NFL Playoffs: Wild Card Memories, Part 2: 1994

1994 NFC Wild Card: December 31, 1994

Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers

Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI

Weather: 31 °F (−1 °C), partly cloudy

                This was the second straight year that division foes, Green Bay and Detroit, played each other in the wild card game. In 1993, the game had been played at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, with the Packers winning the back-and-forth affair, 28-24, when Packers’ quarterback, Brett Favre, hit receiver, Sterling Sharpe, with a 40-yard touchdown pass in the final minutes of the game. For the rematch, Green Bay would be without Sharpe, who suffered what would eventually become a career-ending neck injury on the final week of the regular season.

                The NFC Central division, long known as the black-and-blue division, would send four teams to the playoffs in 1994. The Minnesota Vikings won the division and would play the Chicago Bears the following day. The Bears would upset the Vikings, 35-18.

                This was the first playoff game at Lambeau field since 1982 and only the second since the glory days of the Packers in the 1960s. Aside from Favre leading the offense, the defense was lead by the Minister of Defense, all-pro Reggie White, who had signed as a free agent from the Philadelphia Eagles prior to the 1993 season. It would be the Packers defense, led by White, that would make the biggest impact on this wild card game.

                The Lions were led, as they pretty much were for the entire decade of the 90s, by running back Barry Sanders. In 1994, Sanders won his second NFL rushing title with 1883 yards but only scored seven touchdowns. Barry would play ten years in the NFL and never finish with less than 1000 yards rushing in a season. His lowest total had come in 1993 with 1115 yards after missing five games due to injury.

                The Packers would get on the scoreboard first when Favre engineered a 14-play, 76-yard drive that culminated in a three-yard touchdown run by running back, Dorsey Levens. Kicker Chris Jacke would add a field goal in the second quarter and the Packers took a 10-0 lead into halftime.

                The teams traded field goals in the fourth quarter before the Lions scored their first touchdown of the game when quarterback, Dave Krieg, connected with receiver Brett Perriman for a three yard pass to cut the Packer lead to three points at 13-10. Another Jacke field goal made in 16-10.

                The Lions embarked on a potential game-winning drive and moved the ball to the Green Bay eleven-yard line with time running out. After Sanders gained two yards and Krieg threw incomplete, Packer linebacker, Bryce Paup, sacked the Detroit quarterback for six yards, setting up a fourth-and-fourteen. Krieg threw a pass into the end zone and appeared to have the winning score when receiver Herman Moore caught the ball. However, Moore’s foot came down out-of-bounds and the result was an incompletion, ending the drive and Detroit’s chance to win the game. Green Bay conceded a safety on the final play of the game and the final score was 16-12.

The story of the game, though, was the job the Packer defense did on Barry Sanders. The Detroit runner, the rushing leader for 1994, carried the ball only 13 times for minus-one yard, the lowest single-game total of his Hall-of-Fame career. His longest run of the day was seven yards. On six of his carries, he was stopped for negative yardage.

                It was truly a remarkable performance by the Pack on defense, as they picked up the struggling offense. Without his best receiver, Favre still managed to complete 23 of 38 passes for 263 yards but couldn’t finish off drives throughout the day. Neither team committed a turnover and the Packers out gained the Lions in yards, 336 to 171.

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NFL Playoffs: Wild Card Memories, Part 1: 1992

                The NFL playoffs will start this coming weekend, but rather than give any previews or offer predictions—there’ll be enough of that going around—I decided it would be fun to share some memories of exciting playoff games that have happened over the years. This will not be a top ten list, or a top five list or any type of countdown or ranking. Just a re-living of some thrilling games. Enjoy.

1992 AFC Wild Card: January 3, 1993

Houston Oilers at Buffalo Bills

Rich Stadium, Orchard Park, NY

Weather: 45 °F (7 °C), cloudy

                The Buffalo Bills had won the previous two AFC Championships, but had failed to capture the Super Bowl in both of those years. The end of the 1992 regular season seemed to signal the end of the Bills’ dynasty. In their final game of the regular season, Buffalo not only lost the game to Houston, 27-3, but they failed to capture the AFC East title for the first time since 1987 and had also lost starting All-Star quarterback, and future Hall-of-Famer, Jim Kelly, to a knee injury that threatened to end his season.

                The Oilers, on the other hand, were on a roll having won four of their last five games to sneak into the playoffs as the second wild-card team. They seemed to have all the momentum heading into the game against the Bills and didn’t take long to take advantage of it.

                Houston dominated the game early by scoring 21 points in the second quarter to add to the seven they had in the first to take a 28-3 lead into the locker room at half time. Oiler quarterback, Warren Moon, was on fire complete all but three of his 22 passes for 220 yard and four touchdowns. Buffalo back-up quarterback, Frank Reich, struggled in the first half, leading the Bills on one scoring drive, a 36-yard field goal by Steve Christie.

                Early in the third quarter, after Buffalo received the second half kick-off, Reich dropped back to pass. He hit tight end, Keith McKeller, with his throw, but McKeller couldn’t hang on to the football and it bounced in the air and into the arms of Houston defensive back, Bubba McDowell, who promptly raced 58 yards the other way for what looked like the game-clinching touchdown. After the extra point, Houston was now leading 35-3.

                Many of the Buffalo fans started leaving the stadium, figuring their team was done, as no team had ever come back from 28 points down in the history of the NFL. Those who left would live to regret it as the Bills started to wake up on their next drive.

                As Houston kicker, Al Del Greco, made his motion to kick-off after the touchdown, the wind blew the ball so that he didn’t get a good kick. The Bills recovered the ball at the fifty-yard line. In ten plays, Reich guided the Bills down field and the Bills scored their first touchdown of the game when running back, Kenneth Davis, ran the ball in from a yard out. Houston was ahead 35-10.

                The Bills then successfully pulled off some trickery as Christie tapped the ball on the kick-off for an onside kick. The Buffalo kicker recovered and four plays later, Reich hit receiver Don Beebe for a 38-yard touchdown and the lead was trimmed to 35-17. After Houston punted on their next possession, the Bills marched down the field again, this time scoring when Reich hit receiver, Andre Reed, for a 26-yard touchdown to bring the Bills closer at 35-24.

                At this point, the Bills’ fans who had left the stadium were trying to get back in. While security tried to keep them out, some of the fans started climbing the high fences surrounding the stadium. They were desperate to get back in, knowing something big was in the works.

                On Houston’s first play from scrimmage after the kick off, Moon’s pass was tipped into the hands of Buffalo safety, Henry Jones, and the Bills were threatening again. On a fourth-and-five on Houston’s 18-yard line, Buffalo spurned the field goal and gambled. It paid off as Reich hit Reed again, and the receiver scored his second touchdown of the game to close the gap to four points, 35-31.

                After both teams traded punts, the Oilers had a chance to extend their lead on a Del Greco field goal attempt. But the snap was fumbled and Buffalo linebacker, Darryl Talley, recovered. After a 35-yard run by Davis, again on fourth down, Reich threw his fourth touchdown pass of the day, again to Reed, who scored his third and the Bills had amazingly taken the lead, 38-35.

                With only three minutes left in the game, Houston had one last chance to salvage the game, despite blowing a 32-point lead. Moon led the team downfield, where Del Greco kicked a field goal to tie the game at 38, sending the wild card game into overtime.

                Houston won the coin toss and elected to receive, but what little momentum they had scratched together late in the fourth quarter quickly evaporated. On the second play from scrimmage, Moon’s pass was intercepted by Bills’ cornerback, Nate Odomes. A few plays later, Christie lined up to kick the game-winning field goal. He was not to be denied and split the uprights, completing the greatest comeback—not just in NFL playoff history, but in football history. 

Final score—Buffalo-41, Houston-38 (ot)

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Inside the Cage 1: UFC 195

                Writer’s Note: Welcome to a new feature for “Top Of The Third”: a monthly post entitled “Inside the Cage” that gives a view on the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) from a fan’s perspective. While we still remain a baseball-oriented blog and have only been posting football and hockey articles to fill the void of the off-season, the hope is that “Inside the Cage” will continue even when the 2016 baseball season begins. As someone who knows very little about Mixed Martial Arts, I though it would be interesting to share my thoughts as a relative newcomer when it comes to viewing UFC. Enjoy.

