‘81-Steelers 28, ‘99-Pats 6

Franco Harris had a pair of TD runs including a huge back breaker for 27 yards in the 4th quarter.  John Stallworth caught 3 passes for 117 yards and Terry Bradshaw lit up the airways with a 15-20-222 stat lint...but the real story was the turnovers that befell the Pats and the turnovers that the Steelers did not experience.  New England turned the ball over 4 times, which included 3 picks thrown by Drew Bledsoe.  Pittsburgh fumbled the ball 5 times, but managed to recover 3 of those fumbles to minimize the damage.  the Steelers owned the Red Zone by going 3 for 3 and actually got a good performance from their embattled place kicker David Trout.  Both teams saw their record move to 2-3 in the ultra competitive AFC.

‘08-Saints 34, ‘99-Packers 24

94-BUF 31, 95-DEN 17

Rich Stadium
Denver led 14-13 at the half, but fell victim to Buffalo's high octane offense in the second half.  A 1 yard TD run by Thurman Thomas and a 11 yard aerial strike from Jim Kelly to TE Penet Metzelaars helped make the difference as the Broncos managed just a lone Jason Elam FG in the second half.  Kelly had a perfect day behind center going 28-33-268-2TD, while his opposite number (John Elway) could only manage 18-33-210-INT.  Denver was held to 34 yards on the ground the resurgent Bill defense.  Anthony Miller led all receivers with 6 grabs for 110 yards.  Ray Jacobs had a busy day on defense for Denver with 7 solo tackles.  Both teams left the contest with identical 3-2 records.

65-NYG 20, 97-DAL 17

Yankee Stadium
Dallas jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead in the 1st quarter thanks to a Richie Cunningham 44 yard FG and a 1 yard toss from Troy Aikman to Michael Irvin.  Dallas' defense and a 10 mile hour cross wind did a great job of stymieing the Giants aerial attack until Earl Morrall hit Del Shofner in stride for a 38 yard pitch and catch for a quick strike TD.  With the score 10-7 the Cowboys went on an 11 play / 77 yard odyssey to Paydirt, which culminated in a 1 yard Emmitt Smith plunge.  New York cut Dallas' lead to 17-10 when Andy Stynchula clanked home a 32 yard FG with 2:27 left to play in the 3rd.  Stynchula kicked a 31 yarder with 8:26 remaining in the 4th to make it 17-13.  With 7:51 left to play in the game Toby Gowin hit a 53 yard coffin corner punt that put the G-men on their 1 yard line.  A Tucker Frederickson 9 yard run gave the Giants some much needed breathing room and 2 plays later they converted for a key first down as Ernie Wheelwright blasted up the middle for 5 yards.  Morrall hit TE Aaron Thomas for an 18 yard strike and Frederickson ran for 27 yards 2 plays later to put the ball on the Cowboy 32.  Morrall hit Thomas then Homer Jones for 1st downs before Frederickson cut to the outside for a 13 yard TD run to make it 20-17 with 3:51 left to play in regulation.  Herschel Walker fumbled the ensuing kickoff and the Giants took over on Dallas' 39, but could not move the ball.  The Cowboys got it back with 2:20 left to play on their own 20, but could not net a 1st down and eventually turned the ball over to NY on downs.  Big Blue improved their record to a perfect 5-0, while Dallas dropped to 2-3.  Joe Morrison had  6 catch 123 yard day for New York thanks to Earl Morrall going 23-47-316-TD.

56-CLE 17, 89-CIN 10

Cleveland Municipal Stadium
The Bengals' 10-0 half time lead did not hold up as the Brownies scored 17 unanswered points in the second half to gain a win in front of the dog pound.  Up 10-3 at the beginning of the 4th quarter the Bengals could not stop Cleveland's hearty ground attack as Preston Carpenter ran for a 31 yard TD and Ed Modzelewski added a 2 run TD plunge with :54 seconds left to serve as the game winner.  Boomer Esiason threw 3 picks to put his team in perril.  Carpenter had an amazing 114 yards on only 14 carries, while Modzelewski added 76 more on 13 touches.  In total the Browns racked up 241 yards on the ground, while attempting just 10 passes.  Cleveland upped it's record to 4-1, while Cincy dropped to 1-4.

