to the Genesis, charming, excellent music, the last one before the series really went commercial big budget multi-platform NFL/NFLPA licensing deal. Also after digging through all the player ratings rabbit hole I determined that 92 just had the peak roster. All the others are missing something or players arent rated appropriately, 92 has the goldilocks roster it's just right. Should be up there with NHL 94 as one of those timeless Genesis sports games but it's lost in the shuffle because of all the other Madden games. 

But I got banned from the epic Tecmo Super Bowl group for advertising my Madden group, I was pretty devastated because that group is really dope. I'm surprised Baker isn't in it. Tecmo guys really hate Madden hahaha

Aug 28, 2022 18:56:36 GMT Neo Zeed said:

Madden 92 has the goldilocks roster it's just right. Should be up there with NHL 94 as one of those timeless Genesis sports games but it's lost in the shuffle

But I got banned from the epic Tecmo Super Bowl group for advertising my Madden group, I was pretty devastated because that group is really dope. I'm surprised Baker isn't in it. Tecmo guys really hate Madden hahaha

Unless you're playing them on the regular I have no idea how you guys can remember which version of Madden/NHL/etc. is which. Now I know how UT feels when I'm casually bust out dates off the top of my head of practically every WWF match over a 15 year period. 

I'm actually not the biggest Tecmo Super Bowl fan. LOVED it at first. It was THE great leap forward in football games. But I got tired of it after a few years*. Almost certainly because I could never beat my brother after he discovered some cheap tricks to always lay the smackdown on me  :lol:

*Same deal with Baseball Stars, which is totally the baseball equivalent to Tecmo Super Bowl 

Any Garrison Hearst fans in the house? My brother and I loved that guy at Georgia. We used to play a game called Hearst where one of us would be Garrison Hearst running up the steps while the other would try tripping him up from behind. We were idiots. And Hearst being a flop with the Cardinals only to turn it around as soon as he ended up with the 49ers is such a microcosm of 80s & 90s football. Such a shame because I hated the Niners with a passion and was a low key Cards fan ever since seeing the great Neil Lomax light some jabronies up in my early days as a football fan. For like a decade I kept thinking next year was going to be the year the Cardinals finally turned it around. It never was. 

Watching the regular season game between San Fran vs Dallas in 93, rematch of the 92 NFC Championship. I feel like Jimmy Johnson just had George Seifert's number.

Some funny commentary between Madden and Summerall in between the action Madden talks about is there anything more plain than the white hats the referees are wearing, he's like where would you even buy something like that? And then Summeral replies in his deep serious voice, they used to wear black hats.... but I guess it made them seem too evil. Shit made me spit my coffee out. It's the dramatic pauses between lines that made Summeral GOAT 

Yes this Dallas vs San Fran 93 game is vintage Madden/Summerall, they are still on CBS here not on Fox yet. But there is a play with multiple penalties the referee spends like 2 minutes explaining it all and they keep cutting over to show the coaches on each sideline listening to the ruling, after it's finally over and they are about to cut away to commercial Madden says "You know, why do people listen with their mouth open?" FFFFFFFFF

Classic NFL film episodes never go out of style. So many good memories.

Sept 10, 2022 18:13:17 GMT Ed said:

Classic NFL film episodes never go out of style. So many good memories.

Amen, I have a collection that I'm quite proud of saved on my hard drive, some rare stuff on here. It was the only reason I got this laptop repaired a couple weeks ago it was out of order for a few months and I was stressed that I would lose all that. Also being a member of the sports tape traders group on Facebook has brought me a great bounty of full games, some I never thought I'd find. The big one is the fucking ass whooping that Washington put on Dallas in the end of the 2005 season to eliminate them from playoff contention the looks on Parcells face through the game are priceless, Gibbs got his ass back for the 80's and embarrassed him, that Washington defense with Sean Taylor was a blast to watch that year. I was really into their win streak to make the playoffs that year. 

