The Jets had made the playoffs in 1981, the first postseason appearance since the days of Joe Namath. One year later they took it one step further—the 1982 New York Jets won two playoff games and made it all the way to the AFC Championship Game to cap off a year where a players’ strike […]
Miami came into the season licking their wounds from a crushing playoff loss to the San Diego Chargers, in the greatest divisional round game ever played. The 1982 Miami Dolphins made amends for that defeat and went all the way to the Super Bowl behind an outstanding defense. GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTSStart reading today. The Dolphin […]
Arizona fans are elated and relieved. Green Bay fans are crushed. But those who didn’t have a dog in the fight on Saturday evening in the desert know we just watched something epic. “A game for the ages”, said Al Michaels—this from a man who called the Don Denkinger game in the 1985 World Series, […]
Here’s a look at the nine best games in the second round of the NFL playoffs since 1978. That year is chosen as the benchmark because it’s the first year when the league expanded to a 10-team postseason, thereby marking the first year that the divisional playoffs marked the second round, rather than the first. […]
The modern era of the NFL can be fairly said to have begun in 1978. Three significant changes took place—the first significant restrictions were placed on defensive backs, thereby opening up offenses and beginning to create the modern style. The schedule expanded to 16 games and a wild-card round was added to the playoffs. The […]
The Washington Redskins’ career of Robert Griffin III is going to come to a quiet end this offseason when the team releases him rather than pick up an $18 million club option. RG3 will go on the free agent market and look to rebuild a career that went horribly awry thanks to the negligence of […]
The 1979 Philadelphia Eagles were coming off the franchise’s first playoff berth of the Super Bowl era. Head coach Dick Vermeil, now in his fourth year, continued the progress in ’79 as the Eagles won more games, made it back to the postseason and this time advanced. GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTSStart reading today. Philadelphia was a […]
The 1979 Chicago Bears were in the second year of the coaching regime of Neill Armstrong. After a playoff trip in 1977, the Bears had lost Jack Pardee to the Washington Redskins. Armstrong, the defensive coordinator for a Super Bowl team in Minnesota, got the job and slipped to 7-9 in his first season in […]
The Denver Broncos made the Super Bowl in 1977. They won an AFC West title in 1978. The 1979 Denver Broncos again made the playoffs, but a late slump to a wild-card and a quick exit continued the progressive decline and pointed to tougher days on the horizon. GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTSStart reading today. Head coach […]
The 1996 Washington Redskins were the team that played the franchise’s last season in the great venue of RFK Stadium. They looked poised to give the old stadium an appropriate sendoff, getting off to a strong start behind a power running game. But the muscle disappeared down the stretch and the Redskins missed the playoffs, […]
The Patriot fan base was getting accustomed to near misses. In 1977, 1979 and 1980 they just missed the postseason on the final week of the season. The 1983 New England Patriots continued that “legacy”, coming up just short. GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTSStart reading today. Ron Meyer had taken over the team the previous year and had […]
The 1982 New England Patriots began the season with a new head coach in Ron Meyer, and they produced a new identity—a defense-oriented team that plowed their way, quite literally, to a playoff berth in an NFL season that was marred by a strike. GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTSStart reading today. New England, after five straight winning […]