NFL Films: 1966 Atlanta Falcons

Source: NFL Films– The Falcons landing in Atlanta.

You can also see this post at FRS FreeState, on Blogger.

“1966 Atlanta Falcons First Campaign”

From NFL Films

“1967 Atlanta Falcons”

Source:NFL Films– name this Falcon.

From NFL Films

The 1966 Atlanta Falcons I guess could go down as one of the worst NFL expansion teams of all-time. Especially if you consider that they gave up over thirty-one points a game in the mid-1960s NFL where the rules still benefited the defenses. So take that up to the 1980s and we are definitely talking about one of the worst defenses of all-time.

The Falcons offense wasn’t much help either only scoring 204 in fourteen games. The great defenses are going have a hard time being successful when their offense is only giving them less than fifteen points a game to work with.

But a franchise’s expansion year isn’t really about having a good season. What you do with that season is use it almost as an extended preseason and look at a lot of players unless you find some very good ones early on and just go with. But generally you use that year to see where are strong early on and where you need to improve going forward. On a positive note: the Falcons did win 3-5 games in 1966 to finish at 3-11.

You can also see this post on Blogger.

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NFL Films: NFL 1967- The Story of The New Orleans Saints

Source:Crescent City Sports– the 1967 New Orleans Saints didn’t lack talent.
Source:The Daily Press

“As a kid, I never saw my father happier.

In the fall of 1966, newspapers came in the morning and in the afternoon. Ed Daniels came home with an afternoon paper trumpeting New Orleans as the newest NFL city.

Back then, a season ticket was 15 dollars. Yep, a youth ticket in the end zone, purchased with an adult ticket, was 15 bucks.

A lot of kids got to see a lot of Saints football. Like me, they were hooked for a lifetime.

For the initial wave of Saints fans, the 1967 team will always have a special place.”

From Crescent City Sports

“1967 Saints in the beginning”

Source:Shark Throwback– literally one of the first field goals in New Orleans Saints history.

From Shark Throwback

The New Orleans Saints early on in its history looked like a division 2 minor league club of an NFL Franchise. They looked like a not ready for prime time operation, with an owner who had nothing to do with pro football before New Orleans. With a general manager who had just as little or as much pro football experience as his boss. With a head coach that literally came from the minor leagues, from a franchise in Richmond or Norfolk, Virginia. Because they were so cheap and so minor league, they were awful for their first ten years or so.

The Saints weren’t even in playoff contention until 1978, when they were 7-9 and 8-8 in 78 and 79. The Saints are remembered for not even having a winning season in their first twenty seasons. (1967-86) When general manager Jim Finks and head coach Jim Mora came in 1986, owner Tom Benson a few years before that, things started changing in New Orleans in the mid 1980s. Bum Phillips made them somewhat competitive in the early 1980s, after another 2-14 season in 1980. But they were finally putting something together in the late 70s and since these are the New Orleans Saints, they weren’t able to build on that. Going from 8-8 in 1979 to 2-14 in 1980.

Archie Manning of course the father of two Super Bowl champion quarterbacks in Peyton and Eli Manning, is probably the best quarterback in Saints history, at least before Drew Brees arrived in 2006. Played eleven seasons in New Orleans 1971-81 and was a Pro Bowler there. Never played on a winning team in New Orleans, got close a couple of times in the 1970s, but never played for a winner. And this franchise back then had their share of Pro Bowlers, like WR Danny Abramowicz, RB Chuck Muncie, Jim Taylor, Paul Hornung, and Munice would move on and have a good career with the San Diego Chargers.

The Saints also had WR Roy Jefferson who again would move on and have a good career with the Washington Redskins. As well as WR John Gilliam who would move on and have a good career with the Minnesota Vikings. Notice where I’m going with this: the Saints would draft good players and then trade them away. Except for Archie Manning because they didn’t want to pay their other talent. One thing I don’t understand about the Saints of this era, is their fans their management is pretty easy to understand.

The Saints were simply cheap and not willing to invest the resources to build a long-term winner that could compete in the National Football Conference. Even though they always had the fan base that would allow them to win in Southern Louisiana and Southwestern Mississippi and perhaps the State of Louisiana as a whole. But their fans have been very loyal to the Saints for this whole time and really love football.

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NFL Films: NFL 1967- NFL Championship- Dallas Cowboys @ Green Bay Packers: Ice Bowl

Source:Pro Football Hall of Fame– the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers for the 1967 NFL Championship.

Source:The Daily Press

“Pro football fans in Green Bay, Wisconsin have always been recognized as a loyal and hearty bunch. But one wouldn’t have faulted even the most loyal “Packer Backer” if he’d decided not to attend the 1967 NFL Championship game between the Packers and Dallas Cowboys. Played at Lambeau Field on December 31, the temperature at game time registered a frigid 13 degrees below zero. Nonetheless, more than 50,000 parka-clad fans braved the elements that New Year’s Eve and watched in awe as the Packers claimed their third consecutive NFL title, with a 21-17 victory.
From the start, Green Bay fans felt their team had a distinct advantage over the warm-weather Cowboys, After all, the Packers lived and practiced in the cold Wisconsin climate. Green Bay’s early 14-0 lead probably convinced fans that they were right. However, the severe weather affected the Packers too. Dallas scored a touchdown and a field goal after two Packer fumbles and added a second touchdown in the fourth quarter. Suddenly, with 4:50 left in the game the Packers were behind, 17-14.

The Packers literally and figuratively “kept their cool.” Behind the leadership of future Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr, they marched down field. With sixteen seconds remaining and the temperature down to eighteen below zero, the Packers found themselves about two feet away from victory. Starr called time out. The field was like a sheet of ice. The two previous running plays had gone nowhere. With no time outs left, a running play seemed totally out of the question. A completed pass surely would win it. Even an incomplete pass would at least stop the clock so the Packers could set up a field goal to tie the game and send it into overtime. After consulting with Packers coach Vince Lombardi, Starr returned to the huddle.”

From the Pro Football Hall of Fame

“I think this is as close as you can get to the full game.”

Source:Virgil Moody– the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers for the 1967 NFL Championship.

From Virgil Moody 

When I think of great football games, I don’t think of great shootouts, like the New York Jets beating the Miami Dolphins back in 1986, something like 52-49, the shootout of shootouts with quarterbacks Dan Marino and Ken O’Brien trading touchdown passes. Good game, entertaining game, of course, but not one of the best games of all-time.

No, a great game is generally not played by two teams that can’t stop each other, where the team that has the ball last, wins or can’t score against each other. And it’s generally a mistake rather than a great play that decides the game.

Great games are generally played between two great teams, where both teams have good or great offenses and defenses. And the team that wins, is the team that executes or prepares better and perhaps gets a few more breaks. Thats what the 1967 NFL Championship, better known as the Ice Bowl represents. Two very good teams on both sides of the ball, both playing a great game. I mean think about it, the 1967 NFL Championship played in Green Bay, Wisconsin, not Milwaukee, but Green Bay.

Take football and freezing weather away from Green Bay, nobody outside of the country has ever heard of Green Bay. Actually, take the Packers out of Green Bay, nobody outside of Green Bay has ever heard of Green Bay. But they have the Packers and they have Lambeau Field, the New York Yankees of the NFL and most famous and best stadium in the NFL. There’s nothing that better represents the NFL than the Packers and Lambeau Field, with all of its Hall of Famers and championships.

The Packers won the first two Super Bowls, so there was no better place to be, to play this game and weather was part of it. The ultimate of football weather, zero degrees at halftime, windchill probably -20, a skating rink for a football field. Playing a very good and up-incoming team, from the biggest city or 2nd biggest city in the South, the Dallas Cowboys.

What made the Ice Bowl great, we’re the great players who played in, the Hall of Famers and Pro Bowlers who played for both teams. QB Don Meredith, WR Bob Hayes, DT Bob Lilly for the Cowboys. QB Bart Starr, OT Forrest Gregg, OG Jerry Kramer, DE Willy Davis and others for the Packers. I mean these teams had to be this great, just to show up to play this game and represent why this is the best bad weather football game of all time.

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