I know this is a random post -- but -- the thread about 50+ passes in a game got me thinking. Jets v. 49ers Week 3 1980 (i looked it up) (The article below says 1979 -- but thats wrong -- the jets didnt play the 49ers in 1979) Todd threw for what was then a Jet record for yards in a game. The jets lost 37-27 and it wasnt really even that close. Here is my question: Does anyone recall the following story. In that game, DeBerg started for the 49ers. Walsh began phasing in Montana. DeBerg had laryngitis that game and was wearing, literally, a speaker on his back -- so the team could hear the signals. At one point, the 49ers faked "technical difficulties" so they ran in Montana to take the snap, and he ran for a touchdown. After the game, Walsh admitted that they did it so the more mobile Montana could run the play. Does anyone else recall this or am I making it up?
I remember watching the SF game(s) with Deberg using the speaker. It was strapped on his back, it made him look like a hunchback. However, I recall it being before 1980 and not in the Jets game, but I could be wrong.
LOL. He absolutely did look like that. I always wondered if he ever got hit blind side while wearing that thing. It could not have been much before 1980 -- because his first year was 78.
I FOUND IT!!!! (I love the internet). This could ONLY happen against the Jets. Even I cant make this stuff up. Here is the link and the text. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/1997/12/15/SP68440.DTL Joe Montana and Bill Walsh made a nearly perfect quarterback-coach combination, and it started from the moment Montana stepped into a 49er uniform in 1979. ``Joe had some advantages,'' noted Walsh in a recent interview. ``He was in a situation where there wasn't much pressure on him because nobody expected him to win. (The 49ers had their second straight 2-14 season in Montana's rookie year and were 6-10 in his second.) ``He could watch and learn from Steve DeBerg, who was a very good quarterback. He had people like Dwight Clark who could make big plays.'' [an error occurred while processing this directive] But most of all, he had Walsh and his system, which has made successful quarterbacks out of almost everybody who's played in it. One of Walsh's former quarterbacks, Dan Fouts, is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Montana will be selected as soon as he's eligible, in 1999. ``By that time,'' said Walsh, ``I had had a lot of experience in working with young quarterbacks. I'd done it with Virgil Carter, Greg Cook and Kenny Anderson at Cincinnati, with Dan Fouts in San Diego and with Guy Benjamin and Steve Dils at Stanford. So, I had a definite plan in mind.'' DeBerg was a strong-armed quarterback who also was smart and understood Walsh's system, but he had a fatal flaw in Walsh's eyes: a lack of mobility. He was unable to get away from pressure and too often threw blindly, with interceptions resulting. In the Walsh system, which uses passing to control the ball and ``move the chains,'' interceptions are not tolerated. So, from the time he drafted Montana, Walsh planned to make him the starting quarterback. First, he worked to build up Montana's confidence. In practice as a rookie, he had Joe working in practice only on plays he could run well, such as rollouts on which he could either run or pass, and then using him in games only when he could look good, usually deep in the other team's territory. In one memorable game against the New York Jets in 1979 [see STEVIEP NOTE ABOVE -- JETS DIDNT PLAY THE 49ers in 1979 -- they played them in Week 3 in 1980], he even used a bit of deception. DeBerg had suffered from laryngitis during the week and used an amplifier to call signals during the game. At one point, with the ball inside the Jets' 10, he came out of the game, pointing toward his throat as if the amplifier had failed. It hadn't. Walsh had signalled that he wanted Montana in the game, and Joe came in to get the touchdown. By Montana's second season, 1980, he and DeBerg were alternating as starters. Joe started seven games that season, including the game against New Orleans that was then the best comeback in NFL history; trailing 35-7 at halftime, the Montana-led 49ers wound up winning 38-35. ``That was really Joe's breakout game,'' said Walsh. ``That gave him the confidence he could do the job.'' It also gave Walsh the confidence he needed that Montana was ready. In the off-season, Walsh traded DeBerg to make room for Montana. ``Steve was such a charismatic leader, such a competitor, that I don't think Joe could ever have become the leader we needed with him around,'' said Walsh. [an error occurred while processing this directive] The 1981 season was a magical one, for the 49ers and for Montana, who led the team to a 13-3 record and the first of what would become four Super Bowl championships in his career. Along the way, the 49ers blew out the Dallas Cowboys 45-14 in another game that Walsh regards as very significant in Montana's progress. ``I think that was really the first time Joe realized all the things he could accomplish with this offense,'' Walsh said. The most dramatic game that season, of course, was the NFC championship game against Dallas. In the final five minutes of the game, Montana took the 49ers on a drive for the game-winning touchdown, throwing to Clark on what ever since has been known as ``The Catch,'' as Clark leaped and stretch for the ball. ``The Cowboys said Joe was trying to throw the ball away, but that was a designed play,'' said Walsh. ``That and the drive were typical of Joe. We worked in practice on those situations, and Joe performed in the game exactly as he practiced.'' Montana, said Walsh, absorbed everything given to him. `'At first, he would question calls because he didn't completely understand the offense, but once I explained the reason for the call, he understood and remembered.'' Even in the first championship season, Walsh restricted the offense to make it easier for Montana, calling plays which had receivers on just one side of the field, for instance. But by the end of the 1983 season, Montana had the whole offense, and he made use of all of it. ``His decision-making was always remarkable,'' said Walsh.