82-SF 34, 93-SD 29

Candlestick Park
After 3 quarters of play the '9ers were clinging to a 27-23 lead thanks to a 52 yard bomb from Joe Montana to Jackie Moore.  Montana would up his lead to 34-23 when he it Dwight Clark in the back of the end zone for a 6 yard TD toss.  The Chargers would get some glimmer of hope when they blocked Jim Miller's punt and Darrien Gordon picked it up and returned it for a 33 yard TD.  SD would get no closer than 6 as the '9ers moved to 4-1, while the Chargers remained without a win at 0-5.  Montana, who's running game has abandoned him, was forced to light up the skies by going 22-29-305-4TD-INT for a 134 QB rating.  Jeff Moore had 138 yards on 6 catches for 2 TD's.  Marion Butts only touched the ball 11 times and did net 58 yards, but still did not see enough action to influence the outcome.  All world LB, Junior Seau had 8 solo tackles for the 0-5 Bolts.

‘65-NYG 42, ‘08-NO 35

Marc Weiss and Michael Miller faced each other in a battle down in the Big Easy.  Both teams featured scary aerial attacks.   Neither team was adept at stopping the other and the game came down to one final 4th and 14 play.

1st QTR:  After 15 minutes of play the game was tied at 7.  The Giants fired the opening salvo when Earl Morrall hit Homer Jones for a 53 yard TD pass.  Halfway through the period Drew Brees would connect with Billy Miller for a 20 yard score to tie it.

2nd QTR:  New York would own the second quarter and head to the locker room leading 21-7.  Tucker Frederickson's 2 yard TD plunge capped off a 12 play / 76 yard scoring drive that took almost 7 minutes.  A quick 5 yard TD toss from Earl Morrall to Homer Jones with 1:51 left in the half capped off a 9 play / 80 yard drive.  New Orleans caught a bad break when Henry Carr intercepted Drew Brees on the Giants 14 yard line one play after Pierre Thomas ran back Bob Timberlake's kickoff for 83 yards.

3rd QTR:  The Saints reversed their bad luck with a 27 yard Drew Brees to Miller TD strike on the third play of the half.  Two plays earlier Brees hit lance Moore for 48 yards.  New York shot itself in the foot when Morrall threw a pick 6 to Josh Bullocks, which tied the game at 21 all.

 

4th QTR:  With the game tied at 21 Morrall hit Del Shofner with a 2 yard TD toss to break the stalemate.  That play was the 10th of an 80 yard drive that took 6 minutes to complete.  New York would then go up by 13 when Steve Thurlow scampered 34 yards for a TD with 3:37 left, but Bob Timberlake missed the extra point.  All seemed ok for the visiting team, but that was a false sense of security.  Brees hit Devery Henderson for a quick 20 yard score as the 2009 NFL MVP drove his team 80 yards in 5 plays and took only a minute off the game clock.  An onside kick was recovered by Garrett Hartley at midfield  Brees took full advantage and moved 48 yards in 4 plays then gave the ball to Pierre Thomas for a 3 yard TD dive.  Hartley nailed the extra point to put the Saints up by 1 with just under 2 minutes to play.  With the score 35-34 New Orleans, Morrall took over with 1:48 to go on his own 35.  After throwing 2 incompletions Morrall faced a 3rd and 10 and hit Aaron Thomas for 15 yards and a first down.  On the following play he hit Shofner for 18 yards to put the ball on the  Saints 32.  Thrulow cut for 12 yards on a draw and Morrall ran for 4 more after getting flushed from the pocket then spiked the ball to stop the clock at :29.  Facing a 3rd and 6 from the Saints 16 Morrall looked to get it all, but was sacked by Kendrick Clancy for an 8 yard loss.  New faced a 4th and 14 from the Saint 24.  It all came down to one final play and Morrall rose to the occasion by hitting Joe Morrison in the end zone for the go ahead TD with 8 ticks left on the clock.  Morrall hit Morrison for a 2 yard toss for the 2 point conversion, which left Drew Brees :02 seconds for a Hail Mary pass that was incomplete.  The Giants fought back to narrowly defeat the Saints and move to 3-0.

