I still catch myself calling them the Baltimore Colts probably because I haven't followed them since they snuck out of Baltimore in the wee hours of the night many decades ago
What memories! A time when QBs didn't wear dresses and gritty smash mouth football! There was a mythology surrounding these players. The Purple People Eaters, The Doomsday Defense, The Steele Curtain, The Fearsome Foursome! Deacon Jones, the greatest pass rusher of all time!!! I miss those days and that MNF intro brings a tear to my eye! God bless these warriors and heroes of years gone bye!
man iam so with you on that i didnt know how good we had it then mr greed stepped in all down hill not all but most of players today couldnt have played with these guys
I'm late to the party, BUT, that's the BEST description of what the NFL has become. It's really been dumbed down/made easier to hold the attention of GENX etc., GAMER BOYS.
This is awesome ... the man!... Roman Gabriel , my All time favorite player...thanks so much for posting these old games... takes me back to myself as a 10 yr old..
@@jameshuseby6290 The TRUTH is - the players today are BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER, but, the style of the game is WEAKER. The NFL is more like The Canadian Football League (CFL) in the 70's/80's.
I wholeheartedly agree, TJ. I left football a long time ago, because it is not the same good game like in the glory days. For me, it started to slowly slide down with the 1980s, and after the turn of the century, it went all stupid, with ugly uniforms, rules, and all..
@@jimbotc2000 I didn't mean to imply anything except, the rules changes #1 have turned the NFL into Arena Football (every team Shotgun formation EVERY DOWN !! So predictable -its a PASS, DUH), and #2 I'm all for making the game safer, that means enforcing the rules -"spearing" has always been a penalty, but now it can be called/and sometimes is/ ON EVERY DOWN/tackle, The NFL/Referees still haven't figured out the difference between a HARD HITTING LEGAL TACKLE, and a hard hitting ILLEGAL/Dirty play... anything that's a hard hit now is called a penalty. IT'S RIDICULOUS.
This was such a INNOCENT time for me as a young 13yr old adolescent. My has time pass so fast, I'm now 64yrs old, excuse me, a YOUNG 64yr old!! The telecast crew has since passed on and even some of the players etc...My classmates and I would talk about Sunday's games etc....and try to predict who was going to win Monday night's game and of course, discuss the game Tuesday morning, man!...... Those were some GOOD times
I was here for this game….my uncle, Don Hewitt was the equipment manager for the Rams…….but I am a Baltimore Colts fan, Rams next…I was fortunate enough to meet many of the players on both teams over the years….the Shulas and McCaffertys were my neighbors…..and Johnny U lived a few streets over….Lutherville /Timonium was a Colts paradise…..
At the 2:36:53 mark - Loved how ABC did the closing to Monday Night Football. It's where the camera zooms out of the scoreboard that says "this has been an ABC Sports Presentation," then the whole stadium is in frame, and finally LIGHTS OUT!
Fabulous game, the Colts great one two punch of Morrall and Unitas was showing its age but still usually got the job done the Colts defense was dominant especially Hendrix and Smith and Tom Matte overachieving week in and out. For me these games predate my earliest memories and I have brought the thrill of the NFL alive again
Pure football. Toughness ... tackling ... running ... blocking ...the rare pass ... 11 working as 1. 1971 was just prior to my high school freshman season. I love the uniforms, tough, simple, appropriate. Note: the crowd has yet to become overwhelmed (covered) with NFL products - i.e. the jersey, hat and other team paraphernalia.
unlike today Scottie B...it is all about FUNDAMENTALS...and NO SHOWBOATING!!!!...I am 50 years old and I miss those days of getting dirty playing football with my friends, maybe bleeding and you knew it was just FOOTBALL!!!!
1971 was the first year I was really interested in football, I turned 10 and was a die hard Rams fan. There was a store at the Tacoma Mall that sold licensed NFL products and my parents got me a genuine blue & white Rams helmet made by Rawlings. (It was before the Seahawks existed). My older brother got a 49ers helmet and younger brother got a Vikings helmet. They sold the whole uniform in kids sizes but I figured getting the helmet was good enough, I didn't want to push my luck and ask for the whole thing.
@@jameshuseby6290 He was a tough little bastard, I'll give him that. He switched to Lacrosse after high school though and now he is a Seahawks fan so decide for yourself.
I love old NFL & AFL games and Super Bowls. It's so awesome to watch this old stuff so much. Thank you for sharing. I clicked on it because my favorite commentators Don Meredith is on the thumbnail AND we got Howard Cosell to boot!!!!!
Thanks for the great collection of games you have loaded Virgil, I always loved the Colts of the 60s+70s and these players on both teams were heroes of mine as a 10 year old,I liked how the games moved along at a steady pace without any celebrations after a 2 yard run or catch like it is nowadays.
@@jaroncreed, especially when the protest is not a free speech issue. The first amendment does not come into play when the owners' private property/TEAM VIABILITY AND PROFIT is damaged. The sinking ratings in 2017 hurt the future chances of the owners getting more money on tv contracts. Secondly, the networks have to give money back to the advertisers when ratings do not meet what is promised. That affects how much money the networks are willing to give to the owners. Back to the free speech issue, its not protected speech/protest if private property is damaged. Its not protected speech if the tax money allocated by the public is not protected: i.e. public schools, and the taxpayer funded reasons for approving stadiums: entetrainment over political rallies. The exception to the latter would be if publicly elected reps vote to lease the stadium out for a political convention/speech, religious revivals, atheists conventions(lol) etc..and even those reasons must live up to what local, state and federal govts promise in the contract, verbal or otherwise with the public. The use of taxpayer funds to allow political protests not covered by free speech is illegal as its a misappropriation of funds. And, only if a free speech protest does not have an equally effective venue for protest than private property, is it allowed to transpire regardless of damaging the private property/team, organization in this case; private industry such as a factory in other cases. Finally, your SJW crack is a crock. The stats accrued by both the GW BUSH and OBAMA U.S. justice departments AND THE FBI, show that blacks are per capita not shot indIscriminately as much as whites. Further, there are far more encounters between blacks and police because there are far more phone calls to police about black crime in progress, many of those calls coming from law abiding blacks in poorer black neighborhoods. All of that info, is available in research journalist Heather McDonald's book: THE WAR ON COPS. Stuff like black cops are just as likely to shoot armed or unarmed blacks as white cops are. Educate yourself and stop deluding yourself as you believe lies that do not exist as truth. As for C.Kaepernick, once teams pinned him inside the pocket, saw his qb rating sink like a one ton rock in quicksand. And, wwaring pig socks and associating yourself with a girlfriend who champions BLMatter a group that calls for cop killings, is never going to get a signing of a mediocre qb past the public's disdain. KAPPY was offered jobs by Denver, Miami, and Baltimore, but he turned down the first two and his girlfriend's insults of Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti killed the other opportunity. Wake up..if you dare... GOT IT?