I watched that game, yes, DeBerg wore the huge speaker on his back. There was talk the following year of Richard Todd doing the same thing vs Miami with a broken rib in a game for first place, but he ended up just wearing a flak jacket. That was the game with the famous TD to Jerome Barkum at the end of the game. In the 49er game, the Jets fell way behind and Todd ended up setting some team records for passing--attempts, completions and yardage. I remember Clark Gaines having a big day, numbers-wise. Montana was a pain in the ass, he came in a few times and gave SF a spark early.
I do remember the talk about Todd possibly using the amplifier for the Dolphin game due to his broken rib. Todd also had a sprained ankle in that Miami game. Say what you will about him, but I always thought Todd was tough. In that SF game Clark Gaines caught 17 passes. He was one of my favorite Jets when I was a kid. Unfortunately he broke his leg in that game and never played for the Jets again.
No he didn't. He threw for what was then an NFL record in completions with 42. Most yards in a game for a Jet QB remains 496, by Joe Namath in 1972 vs. Bills. (15 for 28, 496 Yards, 6 TD, 1 Vinny)
Wow, that I don't remember. Maybe that's why he sticks out in my mind from that game. How about Bruce Harper? He got hurt in one of our first games ever at the Meadowlands. He got a nice gain to inside the 5 and he ended his career with an injury on the turf.
My dad told me about that game, but I thought it was the Colts, a battle between Namath and Unitas. Unless that was a different game, it was a bit before my time. Apparently the Colts game was like an earlier version of O'Brien vs Marino in 1986.
What many "younger" jets fans may not realize is that the fact that we saw this game was unusual. I would say most (or at least many) Jet games from Shea were blacked out because of the NFL sell out rule. The SF game was on -- Im sure that most homes games that year were not.
I'll never forget that game with Namath and Unitas. Namath completed two 80 yard TD's to Caster, a 79 yarder to Eddie Bell and a 49 yarder to Riggins. He had 6 TDs in all and gained 496 yards on just 17 completions. That win made the Jets 2-0 in 1972. After Joe had been injured for the better parts of 1970 and 1971, we all thought the Jets were back to their old form of 1968-69. Unfortunately, in the next game the Jets lost to the lowly Oilers (the Oilers only win that season) and it was the first sign of what was to be an uneven season. They finished the year 7-7. The one game I went to that season was the Jets vs. Miami in the Orange Bowl. It was Miami's perfect season and the Jets took the Dolphins to the brink, but lost 28-24.
We have a sellout streak that goes back to '78 I think so all the blacked out games were done before 1980.
Every Jets game since the 1978 season finale (loss to Dallas) has been a sell-out ...over 200 straight games. As late as 1982 and 1983 a few games still had a small amount of tickets available during the pre-season (games against lowly opponents like NE and the Colts) but those always sold out well before gametime....
For the most part that is correct. The one exception was the last home game of 1980, the 0-14 Saints at the 3-11 Jets. The network has (or had at the time) the option not to show the game to the home team's market and NBC decided to show someone else. There must have been a game with some playoff implications that they thought would draw better ratings. I remember pre-1978 having to listen to the home games on the radio with Marty Glickman and Dave Herman. Every Friday I couldn't wait to see the paper to see if it was on and was always disappointed when it would say "Blacked Out". When "Inside the NFL" first started, I couldn't wait to see the highlights of the home games because of the blackouts.
Didn't the Jets lose that game to the Saints? I remember being really mad that the game wasn't on, because I didn't know until I turned the TV on and another game was on.
Yes, that was the 1 in the Saints' 1-15 season--another low water moment for us. The Jets were driving at the end for a potential game winning FG, but Bruce Harper couldn't get out of bounds in time and the clock ran out.
I was very young but I remember not being able to see that game on TV for whatever reason -you older guys say it wasn't on because of ratings so I guess that's the reason. However it had to be a CBS game -NFC team at AFC in those days were on CBS and vice-versa on NBC. I may be wrong because it was so long ago but CBS may not have showed any early game in the NY area -I think I remember the Browns playing the Vikings being shown on NBC instead -both teams had playoff implications and some of you may remember this being the Ahmad Rashad game where he caught a hail mary TD at :00 to put Minnesota in the playoffs....
I was there. They had a terrible year, played absolutely horribly in the game. They threw something on the order of 70 passes and the game was far more one-sided than the score. The Niners had been horrible the previous year and the fact that they were getting wiped out was utterly depressing. I vividly remember Walsh bringing Montana into the game and will embarrassingly admit thinking that the representation of how bad they were was that even Montana managed to score against them. I guess that's why I'm not a GM.
