American Football: The Niner's you don't know.

In 1990 they beat Washington 28-10 in the divisional playoff. The Giants beat Chicago 31-3.

Originally posted by BirdstheBest
In 1990 they beat Washington 28-10 in the divisional playoff. The Giants beat Chicago 31-3.

Man I hate the niners...

I don't know why you hate the Niners. Your team just flat-out STOLE a "win" over the Niners in the NFC Title Game in January of 1984, with the phoniest P.I. call and the phoniest defensive holding call I'd seen until this last year's New England-Denver game.

Y'all were ahead of S.F. 21-0, and seemingly in control, until the Niners started going deep and lighting up your secondary (other than Green). All of a sudden it was 21-21 and the Skins looked dead and all those idiots with hogs' noses were quiet.

Then the zebras call defensive P.I. on a ball Manute Bol couldn't have caught while standing on Mark Eaton's shoulders. And then a comical defensive holding call on Lott enables the Skins to kill the clock before kicking their FG, so the Niners can't fly on down and score another easy TD.

Of course, the now-exposed Skins' secondary got murdered 38-9, at that time a Super Bowl-record blowout, by Plunkett et al. in that year's Super Bowl, but it should have been Niners-Raiders, an all-Bay Area affair.

And you hate the Niners? I saw the Niners steal an early-round playoff game from Green Bay, but I've never seen them steal one, much less the damned Conference Championship Game, from your guys.

BHN

I hate the Giants more than any team, then the Niners, then the Cowboys, and lately the Steeers. It has to do with who was successful when I started follwing the Redskins. The Giants seemed to sweep the Redskins every year (and with my cousin being I Giants fan, I never heard the end of it) The Niners were known as the team of the '80s, but just that one Super Bowl (which, without Theisman's interception just before the half, I'd argue it would have would up differently. But I wasn't a fan at the time, and didn't watch the game.) And the Niners seemd to be the team to always knock the Redskins out of the playoffs.

I might argue that the Redskins have as mucha right to the title "team of the decade" (if they would have won that SB, anyway), but I have never (that I recall) said that the 49ers stole a game from the Redskins. I just hated them because they were so darn good. Same with the Giants. A hatred of respect, if you will.

As for the Cowboys, well, I am a Redskins fan, how in the heck could I have any love for them??? lol!

And the Steelers? Try living in Central PA right about now, see if you could stomach all the Steeler BS getting shoved down our throats. IMO, that game was stolen from the Seachickens.

Jeesh, I'm getting dangerously close to 1,000 posts.

BHN, I just saw a replay of that 1983 NFC Championship game a few months ago on ESPN Classic. I vaguely remember watching it back then, but I also know that I was sort of a Redskins fan back then. Yeah, the Niners were called for somem bogus stuff toward the end, but the thing I remember the most is Mark Moseley's missing four field goals. If he hits just two of those four, the Niners' rally becomes a moot point.

Gibbs, I have to disagree with you about Super Bowl XVIII going much differently if Joe Theismann doesn't throw that interception to Jack Squirek just before the half. The Redskins were completely dominated that day on both sides of the ball. Raider corners Lester Hayes and Mike Haynes were shutting down the Redskin receivers in man coverage, and the Raider line--particulary nose tackls Reggie Kinlaw--were outquicking and outmuscling the Hogs. I remember reading Matt Millen's comments about their game plan. They simply looked at the matchups and devised a little tactic where Millen came up almost to the line and went against Mark May one on one. Howie Long, Lyle Alzado, Greg Townsend, and Kinlaw then took care of Grimm, Jacoby, Starke, and Bostic. On offense, the Raiders' Marcus Allen simply ran all over the Skins. That was one of the most thorough dominations in Super Bowl history, with or without Squirek's interception.

NOT true. If it's 24-21 or 27-21, and those bogus/blind/corrupt penalties don't get called, the Niners get the ball back with plenty of time to score their fourth TD of the 4th period. Remember, they'd flown down the field 3 times already in that period and they'd have had over 3 minutes, plus their full complement of time outs.

Oh, well. It was sure sweet watching the Raiders annihilate them. No amount of corrupt officiating could have saved them in that game. Not that I hate the Redskins. I don't. But they had no right to be in that game, and it was sweet to watch them get slaughtered in it.

BHN

Moseley took five FG attempts that day and made the last one. I'm saying that if he makes two of the first four, it's 27-21. I'm taking it for granted that he makes the last one again, so even if the Niners score to go up 28-27, Moseley hit the last one to win 30-27. Yeah, it's all 20-20 now. One thing's for certain. If Moseley had hit all four of those FGs, the Skins would have been up 33-21 and the Niners could not have won it.

OK. I'm assuming that last FG drive stalls out because the gift PI call of, what, 45 yards or so never occurs. And if they'd had to punt it back to the Niners, there's not much doubt what would have happened, even if it had been 27-21.