Still holding out hope for the Houston vs Minnesota game from 2004 to surface somewhere, the GOAT game that nobody ever saw in NFL history. I couldn't believe how great that game was and how little to no coverage it got in the highlight shows that weekend, I don't think anybody in Houston even watched it because the Astros were in the playoffs and played that day if I remember correctly. At the time it was a throwaway game nobody paid attention to but looking back at it now it was an amazing receiver duel between 2 of the best of the decade, 2 hall of fame caliber guys, to me 2 of the best ever. 

Nobi’s fanfic project + Colts texts from my dad= me watching a bunch of 70s NFL videos on YouTube

Sept 21, 2022 12:33:19 GMT Neo Zeed said:

Sept 20, 2022 17:44:14 GMT Baker said:

Not going into it too much, but my dad (and I once born) lived exactly three miles from Baltimore's old Memorial Stadium from the mid 70s through 1990 (I also went to elementary school right across the street from Johnny Unitas' old Golden Arm Restaurant). My dad had season tickets with a group of relatives and some friends "in the middle of the horseshoe 20 rows from the top for at least 6 to 8 seasons until they moved." So sometime between 76-78 through 1983. Then stupid Bob Irsay, who was Public Enemy #1 in Baltimore when I was growing up, loaded all the Colts stuff onto Mayflower moving vans in the middle of the night and took the team to Indianapolis under the cover of darkness.

Love this post. I always dream about following my team around to every game, the fans that have the money to do that I'm so jealous. If I had all the money in the world I would buy the Astrodome and make it my house so I can just walk next door to watch the Texans games. A little asbestos never hurt anybody.

I read somewhere that Irsay at one point in the dying days in Baltimore actually put on a headset in the booth and took over playcalling duties from the head coach at one point during a season, like for multiple games. Is that true? Thats fucking crazy.

Bolded a classic Nobi line.
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Most famous Irsay playcalling story I read is he once invited some big shot friends to the owner's booth and wanted to impress them so he made the coach call only passing plays, but Bert Jones audibled to some runs to save face. Here's Bert discussing Irsay from Wikipedia...

"[Irsay] couldn’t have told you how many players there were on the field, never mind what plays we had. All he was trying to do was embarrass the coaches and the players. When he told me to run, I threw. When he told me to throw left, I ran right."

Truth is I don't know what's fact and what's fiction with Irsay. He was SO HATED here that I imagine some of the stories of his evil ways are exaggerated. He's portrayed in Baltimore as a greedy, megalomaniacal drunk who knew nothing about football, but thought he was George Halas. 
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More dad stories...

-He was at Fog Bowl I vs. Miami on 12/14/75. I remember watching the Eagles/Bears Fog Bowl II playoff game on tv in the late 80s.

-He was at the game where a plane crashed into Memorial Stadium. "It was about three sections over from us we left 5 minutes before the crash." Turns out this was a playoff game on 12/19/76 where the Colts got trounced by the Steelers.

-I thought he was at the game where Mike Curtis famously (in Baltimore) tackled an idiot fan who ran on the field. Turns out I was mistaken. But he thinks a few relatives of ours were at this game.

-My dad was something of a photography mark. One time he and a relative snuck on the field to take pictures during pregame warmups. They were out there for 30 minutes before getting caught and told to leave. Says he had good pics of Joe Namath (BOO!) and Eddie Hinton but doesn't know what happened to them. Thinks one of my brother's friends probably stole them. Which I can totally buy lol. 

-He only went to one road game. But it was in Philadelphia! I texted something about "being surprised you made it out of their alive." He responded by basically saying the Colts were so bad at the time that even the notoriously hostile Philly fanatics took pity on them.
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Nobi I've never known anybody to follow the Ravens around to every single away game, but I do know a bunch of longtime season ticket holders, and some of them hit up the occasional road game. My 90s wrestling fan cousin went to one away game a year + any road playoff games he could get tickets to for nearly a decade until his daughters were born. Sometimes my brother and other relatives went with him. Remember them going to a playoff game in Tennessee and the game in New England where Cundiff missed the game winning field goal. I think cousin was also at their Super Bowl win over the 49ers, but I'd have to get confirmation on that one.

Now I want to post my relatively paltry list of NFL football games attended...

