Missed Opportunities That Could Have Altered NFL History

[Bryan]

Monte Clark was a pretty good coach from what I remember. Would his career with the Lions have turned out differently with just a nudge of luck in these games?

Clark's claim to fame as an assistant was assembling the Dolphins' O line from odds and ends. Those early 1980's Lions teams tended to have mediocre/poor offensive lines. Not sure why Clark wasn't able to make more positive impact in that area.

[7DnBrnc53]

Washington blew a lot of leads that year -- the Oilers in Week 1, Detroit Week 2, Dallas in the final week. That's another "What if..." as far as not blowing leads. They barely missed the playoffs.

The other curious thing about 1979 and 12 men on the field is the Thanksgiving game at Dallas was partially decided by a 12 men on the field penalty against Dallas on a Houston Oilers punt. The penalty gave Houston a first down and Pastorini threw the game-winning TD to Kenny Burrough on the next play. Not sure if that affected the Cowboys' playoff seeding that year. May have affected Houston and the Eagles. The Oilers position was decided by the time their Week 16 game against Philadelphia started and a lot of their starters only played a half or so. Philadelphia needed to win and if I remember right, they got a home game after beating Houston in conjunction with the Dallas comeback over Washington.

Making the playoffs in 1979 would have been a huge butterfly. For one, John Riggins doesn't retire for one year, and they probably do better in 1980 (I don't think they make the playoffs, though). That probably means that Jack Pardee isn't fired, and Joe Gibbs ends up as HC for someone else.

[single wing]

A different take on a missed opportunity. Had the ref not blown the Don Chandler missed Field Goal the Baltimore Colts with Tom Matte at QB would have gone to play Cleveland for the NFL Championship in 1965.

[SixtiesFan]

A different take on a missed opportunity. Had the ref not blown the Don Chandler missed Field Goal the Baltimore Colts with Tom Matte at QB would have gone to play Cleveland for the NFL Championship in 1965.

That's one I've occasionally wondered about. How would a Brown-Colt 1965 NFL Championship game (would have been in Baltimore) have gone with the Colts not having Unitas?

[Bryan]

That's one I've occasionally wondered about. How would a Brown-Colt 1965 NFL Championship game (would have been in Baltimore) have gone with the Colts not having Unitas?

Not sure how much the Colts would have had left in the tank after such an emotional win over the Packers. That was perhaps the most vicious, hard-hitting game of the 1960's. The Colts defense was wild that game. I think it would have been hard for the Colts to duplicate that effort against the Browns, but who knows. I think the Colts had a better overall record than the Packers in the 1960's, they just tended to always lose to Green Bay in head-to-head matchups.

[Brian wolf]

Gino Marchetti sure would have liked another shot at Frank Ryan. In another post I mistakenly commented on Marchetti injuring Ryan in the Pro Bowl and it affecting the start of the 1966 season but it was actually the 1965 season for the Browns. With Paul Warfield coming back from injury however, it might have been tough for the Colts to contain both he and Collins along with Brown of course. Bill Glass, who was an underrated DE more vindicated by the sacks research done by Turney, Webster, Willis and company might have had a big day against Matte ... Could Lenny Moore have had one more great postseason game in front of Baltimore fans ?

[Brian wolf]

Though Bill Walsh missed out on getting Billy Sims, he got a similar style back in Wendell Tyler in 1983 due to the stupidity of the Rams front office. Tyler of course led the team in rushing in 1984, helping the Niners win the SB but had a tough 1985 season with his fumbling issues. He lost favor with Walsh though knee problems plagued his final season with the team in 1986.

[7DnBrnc53]

Its interesting looking at the KC Chiefs from 1993-1997. Lots of chances but couldnt get over thump to reach a SB for Schottenheimer ...

Despite having Montana in 93 and 94, they lose CB Albert Lewis to free agency in 1994, which affects their pass defense as the Chiefs lose a shootout to Miami and Marino in the playoffs. Montana retires but the team defense gets better but squanders home-field advantage in 1995 and 1997 with Steve Bono and Elvis Grbac at QB. Meanwhile, Rich Gannon, who looks good in the games he plays, remains on the bench while DE Neil Smith jumps ship and wins with archrival Denver in 97-98. Crazy times for Chiefs fans ...

The 1995 Chiefs were a paper tiger, and I expected them to lose to the Colts.

However, what if Lake Dawson caught the pass from Gannon with about :45 left in the fourth quarter, and the Chiefs won that playoff game (Gannon came in for a struggling Bono, and led the team down on a drive that ended with another Lin Elliott miss. Before that, Gannon had a pass dropped in the end zone)?

And, what if Bono still struggles the next week, and Gannon leads a comeback win against the Steelers? You have to think that Gannon keeps that job going into SB XXX, and if he plays well (I don't think the Chiefs win, but the way that season went for them, who knows? The 95 Cowboys weren't invincible), maybe he becomes the long-term guy, and Grbac never ends up there.

[Brian wolf]

Good call 7D ... I had forgotten about the end of that playoff game. I just remember the Bono interceptions and Marcus Allen not getting enough carries despite an excellent game.

[7DnBrnc53]

The first play that came to my mind was Kim Bokamper near interception of Joe Theismann in Super Bowl XVII (although you have to credit Theismann for getting his arm into Bokamper's hands).

If that happens, do the Redskins become the Team of the 80's? They would have been ahead of the Dolphins in the draft had they lost to them, and Bobby Beathard has said that they would have taken Marino.

Also, if the Chiefs have the inside track to Aikman (as I was talking about a few pages back), do the Cowboys decide on Barry Sanders at #2 overall (over Tony Mandarich)? Jimmy has come out and said that he likes the nifty back, and Sanders fits that mold. If he does, the Walker trade probably looks somewhat, if not completely different.

In addition, the Cowboys may have decided on Timm Rosenbach in the Supplemental Draft that year if they didn't have Aikman. Does he do better in Dallas? Or did he just not have the desire to make it (I heard something about how Timm didn't think the NFL was as fun as college or something)?