OT (which here means 'Old Timers'): NFL Game Films, 1976 Patriots

[Galeb]

How about now?

Slight regression. Never trust a fart.

 

[RobertWeathers]

The thing that gets lost in the case for the Pats with the youngins is that at the time they didn't call roughing on such a ticky tack play. A QB would have had to be hit late and hard, and Stabler got neither.

I started to watch the video, but as soon as I saw Darryl Stingley I couldn't watch it any longer.

Yep. Our gen and younger need to factor in that the passing game was SO different. 5 yard chuck went away in 78. Roughing the Qb came later.

I contend that guys like Stabler, Bradshaw and others would have similar numbers as the top QBs of today.

 

[pazrul72]

Lot of fun to watch, though I was not even a twinkle in my daddy's eye yet. That o line was ridiculous. Thing that stuck out to me is how much more crowded the line of scrimmage was and how much more open the back field was. When a receiver caught it it was one guy misses and they are gone and no one else around. Also how much slower everyone was. The hits were just not as violent or as....idk smooth for lack of a better word. Lot more grabbing and wrestling to the ground instead of one big massive blow. And that roughing the passer call made me angry. Even for today that was ticky tacky. He hit him one step after he threw the ball with almost perfect form...total BS ESPECIALLY when the raiders are such "tough guys" who played to the whistle and beyond.

 

[1960Pats]

Yep. Our gen and younger need to factor in that the passing game was SO different. 5 yard chuck went away in 78. Roughing the Qb came later.

I contend that guys like Stabler, Bradshaw and others would have similar numbers as the top QBs of today.

I think the QBs today need a bigger brain. Luckily, we have the QB with the biggest ever.

The question is, is it more or less difficult to play QB now or then? I feel like the defenders years ago had more freedom but the defenses were less complicated.

I also feel like the media back then was easier on the players. Stabler was probably treated better than Bradshaw, but even he was defended for the claim that he was dumb. That TB, like ours, was smart enough to be one of the most successful QBs ever.

 

[oldrover]

Slight regression. Never trust a fart.

Especially, as you will learn soon, during the prep for a colonoscopy.

 

[Galeb]

Especially, as you will learn soon, during the prep for a colonoscopy.

I heard you can't even trust a sneeze during those times.

 

[upstater1]

The thing that struck me is that all the fans in the stands are skinny as hell! Was everyone doing coke?

 

[patfanken]

I remember when I was a kid and the Giants games were force fed to us on the boob tube. The first time I saw Jim Brown I became a fan of the Browns.

Then came the Pats and we had our own team. The first Pats game that I attended was with my dad at Fenway Park against big Ernie Ladd and the Chargers.

The 1976 Dreith theft actually was for the championship. In the 1 oclock game that day the Steelers (another team we had already beaten that year) won but lost both of their RB's, Rocky Blier and Franco Harris, for the next game. The Raiders easily won the AFCC and the SB against the Vikings.

I remember hearing Archie Manning on radio the morning of the 2007 season's SB with the Giants, and he was whining about the fact that Fran Tarkenton was in the HOF and he wasn't. One of his kids was playing in the SB and he was talking about himself. What a tool.

And speaking of Mannings, there's no better sign of the NYJFL trying to manipulate things than to see the way they rescued PEDton from the big bad evil AFCE, when they created an all expansion division for his team and called Indy a south team.

None of them saw Brady and Belichick coming. Btw, it is Brady and Belichick and not the other way around that has led to their success. After Brady is gone we'll see the truth of that statement. Well, you folks will be seeing it. I won't be watching any more.

I was a fan of the Browns too, bnt more because they had Milt Morin, a very good TE from UMass, who once dated my sister, who also went to UMass

As to the Ben Dreith call: As bad as it was, there was another end of the game atrocity that was even worse. Just before the Raiders last drive the Pats had a chance to run out the clock, or come very close to it. IIRC on one of those plays, Russ Francis was so blatantly held, it wasn't even questionable, and there was an official right there, but he never even reached for his flag. This non-call was MUCH more eggregous than the Dreith one IMHO . And those are just 2 of the bad calls the Pats got that game.

