In Defense Of... Leeman Bennett's CONTROVERSIAL 4th Down Play Call | Falcons at Bills (1977)
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
- In a 1977 game between the Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills, with the Falcons trailing 3-0 late in the fourth quarter, instead of playing for the tie, Falcons head coach Leeman Bennett decided to go for it on fourth down, and called a play that failed and was panned by everyone after the game, including Bennett himself. However, when you break down the call, it might not be as bad as you think, nor might it be as bad as Leeman Bennett thought it was. This is a defense of that play.
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#nfl #falcons #nflthrowback #bills
Members of the 1977 Falcons:
Fred Steinfort
John James
Steve Bartkowski
Kim McQuilken
Nick Mike-Mayer
June Jones
Scott Hunter
Rolland Lawrence
Haskel Stanback
Mike Esposito
Frank Reed
Ray Easterling
Ray Brown
Rick Byas
Billy Pritchett
Secdrick McIntyre
Tom Moriarty
Monroe Eley
Woody Thompson
Greg Brezina
Andy Spiva
Dewey McClain
Paul Ryczek
Fulton Kuykendall
Ralph Ortega
Ron McCartney
Jeff Van Note
Rick Kay
Robert Pennywell
Brent Adams
Greg Kindle
Warren Bryant
RC Thielemann
Mike Lewis
Dave Scott
Jim Bailey
Phil McKinnely
Wilson Faumuina
Jeff Merrow
Edgar Fields
Jeff Yeates
Billy Ryckman
Alfred Jenkins
Jim Mitchell
Claude Humphrey
Greg McCrary
Wallace Francis
Leeman Bennett (head coach)
Atlanta Falcons Dorktown
Atlanta Falcons Secret Base
Atlanta Falcons Jon Bois
Atlanta Falcons Dorktown Part 1
Atlanta Falcons Dorktown Part 2
Atlanta Falcons Dorktown Part 3
Atlanta Falcons Dorktown Part 4
Atlanta Falcons Dorktown Part 5
Atlanta Falcons Dorktown Part 6
Atlanta Falcons Dorktown Part 7
History of the Atlanta Falcons
History of the Falcons
love the say your line bit
44 Years Ago
Excellent work!
Love those old Uniforms..The Falcon in Red.
I think Bennett made the right call
“THIS IS A FANTASTIC THROW BY SCOTT HUNTER…… to absolutely no one”
Good to see you give the fans what they want @ 8:59
Your basketball analogy reminds me of the time I played one-on-one against the backup center on my high school basketball team. I lost 82-6. My only points were two 3-pointers, the second of which made it 8-6.
I told my mom and her response was, "How'd you get the six?"
The '77 Gritz Blitz is pretty much why we got the '85 Bears 46 defense.
I'm not a Falcons fan, in fact I despise them, since there the chief archrival historically, of one of my team, New Orleans Saints. Although lately our rivalry with Atlanta has been sort of one-sided thanks to having one of the greatest QBs of all time (Brees) at the helm, their was a time when Falcons/Saints games were some of the most intense, closest, bitterly contested games in NFL schedules. What kept the 1977 Falcons "Gritz Blitz" team from going further was an anemic offense, but it didnt help that their #1 1975 draft pick, Steve Bartkowski, hadn't adjusted to NFL life as a QB yet, and in 1977, he was injured, not the most diligent, hardest worker on-and-off the field to his teammates, and reportedly struggled with alcoholism and allegedly, his life was kind of sketchy then, too.
By the time he got his life, his faith and his focus back in order, the team was still very talented, skilled, and would have several good seasons from 1978-82. But apart from 1980, this particular era of Falcons football probably had its best chance to make a deep, significant meaningful playoff run. 1977 Falcons remind me a bit of the same period's Denver's "Orange Crush" that came to prominence the same year, but the key difference is Denver had that experienced, effective QB who has a history of winning in Dallas and knew how to take an up-and-coming contender to the next level. Denver also had a more competent, intelligent FO, owner, and HC at the time, too but a good, steady offense is what is the demarcation line is for those two franchises during and after that particular season. 1977 was a lost opportunity for Atlanta Falcons in many respects the same way 1996 was for a possible WS repeat for the defending champs Braves, up 3-1 against the Yankees, and then they proceed to fall flat on their collective faces.
