The Games That Changed the Game

by Ron Jaworski

  On the outside, the Raiders’ offensive tackles were having their own problems. Halfway through the second quarter, Oakland was in a favorable third-and-short situation, needing probably no more than a foot to move the chains. Davis took the handoff and wasn’t even two steps into the play before Greenwood barreled into his midsection and dropped him for no gain. L.C. was so quick off the ball that right tackle John Vella never even had the chance to lay a glove on him, and Oakland was forced to punt again.

  “There were a lot of trash talkers on Pittsburgh,” said Otto. “They’d try to get me riled up, but I’d just smile back at them. They’d curse me out, and I’d just try to knock the hell out of them on the next play. At the end of one run, Joe Greene cussed me out, then kicked me square in the testicles—and I’ve never forgotten that. I didn’t think that was very nice.” Par for the course in Steelers-Raiders games, according to Banaszak. “Hey, that was football. You couldn’t play that style now—because the rules weren’t the same. It was just a different game. There’d be twenty guys tossed out today if they did the stuff we did back then.”

  The Steel Curtain totally shut down Oakland’s running attack, but the Raiders’ passing game was also having first-half problems. “We were playing mostly man, along with some Cover-Two, which was the only zone we played then,” said Wagner. “Probably thirty to forty percent of our defense in the Raiders game was Cover-Two. In Cover-Two, the safeties never backpedaled until we got to our target area. You got there by turning your shoulders and running, not back-pedaling. This way you could keep an eye on the receiver, watch the quarterback drop, and figure out where inside receivers may be going. If the safeties are deep enough, they can cover half the field just by going left and right. This is what Bud taught us, to turn and run, a technique you don’t see today. It’s all about running as fast as you can. How many plays work because the defender is a half step late?”

  With a little over seven minutes remaining in the half, the Steelers put together their best drive, highlighted by a pair of Bradshaw completions. A third throw should have given Pittsburgh the go-ahead touchdown, but it didn’t count. “John Stallworth caught a pass with just his left hand,” recalled Greene. “I think [defensive back] Nemiah Wilson grabbed his right hand, and Stallworth tiptoed down the sideline. He caught it in the end zone, but the referee claimed he didn’t have both feet in, and it was ruled out of bounds.” Disputed plays weren’t reviewed by officials back then as they are now. Otherwise it would have been overturned, because repeat angles on the NBC telecast clearly show that the official blew the call. Mean Joe didn’t bat an eye. “The feeling that I had was, it didn’t matter. We will still beat you. No fussing. No complaining. That’s how I felt. The Raiders weren’t gonna win. Not today.”

  As it turned out, the Steelers didn’t get any points following the Stallworth play. A Raiders interception brought the ball to midfield with just under two minutes remaining. The Steelers’ defense opened in Cover-Two but yielded the longest play of the half when Stabler hit Biletnikoff down the left sideline for a 27-yard gain. Two things went wrong for Pittsburgh on the play. First, Blount did not disrupt Biletnikoff’s release, which allowed Fred to blow right past him. This prevented Edwards from getting to the sideline in time with safety help. In addition, Oakland’s line finally blocked well enough to neutralize all of Pittsburgh’s rushers, giving Snake Stabler enough protection to find the streaking Biletnikoff. With the ball on the Steelers’ 23 and still over a minute to go, the Raiders were in business. Their next call would also be a pass—and it turned out to be the most pivotal play of the half.

  The Raiders broke the huddle, led by the man who’d come to symbolize their franchise during its first fifteen years of existence. Many still regard Jim Otto, with the distinctive number 00 on his back, as the greatest center in pro football history. He never missed a game during his career and was still out there battling the Pittsburgh rush even though his thirty-six-year-old body was breaking down. “My knee ligaments were really a problem, but my plan was to win this game, win the Super Bowl, then have surgery right afterward so I could play in ‘75,” Otto explained. “That would have been my sixteenth year in pro ball. I went into the hospital shortly after we played the Steelers and had bone graft reconstruction in the joint. My rehab was going fine until I got to training camp, and that’s where my bone graft came apart. I realized if I tried to play with it, I would not be as effective as I’d always been. I decided that wouldn’t be fair to the team, so I retired.”