STATS:  Morrall received the game ball on a day where he went 19-32-394-4TD-INT.  Brees (20-33-302-3TD-INT) went toe to toe with Morrall and just ran out of time.  Billy Miller topped the century mark with 6 grabs for 101 yards and 2 TD, but the real star was Homer Jones who caught 5 passes for 148 yards and 2 scores.

PACKERS STOP VIKINGS LATE RALLY BY INCHES TO EARN FIRST WIN 33-27

In a strange way one would thing that any team that walks off the field with a W would be pretty happy.  In this case the players may have been but that warm and fuzzy feeling didn't last to long once the players entered the locker room.  As the players were giving each other high fives the coaching staff immediately lit in to the entire team.  The silence was eerie as you would have thought the room was vacant except for one individual who is paid to coach this team.  "Where is my damn defense and even better yet if there is any man who plays on the offensive side of the ball that thinks they had a good game outside of Dorsey Levens, I would sure like to know who the H that is!".  The words that followed can not be printed as it would take a lot of editing and rewording to do so.  To sum it up though let's just say the entire coaching staff let it be known that despite the win it was one of the ugliest and most undeserving wins they had witnessed.

Flash Back to the opening game vs the NY Giants.....Green Bay held a commanding 20-0 lead with midway through the 3rd quarter and the defense had allowed just over 100 yards of offense.  Then over the final 22 minutes the Packers defense disappeared into oblivion giving up 244 yards of offense to the Giants and by games end losing a heart breaker 28-27 in a game that the Packer coaches feel they should have won.  

Flash forward again to the Minnesota game...... Things got off to a rising start for the Packers as they elected to receive after winning the toss.  Fred Cox's opening kick off would find it's way into the hands of Basil Mitchell at the 12 yard line only to see the return team open up big running lanes and 88 yards later Mitchell was in the end zone giving the Packers a 7-0 lead that quick.   Things didn't get any better for the Vikings as they would run 3 plays and force them to punt the ball back away.  The punt by Mike Eischeid though never went forward as Gilbert Brown found a small open spot to block the punt and give the Packers the ball at the Vikings 28.   Minnesota's defense though tightened up and seemed to know exactly what the Packers were calling and after going nowhere they would bring in Ryan Longwell to kick a 44 yard field and now put the Packers up 10-0. the irony of this was Green Bay had exactly only 1 yard of total offense but yet held a 10 point lead with all the credit going to the special teams.  Minnesota seemed to show some life on it's next possession though and when facing a 3rd and 13 after Fran Tarkenton (24-45-273) had been sacked for a 9 yard loss by Keith McKenzie it looked as if the drive would stall.  Tarkenton though had other idea's as he sent WR Gene Washington (3-67) on a deep route and the throw would be on the money for a 34 yard gain down to the Packers 21 yard line.   RB Bill Brown then took the hand off on the next play rumbling all the way down to the Packers 3 after a 18 yard gain.  Here though it would be the Packers D that would win the battle from here as the next 2 plays resulted in a 10 yard loss as Tarkenton found himself on his backside for a 7 yard sack and after a delay of game penalty they were now facing a 3rd and goal from the Packers 18.  For the third time (Vikings allowed 6 sacks on the day) in this drive Tarkenton found himself again being sacked and it was McKenzie again doing the honors for a 10 yard loss.  Cox's 45 yard field goal was never close and after what looked to be a scoring drive came up nothing but goose eggs.  