@@davidroberts7282 The sad thing is, with a real offense this team probably goes 11-3 or 12-2 and wins the NFC West (which was a real misnomer they didn't fix until 2002) and in reality, the Falcons should have been in the AFC East with the Jets, Patriots, Baltimore Colts and Dolphins while the Bills should have been in the Central and the Seahawks should have been in the NFC West for better geographic balance (the Seahawks ironically were in the NFC West in their expansion year in 1976 and have been since 2002). Saints should have been in the NFC Central and the Cowboys should have been in the NFC West.
What a fantastic video! Great analysis
And I love the Simpsons "say the line, Bart" reference :)
If any play in NFL history deserves an In Defense Of video, it’s Bill Belichick’s 4th down call against Indy
The Falcons had never beat the Detroit Lions until they played during that 1977 season.
In that game the Falcons defense out scored(14 to 9 points) both the Lions and Falcons offense combined.
This is the type of video I was talking about. I wouldn't have ever heard of this story without your awesome coverage bro. Thank you
I agree with you. Play to win. Don’t play not to lose.
I do remember this game, as it was a microcosm of the Falcons that season. With a half decent offense, they might have the Super Bowl that year.
One other notable thing about this game is that this was the game that O.J. Simpson became only the second RB to surpass 10,000 rushing yards.
Maybe the most memorable 7-7 team ever.
How about the most memorable 8-8 team? I’d go with the 1985 Seahawks. They won 2, then lost 2 all season.
@@CTubeMan Could be. The 1983 Bears were also 8-8 but I suppose that season is more memorable because of what came after. Then there were the 1985 Brown. I think they were the first non winning playoff team not counting the 1982 strike year.
You know, I was getting annoyed by the excessive use of the "spike the ball on every play line." But damnit, well payed sir. LOVED the random Simpsons clip, made me laugh. Well played.
i think going for it was the logical choice based on what the offense had been able to do the entire game.......the bills just played that play perfectly, both players maintained their assignments and had 2 people to make the stop at the very least you expect 1 of them to bite and give up the edge but both of them staying home, that was just perfect def play
I completely agree with your analysis -- it was the right decision. That said, I think the coach was right to fall on his sword. The logic of the decision to go for it was predicated on the offense being total crap. As a coach, that's something you never want your team to hear you say.
Not to mention the "go for it" is a statement of . . . well in this game it would be motivation. Normally I'd say it's a vote of confidence, but this O had nothing to be confident of.
Surprised OJ didn’t cut and slice through that defense that day
No mention of the Falcons defense nickname? Grits Blitz!!
I love how self aware you are on the spike the ball meme. Keep up the great work.
thx was looking for this game, for some reason. Bills
Calling a long-developing play with guys who already have trouble blocking wasn't the best idea. Even if the Falcons somehow pick up the 1st down, they could've easily bogged down again. This is the '77 Falcons' "offense" we're talking about here.
Perfect example of play calling and executing a play are two separate points and need to be judged as so.
Lack of a consistent place kicker would continue to dog the Falcons into 1978, and it cost them games early in that year. They signed Tim Mazetti, who, I think, was tending bar in Philadelphia at the time. He was their saving grace in 1978 and they went to the playoffs for the first time ever
A far worse mistake, in my opinion, was, the 1982 firing of Coach, Leeman Bennett, after a playoff loss in Minnesota. Owner, Smith, said the team, "had reached a plateau," with Bennett. I guess they had, because without Bennett, the team rolled downhill to the bottom of the NFC West for the remainder of the 1980s.
LOVE the "Simpsons" reference!
I was born in the year this game was played and lived not too far from Orchard Park, NY: I was a big baby back then (still am!) and this was a pretty lackluster game (a condition enhanced by the empty seats). At any rate, with the play here, I think with a QB run/sneak is that the QB is always the closest offensive player to the line of scrimmage and who gets the ball directly at the snap, so theoretically it's a play that can maybe catch the opposing defense off-guard with the quickness of the play. I've seen runs/sneaks get stuffed, and I've seen them go for surprisingly significant yardage (ha ha, Steve Bono's 76-yard stroll against the Cardinals in 1995). I don't mind the call, especially since this Falcons offense was so listless. What I think the Falcons needed was some semblance of an offense.
I laughed more at this than 90 percent of the "humor" videos on RUclips. This channel is gold for NFL fans.
And it's nice to Bills be the beneficiary of a play like this, for a change.
Edit: agree completely with your reasoning. It's a lot closer call than people thought at the time, especially with an awful kicker. I do think coaches and lay people value these situations poorly though. They overvalue getting to overtime, and undervalue the game resulting in a tie. The first explains the criticism of the Falcons coach, the second explains why the criticism might have been justified. But all things considered, going for it was plenty reasonable, maybe even correct.
very good analysis and you are absolutely right....a field goal there is what they say as "playing not to lose"...you are hoping that your kicker that is plain trash makes a field goal to tie it knowing that you probably will not even make it into the opposition's territory in the rest of the game.
Also thanks for showing me that the severe anti-Falcon bias of the referees is indeed older than me...they passed the line to gain on both 3rd and 4th down and got robbed both times/
Lowest scoring game in Bills' history. Nick Mike-Mayer was released by the Falcons later in 1977, spent the rest of 1977 and then 1978 with the Eagles and became the Bills' kicker in 1979, a job he held until 1982.
He must have improved considerably to last that long in the NFL (Not For Long).
The sad thing is that the Bills defenses wasn't even good. A couple weeks later they would lose to the second year expansion Seattle Seahawks 56-17.
Yeah, their run defense stunk that season, and back when the Bills were still competitive in 1975, it was the defense that was their major shortcoming.
And the Bills' coach quit at halftime in that one.
@@jacobrklein7175 who could blame him?
I have been binging your channel, this was a great one!
The 1977 Atlanta Falcons defense is one of the greatest in NFL history, but it's largely forgotten because of their inept offense that year. Let's not overlook, however, that the fortunes of the Falcons in '77 may have much different if Steve Bartkowski was healthy the entire season.
It might've also helped if his personal and professional life werent a bit disorderly, then too. Bartkowski got serious again, too and began to take his job, his team responsibilities, as well as his faith(he became a born-again Christian in the 1977 off-season), but by the late 70's and 1980 in particular, the radical, innovative novelty techniques of that "Gritz Blitz" 1977 defense had kind of worn off and more explosive NFL offenses had adapted to it frequently and consistently, especially with the arrival of Bill Walsh's Niners WC offense.
We would always call it Western New York, never Upstate New York. Therefore, I grade this video 9.9 on a scale of 10.
Yeah, I considered saying something about that, but I'm glad to see you did with your comment. I remember Tony Kornheiser on PTI saying "Upstate New York" back when the Bills began playing games in Toronto and he wondered if it was an indication of a future move by the franchise. The local newscasters get it right though, so I guess that's what's truly important:-). I see Upstate New York as Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany, and honestly, New York City is a completely different thing (I feel WNY has more in common with Pennsylvania than the high profile of NYC).
The voice of Van Miller just made my day better. Thank you man, I miss his calls
Great defense/terrible offense is acceptable when you have a lights-out kicker or even a fairly consistent one. If you can just get a few points on the board you can stay competitive because defense does indeed win championships. When you have somebody like Mike-Mayer as your kicker, though, look out.
Great video as always! I was wondering if you were going to get to those 1977 Falcons and the Gritz Blitz defense. That is how it always is with my Falcons, they can never put a great offense and defense together in the same season. Another team who had a monster defensive season but did not win a Super Bowl was the 1976 Steelers. After they went 1-4 they won their last 9 games with shut-outs in FIVE of those. Allowing only 28 point total in that stretch. Incredible!
That team was based on defense. The Gritz Blitz defense they had was awesome and kept them in a lot of games.
Fun to see someone bring up this game. As a Falcons fan since a 10 year old in '74, I remember this game and that 4th down play distinctly. What an embarrassing loss and what an odd season for the Falcons. Still, after miserable seasons in '74, '75 & '76, going 7-7 felt like we won the Super Bowl that year.
Agree 100%
Thanks for the constant interesting content! I can't find anything else like it on YT. Everyone talks about the current season/offseason, and not any history.
Dude! Well done on this. Wasn't it sudden death back then? If that had been the case and they had been able to kick a field goal that game could have lasted forever.
Scott Hunter? I don't remember him at all. Atl must have been in the west at the time?
Been binging you lately and had noticed "the line" - made me LOL to see it recognized. Keep up the good work my man.
The line? Why do you mean?
@@lucaskincanyon7393 39.6 passer rating
@@lucaskincanyon7393 BETTER than spiking the ball into the ground on every play
“Before we get to that, we need some context”
Great defense. I agree, the decision and the play call were correct. Too bad the blockers effed up.
Their defense was so good that the opponents quarterback rating for the year was 37.4, which is...
Say the line Bart.