@Sideshow Bob, and the stats show that happens to whites just as much as blacks. Secondly, a black is more likely to be shot by a black officer. At no time did I say it was ok for any cop to shoot another person who was unarmed. But, the NFL if it had not put a lid on this crap this season would have lost me permanently. The players, outside of a few twits who never gave a damn about this issue until it got publicity, stopped protesting this myth of blacks being shot disproportionately because even though their players association got the league to back off with the commissioner's threat of suspensions, the players were given the implied message that with the upcoming collective bargaining agreement this crap was going to be stopped by a clause in it, if it did not stop widescale right now. I have got to say that Goodell finally did something right. And, the amendment exists whether you like it or not. MEANWHILE, unfortunately, non-bigoted cops are as apt to make mistakes-being human- as a bigoted cop, but the numbers do not reflect that blacks are shot disproportionately armed or unarmed. One seventh the population but seven to eight times more likely to be involved in a criminal complaint mostly by other terrorized honest, law abiding blacks just trying to live their lives=blacks. IF YOU DO NOT LIKE THE FACTS, TOUGH BLEEP. And, after this started last year, yours truly, a former pro sportscaster in retirement, WATCHED NO GAMES FROM WEEK FOUR TILL THIS SEASON. Who are you calling a hypocrite, you hypocrite who makes a jumping to conclusion judgment just as a cop who shoots an unarmed guy, black or white, does.. Well, genius? DEBATE ME ON THIS FURTHER, BECAUSE I LOOK FORWARD to burying your arse in facts. By the way, if no one is going to boycott the NFL, including me, and it will not be bad for business because of a boycott that you imply will never exist, why is the new AAF league making it an expulsion if their players do "protest". WELL, GENIUS?
This clip turned up in my feed and I immediately scrolled over to just before halftime. I had watched this game live 50 years ago and remember that the Rams had tried a rare'fair catch free kick field goal' attempt. The team lines up like on a kickoff but the ball is held; there is no tee. With a free kick there is no rush to block the kick but the kicker still missed a makeable FG of under 50 yards.
Pulled from a straight network feed. Very nice. A few minutes of post game camera shots, fade to black and the start of an ABC newsfeed after a few minutes of black.
Ah yes my back then LA Rams blowing yet another game I remember watching that on MNF. Pissed me off trading Gabriel to Philly. Gave up on the Rams when they moved to St Louis though the Kurt Warner years were the best & only SB win. Wow old Memorial Stadium I was their for a MNF game Colts Oilers great memories & great football.
Was also at that Oilers at Colts MNF game; was held nite before 1976 presidential election (Ford vs. Carter). Attended many Univ. Md. football games here, when scheduled, & even more Orioles games; reg. season, ALCS, & World Series.
Nice to see the original commercials included, and note how there were far fewer back then. For LA fans, just another potential win blown by the Rams. And whether he was drunk or not, Cosell was always obnoxious.
Love this vintage NFL during the offseason, especially the old MNF intro and graphics. Rams and Colts were in various stages of development in the early '70s. Rams rebounded and won seven straight division titles to close out the decade. Colts were pretty much finished in Balt. with the '76 playoff loss to Oakland.
My Son got his RAM helmet signed by Jack Youngblood and Fred Dryer at Canton Ohio in 2001... Eric Underwood Class of 81 Downey High school CA ✌️❤️ RAMS
@@LeeBrasher Right On...both my brother and I were DEs... Do you remember if Downey beat Warren that year....we beat Warren in 81 for the first time in a decade or more...Did you know that Merlin Olsen lived on Woodruff Ave right across the street from Easy Jr high.
Besides being an accomplished collegiate football coach at UCLA, & did right by the Rams, Coach Prothro was a world class master tournament bridge player.
48 years and it hasn't dated a bit (at least to those of us who remembered this era) A largely defensive struggle until the 4th quarter when 24 of the total 41 points were scored. The guy doing the Rapid Shave commercial at 6:22 I'm almost sure is former Green Bay Packer great Henry Jordan (died 1977 age 42)
No doubt. Danderoo as Cosell referred to him, brought his unique brand of humor & astute football insight. Can also recall Dandy Don's TV commercials for Lipton tea.
The danderoo according to cosell down Meredith was a good quarterback he should have won at least one super bowl Packers got in the way twice back to back years 66 67 they were close games
Norm Bulaich…most people don't realize he ran a 9.6 in the100yd dash in college unfortunately tore up his knee in 1972 I believe and never got his speed back. Btw love the Pinto ad I believe 3rd degree burns were part of the deluxe package on the later models
Those 2 were also great special team players. 3 an 2 . 4th an 1 those guys were fireplugs. Like Pete Banasack for Raiders #40. I think he played for shula also.
Isiah Robertson and Mike Curtis were both studs at LB. Each should be in the Hall of Fame. Then there's Lance "Drop His Pants" Rentzel. I'd forgotten he played for the Rams.
Robertson died just last week at 69. He perished in a car crash on a rainy street in Texas, near his home in Mabank. As a lbacker, 25 picks, six pro bowls=borderline Hall of Famer..great player!
I was allowed to stay up until halftime for the Highlights...Then it was off to bed...but I of course used to listen to the game from the living room. Its a shame now with all the primetime football. MFN was special for a reason but prime time revenue/greed has made it all ho hum now.
It's more than that it was the way the players acted and the Network announcers the lack of commercials and the NFL being more about the game than now being a big corporate greedy money vacuum
@@jameshuseby6290 Football has just about become an unwatchable mess now except maybe for the Ivy League. I appreciate these old classic games far more, like the 1958 NFL Championship which I just re-watched and enjoyed every bit as much as the first time I experienced the reassembled gamecast up on UA-cam.