  It was at this moment in the title game where Otto’s creaky knees betrayed him, costing the Raiders an almost certain touchdown. Stabler connected down the left sideline with Branch, who’d beaten Blount badly to get open. Cliff was forced out at the 1-yard line, but the play was nullified by a tripping penalty on Otto. “I set up for pass protection, and when I planted that foot, the pain in my knee was so severe that I had to lift my leg up,” he recalled. “I’m standing on one foot and went over backward with the other in the air because I couldn’t stand any pressure on it—and Joe Greene fell over me. It wasn’t an intentional trip or leg whip or anything like that. But if you look at the film, you do see Joe trip over me.”

  Oakland was flagged for 10 yards and never recovered. Pittsburgh held on three straight downs, and then Blanda’s 38-yard field goal try was blocked by Lambert. The half ended with the score still 3–3, but by every other tangible measure, the Steelers clearly had the upper hand. Oakland had amassed only two first downs, 65 yards of total offense, and 18 yards on the ground. “They only got twenty-nine rushing yards the whole game,” Greene bragged. “Something like twenty-one attempts and only twenty-nine yards. I’ve probably repeated those numbers quite a bit because they were special. The Raiders were just bewildered. They could not believe what was happening to them in terms of our ability to stop the run.” This was apparent from a brief exchange between Mean Joe and Buehler. Following one play late in the quarter, Greene shouted to the Raiders guard, “Hey, nice block, George!” Buehler replied, “I know, it’s the only one I’ve got on you today.”

  It wasn’t until after his career ended that Greene could fully appreciate what he and his Steelers teammates were doing to the Raiders that afternoon. “You’ve heard people talk about being ‘in the zone,’ “ Joe stated in an interview with NFL Films for the America’s Game series. “They don’t know what the hell the zone is about, because you don’t live in the zone. You visit the zone probably once in your life. I don’t want to trivialize it. I played thirteen years. I was in the zone one time, and that was in the playoff game against the Raiders. And I think our team was in the zone. It didn’t matter who we played or where we played them. They were going to lose. That was the most special feeling I ever had playing.”

  3rd Quarter: 2 Raiders Offensive Possessions

  Oakland got the ball early in the quarter after its defense recovered a fumble on the Steelers’ 40, but it failed to take advantage. Once more, the Raiders ran on first down, but Lambert took Hubbard down after only a few yards. “They were on us like fleas on a cat,” Marv said afterward. Russell batted away a pass attempt to Clarence Davis in the left flat, bringing up third-and-7. Carson returned to nickel coverage, swapping Shell for Lambert, but Branch beat Donnie on the right side for 13 yards and a first down. I have to tip my hat to the Snake on this one. Greenwood beat Vella easily and whacked Kenny hard on his release, but he still got the pass away in time. “The Steelers made you speed things up and do things you didn’t normally want to do,” Stabler said. “You always understood that you were going to get pressure and that you had to get rid of the ball.”

  Stabler’s next throw produced far different results. After Holmes stopped a Banaszak run, Oakland was staring at second-and-8. “We did not anticipate they would shut down our running game so well,” admitted Flores, “so we ended up passing more than we wanted to, and in the end you’re playing into their hands. You could not be careless against Pittsburgh—and you sure wer
en’t going to trick them. Their linebackers were too smart for that.”

  Smart—and in Ham’s case, blessed with unique football talent. “Ham is the greatest outside linebacker that ever played the game,” claimed Lambert. “I’m sure there are people like Lawrence Taylor who could rush the passer better. But I watched Jack, not only every game but every day in practice. He did everything right. He played the run and pass the way you were supposed to play them.” If you wanted to choose a signature play to define Ham’s career, the one he made on the next snap is as good as any.

  Stabler dropped to pass, looking to his left for an open receiver. Pete Banaszak was Ham’s responsibility, but Jack was well over to the right as the play began. “Ham suckered Stabler into going to Banaszak, and Jack kind of hung back,” said Russell. “I couldn’t do that, because I didn’t have that burst, but Jack could.” Stabler fired toward Banaszak, but suddenly Ham appeared out of nowhere to make the interception. He was the last guy Stabler expected to see in that area. “Ham was probably the fastest guy on our team within a five-to-ten-yard distance,” Russell continued. “Jack could lag behind a receiver to make it look like the guy was open, then just close to the ball quickly. He made plays look easy, while the rest of us had to dive to make shoestring tackles.”