 

[oldrover]

I was a fan of the Browns too, bnt more because they had Milt Morin, a very good TE from UMass, who once dated my sister, who also went to UMass

As to the Ben Dreith call: As bad as it was, there was another end of the game atrocity that was even worse. Just before the Raiders last drive the Pats had a chance to run out the clock, or come very close to it. IIRC on one of those plays, Russ Francis was so blatantly held, it wasn't even questionable, and there was an official right there, but he never even reached for his flag. This non-call was MUCH more eggregous than the Dreith one IMHO . And those are just 2 of the bad calls the Pats got that game.

That was Phil Villipiano on the hold. Bastid brags about it to this day.



...not that I'm still pi$$ed or anything.

 

[1960Pats]

I was a fan of the Browns too, bnt more because they had Milt Morin, a very good TE from UMass, who once dated my sister, who also went to UMass

As to the Ben Dreith call: As bad as it was, there was another end of the game atrocity that was even worse. Just before the Raiders last drive the Pats had a chance to run out the clock, or come very close to it. IIRC on one of those plays, Russ Francis was so blatantly held, it wasn't even questionable, and there was an official right there, but he never even reached for his flag. This non-call was MUCH more eggregous than the Dreith one IMHO . And those are just 2 of the bad calls the Pats got that game.

I can still see the hold on Francis (one of the negatives of replay).

In an unrelated to the Pats theft...


For a team who took pride in their motto that "if you ain't cheatin you ain't tryin" they sure got a lot of calls. The Holy Roller is only one of the other examples.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I think the QBs today need a bigger brain. Luckily, we have the QB with the biggest ever.

I think thats a true statement. Guys like Staubach, Starr and maybe some others would do very well. I'm sure there were some of the cognitively challenged that would not make it.

I think Bradshaw and Stabler would. They were just too successful not to be good in this era.

The question is, is it more or less difficult to play QB now or then? I feel like the defenders years ago had more freedom but the defenses were less complicated.

I also feel like the media back then was easier on the players. Stabler was probably treated better than Bradshaw, but even he was defended for the claim that he was dumb. That TB, like ours, was smart enough to be one of the most successful QBs ever.

I think its harder now. As I said earlier the elite talented guys like Bradshaw, Namath, Stabler would find a way. They might need to bounce from team to team but they'd get in a system that utilized them appropriately.

 

[scott99]

I LOVED the 1976 Patriots ! My 2nd year as a Patriot fan. Got a Randy Vataha jersey for Christmas 1976, 1st Patriot jersey. It was the 1st time the NFL ripped off the Pats, and not the last.

But such a fun team to watch. Beat Miami, Puttsburgh and Oakland back to back to back. 3 1970s powerhouses.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I LOVED the 1976 Patriots ! My 2nd year as a Patriot fan. Got a Randy Vataha jersey for Christmas 1976, 1st Patriot jersey. It was the 1st time the NFL ripped off the Pats, and not the last.

But such a fun team to watch. Beat Miami, Puttsburgh and Oakland back to back to back. 3 1970s powerhouses.

Puttsburgh...LOL

 

[scott99]

Puttsburgh...LOL

Us old folks can't type, even with autocorrect we mess up.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Us old folks can't type, even with autocorrect we mess up.

Right it should have been "Putzburgh"

 

[InRodWeRust]

That offensive line just plain assaulted people. Haven't seen anything like it before or since.

Watching the video my jaw dropped with how much they were ripping open holes and also giving Grogan all day to throw. Such a polarizing difference of what we've seen in recent years with the Pats. Imagine being able to bring in John Hannah to this team now?

 

[scott99]

I love that Gil Santos did the narration of the video. He sounds so different from the 2000's Patriots. Used to love when he would say, "Dillon is down, AND IN" when he scored a TD.

 

[old 55]

Thanks for sharing this. It brought back some great memories. I have to say when the blind guy was talking about having found a good job I thought that he was going to say NFL Ref.

 

[Ring 6]

It was my favorite season as a patriot RB.

 

[oldrover]

Right it should have been "Putzburgh"

"Oy vey!!!"