Only Howard Cosell could make 45 seconds with the Vice President seem like a "World Premiere Event"! This only the 2nd season of MNF and with Frank Gifford on the PBP, the crew was set to dominate the ratings for years to come. Their 3 man booth would havee been just as good with Keith Jackson on the call, it was cler that ABC wanted people talking the next day, and they achieved that goal by the end of this 1971 schedule. The placement of Howard in the booth with Dandy Don gave Meredith the go ahead to be himself. I'm sure Cosell sat down with Frank and Don, and told them, eventially there will be a game so lousy (1971 vernacular) that if we're not a team and able to hold the audience despite that fact, the would ne exposed and ot could go downhill very quicky. By 1975 MNF had a serious stranglehold on ABC and ABC took off...Straight to THE no.1 Network finally passing CBS and plucking the feathers right off the NBC Peacock. btw...NBC was ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE back then, plummeting all the way to last. PBS and UHF stations running kids shows, nature and syndicated re-runs were knocking NBC out the box. I'm dead serious when I say this. A former NBC executive told me this at the bar I was serving drinks at back in 1999 that the Peacock was - close to bankruptcy and being forced to sell off their TV entities and go to a 2 hour Prime Time. 8pm -10pm. Then come back for Johnny Carson. at 11:30. They were thinking of putting The Tonight Show on at 11pm. 3 things saved NBC. 1. Johnny Carson (He still made money and back then, there was NO ONE close at that time slot, so NBC made up as much on the back end of the night. 2. The Nightly News and the Today Show. John Chancellor was a worthy challenger to CBS and Walter Cronkite. No.3....This one is gonna trip you out, but when you really think...and think about the timing. NBC was declining in 1971, but by 1975 they were in dead last and in panick mode. Then this happened....The arrival of the Pittsburgh Steelers! Yep! NBC had the AFC package, scored BIG TIME because the Steelers were on NBC most games. The country had its teams that did numbers, but no one did them like Pittsburgh and when tje playoffs came, or the Steelers were in the late window 4pm or later they couldn't be stopped. Curt Gowdy and the Steelers. For NBC it was like Peanut Butter n Jelly. MNF was right in the middle of almost bringing down NBC. So mich so, MBC retalliated and stole Dandy Don from ABC. He came back in 1978 though and all was well in the booth once again. NBC recovered and Curt Gowdy called his last of the 7 Super Bowls he called in Jan 1979 woth Super Bowl XIII. A little television history for you. That's how BIG Monday Night Football was back then. Television will NEVER be that good or interesting like it was again.
They were division rivals from 1953-1969. This was their first and last post-merger game in Baltimore. They played 34 times from 1953-1969 but only 10 times since then, with 5 of those being St. Louis vs. Indianapolis matchups.
Later on the Colts’ owner Carrol Rosenbloom convinced Bob Irsay to buy the Rams and “trade” the two franchises straight up, giving Irsay control of the Colts. The rest is bad history!
The two teams traded owners (or more precisely, the owners traded teams) the following summer. Could negotiations have commenced in the owners box that evening?
the biggest mistake the NFL let happen if they know then the two teams would never left there cities and the NFL would never been sue by Al Davis and they would never have this mess in LA right now ..
A year later, Earl Morrall quarterbacked the Dolphins to -- not one -- but two shutout victories against the Colts. I don't know whose decision it was to let Morrall go in the spring of '72, but whoever it was must have felt extremely foolish eight months later, and Morrall must have felt more than a little vindicated.
Robert Sprouse Morrall was actually a great qb. He played behind Norm Van Brocklin half his career. But when called upon, he produced nicely. He threw a nice ball, and will always be known as the best backup quarterback of all time. In 1968, he had about the best season a qb could have. But he played behind Unitas, so once again, never was able to shine. He played 10 games in 1972 for the Dolphins, and Shula brought back Griese for the playoffs. Again, playing second to a starter. Never complained once. He was a real man. When called upon, he gave his best. Wasn't out for glory or the limelight. I was a Unitas fan growing up, but I saw the value in Earl, especially in the 1971 season.
@@franklamagna3889, Morrall did well with great players around him, sometimes. Put dogs around him on offense and he could not remain hot, often failing to lift those bad or mediocre offenses up. He was not SONNY JURGENSEN, who backed up VAN BROCKLIN, AND RECEIVED THE STAMP OF APPROVAL FROM LOMBARDI, BUT WAS HATED BY ALLEN who loved milk shakes and hated beer drinkers who were nailed for DUIs, Sonny's downfall. But, Jurgenson's 1966 performance on a very mediocre WASH.REDSKINS TEAM(3700 YARDS PASSING, ALMOST 60 PERCENT COMPLETION PERCENTAGE, CLOSE TO 30 TD PASSES UNDER OLD RULES) is testament to how great he truly was at qb. MORRALL could not tie JURGY'S SHOES...EARL WAS A LUCKY DUCK. And, AS FAR AS I KNOW, PLAYED FOR DETROIT, NY GIANTS, BALTY AND MIAMI, NEVER BACKING UP THE DUTCHMAN. JURGY BACKED UP NVB AT PHILLY, SONNY'S ORIGINAL TEAM. When VanB got out to go head coach the new MINNY VIKES, Sonny inherited an old EAGLE team that saw BEDNARIK'S RETIREMENT. But, Earl? I do not think he played with NVB AS A TEAMMATE. NVB PLAYED AT L.A., too. DID HE PLAY ANYWHERE ELSE? NYG, OR DETROIT? I don't think so. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. IF HE DID, AND HAD MORRALL AS A TEAMMATE, EARL DID NOT BACK HIM UP LONG. NOW MORRALL DID BACK UP UNITAS, GRIESE, AND LAYNE, ETC. SO WHAT! RATTERMAN BACKED UP GRAHAM, McHAN BACKED UP STARR, BRATKOWSKI BACKED UP STARR, HORN BACKED UP STARR. SO WHAT! ARE THOSE GUYS HALL OF FAMERS? JURGENSEN IS, AND MORRALL IS NOT.
Part of the deal to lose SB3 was Shula getting 10% of the Dolphins and Morrall who was the other player in on it getting a nice job with his partner in crime. If you think I'm crazy research how rich these guys got and how all the owners became billionaires after the BColts lost to the Jets and sealed the merger.