Of course....

If the Skins had been up 27-0, they might have taken away the medium and deep passing game altogether in the fourth quarter, in which case not only do the Niners not put on that tremendous rally, but also, they don't expose the Skins' secondary so thoroughly, and perhaps the Raiders don't carve them to pieces in the Super Bowl--although, as you noted, the Raiders' defensive front absolutely dominated that ballyhooed line.

BHN

You're probably right that that last drive would have stalled out without that phantom pass interference call.

When I saw the replay on ESPN, Joe Theismann rationalized the penalty's legitimacy by saying that Ronnie Lott got away with a lot of other stuff, so it was all right for the refs to call one that never happened. Oh, the unfailing wit and logic of Joe Theismann!

How did he rationalize his pass to Squirek?

LOL

You probably already know this, but that interception occurred because of a hunch by one of the Raiders' coaches. (I think it was the defensive coordinator.) With 12 seconds left in the half, that coach put Jack Squirek in the game on a hunch. When the two teams met during the regular season, Washington rallied from a 35-20 deficit to win 37-35. For that comeback, running back Joe Washington replaced John Riggins. One crucial play was a 67 yard gain by Washington on a screen pass. The Raider coach remembered that play and sent in Squirek--a pass coverage specialist--with the specific instructions to watch Joe Washington. The hunch was right, as Theismann tossed a floater to Washington, and Squirek saw it coming all the way.

...and an otherwise utterly forgettable player attained immortality.

Yeah, I mean, Squirek was on the cover of Sports Illustrated! I guess it helps to be on the cover of SI after the season and the final game, thus avoiding the notorious "SI cover jinx".

I have a special edition SI where Paul Zimmerman ("Dr. Z") gives his memories of and obervations on the Super Bowls up to XXV. He said that in all his years of covering the Super Bowl, XVIII was the only one where the majority of the sports writers in a large betting pool of which he was a member picked the underdog to win. Not even Miami-Washington in Super Bowl VII could claim that (Miami, although 16-0, was the underdog).

Originally posted by truenorth
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've all heard about Joe and Steve. Jerry and Dwight. Teams and Superbowl teams are built on more than that. Just ask Peyton. Some unsung heros:

John Taylor, he MADE Rice. Great speed and hands. You can't focus on both.

Mike Cofer, just kidding.

Pierce Holt and Kevin Fagen. DE's that exceeded their potential in SF. Pieces of the puzzle.

You need O linemen too. Jessie Supulo, Guy McIntyre

Brent Jones was just solid at TE. No awards, he just did his job. Good hands too.

Ronnie Lott, self explanitory. He played at a different level. It limited the years he played imo. HEAVY HITTER!

Tom Rathman was a good RB. He blocked well and his hands were good. May Craig die an ignoble death. His fumble LATE in the 4th quarter of the 1990 NFC championship cost the Niners the 3 PEAT. Ah, I'm glad I got that out of my system.

Ray Wersching desreves notice. Kevin Fagan as well.

There were rent-a-players as well. Neon Deion, Ken Norton, Matt Millen etc.

Am I missing anyone?

How about your team?

As a niner fan this saddens me to see someone saying JT MADE Rice you either are a JT fan trying to give him a big hall push (LMAO about HOF comment) thats never gonna happen.. JT was a decent player but to consider him making Rice who he is is like saying Rice made #8 (I cant stand the guy and dont mention his name in my posts) BJ aka brent jones was a very good TE for the niners back in the glory years. Im sure ill see more ill want to post about but im taking one post at a time :bounce:

Originally posted by BirdstheBest
John Taylor made Jerry Rice? Huh?? Taylor had a few good seasons, but Rice was already great (22 TD receptions in 12 games in 1987) and he continued to be great after Taylor was gone.

Just so you know, Roger Craig lost that fumble in the 1990 NFC title game.

Another "rent-a-player" for SF was Wendell Tyler, who had 1262 yards rushing in the 1984 season. Also Charlie Garner, who had back to back 1000 yard seasons in 1999 and 2000.

For my team, the Eagles, I think of Byron Evans, their middle linebacker in the 1990's, Mike Pitts, a solid defensive lineman, Brian Mitchell, a great return man, and Herschel Walker, who had a few good years toward the end of his career.

No clapping smiley... :party-smiley-018: thatll have to do.. For your JT comment

[Edited on 27/8/06 by DeadmansChainGang]

What do you have against Steve Young--#8, as you call him? He's one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time and maybe the most dangerous pass/run threat in the history of the game. In many ways, he was better than Montana.

Originally posted by BirdstheBest
What do you have against Steve Young--#8, as you call him? He's one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time and maybe the most dangerous pass/run threat in the history of the game. In many ways, he was better than Montana.

Better than montana why cause the team he had was montana's ?