10/27/89 Jets vs. Colts- Old Timers Flag Football Game- Memorial Stadium- This was the 20th anniversary of stupid Super Bowl III. Basically, Baltimore boomer bait. Only thing I remember is some Jet jerk tackling a Colt to HUGE heel heat. Hoping I at least helped boo stupid Joe Namath out of the stadium.

8/27/92 Dolphins vs. Saints- Preseason Game- Memorial Stadium- This was a trial run to see if the NFL could still draw in Baltimore since we were under consideration for an expansion team that ultimately ended up going to Jacksonville & Carolina. It drew over 60,000 but we still didn't get a team because stupid Paul TagliaBOO hated Baltimore. Or at least that was the local narrative at the time. Remember nothing about the game other than it being hot.

94-95- Three or four Baltimore Stallions CFL games at Memorial Stadium. I LOVED the Stallions and the CFL! Had a hat and everything! Still have it! They were the toast of Baltimore for a minute there. Don't remember the opponents or results. Do remember once going on the field at halftime to win a bookbag full of Oreos by throwing a football to a man in a giant cookie costume. Remind me to tell you the full story some time.

11/23/97 Cardinals vs. Ravens- Memorial Stadium- My first proper NFL game was a field goal fest between two bottom feeding teams. I "remembered" this as an overtime thriller. Wrong! Cards actually won with a late FG. Meh close enough. Went to this game with my brother and the Three Brothers from my 90s wrestling fan clique. Strongest memory of this game is honestly waiting for their dad to pick us up afterwards. The middle brother picked his car out from many blocks away because he recognized the headlights. I called b.s. Turned out I was wrong. He was right. 

Sometime between 98-00 Steelers vs. Ravens- PSINet Stadium- Vaguely recall going to a Steelers/Ravens game during this era. No memory of the game beyond that though. Steelers won in Baltimore all three years which neither helps nor hurts in narrowing it down. Went with my dad and ?

12/27/98 Ravens vs. Lions- PSINet Stadium- Went with my 90s wrestling fan cousin to see two cellar dweller teams play a meaningless game in cold, rainy conditions on the last weekend of the regular season. It was basically depression in football form. BUT this game would become retroactively important because it was the final game in the legendary career of Barry Sanders. Also notable for (probably) being the first game I ever drove to.

12/19/99? Ravens vs. Saints- PSINet Stadium- Remember going to a Saints game because they were my favorite team once upon a time. 96 is too early and 02 too late. So it must have been this one. Again, no memory of the actual game beyond going with my dad and his new people.

9/10/00- Ravens vs. Jaguars- PSINet Stadium- Easily the best and most memorable football game I ever attended. This was a wild back and forth shootout with the Ravens prevailing over the hated Jags* in the end. Only recently did I discover I went to a game during the Ravens Super Bowl winning season. I turned on them this year while most of my previously indifferent friends hopped on the bandwagon. They somehow scored 39 points in this one! They'd later go multiple weeks without scoring that many points lol. Again, went with my dad and his girlfriend

*Stole our expansion team. Upset the mighty Broncos in the playoffs that one year. Had stupid Tony Boselli. Beat the Ravens 8 straight times before this one. Yeah, I hated the stupid Jags in those days.

10/20/05- Virginia Tech vs. Maryland- Byrd Stadium- Went to my lone high profile college football game on a last minute whim with a girl friend who had attended VT. Tech was a highly ranked team quarterbacked by Michael's brother Marcus Vick while I'm sure Maryland was mediocre as usual. Terps played them close in the first half before VT pulled away. Brother, Cousin, and Governor Bob Ehrlich were also at this game on the other end of the stadium. Remember meeting up with my relatives at halftime. They told me they shook Governor Ehrlich's hand and Cousin asked him why he didn't have sideburns. 

Man sweet post, I didn't know until recently the NFL used to travel around with preseason games in markets without teams, very interesting they were testing out Baltimore.

When I was doing my 1999 project the Ravens vs Jaguars games from that season stuck out those were really good.

