No, not the one in Arlington, the one in Miami 32 years ago. One of the greatest Super Bowls of all time. The NFL Network has been replaying the Super Bowls of the Steelers and the Packers all week. With copious amounts of free time during the recent Icepocalypse, I managed to Tivo and rewatch this great game so that I may share my snarky commentary with my reader.
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Please to enjoy.
First Quarter
| 15:00 | Pittsburgh’s kicker has a single bar facemask. What is this the 70’s?? |
| 14:55 | I can’t explain how awesome it is to see all the pre-snap movements and the line hitch. This all brings me back to a better time |
| 14:55 | Handoff to Dorsett to the left for 9 – That dude’s pretty fast. |
| 14:20 | Handoff to Dorsett up the middle for 13 — That dude’s pretty fast. |
| 13:45 | Handoff to Newhouse up the middle for no gain. Dammit Jason Garret stop trying to be so cute. |
| 13:30 | Pitch to Dorset to the right for 20+. Just run it and run it and run it…….. |
| 13:30 | I should mention that times and distances are approximate. Apparently this kind of information was not that important in 1979. |
| 13:00 | Fumble recover by Banaszak for Pittsburgh on a WR flea flicker (?). Tom Landry should have been fired that very moment. He was having great success running the ball and then he has to channel yet unborn Jason Garret. |
| 12:50 | Pitch to Bleier for a loss of one. Sorry Rocky, not against Doomsday. |
| 12:00 | Bradshaw to Stallworth for 18 yards on 3rd and 9. What?? |
| 11:00 | How is it every football player back then looked like they were 36? I couldn’t believe it when it said “Randy White 4th year out of Maryland” He’s always looked like someone’s dad to me. And don’t get me started on Rocky Bleier. |
| 10:45 | Brandshaw to Grossman for 9 on 3rd and 8. The Dallas D is not making the plays on theses third and longs early on. Great throw threading the needle by Bradshaw, though. |
| 10:00 | TD PITTSBURGH – Bradshaw to Stallworth 28 yard pass. |
| Pitt 7 Dal 0 | |
| 9:00 | Gowdy & Olsen are finally giving the starting defensive lineups for Pittsburgh. Toews, Lambert and Ham – all white guys – are the starting linebackers. Is this the last time three white guys started as LBs on a Super Bowl winning team? Just wondering. |
| 8:15 | Staubach to Johnson for 23 on 3rd and 4. Great catch by Johnson and throw to the hot receiver on the blitz by Captain America. |
| 7:00 | Staubach sack by Barnask for a huge loss. Oddly, Merlin Olsen comments that the Steelers don’t usually blitz you that much. That sounds weird to me. BTW, I still have no idea how much time has gone by in the game. |
| 6:30 | Coverage sack by “Mad Dog” White. 4th and a mile. Danny White to punt. |
| 3:45 | Bradshaw to Harris for a gain of 20 on 3rd and 4. Come on guys. Guys!?!? |
| 2:46 | INT by Lewis. Dallas Ball |
| 2:00 | Back to back running plays to Newhouse. Really?? Tommy, have you seen Dorsett run today?? |
| 1:40 | Another third down incompletion by Starbuck. |
| 1:00 | Our first penalty of the game. Holding on the Steelers. Somewhere an infant Flozel Adams crapped his diaper in respect. |
| 0:45 | They’re finally showing the Dallas defensive lineup. Two of three LBs are white and two of four DBs. So, in this game we have 5 of 6 white LBs and 3 of 8 DBs. |
| 1:00 | Fumble by Bradshaw recovered by Jones. Kurt Gowdy finally told me there was one minute left. |
| 0:30 | Drew Pearson is interfered with in the end zone on a great throw by Roger the Dodger. No call. |
| 0:00 | TD Cowboys. Staubach to Hill. |
| Pitt 7 Dal 7 |
Second Quarter
| 14:00 | Gowdy just read the disclaimer about “… any rebroadcast or retransmission of this telecast without the expressed written permission of the NFL is prohibitied”. Just exactly how much of that was going on in 1979 that we all have to stop down for this disclaimer? |
| 13:00 | Bradshaw pass incomplete. Almost intercepted by Charlie Waters. |
| 12:25 | TD Cowboys. Fumble by Bradshaw forced by Henderson, recovered and taken to the endzone by Hegeman. How the fuck did they lose this game??? |
| Dal 14 Pitt 7 | |
| 12:00 | Was Kurt Gowdy ever good? He just call them “The Dirty Towels” and had to be corrected by Merlin Olsen, “Don’t you mean the Terrible Towels?” |
| 11:45 | Handoff to Franco for 1 yard. Tackled by The Beautiful Harvey Martin. It’s the first time I remember him doing anything in this game and he was by favorite player back then. So it had to be chronicled. |
| 10:00 | TD Pittsburgh Bradshaw to Stallworth for 75 yards. Hughes missed the tackle and Stallworth took it to the house. |
| Dal 14 Pitt 14 | |
| 8:45 | On 3rd and 18 Stauback fumbled forced by Greene recovered by Raferty for a loss of a million. Not a good series for Dallas. Three plays all for a loss. |
| 8:20 | Bradshaw to Swan for 20+. Impotent offense followed by a sieve like defense is not good. |
| 6:00 | Merlin Olsen about Pittsburgh’s receiving corps – “When you have three great receivers doesn’t that make them all better?” I wonder how TO Owens would answer that question. |