What do modern analytics say about the expected return for going for it in that situation? I'm pretty sure that 4th and 1 on the 4 has an expected return of more than 3 points.
Then again, it's the Falcons offense, so not an "average" situation, so expect less. But then again again, it's the Bills defense, so expect more.
I'd love to see this in terms of a win probability analysis.
Most modern coaches would have gone for it in that situation, I think. As you note, kick a field goal, and the likely outcome is a tie. No one wants to play for that.
BTW, I was struck by your count of possessions. The Falcons had more than 10 possessions in the first have alone? Yowza. That's no offense. Nowadays, teams are lucky to get 13 possessions in a game.
Of course some will look at the modern analysis that says they’re 10% better off going for it and conclude that’s the only decision and we’ll rip on a coach for doing otherwise.
@@CTubeMan That's not the case here. He was getting ripped for the decision already. To a large extent, modern analytics have supported going for it, so if it's 10% better off going for it, it will just show that his decision was NOT bad.
love those red Falcons helmets!
I'm 54 years old and I remember this game but not this particular play but I agree with Bennett's decision to go for it on 4th and short with the game on the line. Win some, lose some.
Given the dominance of the 'Gritz Blitz' defense, if the Falcons had done nothing but spike the ball on every single play that season, they would probably have gone 10-4.
Football is so rich in history and it's awesome that you tell these great football moments in history that no one would have ever known if they did not watch your RUclips channel if there was one word to describe this channel educational
one of my favorite channels but really need a review of the college ot rules, teams don't have to go the length of the field each team gets the ball from the 25
Say the line, Bart!
I’m named after Bills LB Bo Cornell.
Seattle at the end of Super Bowl XLIX needs one of these videos. I've been defending it for years. Justified by the clock/timeout situation.
I would have gone for it. They arnt moving the ball and will likely never get down there again. 50/50. What's interesting is that the defense was fully aware of each play called, to me. Maybe their problem
m on offense was that defenses were stealing their calls?
STILL it's BETTER than spiking the ball into the ground every play.
A little kicker history. Mike-Meyer ended up getting released by Atlanta later that year and picked up by Philadelphia. The next year, he would get injured late in the season forcing the Eagles to use punter Mike Michele to kick. Meanwhile, the Falcons new kicker wasn't much better so they replaced him with bartender Tim Mazzetti. The 2 teams met in the playoffs where Michele would miss an extra point as well as a potential game winning FG. Ironically, Mike-Meyer would end up in Buffalo, then the USFL, and finally in the Arena Football League where he had a pretty decent run.
Thank goodness (I guess) for video because if you just told people how terrible these two teams were at that time, they'd barely believe it. This was ineptitude incarnate.
It would have been a crime against humanity to kick and force people to sit through overtime.
Yet another fantastic video with an event I didn't even know about. I feel like my NFL I.Q goes up a point or two with every few videos. 👍
I occasionally watch this game when I can't get to sleep ... great cure for insomnia. The final year of the NFL "dead ball era."
I think there is a rule of thumb is that you don’t play for a tie on the road. A sneak might have been better. I would have used the quarterback as a third running back since he was so inert as a passer anyway. He was so bad, who a sh*t if he got hurt.
The play didn't work, but I don't think it was a bad decision. You play to win, not to tie.
Bennett may have actually thought your argument in his head and had the conversation with his staff. "this kicker sucks, i'm not puttin this game in his hands. Plus, we aint done SHIT on offense all game, no way we can do anything in overtime... let's just punch it in there or die tryin". It's a pretty simple argument really.
And then he's not going to say that in front of reporters. He's going to say "it's on me", not shit on his players, and then move on to the next game.
12:35 Wait a minute... who's arm is on who's shoulder here???
JG9 photoshopped that in.
I’m giving Bennett credit for trying to win the game. Who knows, what if something positive happened, for once.
Even if Atlanta go the 1st down, they probably still wouldn't have scored a TD
This game reminds me of the Seahawks-Cardinals Sunday Night game in 2016. Also you have some real zingers here, especially at 4:19! And 8:52.
Yeah that was some crazy game, wasn’t it?
It is not UPSTATE NEW YORK!!! It is WESTERN NEW YORK. Upstate New York is Watertown
i mean, it looked like it almost worked
I'd love to see a video of how the Buffalo Bills Buffalo could not to beat the Dolphins from the seventies to basically the 1980s
Great story.. never knew the Falcons had that good of a defense back then. I knew of them doing well in '78...