In the second quarter Brett Favre (10-20-39) who had one miserable day behind center gave the Vikings their first score of the day when while being sacked by Jeff Siemon failed to hold on to the ball and Sieman found himself with it to take it in from 8 yards out to cut the Packers lead down to 10-7.   Some say Favre caught a glance of a nearby journalist while going down and forgot to secure the ball.  Cox missed his second field goal of the day later in the second that would have tied the game.  With 1:53 left in the second quarter Green Bay got the big run it needed from Levens (25-120) after Antwon Edwards came up with a big 42 yard punt return that became a 57 yard gain after the Vikings were called for a face mask on the return.  Levens then done the rest as on the first play he found a alley and took it to the house from 15 yards out giving the Packers a 9 point cushion once more as Longwell shanked the extra point that could have very well been the downfall of the Packers at games end.  On Minnesota's next possession fate was cruel again to them as the Tark tried to run the ball himself by calling his own number and fumbled the ball away to the Packers at the Vikes 8 yard line.  Feeding the ball to Levens to be on the conservative side to avoid a Favre brain spasm it resulted in a Longwell 20 yard field goal and a 19-7 halftime lead for Green Bay.

Every thing Green Bay got outside of the opening kick off return was one gift after another from the Vikings.  In fact to save the suspense the Packers offense on the day only netted 158 yards on the day and they never had to go further than 28 yards for a touchdown.  Someone evidently made the Norse Gods mad leading up to this game.  Speaking of that 28 yard touchdown drive it would happen around the halfway mark of the 3rd quarter when Brown took a short pass and took a vicious hit jarring the ball lose at their own 28 with McKenzie being the name mentioned again falling on the ball for Green Bay.  McKenzie would receive the game ball on the defensive side after the game from the coaching staff and players.  Green Bay would have to overcome a holding drive a few plays later before finally cashing in on a Favre to Corey Bradford 18 yard touchdown connection with 6:34 to play putting them up 26-7.  One would think with just a little over a quarter and a half to go the fans would be counting down the W.  Not with this Packer team though and to make that statement look at the flash back in regard to the Giants-Packers game from week 1.  

Trailing 26-7 the Vikings got hot while the Packers defense went into stealth mode and was very rarely seen in the final 22 minutes of this game.  It all started with the Vikings next possession following the Packers touchdown that put them up by 19.  Fran the man all of a sudden acted as if he was throwing balls at dummies like on the practice fields.  John Gilliam was the first receiver to benefit from the absence of the Pack secondary as he took a beautifully thrown ball over his left shoulder for a 52 yard gain to the Packers 28.  Tarkenton then found his legs and scrambled for 17 yards to the 11 on second and 10. Dave Osborn (4-18) who had very limited running room today went for 10 yards down to the 1 and within a toe nail of actually getting in on it.  Brown then was credited with a 1 yard run and a touchdown to cut the lead back to 26-14.  With the momentum clearly now in the Vikings favor that would be switched back to Green Bay due to another one of those nasty turnovers deep inside their own territory.  It would also be another sack by the Packers to set up yet another fumble by Tarkenton at his own 11.  Jude Waddy was there to fall on it for Green Bay.   After the next 2 plays netted a negative 7 yard loss for the Packers it appeared that they would have to settle for a field goal here.  

Facing a 3rd and 17 from the Vikings 18 it would be Levens who came up roses as he took the delay draw and went in untouched that seemed to take the sail right out of the Vikings.  With a 33-14 lead this game seemed to be settled.  Tarkenton again though answered with a awesome display of radar technology as he found the Packers stealth hidden defense to rip them apart.  He would use less than 3 minutes of the clock to drive them 67 yards in 8 plays with the final one resulting in a 26 yard touchdown hookup with Washington.   Just like that the score was now 33-21 with 8:44 to go.  Favre though didn't like having a 12 point lead and tried to get cute with one of his famous I will just fling it passes.  His flare pass that was intended for Levens fell right into the hands of Siemon who returned it 4 yards to the Packers 34.  The hair now was standing on every packer fan in the world.  With 6:14 to go though and facing a 4th and inches at the Packers 13 they kept the field goal team on the sidelines and wanted nothing less than a touchdown.  The problem was though for one of the very few times since the early part of the 3rd quarter the defense appeared on the field to stop Oscar Reed for no gain turning the ball over to the Packers.  

With no intention at all of allowing Favre to throw the ball again in this game Levens took the load but with 3:53 to go the Packers punt team had to come on the field.  The Vikings was going to send everyone they could and try to get the big play.  This time it worked as the punt never had time to get off as P Louie Aguiar was standing in his own end zone when and unidentified special teams player swatted the ball like it was a fly and it landed right into the hands of Jim Marshall for a Vikings touchdown.  The irony now was that the Packers had seen a 33-14 lead evaporate into just a 33-27 lead.  With 3:44 to go and the Vikings having all 3 time outs left the Packers desperately needed some first downs.  They would pick up 2 along the way and forcing the Vikings into using all of it's remaining timeouts.  From their own 41 Aguliar again was called upon to try to pin the Vikings deep and force a long game ending touchdown drive.  The rush again was on but this time no assignments were missed and Charlie West called for a fair catch setting Minnesota up at it's own 24.  With over a minute and a half left there was still plenty of time for the Vikings to make that incredible comeback.  Tarkenton went into action and didn't seem to be one bit worried as he would later say he never felt more confident.  Facing a 4th and 5 at the Packers 34 with just 34 seconds left everyone just knew the curse of the Giants would strike again against the Packers.  After all up this point over the final 21 minutes the Packers defense had been lit up for 228 yards.  Surely 5 more yards shouldn't be a problem.  The controversy of the game would come down to this call, or more precisely the spot of the ball.  What appeared to be a Viking 1st down after Tark had completed the short swing pass to Brown it was now all going to come down to the spot vs the chain.  If the Vikings got the first down then they still had about 3 more plays at the end zone, if the Packers got the spot then the game is over and the Packers win.  As the chains stretched the verdict had been made.  By just inches and I do mean inches the Packers would stop the Vikings igniting many boos from the Vikings faithful but joy on the Packer sidelines.  

Flash to the locker room again.  After the tongue lashing by the coaches the players know that if they expect to contend for a playoff spot they had better find an offense that can produce more than 158 yards a game and secondly the defense needs to learn how to close out games by using the same mental toughness approach they do for the first 40 minutes of it.  

--submitted by Bill Vogt--

Week 2 - ‘65 NYG 21, ‘82-SF 7

PREGAME:  A classic matchup between coaches (Stu Geller & Marc Weiss) who have coached at least 40-50 games against each other since back in their CFL days.  Both teams came into the game 1-0.  San Fran gave up 17 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to the Rams and hung on for a 28-23 road win in their opener.  New York came back from a 20-0 deficit in Green Bay to barely hold on by 1, thanks to a missed chip shot FG.  Today's game would be played on the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, NY.

1st QTR:  New York's opening drive was error plagued and penalty filled, yet they somehow made it to the 49er 36 before being forced to punt.  New York survived 2 penalties and a Tucker Fredrickson fumble on the second play from scrimmage.  San Fran started on their own 20 and in 1 play wound up on the Giants 38 thanks to Joe Montana hitting Freddie Solomon for a 38 yard catch and run slant.  4 plays later the '9ers were forced to punt and the Giants again started from their own 20.  Fred Dean blindsided Earl Morrall and caused the ball to come out.  Luckily for Big Blue Bookie Bolie fell on the ball on his own 11.  New York punted 2 plays later and the '9ers stared on the Giant 46 thanks to a 13 yard return by Solomon.  New York looked to be moving, but after a neat little screen pass to Ernie Wheelwright gained 18 yards they once again had to punt.

2nd QTR:  The second quarter picked up with the '9ers just gaining a new set of downs on their 38, but once again Jim Miller had to come on to punt.  After John Harty sacked Earl Morrall on his 11 the Giants were in a deep hole.  On the following play Morrall hit Joe Morrison for 16 yards to give New York a manageable 3rd and 4.  Ernie Koy gained just 2 yards, so he dropped back to punt to Solomon.  Koy's kick bounced twice and then hit Solomon's leg.  Dick Lynch, who was one of the gunners noticed what happened and scooped up the ball on the '9er 30 yard line and walked into the end zone untouched.  New York now had a 7-0 lead after Bob Timberlake made the extra point.  The next 3 sets of downs belonged to the defense and the punters until the Giants took over with 1:56 left in the half on their own 22.  Tucker Fredrickson slashed for 5 yards and it became apparent that the Giants were content to run out the clock and go into the locker room up 7-0.  Then on the next play Frederickson found a hole behind aging future HOF'er Rosey Brown and just like that galloped 48 yards down to the '9er 25 with just under a minute to play.  New York fumbled again.  This time Steve Thurlow was the culprit.  After he gained 8 yards he got careless with the ball and thankfully for him Bolin once again pounced on the pigskin.  With 50 ticks left on the clock Morrall went to the air, but missed tight end Aaron Thomas, but a yellow hankie was thrown and the Giants had a first and 10 on the 4 thanks to pass interference.  On the following play Morrall hit Thurlow for a 4 yard TD toss to make it 14-0 after Timberlake's XP.  Montana got the ball back on his 36 with :23 to go in the half and began flinging it all over the place, but there was just not enough time left to get into scoring position.