| 5:30 | Handoff to Bleier for no gain. Too much Bleier and Newhouse. |
| 5:10 | Bradshaw sacked by Henderson on third and long. |
| 5:00 | Field Goal missed by some dude with a bad facemask. |
| 4:20 | Handoff to Newhouse for a loss of one. What did I just say??? |
| 4:00 | Staubach to Preston Pearson on a 9 yard pass for a first down. Nice layout by Preston. |
| 3:30 | At this point in the game Roger has thrown only 7 passes. Shocking. |
| 2:45 | Staubach to Dorsett on a 20 yard screen on a blitz. |
| 2:20 | INT by Blount. Pittsburgh ball. That ball looked like it was intended for Blount. After the pass was released Roger took a hit that would no doubt be a roughing the passer penalty today. |
| 1:33 | WR Screen to Swan for 25ish. Cowboys need to do a little better job tackling these receivers. |
| 0:30 | TD Pittsburgh. Bradshaw to Bleier on a 12 yard pass. I’m not sure I would have covered Rocky either. |
| Pitt 21 Dal 14 |
Pittsburgh 21 Dallas 14
Half Time is brought to you by:
Third Quarter
| 13:45 | First series of the second half, Steelers are three and out and have to punt for the first time of the game. |
| 13:30 | JFC. Another handoff to Newhouse. |
| 12:34 | After a defensive holding call on Pittsburgh we are treated once again to a Newhouse handoff. |
| 11:55 | Roger scrambles for a 9 yard gain on 2nd and 10. A nice jook got him the last few yards. |
| 10:45 | He does it again when both of his screen receivers are covered. |
| 10:15` | 3rd and 2. STUFFED. The Cowboys haven’t had much running room since the first series. |
| 9:30 | Handoff to Franco for a loss of 3. To be fair, there hasn’t been much running room for the Steelers either. |
| 8:30 | Cowboys ball after a Pittsburgh punt. |
| 8:20 | Flea Flicker pass in the endzone to Hill – Incomplete. Come on Tommy. Let’s stop trying to be cute. Only do that stuff if it’s going to work, ok? |
| 7:20 | Staubach to Preston Pearson on third down for a first down. |
| 6:45 | Handoff to Dorsett to the right for 4 tough yards and the first down. At this point in the game, Dorsett has 11 carries for 56 yards. It’s been rough sledding hear recently. But that’s still a good average. Let’s get him the ball. |
| 5:00 | Staubach to a wide open Jackie Smith in the end zone. Dropped. Oh dear. One of the most famous plays from this game. And after all these years, it’s still a kick in the nutz. |
| 4:50 | FG Cowboys from 27 yards out. |
| Pittsburgh 21 Dallas 17 | |
| 2:30 | Bradshaw scrambles for like half an hour until he finds Bell for the first down. And then gets hit in what would today be a roughing penalty. |
| 0:45 | Danny White is warming up. At least it’s not Clay Rapada. |
| 0:40 | Bradshaw sacked by The Manster forcing a punt into the wind. |
| 0:30 | Yikes. Butch Johnson returning the punt is holding the ball out there like a loaf of bread. |
Pittsburgh 21 Dallas 17
Fourth Quarter
| 14:45 | Pass to Drew Pearson – incomplete. Drew has yet to make a reception. |
| 14:30 | A little drop pass to Dorsett for 15. |
| 13:45 | Handoff to Laidlaw for 4. He’s been running well since replacing Newhouse. |
| 10:30 | Pass deflected by Greene to force a Danny White punt. |
| 9:30 | Bradshaw to Grossman on 3rd and 8 for a 9 yard pass. The Cowboy D has been effective every down except third. |
| 8:30 | Pass Interference on Bennie Barnes. Bennie, you have to look back to sell it. Ball on the Dallas 25 |
| 7:45 | Hendersen sacks Bradshaw after the whistle for delay of game, but no penalty on him. These were different times. |
| 7:30 | TD Pittsburgh on a 23 yard Harris run. |
| Pitt 28 Dal 17 | |
| 7:25 | Fumble by Randy White on the squib kick. Recovered by Pittsburgh’s Winston. |
| 7:10 | TD Pittsburgh on a 20 yard pass from Bradshaw to a leaping (of course) Swan. |
| Pitt 35 Dal 17 | |
| 7:00 | Pittsburgh scored two touchdowns in 17 seconds. I’m guess that’s a Super Bowl record. Is it still? |
| 6:14 | Staubach sacked by Banaszak. 3rd and 11 |
| 5:00 | Roger has no one to throw to and scrambles for the first down. |
| 3:30 | Draw to Dorsett for 20+. Why has he not been used more?? |
| 3:00 | 15 yard pass from Staubach to Dupree. Roger just lobbed it up so as not to get sacked and Dupree came down with it. Great catch. |
| 2:27 | TD Dallas. Staubach to Dupree. from 8 yards out |
| Pitt 35 Dal 24 | |
| 2:23 | On sides kick recovered by Dallas’ Thurman. |
| 2:16 | Pass to Drew Pearson for 20 |
| 1:06 | Staubach pass out the back of the end zone. NFL Network skipped ahead on me. |
| 0:52 | Fourth and 19 – 30 yard pass to Drew Pearson who was carried above the ground back another 5 yards. No penalty. That’s just how the game was played. |
| 0:32 | Ten yard dump off pass to Dorsett who scrambled for every one of those yards. Down to the Pittsburgh three. |
| 0:22 | TD Dallas. Three yard pass to Johnson. |
| Pitt 35 Dal 31 | |
| 0:20 | On sides kick recover by Pittsburgh’s Bleier. Oh well. I thought the Cowboys were going to pull it out this time. |
The Final
Pittsburgh 35 Dallas 31