Back when fans were their best slacks and sleeveless sweaters and top it off with a fine Lucky Strike to calm the ole nerves not like today with fans sporting the team gear because they want you to know they're the greatest fan and have all the jerseys and in one hand a Carmel frappuccino and the other hand the newest apple phone with their teams stats and photos safely stored at their maniquerd fingertips wow!!! how times have changed gotta go with the former
Earl Morrall past away at 79 in 2014. After death, examination of his brain disclosed that he had grade 4 (the most serious stage) chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Hard to believe that when this game was played he had already been in the league 16 yrs. I was 12 or 13 yrs old in 71 and can remember him with the Colts and then being a big part of the Dolphins undefeated year the next season. Grew up in S Cal remember Roman Gabriel as well.
@@robertglancy4474 Yep, and the reason Don Shula went out and got Morrall is because the Dolphins had drafted Joe Theismann, but Theismann went to Canada instead, so they needed a back up to Griese
@@robertglancy4474 Oh yeah....Theismann talked about that in the "America's Game" series for the 82 Redskins. He watched for 3 years as the Dolphins went to 3 straight Superbowls. He even said he was thinking to himself "you blew it, you really blew it"....lol
Awesome promo for The Mod Squad! I used to love that show! Btw, just like when I used to watch these games when they were played, I find myself asking, “what game is Gifford watching???”
This was when Monday night football was special....the halftime highlights were sometimes the first u saw of replay of the weekend
SportsCenter before SportsCenter
Yes. Back in the day there were no highlights until Monday night halftime.
The Colts and the Rams had the very best uniforms I think.
The 1960s Rams for sure.
I love watching any old footage of the Baltimore Colts, I'll always say that the Colts should still be in Baltimore.
Absolutely belong in Baltimore
At the very least, Baltimore should've had the Colts name and historical records returned to them after they got a team back in '96.
@@MrTommyg024 yes that's for sure.
I still catch myself calling them the Baltimore Colts probably because I haven't followed them since they snuck out of Baltimore in the wee hours of the night many decades ago
Amen
I remember watching this game live as a grade schooler! I wish the Rams would go back to these old school uniforms!
I loved the old Rams uni's too.
P
Lppp
I agree. New ones are fugly
Yes! The blue and white look much better without that ridiculous yellow/gold in there.
What memories! A time when QBs didn't wear dresses and gritty smash mouth football! There was a mythology surrounding these players. The Purple People Eaters, The Doomsday Defense, The Steele Curtain, The Fearsome Foursome! Deacon Jones, the greatest pass rusher of all time!!! I miss those days and that MNF intro brings a tear to my eye! God bless these warriors and heroes of years gone bye!
Check out Patriots vs. Jets, October 18, 1976.
man iam so with you on that i didnt know how good we had it then mr greed stepped in all down hill not all but most of players today couldnt have played with these guys
Glorious. NFL back in the day. Loved the Rams unis
1000 thumbs up
Thanks
Sooooo much better than the mess on air currently
Don Meredith--brilliant as usual. This is before the NFL became a big glitzy corporate mess.
👍🇺🇸🏉
I think you mean toilet.
So True
with markings in the end zone stating: 'end racism' or players with decals on their helmets saying: 'stop hate'
I'm late to the party, BUT, that's the BEST description of what the NFL has become. It's really been dumbed down/made easier to hold the attention of GENX etc., GAMER BOYS.
I love the fact that you left the commercials in.
Commercials were a lot better less lame then now the commercials are repreitive and ridiculously silly
3:35 lol! Dandy Don and Howard were gold together and set the standard of great broadcasting never to be replacated again!
Nor replicated like bad spelling.
@@drbonesshow1 Your one of those guys eh. Thanks captain spell check!
1971 Colts D under recognized, loved those Colts vs Rams games in white & blue!
This is awesome ... the man!... Roman Gabriel , my All time favorite player...thanks so much for posting these old games... takes me back to myself as a 10 yr old..
Watch him on Gilligan's Island.
The rules changes have made the game much easier for the offense. I appreciate the old school running game hard ass football.
Was so much better back then
@@jameshuseby6290 The TRUTH is - the players today are BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER, but, the style of the game is WEAKER. The NFL is more like The Canadian Football League (CFL) in the 70's/80's.
I wholeheartedly agree, TJ.
I left football a long time ago, because it is not the same good game like in the glory days.
For me, it started to slowly slide down with the 1980s, and after the turn of the century, it went all stupid, with ugly uniforms, rules, and all..
@@jimbotc2000 I didn't mean to imply anything except, the rules changes #1 have turned the NFL into Arena Football (every team Shotgun formation EVERY DOWN !! So predictable -its a PASS, DUH), and #2 I'm all for making the game safer, that means enforcing the rules -"spearing" has always been a penalty, but now it can be called/and sometimes is/ ON EVERY DOWN/tackle, The NFL/Referees still haven't figured out the difference between a HARD HITTING LEGAL TACKLE, and a hard hitting ILLEGAL/Dirty play... anything that's a hard hit now is called a penalty. IT'S RIDICULOUS.
I do not watch football anymore really, but I agree.
This was such a INNOCENT time for me as a young 13yr old adolescent. My has time pass so fast, I'm now 64yrs old, excuse me, a YOUNG 64yr old!! The telecast crew has since passed on and even some of the players etc...My classmates and I would talk about Sunday's games etc....and try to predict who was going to win Monday night's game and of course, discuss the game Tuesday morning, man!...... Those were some GOOD times
Brutal game, both defenses tough, hard-nosed with hard hitting and gang tackling
Back when football players didn't jump up and down after a routine tackle or catch.
Damm!! Good point...thats what I can't stand about today's football, these guys get so worked up...over doing there job.
Damm!! Good point...thats what I can't stand about today's football, these guys get so worked up...over doing there job.
Yes that's when grown ups played not the overpaid brats that played now and crave attention any way they can get it
And no commercial break right after the kickoff.
I was here for this game….my uncle, Don Hewitt was the equipment manager for the Rams…….but I am a Baltimore Colts fan, Rams next…I was fortunate enough to meet many of the players on both teams over the years….the Shulas and McCaffertys were my neighbors…..and Johnny U lived a few streets over….Lutherville /Timonium was a Colts paradise…..
dam that is awesome i could only wish
With covid... time travel to real football is priceless. Thanks.