3rd QTR:  San Fran started the second half deep in their own zone thanks to a holding penalty on the kick return.  Henry Carr sacked Montana on the first play, but Joe was easily able to overcome it with consecutive passes to Jeff Moore for 10 and 12 yards respectively.  Joe then fumbled the snap on his own 27, but an alert Keith Fahnhorst recovered it.  Two incomplete passes later Miller was once again punting.  The Giants took over on their own 44 and quickly crossed mid field when Frederickson gained 7 on a screen pass from Morrall.  A 5 yard false start penalty temporarily moved them back 5 yards, but a 19 yard inside run by Thurlow gave them a first down on the '9er 35.  Frederickson was tripped up at the line of scrimmage for no gain.  Morrall gave him the ball once again and this time he blasted through for 5 yards, but Dwaine Board knocked the ball loose and Jack Reynolds recovered it.  New York was driving, but Fredrickson's second fumble of the game really hurt them.  Apparently the turnover didn't hurt the Giant defense which stuffed Earl Cooper on successive plays and batted down a 3rd and 10 pass to Jeff Moore to force Miller to punt again.  Spider Lockhart caught the ball on his own 25 and ran backwards in an attempt to out fox the defense.  Lockhart fooled no one and lost 6 yards as he was tackled on his own 19.  Starting deep in their own zone the Giants looked to keep it on the ground, which is why the '9ers had 8 men in the box.  Morrall sensed he had San Fran at a disadvantage and looked Aaron Thomas' way.  Thomas caught the ball in stride at the Giant 40 and turned on the burners and took it 81 yards to put New York up 21-0 after Timberlake's XP was good.  Neither team would score as the quarter came to a close on a running play where Frederickson would once again fumble.  This time Pete Case was able to maintain possession for New York as their embattled fullback fumbled for the 3rd time today.

4th QTR:  By this point Morrall had himself a huge dilemma.  Try to grind it out on the ground and risk Frederickson and Thurlow fumbling or go to the air, even though he was up by 3 scores.  Morrall chose the air and on the first play of the 4th quarter was picked off by Willie Harper when a pass for Joe Morrison was grossly underthrown.  This was just the opening a clutch QB like Joe Montana needed.  Joe proceeded to drive the 49ers to paydirt on an 11 play odyssey that took just under 6 minutes of time off the clock.  Montana did nothing special in this drive other than carve up the Giant defense, which had been perfect for three quarters.  The longest play of the drive was a 9 yard run by Jeff Moore.  Montana ended the drive with a 2 yard flip to Earl Cooper to make it 21-7 after Wersching nailed the extra point.  New York would follow that up with a lame 3 and out that saw them go backward thanks to a Fred Dean sack of Morrall for 8 yards.  Montana took over on his 19 and immediately hit Moore for 17 yards, but that was all that drive would yield.  With 5:44 left to play the Jints would take over on their own 40.  Morrall looked resolved to kill the clock through the air and who could blame him with all the fumbling that went on by the "Baby Bulls" in his backfield.  Forgotten wideout Homer Jones caught one for 13 yards on the '9er 47 to start things off.  Three plays later facing a 3rd and 9 Morrall hit Jones for 28 yards to move the chains and put the ball on the 18, where the drive would eventually stall with 2:17 left to play.  Rather than risk a blocked field goal attempt Morrall handed the ball to Thurlow who wound up 7 yards short of a 1st down, but SF had to start from their own 15 with 2:07 left to play.  With very little time left and down by two scores Montana went to the two minute drill.  After Roger Lalonde sacked him on his own 13 things  looked bad.  Facing a 4th and 12 from his own 13 Montana was forced to go for it.  Needing 12 Montana found his favorite target Dwight Clark for 14 to keep his team's narrow hopes alive.  If it worked once why not try it again, which is exactly what Joe did when he hit Clark for 15 more yards.  He went to the well on the following play, but overthrew his receiver who was tied up with Dick Lynch.  The ref threw the flag and not only did the '9ers gain 33 yards, but they also got the clock to stop without having to burn a valuable time out.  That break in the action benefited the Giant defense, which had been on it's heels trying to keep up with Clark, Solomon and company.  Montana looked to go deep, but the protection broke down and Andy Stynchula dumped him on the 31 for a 7 yard loss.  On the following play (3rd and 16) Montana hit Solomon for 15 yards.  That setup a 4th and 1 from the Giant 16 with :21 seconds left to play and the '9ers down by 14.  For all intents and purposes the game was over, but competitors like Montana never quit.  Joe had no choice to go for the end zone in hopes of scoring fast and then getting the ball back.  Joe never had a chance as veteran All-Pro Jim Katcavage sacked him on the 23 to put and end to the game.