That Falcons team almost seems like the 2000 Ravens before Trent Dilfer took over as starter - historically great defense but can’t win because their offense is the worst
Tony Banks was ass and a half
1:19 I mean you gotta realize this was the same '77 Saints that gave up 33 points to the Bucs in their franchise's first win, which just so happened to be 32% of the Bucs entire scoring output for the season. I'd have to agree with that analysis.
21 of those points were from interception returns! So the Bucs offense was not that effective..
I would have gone for the field goal because A) A tie would still have the Falcons maintain their division lead, and B) The Falcons' defense was so good, that they could take one to the house themselves anyway, and the Bills' stunk that year. Still, the kicker for Atlanta was horrible, so I understand in that case the need to go for it, although maybe they should have put their defensive players out there, since they at least knew what they were doing. Lol
25th of 28 in offense should still have gotten them to the playoffs
Is it just me, or does it look like he got it???? At worst it looks like all he would've had to do was extend the ball forward. It's probably just me...😩😂
Another reason they were bad.
So what if you lunge forward and fumble? You are going to turn it over if you don't anyway.
A gutless and terrible offense.
I though they got it on both plays
Geez, they might've stunk that season but that crowd turnout is fuckin' *sad*.
He was way worse with Tampa bay buccaneers from 85 to 87
Claude Humphreys was one of meanest players ever. But I saw a game when he was just crashing through the Aints OL so often. One time he could have just destroyed Manning, that Archie for you millennials. But instead he let up and just hit him hard enough to bring him down. If you’re an asshole QB like Baker or Rivers that doesn’t happen. Defenders are going to try not destroy you. If you’re a respected QB like Manning that does happen.
For all I know, he might be a real saint of a guy. A prince among men. The epitome of grace and style. But I grew up absolutely HATING Scott Hunter. My gosh, he was AWFUL. ALMOST as bad as Nick Mike-Mayer (btw, h/t for pronouncing his name correctly this time).
If the field goal itself will not give you the lead, going for it on 4th and short in the red zone is never a bad call (barring there being like 3 seconds left in the 4th quarter or something).
Typical Falcons. Of course there was the time Dan Quinn elected to kick a FG against SF late in 2015 instead of going for it on 4th down at the one. In that instance, the FG didn’t even tie the game and they still lost. I truly am a glutton for punishment with this team.
It's was there offensive line that was horrible.
Atlanta defense had some real good hitters.seem like that D gave 100% on every play and laid their bodies on the line..i guess that defense put the beats on them in practice to the point that they couldnt perform efficiently during the games
Well, it failed, so it was the wrong decision in that particular case. But the philosophy behind it is probably solid and Leeman Bennett shouldn't have been overly criticized for aggressive play calling.
I understand your criticism of Atlanta's offense....but Steve Bartkowski wasn't all bad, and apparently had a cannon arm.
77 falcons hold record for fewest points per game allowed.
Excellent analysis of a terrible game.
I have no prob with the falcons going for it on 4th down but the should have run a quarterback sneak on 4th and inches instead of a bootleg.
Yo can do u a video on Suber bowl 42? I still don’t understand how NE lost that game.
Not all soccer-style kickers are meant to be NFL kickers.
Have you watched every game played in the last 65 years
How the hell didn't they bench the QB? Those are some ugly throws
Bills: 25th ranked defense
0-4 coming into this game
Would go on to finish 3-11
On point differencial alone would have 2.5 wins
Falcons:
1st ranked defense
started 3-1
Based on PD: 9-5 or 10-4
3-0 Bills
77 Falcons summed up in one game
The Falcons would probably have a couple of championships if they were from a different city. Atlanta isn’t known as loserville for nothing. Almost everything about Atlanta and the state of Georgia sucks.
This was a good call. It was poorly executed. The fact that the Falcons didn’t have a good line because of trading George Kuntz had direct impact on the play. Scott Hunter wasn’t the most mobile QB, but this was an all or nothing moment. If they scored, they win, and it changes their season…
It almost looks like he made it... I think they got a bad spot.
But had he kept it outside he also might have made it.. turning inside led him right to another Bill or two.
Similar story to the Switzer Cowboys… 4th and one. Didn’t work, idiotic fans went crazy.
I mean I knew the 90s Saints had some ugly teams, but the 70s Saints were absolute trash. There is a very good reason why the Cowboys and Steelers are over-represented in Louisiana football fans over the age of 50.