NFL Films: Vince Lombardi Teaches The Power Sweep

Source:NFL Films– Green Bay Packers head coach/general manager Vince Lombardi (1959-68)

Source:The New Democrat

“Power Sweeps” – Winning Football with Vince Lombardi (Volume 7)”

From Coach D

I think the best way to describe Vince Lombardi’s brand of football, at least offensive football, is to do it with a hypothetical.

Imagine the night before your football game and you just found your opponent’s game plan and playbook. You now not only know what plays your opponent is going to run and how they’re going to beat you. Just one problem: even though you know exactly what the Packers (in this case) are going to run against you, you are not good enough to beat them.

While the Dallas Cowboys in the 1970s and 80s ran so many different formations and plays to win their games on offense and the Redskins with different type of offense, but used a lot of different formations on offense in the 1980s, the Packers were beating their opponents simply by out executing their opponents and having better players. Losing to the Packers in the 1960s was literally the death by execution. They had the ball on 1st in 10 from their 20, you knew it was coming but you couldn’t stop it.

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CBS Sports: NBA 1985 – Eastern Quarterfinals Game 2 – Chicago Bulls @ Milwaukee Bucks: Highlights

Source:CBS Sports with this 1985 Bulls-Bucks playoff game from the Milwaukee Mecca.

“Rookie Michael Jordan has to carry his Bulls team in the 1985 Eastern Conference Round One second game against the Bucks almost single-handedly (with some help from Orlando Woolridge). MJ faces a lot of traps, double teams, which allow him to distribute the ball and find open teammates. Jordan runs out of gas in the second half though as he only scores 9 points in the last 24 minutes of the game.”

From Lamar Matic

I don’t want to say the 1985 Bulls were a one-man team in 1985, because forwards Orlando Woolridge and David Greenwood, as well as center Jamal Oldham, were also good players. But even as a rookie, you see Michael Jordan doing most of the work both on offense and defense, for the Bulls just to make this game close. At least that’s what you see in this highlight video.

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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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