‘89 Bengals 20, ‘81 Steelers 14

SUMMARY:  On a hot and rainy miserable day in the Queen city the Bengals hoped to ride the back of their talented FB Ickey Woods to victory vs their arch rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers.

1st QTR:  The opening stanza went according to plan as Woods touched the ball 8 times in a 9 play drive that culminated in a 18 yard FG by Jim Breech.  Woods would dice and slice his way for a few yards here and there, but the big play would be a 46 yard play action pass from Boomer Esiason to Tim McGee that got the Bengals down to the Steeler 4.  The Steelers were able to move the ball to almost mid field, but were forced to punt when Terry Bradshaw missed a quick short pass on 3rd down to Lynn Swann.  Cincy went 3 and out and had to punt from their own 26.  Steeler return guy Jim Smith Jr. cut through the kick coverage for a big 11 yard return to the Steeler 40.  Unfortunately for the Steelers the slipper wet ball popped out and Rickey Dixon recovered it for Cincy.  After a terrible face mask penalty was called the Bengals were in great shape on the Steeler 25.  Once again Esiason caught the Steel Curtain D in a run formation and hit Eddie Brown for an easy 25 yard score to make it 10-0.

2nd QTR:  Sidney Thornton went 31 yards on a flare pass and Franco Harris did the same for 16 yards prior to the end of the 1st quarter to put the Steelers on Cincy's 48 to start the 2nd quarter.  Harris would then follow with 3 key runs totally 14 yards to move the ball to the Bengal 22 where Bradshaw hit old favorite John Stallworth for 9 yards and a 1st down on the 10.  On the next play Bradshaw was under pressure and dumped a flare pass to Frank Pollard who strolled into the end zone untouched to make it 10-7.  Cincy would go 3 and out on their next drive, which setup great field position for Pittsburgh, who started on their own 41.  Despite 3 penalties the Steelers still had no trouble moving the ball until their drive stalled on the Bengal 29.  Rather than allow David Trout the opportunity to kick a FG that was somewhat out of his range Bradshaw attempted to hit Swann for the 4 yards needed.  Thanks to the combination of wind and rain the pass floated out of Bradshaw's hands and wound up rolling on the Riverfront stadium turf.  Having lost Ickey Woods to what looks to be a season ending injury early in the 2nd quarter the Bengals began to go to plan "B":  Give the ball to James Brooks.  On this drive, which started on their own 33 Brooks did not instill one bit of confidence in his ability to hold on to the football.  After Boomer hit Mike Martin for a quick 7 yard hitch, Brooks too a hand off and ran 3 yards and coughed the ball up.  Thankfully for Cincy Bruce Kozerski fell on it and no harm was done.  Two plays later Brooks took a 3rd down draw play and turned a 3rd and a long 7 into a 34 yard run down to the Steeler 34 yard line.  Boomer hit McGee for 9 yards then gave Brooks the ball inside the red zone.  Brooks got and easy 6 yards, then fought for the 7th and lost the ball.  Bob Kohrs recovered for the Steelers on their own 7 to save Pittsburgh big time.  That would do it for the half as Bradshaw and company were content to run the clock out.