My only 2 NFL games I went to were Texans preseason games in their first year, the first 2 games ever played in the now 20 year old NRG stadium. The first one against the Dolphins my uncle and aunt got smashed drunk and we got there late, and left early. I don't remember much about the game we honestly spent more time walking around checking out the stadium. The next week we went to the game against Tampa and it was amazing, there was a different vibe in that stadium back then it felt like Monday Night Raw crowd. Also it was cool getting to see one of my all time favorites Mike Alstott play live in person, he ran the ball a few times. They ended up going on to win the Super Bowl that year so that was cool that I got to see the NFL Champs.

May 11, 2022 19:02:03 GMT KING KID said:

Neo Zeed,I would love a breakdown of the 2010 Chargers from you man.

How did this team rank 1st in total offense, 1st in total defense, finish 9-7 and miss the playoffs?!

Not sure if everyone has seen it or not, but SB Nation made a video on that team. A fun one to watch, as their videos usually are.

Every once in a while I'll stumble across a game that I never seen or heard about, maybe it was before my time, but just a game that didn't really go down in NFL history for anything and nobody ever talks about it now. But it's like maybe this game should be a bigger deal than it is.

I think this one is one of those, it's a 1981 game between the Dolphins vs Cowboys. This is a rematch of Super Bowl VI Don Shula vs Tom Landry a decade later with two completely different teams. The Dolphins were 5-1-1 going into this and Dallas was 5-2, it was just a Sunday afternoon game no primetime. Dallas was in the Danny White era, coming off of losing the NFC Championship to Philly the year before. White doesn't get mentioned much in Cowboys QB lore but his stats were pretty spectacular for their time, he just was never able to get Dallas past the NFC Championship in 3 consecutive tries(1980, 1981, 1982).

Also this early 1980's Dolphins team is interesting, this 1981 squad would go on to lose "The Game Nobody Should Have Lost" in the wild showdown in the playoffs against San Diego. They didn't have any real notable names at all on offense, the quarterback was David Woodley and I've never heard of any of these offensive starters. The defense was the "Killer B's" which was because so many had last name that started with letter B, including the Blackwood brothers Lyle and Glenn who both started FS and SS. That is pretty cool. Overall though this 1981 Dolphins team was maybe some of Shula's best work as head coach? This is a completely rebuilt team from his 70's glory years and didn't have a whole lot of talent here it seems but yet they finished 11-4-1 that year and almost made it to the AFC Championship. They did make it to and win the AFC Championship the following year in 1982 the year they lost to Washington in the Super Bowl. Of course Dan Marino would arrive in 1983 and Shula would coast on his laurels from there on out but to me I feel like his 1981-82 Dolphins team was the team he did the most with the least amount of talent, kind of like what Chuck Noll did with the 1990 Steelers. If you look at all the teams Shula took to a title game as a head coach, the 64 Colts, 68 Colts, 71-72-73 Dolphins, 84 Dolphins, I think this 81-82 squad was probably his least talented unit that he ever got that far with. 

But here we have this showdown between Shula vs Landry, Woodley throws for over 400 yards and the Dolphins take a 27-14 lead in the 4th quarter. Danny White tosses 2 touchdowns in the 4th quarter to win it for the Cowboys 28-27.

Both of these teams went on to lose some pretty huge historic playoff games in those 1981 playoffs. The Dolphins lost that thriller against the Chargers in overtime, the Cowboys lost the NFC Championship to 49ers via "The Catch". Both teams would make it to the conference championship games in 1982, Dallas would fall to the Redskins but Miami would take down the Jets so they came close to rematching in Super Bowl XVII.

I have a flash drive loaded with NFL films videos and games. I have been using this drive to load 1992 WCW tapes and watch them on my TV, so after the episodes are over it auto plays the next video, which is the 1993 Cowboys vs Dolphins Thanksgiving day game. And every time it auto loads that game it picks up right where I turned the TV off last time. So over the last week or so I have been watching this game very closely bits and pieces at a time. It’s really fascinating on levels I never appreciated before.