Connor McGregor vs Chad Mendes, UFC 189, July 2015

                I’m not going to lie. I know very little about the UFC and only started watching last June. But I’ve been looking, for ten years, to fill the void left when my interest in professional wrestling started to wain after the Attitude Era ended and those I had enjoyed watching started to leave the sport and were replaced by wrestlers whose personalities did nothing for me. (I mean, c’mon, John Cena was expected to replace the Rock? Seriously?)

                As a wrestling fan, I liked the wrestlers who were maniacs (Randy Savage), great technical wrestlers (Bret Hart), high flyers (Shawn Michaels) those who portrayed villains brilliantly (HHH), those who lacked the wrestling skills but dazzled the crowd with their mic skills (The Rock) and those who managed to do all of those things (Edge).

                But as I mentioned earlier, around 2005, some of those wrestlers were gone and others were getting diminished roles causing me to lose interest. For a while, I attempted to fill my need for combat-viewing with boxing. Since my wife is from the Philippines and that country just happens to have one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in history (Manny Pacquiao), I figured it was only fitting that boxing and I would mesh. Didn’t happen. I was only interested in watching Pacquiao fight and he only had two fights a year. It was too long of a gap in between.

                And then, last May I had an unfortunate brain lapse and paid 60 dollars to watch his fight with Floyd Mayweather on Pay-Per-View. What a waste of money. An exceptionally boring fight where the winner (Mayweather) spent the majority of the fight backing away from Pacquiao. So you had a fight where Manny, who was injured, couldn’t slug it out, and Mayweather, who was too gutless to slug it out. and it didn't make for entertaining viewing. And I’m sorry for all those who say it was Mayweather's strategy, in my opinion, that’s not manning up and, if I may say, cowardly.

                So that brings us to UFC. Now for years, I had no interest in the sport. I thought it too barbaric, strategy-free and better suited to school yard fights. But it was because of my Samsung tablet that my interest in UFC sparked. I was looking for a game to download and didn’t see anything under the WWE banner that (a) looked entertaining and (b) was free. But EA Sports offered a free UFC game and I decided to download it and give a try. Uh, yeah, I was hooked after about five minutes of playing.

                I made sure I watched the next UFC Fight Night on TSN and the main event featured 44-year old veteran Dan Henderson versus Tim Boetsch. After Henderson won by knock out after 28 seconds, he instantly became one of my favourites. Anyone who is that old, and has fought that many times and can still beat up guys ten years younger deserves respect and he instantly had mine.

Dan Henderson, career UFC record: 31 wins, 14 losses

                The second fighter that became my favourite was Holly Holm, the current bantamweight champion. At the time, she had had fought in only one UFC fight but had gone undefeated in other MMA organizations. Her title fight against Ronda Rousey was still five months away, but the reason she became a favourite was she was the first fighter I unlocked in the UFC game on my tablet.

                The third fighter that has made it onto my list is Ireland’s Connor McGregor, the recently crowned undisputed featherweight champion. While there’s some Irish in my blood (goes back many generations on my mother’s side) the reason I like him is his brashness, his cockiness, the trash he talks and his ability to back it up in the octagon. He reminds me of The Rock with his big mouth, and well, I consider myself one of the millions (and millions) of The Rock’s fans.

                So, that’s a little bit of my brief history following UFC. I find myself getting more hooked every day. As I continue to gain knowledge of the sport, I feel I have a lot of catching up to do. Thank you to UFC Fight Pass for their free one-month trial and the fact that they have all 194 UFC events (and the dozens of Fight Nights, UFC on Fox, TUF finals and all Pre-lims as well) and I should be caught up in no time.

               

                Tonight is UFC 195: it features a welterweight (156-170 pounds) title fight between champion, Robbie Lawlor, and challenger (and number four-ranked), Carlos Condit. While I don’t know enough about either fighter to put forth a prediction, I’ll go with Condit to pull off the upset and become the new champion.

UFC 196 will take place on February 6^th. “Inside the Cage” will return on that date.

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