3rd QTR:  The Steelers would receive the ball to open the half and start out on their own 30.  Franco Harris was stuffed for a 1 yard loss on the first play from scrimmage to start the half, but responded like a champ by gaining 9 yards on the following play.  Bradshaw looked off Harris and gave it to Sidney Thornton, who gained 3 yards and an easy first down, until the pile moved and Kevin Walker came up with the ball for the Bengals on the Steeler 41.  The Steel Curtain defense held tight and forced the Bengals to punt.  Pittsburgh was pinned down on their 4 and went 3 and out, which allowed Cincy to start on the Steeler 38.  Some modest gains resulted in a missed 41 yard FG attempt by Jim Breech.  On the following play Bradshaw hit Stallworth in stride for 18 yards, but Cincy clobbered the Steeler receiver from behind and the ball popped out right into the waiting arms of Barney Bussey.  Facing a 3rd and 7 from the Steeler 39 Esiason called another draw to James Brooks, who took it 39 yards to the house to give the Bengals a 17-7 lead.  Credit Brooks with a fantastic run, because the Steeler defense was setup and waiting for him.  Brooks just outskilled the D.  After a flagrant facemask call on the first play of the drive the Steelers were easily into Bengal territory on their 48.  Back to back passes by Bradshaw to Stallworth (18 yards) and Bennine Cunningham (10 yards) gave them a 1st and goal on the 3.  A 1 yard loss by Frank Pollard on a outside run and a no gain dump pass to Harris ended the quarter with the Steelers facing 3rd and goal from the 4.

4th QTR:  A medium pass to Stallworth gained just 2 yards and looked to put the Steelers in a 4th and goal situation.  A yellow hankie near the feet of Bradshaw resulted in a roughing the passer call that would move the ball to the 1 and give Pittsburgh a new set of downs.  A sure fire score awaited the visiting team, but in professional football nothing is a sure thing.  Instead Russell Davis took a handoff and saw nothing, then pivoted and ran backward hoping to find an opening.  Reggie Williams saw his opening and punched the ball out from behind then fell on it himself.  Cincy dodged a huge bullet and Pittsburgh looked to have blown a huge opportunity.  The next 3 series saw both teams play conservative ball and go three and out.  With 10 minutes remaining in the game Bradshaw began to move his troops starting on his own 26.  A few yards here and a few yards there setup the big play where he hit Smith for 39 yards on a play that would have been a TD if it were not for the efforts of Solomon Wilcots to push Smith out at the 2.  Wilcots play would only prolong the agony as Franco Harris smashed up the middle for a 2 yard TD plunge on the next play to make it 17-14 with 6:34 left to play.  Starting on their own 38 the Bengals had two options:  play conservatively and let the defense handle it or play to win and chew up clock.  The brash Esiason chose the latter and after 5 consecutive runs saw himself facing a 3rd and 2 on the Steeler 48 with 3:33 left to play.  Most QB's would have gone back to the run and would have been content to  hope for the 1st down or rely on the defense to hold after a punt.  Esiason is not your normal QB.  His elevated confidence level, which at time borders on arrogance, forces him to take bold maneuvers such as a play action fake and and a 12 yard hitch to Eddie Brown.  Two plays later he would go to the air again and hit Craig Taylor for 19 yards on a perfectly executed screen play.  At this point the coaching staff reigned in the lefty from Long Island and commanded he just give the ball to his backs and kill clock.  With 21 seconds left to go Cincy had the ball on the Steeler 3 and Jim Breech nailed a 20 yard chip shot to make it 20-17.  Pittsburgh would get the ball back with virtually no time (10 seconds) left on the clock.  A desperation heave from Bradshaw to Stallworth fell harmlessly to the wet carpet as the final gun sounded.