The big thing about the game is the ominous presence of OJ Simpson in the same isotoner gloves that he gutted his wife wearing, the same gloves from the famous trial. I can’t get over this. I feel like the one guy in Mallrats with the kid in the escalator, the way OJ keeps popping up throughout this game is really crazy and super dark. The crazy part is that the gloves are clearly too small every time you see them, they fit exactly the way they did in the famous trial scene.

At one point they talk about how many wins Shula had, and that for Jimmy Johnson to reach as many wins in his career he would have had to have winning seasons every year until the year 2021. This is crazy context for Shulas record. Needless to say JJ didn’t make it.

The finish of the game has got to be the biggest fuckup in NFL history. The Dolphins go for the game winning field goal in the last seconds but it gets blocked. But as the ball rolls to the goal line Cowboys lineman Leon Lett races after the ball and slips trying to get it, even as his team mates are like protecting anybody else from touching it. Lett touches the ball and Miami recovers it at the 1, setting up the chip shot game winner on the next play. I can’t imagine how Lett must have felt after this game or what the reactions would have been had there been social media like today.

After Dolphins kicker Pete Stoyanovich hits the game winner there is a mob of press trying to get an interview with him following him to the locker room. All of a sudden through the crowd comes a black isotoner glove to grab him by the shoulder and stop him, it’s OJ grabbing him for an interview. Jesus.

Also never realized how big of a turn around that was for Jim Haslett and the 2000 Saints team he took over that year, it’s remarkable how bad they were in 1999 they were the worst in the NFL, then the next year they are taking down the Rams in the playoffs that’s nuts.

This is truly spectacular: NFL Films Top 100 Greatest Tackles(1991-92ish)

The LT tackle on Elway at the goal line in Super Bowl XXI is just beautiful. Never really appreciated how great of a play that was. The highlight for that film by NFL Films is gorgeous, the beautiful California daylight shots in the Rose Bowl, and the contrast in colors between those two unis, just a beautiful Super Bowl all the way around. That little 22 minute film they made for the game is a work of art. 

Apr 23, 2023 13:37:48 GMT Neo Zeed said:

This is truly spectacular: NFL Films Top 100 Greatest Tackles(1991-92ish)

The LT tackle on Elway at the goal line in Super Bowl XXI is just beautiful. Never really appreciated how great of a play that was. The highlight for that film by NFL Films is gorgeous, the beautiful California daylight shots in the Rose Bowl, and the contrast in colors between those two unis, just a beautiful Super Bowl all the way around. That little 22 minute film they made for the game is a work of art. 

I miss seeing the Super Bowl being played at the Rose Bowl.  It felt like the game meant that much more whenever it was held there.

It is really amazing all of the full games that have popped up on Youtube within the last 5 years. I definitely need a hard drive to start snatching all these up before they disappear. Just ran a quick search for the 1996 season and found a sweet playlist with over 100 games, many of which have just recently been uploaded within the past year. The Redskins vs Patriots game was uploaded just a couple weeks ago, really good game with a Redskins team that is very interesting to me. They started out 7-1 and then collapsed and missed the playoffs. The Pats game was them going on the road and beating that year's AFC Champs with Norv outcoaching Parcells/Belichick with about half the talent. Only thing I can really remember about the game was that Darrell Green dominated maybe had a few interceptions and I remember him running somebody down from like 30 yards back.

Bunch of interesting 1996 games on that playlist. The 96 Redskins is one of the most interesting teams I'd like to revisit that collapse. I never realized how underrated Henry Ellard was, he was old by the time he was in Washington but reunited with Norv they worked together when Ellard was with the Rams and Norv was receivers coach/OC. He had some great years there with Norv in his old age in Washington and did it with Heath Shuler and Gus Frerrotte throwing to him. Really underrated receiver.

Also they have a bunch of the Oilers final games from the Astrodome that year they were actually really solid young team but none of those games came on TV because of the blackout rules(nobody was going to games, everybody knew for a couple years by then that they were leaving). The final game in the Astrodome may be one of the lowest attendances for a modern NFL game fewer than 20,000 showed up to see them play the Bengals. I love how Gary Walker was on that Oilers defense played in the last game in the Astrodome then the first game for the Texans in the new stadium(helped get the safety in the win over Dallas in the first game).