NFL in the 1970s #1 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Joe Namath and Johnny Unitas

The Jets won the game 44-34, but the real winners were the fans, who witnessed a passing exhibition the likes of which the league had not seen before. Namath was 15/28 for 496 yards (more than 32 yards per completion) and six touchdowns, while Unitas added 376 yards and two touchdowns. Two weeks later, Unitas was benched in favor of Marty Domres.

He was traded to San Diego the following year. Namath continued to play until 1977, but this was his last spectacular game in the NFL.

Answer: George Blanda

Blanda, who began his NFL career with the 1949 Chicago Bears, and who helped the 1960 Houston Oilers win the first AFL title, was a 43-year old placekicker and backup quarterback with the 1970 Oakland Raiders. His heroics began in the sixth week, when the Raiders 2-2-1 at that point, were tied 7-7 against the Steelers. Coming in off the bench to relieve starter Daryle Lamonica, he engineered a 31-14 Raider victory.

The following week, he kicked a 48-yard field goal as the game ended to tie division rival Kansas City, 17-17.

In the Raiders' next game, he relieved an injured Lamonica with the Raiders trailing the Cleveland Browns, tying the game with a late touchdown pass and winning it with a 52-yard field goal as time expired. The following week against Denver, his last minute touchdown pass lifted the Raiders to a 24-19 victory. Blanda's amazing string continued into a fifth week when his late field goal carried them to a 20-17 win over the San Diego Chargers.

The team finished 8-4-2 that year, and half their wins and ties were because of Blanda's miracles.

He retired after the 1975 season, at age 48, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1981.

Answer: Narrowing the goalpost crossbars

The first 1970s rule change affecting kicking came in 1972, when the hashmarks were moved closer to the middle of field so they were even with the goal post uprights. This was done to encourage more passing, but it had the unintended consequence of giving kickers straighter kicking angles, especially on short field goals. Two years later, kickers were so dominant that several rule changes were put in place to make their job harder. Kickoffs were moved five yards back, to a team's 35, to reduce the number of touchbacks. Goal posts were moved from the goal line to the end line, adding ten yards to every field goal attempt. And the rule giving a team the ball on its 20 after an opponent's missed field goal was altered after too many teams had been attempting long field goals. Under the new rule, teams would put the ball in play at the same line of scrimmage from which their opponent had missed a field goal.

Answer: George Allen

George Allen coached the Los Angeles Rams from 1966-1970, taking the team immediately from mediocrity to one of the elite squads in the league. When he was fired by the team's impatient owners after the 1968 season, then his players threatened to quit if he wasn't re-hired.

The Rams re-hired him. Fired again after 1970, he joined the Redskins and immediately traded away many of the team's draft choices for proven veterans (many from his former team, inspiring some to call the Redskins the "Ram-skins").

In Allen's first season, the Redskins went 9-4-1, the most wins by the team since 1942, and their first trip to the postseason since 1945. He continued his "future is now" philosophy for his seven years at the helm of the team, always opting for known-quantity players over unproven rookies. Allen's Redskins made the playoffs in five of those seasons, never finishing worse than 8-6, but he was fired after the 1977 season.

Answer: Fordham Stadium

The Giants moved into Giants Stadium in 1976, but construction delays on the stadium required the team to be creative for a few seasons. Yankee Stadium, their home since 1956, was closed for renovations after the 1973 baseball season, with the Giants playing their final game there on September 23, 1973.

The team played its remaining five home games that year, plus all its 1974 home games, at the Yale Bowl in nearby New Haven, CT. Still waiting for their own stadium, they shared Shea Stadium with the Jets in 1975, before finally being able to unpack their boxes at Giants Stadium.

Answer: I'm in favor of it

McKay, who won national titles while coaching the USC Trojans in college, had some significant adjustments to make when the expansion Buccaneers hired him as their first coach. The team went 0-14 in its 1976 inaugural season, then lost the first 12 games of 1977.

When they beat New Orleans to win their first game after 26 losses, he declared it to be, "the greatest win in the history of the world".

Answer: First Super Bowl played in Miami

Super Bowl V played on January 17, 1971, will forever be remembered as the "Blunder Bowl," in which the Baltimore Colts and Dallas Cowboys managed to combine for 11 turnovers, 14 penalties, a missed extra point, and converting only four of 24 third downs.

After the Cowboys had built leads of 6-0 and 13-6, the Colts struggled back, and finally won the game on Jim O'Brien's 32 yard field goal with only five seconds left in the game.

Answer: O.J. Simpson

Simpson had been hampered by injuries and bad coaching during his early career. In 1972, his fourth season, Lou Saban, who had led the Buffalo Bills to two AFL titles in the 1960s, returned to coach the team, telling Simpson that he would be the cornerstone of the Bills' offense. Simpson gained 1,251 yards, almost twice his best previous effort, to lead the NFL in rushing that year, then gained 2,003 yards in 14 games the following year. By decade's end, he had amassed 10,539 yards, putting him ahead of Franco Harris (8,563 yards in eight seasons) and Larry Csonka (6,975 yards in nine seasons) for best running back of the 1970s.

Answer: Howard Cosell

When Monday Night Football debuted in 1970, it used three announcers, Howard Cosell, Don Meredith, and Keith Jackson. Jackson was unceremoniously dumped from the broadcast team after the 1970 season when ABC was able to sign Frank Gifford from CBS. Cosell stayed in the booth through the 1983 season. Gifford remained through 1997. Meredith left ABC from 1974-1976 for an opportunity to act and cover sports for NBC, before returning to the team from 1977-1984. So at the end of the 1979 season, Cosell had 10 years on MNF, Gifford nine, Meredith seven, and Alex Karras (Meredith's replacement) three.

Answer: They were playing for the New York Giants

"The Miracle of the Meadowlands" was one of the most notorious blunders in football history. With the Giants leading 17-12 in the final minute, Pisarchik "took a knee" to kill the clock. For reasons unknown, the Giants coaches then ordered him to hand off to Csonka on the next play. Fearing for his job if he overruled their command, he went ahead with the play, bobbled the snap, fumbled, and Herman Edwards of the Eagles picked up the bouncing ball and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown.