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watchingthesuperbowl · 7 years ago

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Notes taken during Super Bowl XIX

PREGAME

Is this an ABC broadcast? I think that's the voice of Frank Gifford. Yep, this is the first ABC Super Bowl.

These two teams were 29-3 in the regular season, 33-3 overall. Best combined records of any two Super Bowl teams.

FIRST QUARTER

Niners return opening kickoff. Harmon goofs, steps out at the six.

Oops.

First play, quick pass to Freddie Solomon, Montana hits him in the numbers and he drops it.

Wendell Tyler has a run and a catch on the first three drives. Thankfully I won't have to listen to Tom Brookshier mock him for playing through injuries this time, like I did for Super Bowl XIV.

Methodical drive here, classic Walsh/Montana 49ers football. Short passes to the outside, occasional running plays to Roger Craig and Wendell Tyler.

Niners have to punt as Mike Wilson drops what would have been a first down near midfield.

Don Meredith: Niners are showing nerves early with dropped passes and Harmon stepping out of bounds.

Great throw from Dan Marino on the first play of the Dolphin drive. 25 yard pass to running back Tony Nathan gets inside the San Francisco 40.

Now the Miami offense is moving. Woody Bennett runs up the middle for a first down at the San Fran 27.

Either Joe Theismann (doing color commentary) totally interrupted Meredith in the middle of a thought or this game is edited.

Marino completes a pass to Clayton on third down, but it's short and they'll have to try to kick a field goal.

Uwe von Schamann was 9-for-19 on field goals in '84, 2-for-12 from 30 yards or longer. Miami didn't even try a field goal in their last four regular season games.

This is how you lose your job.

Uwe nails it. A 37(?) yarder. 7:24 left in the quarter, 3-0 Miami. von Schamann's teammates are excited for him - a bunch of congratulatory pats on the butt and head.

Ah, cool, this one is from Channel 4 in the UK as well. (Last year's was too.) Tom Flores and John Smith are in the booth with...someone. A host of some sort. Same host as last year. Smith was the kicker in the famous Patriots/Dolphins snow plow game.

Flores: Expected a bit more from San Francisco on the first drive, but otherwise nothing on the first drives was surprising.

Tomorrow on ABC: The inauguration of President Reagan.

Niners are run-heavy on their second drive. Gifford points out that Miami struggled to contain the run during the regular season.

Cutaway shot: A large video board for replays.

Third and 7, Montana back to pass, flushed from the pocket, and runs for around 20 yards. Down to the Miami 33.

Next play, Montana goes deep to Carl Monroe, a 5'8" running back, who catches a perfectly thrown ball in stride and gets into the end zone. 33 yard touchdown and it's 7-3 San Francisco. Monroe fumbled almost immediately after he got into the end zone. That could have been incredibly embarrassing.

ABC goes to Tom Landry for analysis of the touchdown pass. Awesome. Landry's the coolest.

Marino looking great early. Zips one into the chest of Mark Clayton across midfield. Dolphins go no-huddle hurry up, the first time I can remember seeing this in a non-desperation part of a Super Bowl.

Next play, perfectly thrown ball to Duper at the first down marker. Suddenly Miami is at the Niner 37. Then another outstanding throw to Clayton, down to the 23. More no-huddle hurry-up, now a throw to tight end Dan Johnson, who would have scored if not for a stumble.

First and goal from the 2, Marino rolls right and hits an open Dan Johnson for a score. It's just. that. easy. A super-impressive drive by the Dolphins. Don Meredith says we're watching the offense of the rest of the 80s and the 90s if the NFL doesn't change any rules. He's right, for better or worse. Anyway, von Schamann hits the extra point and it's 10-7 Dolphins late in the first quarter. 0:45 left.

Gifford talks about Johnson being sick during the week and not being sure if he could play. What they didn't know then, but what we know now, is that Johnson says he was taking 1,000 Vicodins a month (!) during his playing days to stay on the field. Gifford says Johnson lost 25 pounds as a result of an intestinal problem. You know what slows down intestines? Opiates. Just sayin'.

Cutaway: Fire juggler.

Promo: After the game, the premiere of a new Aaron Spelling series, MacGruder and Loud. It lasted 14 episodes. Channel 4 attempting to remove ABC promos from broadcast with mild success.

More like “canceled and forgotten.”

Montana: 6-for-8 with two drops. Now 7-for-9 with two drops. Roger Craig catches a pass and runs it to the San Francisco 47.

That's the last play of the highest-scoring first quarter in Super Bowl history (up until this point). 10-7 Miami.

Channel 4 goes to Tom Flores between quarters. He breaks down the two touchdowns. Says San Francisco wanted to get three receivers into the same side of the field against the zone.

SECOND QUARTER

Renaldo Nehemiah goes deep on the first play of the quarter and Montana can't get the ball there. Nehemiah was a world-class track and field athlete. Lined up in a three-point stance. I'm mildly surprised to see receivers line up this way as late as January '85.

Third down, Montana deep to Nehemiah again, incomplete again. Max Runager to punt.

Miami drive: Run for a loss of 4 (great defensive play by Fred Dean), incomplete pass, incomplete pass, punt.

Meredith: Dolphins were 22-for-47 on third and ten or longer in '84.

Gifford describes Miami punter Reggie Roby as "fun to watch". Roby was unquestionably one of the best punters of his era, but are any punters actually "fun to watch"?

First play of the next drive, Montana can't find an open receiver so he pulls it down and runs for 17 yards. I'm impressed by Montana's mobility. He was one of my favorite players at the time, but I remember him these days as a great passer who could move a bit when he needed to, but not much more than that.

Suddenly the Niners are down to the Miami 8. Montana to Craig up the middle, touchdown 49ers. 14-10 San Francisco.

Channel 4 to John Smith to discuss the touchdown. He's a kicker, you guys.

Cutaway shot: Guy with a goofy hat.

This guy right here.

Good return of the ensuing kickoff. Fulton Walker takes it out to the 30.

Doesn't matter all that much. Dolphins go three and out on this drive. Marino underthrows Nat Moore on third down.

Excellent return by Dana McLemore on the punt. 28 yard return out to the 45. San Francisco again starts with good field position.

Gifford: 18 of these players will be in the Pro Bowl next week. As opposed to now, when nobody who plays in the Super Bowl goes to the Pro Bowl.

Niners matriculating the ball up the field. Montana to Russ Francis, down to the Miami 30. First down. 8:20 left.

Now another great throw underneath to Francis, down to the 10.

2nd and 6, Montana can't find an open receiver so he pulls it down again and gets into the end zone. 21-10, 6:58 left in the half.

Gifford: They're warming up Montana's MVP car already.

Super Bowl XIX’s goofy hat game was strong. Maybe it’s hard to see right away, but that’s a referee puppet on that dude’s head.

ABC graphic: No team has ever won a Super Bowl after trailing by more than 7 points during the game.

Miami offense is suddenly ice cold. Marino is a bit erratic and the Niners' defensive line is getting penetration. Roby punts again.

Total yards this quarter: 49ers 100, Dolphins 2.

Second down, Montana to Solomon inside the 15, Solomon appears to make the catch and take a couple of steps and then fumble. It's ruled an incomplete pass. A blown call. Miami had recovered. Lyle Blackwood.

San Fran drive continues. Down to the 12.

Montana so far: 13-18, 167 yards, 2 TD.

Harmon runs it inside the 10 for a first down. First and goal., just outside the 5.

2:10 left, clock rolling, Roger Craig takes an inside handoff and plows into the end zone. 28-10 Niners and we aren't even to the two-minute warning in the second quarter. Meredith says there could be trouble in River City. With a capital T and that rhymes with D and that stands for doom.

Miami has it to thart their next drive at their 15, 1:56 on the clock, three timeouts.

Decent drive going. Marino completes a few passes, gets out to the Dolphin 40. 1:05 left, they call a timeout.

Landry: Shula needs to calm his players down at the half, get their confidence up, tell them everything will work out in the second half. Gifford rhetorically asks if the players would actually believe that. Landry smiles and says nothing.

Dolphin no huddle two-minute offense is working again. They're to the San Francisco 42. 0:48 left in the half. Marino seems to be getting into a rhythm on these quicker drives.

Great, great pass from Marino to Joe Rose inside the 15, down to the 12. Dolphins call timeout after a 30-yard pickup. Rose was surrounded by three defenders. 0:33 left, ball at the 12, one timeout.

Dolphins have to burn their final timeout on second down. Marino swing pass to Tony Nathan, who's decked by Keena Turner immediately after making the grab. 0:20 left, third and 11 from the 13.

Theismann: If you don't score on this play, you have to kick a field goal on fourth down. (I guess there's a difference between 18 points behind and 15, but not as much as there would be if two-point conversions were a thing.)

Ronnie Lott makes a good play on third down to knock it away from Mark Clayton in the end zone. It looked like pass interference and face guarding to me, but perhaps the rule has changed since then. Uwe von Schamann kicks a field goal. 28-13. Gifford says it's not face guarding because Lott wasn't waving his arms and trying to block Clayton's vision.

This seems like pass interference. Lott’s back is to the quarterback.

0:08 left, Meredith wonders about an onside kick. You can almost feel Theismann glare at him incredulously while Joe says they'll just squib it. They squib it. Niners center Guy McIntyre picks it up and kneels for a second or two before deciding to run with the ball. He fumbles and Miami's Jim Jensen recovers. A spectacularly dumb move by McIntyre to try to run, but what was he doing even being on the field? If you're the Niners, I think you put the hands team out there and you don't even try to return the kick. They didn't and it blew up on them. Miami is in field goal range with 0:04 left.

This was ill-advised.

von Schamann for a 30 yard attempt. Got it. 28-16 at the half.

HALFTIME

Tom Landry: Shula had to have gone into the locker room and said we're back in this, let's play the way we've played all year and we've got a chance.

Landry: Shula will have told Marino that he doesn't have to do everything himself, let the team do it together.

ABC graphic: Marino is the youngest QB to start a Super Bowl. (23 years old)

THIRD QUARTER

Dolphins get the ball to start the second half. Decent field position after Walker returns kickoff to the 26.

Marino underthrows an open Mark Clayton on second down. Could have/should have been a first down.

Meredith: San Francisco had their fifth DB in on second down, six DBs on third down. Miami goes three and out after a coverage sack. Niners take over near midfield after an okay punt and a decent return.

ABC graphic: Niners have won their last 24 games when leading at halftime, including postseason.

San Francisco gains about three yards on a reverse to Earl Cooper. Cooper was a starting running back three years ago in Super Bowl XVI, is now playing as a TE.

Montana scrambles again, converts another long yardage situation. 12 yard run gets San Francisco inside the Miami 20.

Montana has 60 yards rushing, a new single game Super Bowl record for a quarterback.

Niner drive stalls at the Miami 10. The Wersching Machine comes on to try a short field goal. 27 yard kick is good, it's now 31-16 San Francisco. 10 minutes or so left in the third quarter.

That was Ray Wersching's fifth career Super Bowl field goal, a new record. It seems like there are a lot of records falling, but I guess there have only been 18 and a half Super Bowls played.

Marino sacked twice on the next drive. Three and out again, punt again. Meredith says the Niners' 6 DB defense is causing problems for Marino.

Flores: Dolphins haven't been able to contain him because when the pass rush gets through up the middle, they lose contain on the outside. Meanwhile, back-to-back sacks against Marino will take a mental toll on the Dolphins' offensive line.

Gifford: Niners have scored on their last four possessions.

First play of this drive is a perfectly thrown pass to Wendell Tyler in the open field, a big gain to the Miami 30. One play later, Montana to Francis inside the 20. Montana is shredding this defense.

Third and 10, Montana has all the time in the world to find someone, gets it to Roger Craig coming across the middle. He gets into the end zone completely untouched. It's 38-16 now, the Niners have scored on five consecutive possessions, and Craig has set a new Super Bowl record with three touchdowns in one game.

Ray Wersching squibs the kickoff. At this point, they'd rather give Miami 5-10 yards at the start of a possession than give Fulton Walker a chance to take a kickoff to the house.

Flores: It's gonna be a long night for Miami. The offense isn't moving the ball and the defense can't stop Montana. Says this game is a rout.

San Francisco running a 4-1-6 defense. The four linemen are beating the Miami OL and the defensive backs are giving Marino fits.

ABC graphic: Niners have tied the Super Bowl record for most points in one game (38).

Dolphins driving now. Big run up the middle by Tony Nathan. Tom Holmoe makes the tackle. Gifford makes sure to enunciate that name. Dolphins are to the San Francisco 28.

And that drive is over. Marino is "looking for six" says a slightly less-well enunciating Gifford, but Eric Wright picks it off and lands in the end zone. He's called down at the 1.

Meredith: Great defensive play or underthrown pass? Theismann: Great defensive play, and if the ball had been thrown a bit longer, Wright wouldn't have gotten to it. Joe does not want to criticize a quarterback, which makes sense given his Super Bowl XVIII performance.

Third and 1 deep in their own territory, Bill Walsh does a Bill Walsh thing: Play action pass to a wide open Freddie Solomon over the middle. Moves the chains, keeps the clock moving. Third quarter is nearly over.

Third quarter is, in fact, over. Niners have the ball near midfield.

FOURTH QUARTER

Third and 8, Dwight Clark has a step on his DB, but Montana misses him by a hair. Max Runager on to punt, just his second punt of the day. Dolphins take over at their 22.

First play of the Miami drive, the Niners' line blasts into the backfield and Marino just falls over and concedes the sack. He's not crazy.

Next play, Marino rolls and zips a ball to Mark Clayton. Nice move after the catch gets them to the 35.

A couple plays later, Marino to Cefalo gets the Dolphins to midfield. No-huddle offense is moving the ball, though I guess San Francisco is fine with that, up four scores with ten minutes left.

Marino has 38 pass attempts, a new one-game Super Bowl record.

Marino overthrows Clayton deep on third down. Roby on to punt.

Dana McLemore muffs a fair catch attempt and Miami falls on it. Vince Heflin with the recovery. The Dolphins have the ball at the San Francisco 21. 10:52 left on the clock.

First play of the Miami drive, Marino throws into the end zone, picked by Carlton Williamson. Not a great throw, but we've reached the point in the game where the Dolphins have to take chances.

Flores: Marino threw across his body on the interception. A sign of frustration.

San Francisco runs a reverse on first down. So much for conservative offense. Solomon rushes for five yards.

Niners just keeping the ball on the ground now. Getting five yards at a time, keeping the chains and clock moving.

8:00 and counting left in the game. Ball at the San Fran 45.

Second and ten, Montana goes deep to Dwight Clark. Makes a nice falling catch at the Dolphin 22.

Now Montana looking for Solomon in the end zone. Just barely overthrown. Interesting to note that, up 22 points in the fourth quarter, they're chuckin' the pigskin with the starters still on the field. And nobody's whining about running up the score.

Cutaway: Tony Nathan has a sad.

Montana has set a new Super Bowl record: 330 yards passing in one game.

Cutaway of Marino. Gifford says he'll have many more big games. Suggests that one of them is next week's Pro Bowl. This is not something that would have consoled Marino.

San Francisco still chewing clock. Fourth and short at the Miami 2. 3:00 left. Niners have a decision: Go for it or kick a field goal? They give it to Craig up the middle who gets nothing. Turnover on downs with 2:46 left on the clock.

John Smith, channel 4: Second half belonged to San Francisco defense, generally a maligned group but Bill Walsh says his defense is just as good as his offense.

Dolphins throwing and running a no-huddle. Might as well. They get out to their own 25 before the two minute warning.

Flores: Expected this to be a much closer game, didn't expect the Niners' defense to be able to stop Miami, but they got it done.

Theismann points out that San Francisco doesn't mind Miami doing this, that they're actually doing the Niners a favor by running clock with passes up the middle.

Channel 4 host: I'm sure we'll see Marino back on a Super Bowl field soon. Well, about that....

Channel 4 host: Marino was arrogant and/or cocky in the press conferences leading up to the game. Wonders whether that was a factor. IIRC, the same host said exactly the same thing about the losing quarterback last year as well.

Cutaway: Bill Walsh on the sideline, smiling. He knows what we all know: This thing is over.

Last play of the game is a shotgun snap dropped by Marino, who then falls on it with 10 seconds left. Rest of the clock ticks away with no plays run.

Final score: 49ers 38, Dolphins 16

Another strong contribution in the hat department

POSTGAME

Flores: There's nothing quite like winning a Super Bowl, the feelings, the togetherness, all the sacrifices you make as a team to get to this point.

Flores: It's a shame that the team that lost this game is classified as a loser. These are the only two teams that had an opportunity to win this game.

Flores: Thought it would be a 28-24 type game, never thought San Francisco would tie our record with 38 points. Niners executed well, just played good solid football.

John Smith: Miami doesn't have a running game, which helped San Francisco defense. The versatility of the 49er offense was something the Dolphin defense couldn't deal with.

John Smith: Told (former teammate) Russ Francis that he envied him. Now envy him more. Channel 4 host says he and Smith were at Francis's house during the week, saw a bottle of champagne. Asked him if it was for tonight, Francis said you bet it is.

ABC goes to San Francisco locker room. Joe Montana named MVP after setting new passing yardage record.

Al Michaels to Tom Landry: Everybody talked about 49ers offense, but how about that defense allowing one touchdown in three playoff games? Landry: That defense was the difference.

Landry: '84 Niners are one of the best teams I've ever seen on a single-year basis.

Commissioner Pete Rozelle: San Francisco set a new record. First team to win 18 regular season and playoff games in a season. "Here's the trophy." Hands it to Eddie DeBartolo.

DeBartolo: "We're the best. We are the best. And we'll continue to be the best."

Channel 4 blows off the rest of the locker room coverage to chat with John Smith. Thanks, guys.

Flores: We'll give it a good shot to be in Super Bowl XX. Hopefully I'll be down on the field and you'll be watching my team.

Channel 4 bumps out with an extended dance remix of 'Holding Out For a Hero' played over highlights.

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