So love watching these old games, especially the commercials
I LOVE 1970's NFL football, the hard hitting is the BEST!
At the 2:36:53 mark - Loved how ABC did the closing to Monday Night Football. It's where the camera zooms out of the scoreboard that says "this has been an ABC Sports Presentation," then the whole stadium is in frame, and finally LIGHTS OUT!
When Football was Football and the Game itself was everything.
I remember the Rams had a Monday Night jinx during the early years of MNF. They just couldn't win on Monday nights.
Their first win on Monday Night Football was in 1972 26 -16 over 49ers
Fabulous game, the Colts great one two punch of Morrall and Unitas was showing its age but still usually got the job done the Colts defense was dominant especially Hendrix and Smith and Tom Matte overachieving week in and out. For me these games predate my earliest memories and I have brought the thrill of the NFL alive again
This is awesome! I love that old intro!
Jason PDSI I remember that intro. It was so exciting hearing it as a kid. I had to go to bed a halftime so I could get up for school...
You know bud we all had the same dream listen to that intro thinking maybe one day we get in the league but half-time to bed
Better intro than now.
Pure football. Toughness ... tackling ... running ... blocking ...the rare pass ... 11 working as 1. 1971 was just prior to my high school freshman season. I love the uniforms, tough, simple, appropriate. Note: the crowd has yet to become overwhelmed (covered) with NFL products - i.e. the jersey, hat and other team paraphernalia.
unlike today Scottie B...it is all about FUNDAMENTALS...and NO SHOWBOATING!!!!...I am 50 years old and I miss those days of getting dirty playing football with my friends, maybe bleeding and you knew it was just FOOTBALL!!!!
1971 was the first year I was really interested in football, I turned 10 and was a die hard Rams fan. There was a store at the Tacoma Mall that sold licensed NFL products and my parents got me a genuine blue & white Rams helmet made by Rawlings. (It was before the Seahawks existed). My older brother got a 49ers helmet and younger brother got a Vikings helmet. They sold the whole uniform in kids sizes but I figured getting the helmet was good enough, I didn't want to push my luck and ask for the whole thing.
@@Stacie45 So the youngest brother was the smartest football fan?
@@jameshuseby6290 He was a tough little bastard, I'll give him that. He switched to Lacrosse after high school though and now he is a Seahawks fan so decide for yourself.
I love old NFL & AFL games and Super Bowls. It's so awesome to watch this old stuff so much. Thank you for sharing. I clicked on it because my favorite commentators Don Meredith is on the thumbnail AND we got Howard Cosell to boot!!!!!
Thank you for posting these videos. I can watch this all day long
love this stuff ,I watch these old games almost as much as the new games.
Their better, this is real football, todays game is so pusifyed, they have made 40 diff rule changes since this game
As a AFL NFL fan since 1968 I now watch this old school pro football and hardly watch the crap that NFL has turned into
I love this. This is when football was football.
amen to that
Thanks for the great collection of games you have loaded Virgil, I always loved the Colts of the 60s+70s and these players on both teams were heroes of mine as a 10 year old,I liked how the games moved along at a steady pace without any celebrations after a 2 yard run or catch like it is nowadays.
Always loved the music ...at the begging...the guitar stands out...hearing these voices damn time does wait for no one.These videos take u back..👍😊
The nfl, pre Goodell, pre Kaepernick. The post is much-appreciated. Thanks.
pre Kaepernick one player make you boycott? SJW pussboy who hates free speech , nice.
@@jaroncreed, especially when the protest is not a free speech issue. The first amendment does not come into play when the owners' private property/TEAM VIABILITY AND PROFIT is damaged. The sinking ratings in 2017 hurt the future chances of the owners getting more money on tv contracts. Secondly, the networks have to give money back to the advertisers when ratings do not meet what is promised. That affects how much money the networks are willing to give to the owners.
Back to the free speech issue, its not protected speech/protest if private property is damaged. Its not protected speech if the tax money allocated by the public is not protected: i.e. public schools, and the taxpayer funded reasons for approving stadiums: entetrainment over political rallies. The exception to the latter would be if publicly elected reps vote to lease the stadium out for a political convention/speech, religious revivals, atheists conventions(lol) etc..and even those reasons must live up to what local, state and federal govts promise in the contract, verbal or otherwise with the public.
The use of taxpayer funds to allow political protests not covered by free speech is illegal as its a misappropriation of funds. And, only if a free speech protest does not have an equally effective venue for protest than private property, is it allowed to transpire regardless of damaging the private property/team, organization in this case; private industry such as a factory in other cases.
Finally, your SJW crack is a crock. The stats accrued by both the GW BUSH and OBAMA U.S. justice departments AND THE FBI, show that blacks are per capita not shot indIscriminately as much as whites. Further, there are far more encounters between blacks and police because there are far more phone calls to police about black crime in progress, many of those calls coming from law abiding blacks in poorer black neighborhoods.
All of that info, is available in research journalist Heather McDonald's book: THE WAR ON COPS. Stuff like black cops are just as likely to shoot armed or unarmed blacks as white cops are.
Educate yourself and stop deluding yourself as you believe lies that do not exist as truth.
As for C.Kaepernick, once teams pinned him inside the pocket, saw his qb rating sink like a one ton rock in quicksand. And, wwaring pig socks and associating yourself with a girlfriend who champions BLMatter a group that calls for cop killings, is never going to get a signing of a mediocre qb past the public's disdain. KAPPY was offered jobs by Denver, Miami, and Baltimore, but he turned down the first two and his girlfriend's insults of Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti killed the other opportunity.
Wake up..if you dare...
GOT IT?
@@robertsprouse9282 Amen!
@Sideshow Bob, and the stats show that happens to whites just as much as blacks. Secondly, a black is more likely to be shot by a black officer. At no time did I say it was ok for any cop to shoot another person who was unarmed. But, the NFL if it had not put a lid on this crap this season would have lost me permanently. The players, outside of a few twits who never gave a damn about this issue until it got publicity, stopped protesting this myth of blacks being shot disproportionately because even though their players association got the league to back off with the commissioner's threat of suspensions, the players were given the implied message that with the upcoming collective bargaining agreement this crap was going to be stopped by a clause in it, if it did not stop widescale right now. I have got to say that Goodell finally did something right.
And, the amendment exists whether you like it or not. MEANWHILE, unfortunately, non-bigoted cops are as apt to make mistakes-being human- as a bigoted cop, but the numbers do not reflect that blacks are shot disproportionately armed or unarmed. One seventh the population but seven to eight times more likely to be involved in a criminal complaint mostly by other terrorized honest, law abiding blacks just trying to live their lives=blacks.
IF YOU DO NOT LIKE THE FACTS, TOUGH BLEEP.
And, after this started last year, yours truly, a former pro sportscaster in retirement, WATCHED NO GAMES FROM WEEK FOUR TILL THIS SEASON. Who are you calling a hypocrite, you hypocrite who makes a jumping to conclusion judgment just as a cop who shoots an unarmed guy, black or white, does..
Well, genius?
DEBATE ME ON THIS FURTHER, BECAUSE I LOOK FORWARD to burying your arse in facts.
By the way, if no one is going to boycott the NFL, including me, and it will not be bad for business because of a boycott that you imply will never exist, why is the new AAF league making it an expulsion if their players do "protest". WELL, GENIUS?
@bobsbornfree Nope. I handle shit myself pussy
27:28 Pitching the 1971 Nebraska - Oklahoma Thanksgiving Day game which turned out to be a classic.
MY OLD COLTS I WOULD LISTEN TO MY DAD HIS YOUNGER ROY, HOW COULD FORGET THAT, GREAT MEMORIES, DON'T FORGET THE MICK!!!!!!
This clip turned up in my feed and I immediately scrolled over to just before halftime. I had watched this game live 50 years ago and remember that the Rams had tried a rare'fair catch free kick field goal' attempt. The team lines up like on a kickoff but the ball is held; there is no tee. With a free kick there is no rush to block the kick but the kicker still missed a makeable FG of under 50 yards.
I absolutely love the original ABC Monday Night Football opening theme music. ABC Sports used it from 1970 through either 1974 or 1975 season.
Pulled from a straight network feed. Very nice. A few minutes of post game camera shots, fade to black and the start of an ABC newsfeed after a few minutes of black.
Vice-President Spiro Agnew mentioned he was unabashedly a Colts fan. Refreshing to hear his sports loyalties remained.
No showboating, no theatrics, no kneeling.....good old fashioned street fight in Baltimore......
I agree with the showboating and all but the kneeling represented more than that
dam strait
Ah yes my back then LA Rams blowing yet another game I remember watching that on MNF. Pissed me off trading Gabriel to Philly. Gave up on the Rams when they moved to St Louis though the Kurt Warner years were the best & only SB win. Wow old Memorial Stadium I was their for a MNF game Colts Oilers great memories & great football.
Was also at that Oilers at Colts MNF game; was held nite before 1976 presidential election (Ford vs. Carter). Attended many Univ. Md. football games here, when scheduled, & even more Orioles games; reg. season, ALCS, & World Series.
Baltimore likes the Ravens ..... but, we loved the Colts !
They used to be rivals in the old Coastal division of the NFL and the Western Conference before the merger
I sure miss REAL football,
Loved dandy don so much personality which added to the game.
Nice to see the original commercials included, and note how there were far fewer back then. For LA fans, just another potential win blown by the Rams. And whether he was drunk or not, Cosell was always obnoxious.
Love this vintage NFL during the offseason, especially the old MNF intro and graphics. Rams and Colts were in various stages of development in the early '70s. Rams rebounded and won seven straight division titles to close out the decade. Colts were pretty much finished in Balt. with the '76 playoff loss to Oakland.
Shabba6884 .
1977 end of December, Ghost to the Post, not '76. And, you're right, it was their last playoff appearance in Balty.
yep.colts were a joke by 72.miami shut the basturds out 3 straight games! lol lol
Deacon referred to as 'David Jones' lmao I was 11 and remember these days
I was 11 too.
The Rams had a great rookie draft class that year. Two of my all time favorites were Robertson and Youngblood.
My Son got his RAM helmet signed by Jack Youngblood and Fred Dryer at Canton Ohio in 2001... Eric Underwood Class of 81 Downey High school CA ✌️❤️ RAMS
@@LeeBrasher Right On...both my brother and I were DEs... Do you remember if Downey beat Warren that year....we beat Warren in 81 for the first time in a decade or more...Did you know that Merlin Olsen lived on Woodruff Ave right across the street from Easy Jr high.
So cool to see Ray Perkins former coach of the Giants playing for colts.
Howards hair piece should be in hall of fame
It is and, so is iconic cigar..
That space-age Panasonic commercial is ultra cool!
Besides being an accomplished collegiate football coach at UCLA, & did right by the Rams, Coach Prothro was a world class master tournament bridge player.
"The Mad Stork" Ted Hendricks out there making plays!! I always forget about his time with the Colts
@David Kreutzer Holy shit, I didn't know that!! One year stop in Green Bay it looks like
One of the few that has been All Pro with three different teams..
Raiders!
Not me love the Baltimore Colts back then haven't followed since they left
Total asshole he was
48 years and it hasn't dated a bit (at least to those of us who remembered this era) A largely defensive struggle until the 4th quarter when 24 of the total 41 points were scored. The guy doing the Rapid Shave commercial at 6:22 I'm almost sure is former Green Bay Packer great Henry Jordan (died 1977 age 42)
Don Meredith was the heart and soul of MNF.
No doubt. Danderoo as Cosell referred to him, brought his unique brand of humor & astute football insight. Can also recall Dandy Don's TV commercials for Lipton tea.
The danderoo according to cosell down Meredith was a good quarterback he should have won at least one super bowl Packers got in the way twice back to back years 66 67 they were close games
Norm Bulaich…most people don't realize he ran a 9.6 in the100yd dash in college unfortunately tore up his knee in 1972 I believe and never got his speed back. Btw love the Pinto ad I believe 3rd degree burns were part of the deluxe package on the later models
Shula picked up Bulaich and he played a few seasons with the Dolphins. They also got Don Nottingham and Earl Morrall to play in Miami too.
Wasn't Bulaich's longest run with the Dolphins?
Those 2 were also great special team players. 3 an 2 . 4th an 1 those guys were fireplugs. Like Pete Banasack for Raiders #40. I think he played for shula also.
Baltimore, where the Colts belong.
Thanks for posting, from a Steelers fan.
HEY VIRGIL....THANKS BUDDY! Howard ....Dandy Don..... Great football!!!
Isiah Robertson and Mike Curtis were both studs at LB. Each should be in the Hall of Fame. Then there's Lance "Drop His Pants" Rentzel. I'd forgotten he played for the Rams.
He played for the Rams twice, pre- Cowboys and post-Cowpokes. Getting involved with his wifey Joey Heatherton began the end of his career and sanity.
Robertson died just last week at 69. He perished in a car crash on a rainy street in Texas, near his home in Mabank. As a lbacker, 25 picks, six pro bowls=borderline Hall of Famer..great player!
@@robertsprouse9282 He played for the Vikings 1965 1966 he was traded to the Cowboys in 1967 Rams 1971-1974
@@michaelleroy9281, yep, I forgot about his early VIKES days, mixed it up with LA.
Thanx for the correction, appreciate it.
Thank you, Virgil, can't wait to see this one
Jack Snow is the father of former SF Giants first baseman JT Snow
Nice to see a good tackle made by the defense without the excessive celebration afterwards.
I don't watch football anymore I'm 47 and i started watching in 1983 hard hitting football. Today it's a fucking joke
My sentiments exactly..
So True
I was allowed to stay up until halftime for the Highlights...Then it was off to bed...but I of course used to listen to the game from the living room. Its a shame now with all the primetime football. MFN was special for a reason but prime time revenue/greed has made it all ho hum now.
It's more than that it was the way the players acted and the Network announcers the lack of commercials and the NFL being more about the game than now being a big corporate greedy money vacuum
@@jameshuseby6290 Football has just about become an unwatchable mess now except maybe for the Ivy League. I appreciate these old classic games far more, like the 1958 NFL Championship which I just re-watched and enjoyed every bit as much as the first time I experienced the reassembled gamecast up on UA-cam.
Same 👍😀
Miss the old rams unis
Exactly.. The Rams new uniforms this year are trash. There was no reason to change their iconic uniforms. nike ruined a lot of NFL uniforms..
I’m still looking for the October 18, 1971 MNF game of Steelers at Chiefs.
I watched this game when I was a senior in high school.
Watched this game and a few weeks later when George Allen came back to LA coaching the Redskins aka The Over the Hill Gang...great memories.
Remember that and this game
Poor Redskins being threatened and forced to change their iconic name, what a damn shame. HTTR
May Roman Gabriel rest in peace. May his family and friends be healed and comforted.
Only Howard Cosell could make 45 seconds with the Vice President seem like a "World Premiere Event"! This only the 2nd season of MNF and with Frank Gifford on the PBP, the crew was set to dominate the ratings for years to come. Their 3 man booth would havee been just as good with Keith Jackson on the call, it was cler that ABC wanted people talking the next day, and they achieved that goal by the end of this 1971 schedule. The placement of Howard in the booth with Dandy Don gave Meredith the go ahead to be himself. I'm sure Cosell sat down with Frank and Don, and told them, eventially there will be a game so lousy (1971 vernacular) that if we're not a team and able to hold the audience despite that fact, the would ne exposed and ot could go downhill very quicky. By 1975 MNF had a serious stranglehold on ABC and ABC took off...Straight to THE no.1 Network finally passing CBS and plucking the feathers right off the NBC Peacock. btw...NBC was ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE back then, plummeting all the way to last. PBS and UHF stations running kids shows, nature and syndicated re-runs were knocking NBC out the box.
I'm dead serious when I say this. A former NBC executive told me this at the bar I was serving drinks at back in 1999 that the Peacock was - close to bankruptcy and being forced to sell off their TV entities and go to a 2 hour Prime Time. 8pm -10pm. Then come back for Johnny Carson. at 11:30.
They were thinking of putting The Tonight Show on at 11pm.
3 things saved NBC.
1. Johnny Carson (He still made money and back then, there was NO ONE close at that time slot, so NBC made up as much on the back end of the night.
2. The Nightly News and the Today Show. John Chancellor was a worthy challenger to CBS and Walter Cronkite.
No.3....This one is gonna trip you out, but when you really think...and think about the timing. NBC was declining in 1971, but by 1975 they were in dead last and in panick mode. Then this happened....The arrival of the Pittsburgh Steelers!
Yep! NBC had the AFC package, scored BIG TIME because the Steelers were on NBC most games. The country had its teams that did numbers, but no one did them like Pittsburgh and when tje playoffs came, or the Steelers were in the late window 4pm or later they couldn't be stopped. Curt Gowdy and the Steelers. For NBC it was like Peanut Butter n Jelly.
MNF was right in the middle of almost bringing down NBC. So mich so, MBC retalliated and stole Dandy Don from ABC. He came back in 1978 though and all was well in the booth once again. NBC recovered and Curt Gowdy called his last of the 7 Super Bowls he called in Jan 1979 woth Super Bowl XIII.
A little television history for you. That's how BIG Monday Night Football was back then. Television will NEVER be that good or interesting like it was again.
This game is brought to you by ‘Scott’s Turf Builder.
Rams and Colts. Once a big rivalry.
They were division rivals from 1953-1969. This was their first and last post-merger game in Baltimore. They played 34 times from 1953-1969 but only 10 times since then, with 5 of those being St. Louis vs. Indianapolis matchups.
Νowadays they play against each other without pads
Later on the Colts’ owner Carrol Rosenbloom convinced Bob Irsay to buy the Rams and “trade” the two franchises straight up, giving Irsay control of the Colts. The rest is bad history!
rankinnwc If my grandfather had been alive when Irsay moved the Colts, he would've assassinated him.
@@rankinnwc Both of them couldn't handle the stadium issues in Baltimore
Please keep it up
Looking forward in the coming years
Back in the days where straight away kickers ruled the game and no side swinding kickers to be found.
Jan Stenerud Garo Yepremian Charlie and Peter Gogolak
1971..the Colts the Orioles and the Bullets were all top ranked teams...
The Bullets wouldn't be in Baltimore for very long by this time
The two teams traded owners (or more precisely, the owners traded teams) the following summer. Could negotiations have commenced in the owners box that evening?
the biggest mistake the NFL let happen if they know then the two teams would never left there cities and the NFL would never been sue by Al Davis and they would never have this mess in LA right now ..
crazy this is almost 51 years ago.
The only things missing in the trenches of this game were brass knuckles and blackjacks.
I agree, the hitting in this game, especially along the lines was brutal.
As both teams use Royal blue and white for their colors, this almost looks like an intersquad scrimmage.
OMG it's Spiro Agnew!
My nostalgia meter just blew up.
When football was still awesome.
Bubba, the Stork. Love this era.
A year later, Earl Morrall quarterbacked the Dolphins to -- not one -- but two shutout victories against the Colts. I don't know whose decision it was to let Morrall go in the spring of '72, but whoever it was must have felt extremely foolish eight months later, and Morrall must have felt more than a little vindicated.
Morall was a hot and cold qb his whole career.
Robert Sprouse Morrall was actually a great qb. He played behind Norm Van Brocklin half his career. But when called upon, he produced nicely. He threw a nice ball, and will always be known as the best backup quarterback of all time. In 1968, he had about the best season a qb could have. But he played behind Unitas, so once again, never was able to shine. He played 10 games in 1972 for the Dolphins, and Shula brought back Griese for the playoffs. Again, playing second to a starter. Never complained once. He was a real man. When called upon, he gave his best. Wasn't out for glory or the limelight. I was a Unitas fan growing up, but I saw the value in Earl, especially in the 1971 season.
@@franklamagna3889, Morrall did well with great players around him, sometimes. Put dogs around him on offense and he could not remain hot, often failing to lift those bad or mediocre offenses up. He was not SONNY JURGENSEN, who backed up VAN BROCKLIN, AND RECEIVED THE STAMP OF APPROVAL FROM LOMBARDI, BUT WAS HATED BY ALLEN who loved milk shakes and hated beer drinkers who were nailed for DUIs, Sonny's downfall.
But, Jurgenson's 1966 performance on a very mediocre WASH.REDSKINS TEAM(3700 YARDS PASSING, ALMOST 60 PERCENT COMPLETION PERCENTAGE, CLOSE TO 30 TD PASSES UNDER OLD RULES) is testament to how great he truly was at qb.
MORRALL could not tie JURGY'S SHOES...EARL WAS A LUCKY DUCK.
And, AS FAR AS I KNOW, PLAYED FOR DETROIT, NY GIANTS, BALTY AND MIAMI, NEVER BACKING UP THE DUTCHMAN. JURGY BACKED UP NVB AT PHILLY, SONNY'S ORIGINAL TEAM. When VanB got out to go head coach the new MINNY VIKES, Sonny inherited an old EAGLE team that saw BEDNARIK'S RETIREMENT.
But, Earl? I do not think he played with NVB AS A TEAMMATE. NVB PLAYED AT L.A., too. DID HE PLAY ANYWHERE ELSE? NYG, OR DETROIT? I don't think so.
I could be wrong, but I doubt it. IF HE DID, AND HAD MORRALL AS A TEAMMATE, EARL DID NOT BACK HIM UP LONG. NOW MORRALL DID BACK UP UNITAS, GRIESE, AND LAYNE, ETC. SO WHAT! RATTERMAN BACKED UP GRAHAM, McHAN BACKED UP STARR, BRATKOWSKI BACKED UP STARR, HORN BACKED UP STARR. SO WHAT!
ARE THOSE GUYS HALL OF FAMERS?
JURGENSEN IS, AND MORRALL IS NOT.
Robert Sprouse You're right. My mistake. And I agree with you that Jurgensen was a great qb.
Part of the deal to lose SB3 was Shula getting 10% of the Dolphins and Morrall who was the other player in on it getting a nice job with his partner in crime. If you think I'm crazy research how rich these guys got and how all the owners became billionaires after the BColts lost to the Jets and sealed the merger.
Dig the intro, man.
Back when fans were their best slacks and sleeveless sweaters and top it off with a fine Lucky Strike to calm the ole nerves not like today with fans sporting the team gear because they want you to know they're the greatest fan and have all the jerseys and in one hand a Carmel frappuccino and the other hand the newest apple phone with their teams stats and photos safely stored at their maniquerd fingertips wow!!! how times have changed gotta go with the former
I remember Rams playing at the Coliseum with my Father
Earl Morrall past away at 79 in 2014. After death, examination of his brain disclosed that he had grade 4 (the most serious stage) chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
A lot of those earlier players, pre 2000 probably have this condition. Helmet technology pre 1980 was poor and hits to the head a afterthought.
Hard to believe that when this game was played he had already been in the league 16 yrs. I was 12 or 13 yrs old in 71 and can remember him with the Colts and then being a big part of the Dolphins undefeated year the next season. Grew up in S Cal remember Roman Gabriel as well.
@@robertglancy4474 Yep, and the reason Don Shula went out and got Morrall is because the Dolphins had drafted Joe Theismann, but Theismann went to Canada instead, so they needed a back up to Griese
@@leogetz3570 Thanks for the info....I had no idea of the Dolphin/Theismann connection. Joe's been thinking "what could have been"...ever since...lol
@@robertglancy4474 Oh yeah....Theismann talked about that in the "America's Game" series for the 82 Redskins. He watched for 3 years as the Dolphins went to 3 straight Superbowls. He even said he was thinking to himself "you blew it, you really blew it"....lol
Remember what real grass looked like?
Memorial Stadium didn’t have too much of it. Lol.
@@earheadsix4119 MLB stadium also that's why the dirt
@@jameshuseby6290 good point. I overlooked that detail.
In Baltimore at this point of the season it was Astrodirt
The music is GROOOOVY!!!
Awesome promo for The Mod Squad! I used to love that show! Btw, just like when I used to watch these games when they were played, I find myself asking, “what game is Gifford watching???”
What a rule then, after change of possesion the referee will start the game clock. Got to see future great Jack Youngblood
Watching the Olsen brothers, awesome
Had no idea roughing the kicker was a penalty back then. Oh and I was 2.5 yrs. old when this game was played.
Enjoyed. Thank you
Howard interviewing Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew. Too cool.
Go, go, you Balmer Coats!
Much more satisfying than today's over hyped product. And the Colts fight song does sound good.
You know it!