  The Steelers, however, failed to cash in following the Ham interception; luckily for them, Jack would make an even bigger play later on. In the meantime, Oakland finally mounted its most successful drive of the game. It didn’t start well, as the Steelers blew up run plays on first and second downs. On one of those calls, the Raiders lined up in an I formation, something that Oakland teams almost never did, but even against that set, the Steelers were unstoppable. Holmes absolutely annihilated Upshaw at the point of attack—and was in the backfield so quickly that he literally startled the fullback Hubbard, who was supposed to be blocking someone else. It allowed Russell a clean shot to make the tackle. When Biletnikoff kept the drive going with a clutch third-down reception off a comeback route, it drove home the point that the Raiders’ best chance for success was in the air.

  “Oakland had to throw,” observed Widenhofer. “I don’t care who they were playing. With the offensive line the Raiders had, they were going to get protection. And Branch was just about impossible to cover one-on-one. Stabler was a great competitor, and even though I felt we could continue to get good pressure on him, he was still able to complete passes.” Even so, the Steelers’ secondary was convinced it could handle whatever the Snake threw its way. “Back then we used hand signals for different coverage schemes, and they weren’t that complicated,” said Wagner. “The Raiders could probably figure out what we were calling. We didn’t care, because we had that much confidence in our ability to stop them. We’d yell our coverages out loud so Oakland could hear us, but it didn’t matter. We’d dare them to beat us—it was our men against their men.”

  Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, Cliff Branch was one opponent they couldn’t really handle. That season he led all wide receivers in catches and had a league-high 13 touchdowns. “That was the year Cliff really came into his own and became a legitimate NFL star,” stated Flores. “The Steelers would roll up a lot to his side so Blount could come up and try to muscle Branch. Cliff was not a big guy, and Mel always tried to engulf him. But if he couldn’t get his hands on Cliff, then he was in a lot of trouble.”

  Branch had caught only one pass the entire first half and wasn’t happy about it. “Cliff was the kind of guy who started yelling for the ball before he got his jock on,” laughed Stabler. “He’d say, ‘Kenny I got this guy, I own this guy. Throw me the ball.’ “ Starting from their own 30, the Raiders called Branch’s number repeatedly, which meant that they’d be targeting Blount on nearly every play. Mel gave Branch too much of a cushion as he ran down the left sideline, and Cliff easily caught the pass for a 20-yard pickup. With the ball at midfield, the Steelers lined up in the Stunt 4-3, with Russell blitzing from the outside. Otto made a tremendous block to negate Russell’s charge, and Stabler threw deep again for Branch. Blount was badly beaten on this play too, but he lucked out when Branch couldn’t hold on to the ball. With the Steelers in their nickel on third-and-8, Russell blitzed again but was quickly picked up by Banaszak. Stabler went after Blount once more, this time hitting Biletnikoff on a curl for another 10 yards.

  “We normally didn’t do a lot of blitzing, but because the Raiders had that tremendous offensive line, we had to try,” noted Wagner. “When we blitzed, everybody was locked on. There were no safeties in the middle of the field, with pure man coverage across the board. We blitzed more than usual because we couldn’t let Stabler stand in that pocket.” But that’s pretty much what happened on the next play. Stabler took a seven-step drop, getting nearly four seconds before lofting the ball down the left side for Branch. He easily eluded Blount and pulled it in for a 38-yard touchdown.

  “Blount could run a 4.4 or 4.5. But Branch was a quick little guy, and it just wasn’t a favorable matchup for us,” observed Widenhofer. “If he got off clean, he was going to get free. The touchdown came on a first-and-ten, so we were probably playing the run and they went deep. Blount took away the inside dig route that Cliff ran well. But then Branch straightened up and ran past him. We probably should have had safety help over the top, but the safety might have been looked off too.”

  From the coaching tape, it was apparent that Blount made mistakes both in fundamentals and in judgment. Mel was looking inside at Stabler and wasn’t focused on Branch, which allowed Cliff to run past him. With his back turned to Branch, Blount likely anticipated that Cliff was going to run to the post, because he drifted inside as he turned and ran. All in all, the play was a total disaster for the Steelers corner—and his mistakes put Oakland ahead, 10–3, heading into the final quarter.

  4th Quarter: 5 Raiders Offensive Possessions

  The Steelers responded with a touchdown of their own, rushing eight times in a nine-play drive to tie the game with a Harris run early in the quarter. Now Pittsburgh’s defense needed to make a stop, and it did. From their own 30, the Raiders tried to pick on Blount again with another Go route to Branch. This time the Steelers were in Cover-Two, and Mel had support over the top from safety Glen Edwards. As it turned out, Mel didn’t need help; he blanketed Branch perfectly. Pocket pressure by Greenwood kept Stabler from driving into the throw, and the pass was incomplete.

  The Steelers had Oakland in second-and-10, and didn’t expect the Raiders to run. For Carson, it seemed like the perfect time to go with something Stabler hadn’t yet seen. Bud dialed up a blitz out of Cover-Zero, which meant that the corners would be in pure man-to-man with no safety help. The idea was to pressure the Snake into hurrying his throw, and Carson achieved this by blitzing Lambert, Russell, and Edwards up the middle. “Stabler thought the safe play was out to [halfback] Charlie Smith,” said Ham. “I don’t think Kenny ever saw me. He threw it, I intercepted it, and returned it. That’s where our scheme really paid off—a little surprise—the unexpected against a smart, veteran team like Oakland. Sometimes just that one play can make all the difference. We weren’t going to play it safe by this point in the game, staying back in a zone. This kind of wrinkle was so typical of Bud.”

  Stabler knew he’d made a terrible mistake from the moment he let it go: “I wish I would’ve eaten that ball and then punted it, because we had Ray Guy, the best punter that’s ever kicked. Just punt the ball and play for real estate, play for field position. Of all the passes I ever threw, the one I wish I could take back most was that one against Pittsburgh. They were just a terrific team—the best team I ever played against.”

  Ham returned the interception down to the Raiders’ 9-yard line, and the Steelers cashed in three plays later when Bradshaw hit Swann over the middle for a touchdown. Pittsburgh’s 17–10 lead was its first of the day, but nearly twelve minutes remained—more than enough time for a patented Raiders comeback.

  Oakland’s next possession began on its own 15. The offe
nse ran on the first play and, as usual, got nowhere. But on second down, Stabler tried something new. He called a designed rollout to both avoid the rush and alter the launch point of his pass. The rollout worked as Branch caught the ball for 16 yards near the left sideline. After a running play, the Raiders were in a manageable second-and-6. The Steelers went to Cover-Two, with Greene aligned in the Stunt 4-3 formation. Mean Joe ran a twist, but Upshaw picked him up to buy Stabler extra time. It allowed Branch to make it look as if he were running another Go pattern, which he then changed to an intermediate in-breaking route. Blount was fooled at first but appeared to recover. Mel cut in front of Branch and nearly picked off the pass, but the Snake made a perfect throw to Cliff, and he broke away for a 42-yard gain. Branch probably would have scored except for the fact that Lambert had dropped deep enough in Cover-Two, allowing him to catch and finally drag down Cliff at the Steelers’ 24-yard line.

  By now Carson had run out of patience. He yanked Blount from the game and replaced him with rookie Jimmy Allen. Blount would see no further action that day. “Mel was the kind of guy who just wanted to play man, never really paying attention to the scheme,” said Wagner. “Eventually he’d blow some coverages. His technique was bad. This didn’t work for Bud Carson, who was a no-nonsense guy. If you didn’t do things his way, you were out of the game. Let’s face it, Branch was one of the fastest guys we ever played against. Blount said he was the toughest guy he ever had to cover. Mel got benched in that game simply because he couldn’t stay with Branch in single coverage. In blitz packages, that would be an extremely difficult coverage for Mel. Blount just had a bad game.”