Hidden Gems of the Gridiron: NFL’s Top 10 Forgotten Playoff Plays

You're just in time for a great show because we have our guest, Ed Cleese returning with his amazing football memory to tell us about the top 10 greatest football playoff moments in National Football League history.

Ed's up in just a moment to share with us some very memorable moments indeed.

Coming up right after this.

This is the Pigskin Daily History Dispatch, a podcast that covers the anniversaries of American football events throughout history.

Your host, Darren Hayes, is podcasting from America's North Shore to bring you the memories of the gridiron one day at a time.

Hello, my football friends.

This is Darren Hayes of pigskindispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your portal to positive football history.

And welcome once again to another edition of Talking to a guest that has some really cool stuff to share with us on football history.

We had him on just a short time ago, Ed Cleese, who is a big Washington fan.

Big football fan, Ed, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Hi, Darren.

Great to be back.

I'm very excited about this one.

Yeah, I am excited, too, because, Ed, after we got done talking about the Redskins podcast that we did a few weeks ago, you came up with some brilliant ideas on some things you wanted to talk about.

And I know I'd love to hear what you have to say, and so would the audience here.

And I guess the first topic we're going to talk about is some of the postseason play, and maybe you can explain that a little bit and get into what you got.

Yeah, so I thought it'd be fun to do the top 10 forgotten playoff moments of all time.

Now, that, of course, is very subjective, but my.

My parameters were this.

Number one, no Super Bowls, because that's like a whole different topic.

So this is playoffs, not Super Bowls.

We could do a whole different list on forgotten super bowl moments.

Number two, it had to be what I perceived as having a real impact on that season's postseason, meaning it may have had a trickle effect all the way to the Super Bowl.

And then number three, and this is where it gets pretty subjective.

I had to decide that, you know, I really think that the general football fan has sort of forgotten about this.

So you're not going to hear the Immaculate Reception or the Sea of Hands or the Tuck Rule or, you know, anything like that that has a name to it that everybody remembers.

And for example, there was the 98 when the Gary Anderson missed the field goal against the Falcons to go.

I thought that that was just a little too prominent and people remembered it.

So it's not on the list.

So I tried to go a little deeper to find the ones that people may have legitimately forgotten about.

Okay.

And this is during the super bowl era, so post AFL NFL merger, Super bowl era.

Yes.

Okay.

So we have basically 50 some odd years that.

Correct.

We're talking about.

And I'm sure people will get this top 10 list and then scream because there's 25 that could have been on here and aren't.

Well, hey, I love the criteria.

I love getting rid of all the mainstream plays that we all think about.

You know, like you said, see a hands immaculate reception and the tuck rule and things like that and getting to some of these things that maybe, you know, they're in the back of our memory banks.

So it's very.

Oh, we'll have those aha.

Moments.

I'm sure you'll get me on a couple of those today.

So.

Yeah.

So.

So please share.

Sure.

Let's.

Let's do three very quick honorable mentions that didn't make my list, but I had a hard time cutting.

You know, they beat the Colts and then the Patriots both on the road.

Knock them off now.

It had a residual effect for your guys because that's who the Steelers wound up playing in the AFC Championship game.

Jets wound up giving them a pretty good game too.

I think a lot of people remember it, but I'm not sure if people remember the Roger Craig Fumble.

The.

The 49ers had a one point lead late in the game.

He fumbles, Giants recover, kick a field goal.

Their fifth field goal of the game.

No touchdowns.

They win 15, 13.

And then I think John Elway's forgotten playoff comeback was against the Oilers in 92.

I think we have a lot of John Elway memories out there, but I don't know if that one gets talked about.

And in some ways that was one of the most dramatic.

So those didn't quite make the list, but I'm ready to go with number 10 if you're ready.

Yeah.

First of all, your honorable mentions are tremendous plays that if they didn't make the list, you got me really pumped up here to hear what the top 10 are.

So here we go.

Number 10.

The Colts at the Chiefs in Arrowhead.

The Chiefs were the number one seed that year.

The Colts were barely made the playoffs.

A very kind of a nondescript team, and the Chiefs were huge favorites.

It was 11 degrees that day in Kansas City, so a real frigid day.

One of those games that kind of devolved into a real defensive battle.

The Colts wind up winning the game 10 to 7.

They go to Pittsburgh again the next week almost.

When that game on the hill, the missed Hail Mary at the end, the Steelers want to go in the Super Bowl.

Had the Chiefs won that game, the AFC Championship game would have been an arrowhead that year for the Steelers instead of at Three Rivers.

But the interesting notes on that is the Colts won the game 10 to 7.

The Chiefs were over three on field goals in that game.

Lynn Elliot, he missed them from 35, 39.

And then with about 40 seconds left, tie it.

He missed it from 42.

And the play right before that, I think it was Lake Dawson had one right in his hands in the end zone.

It would have been a tough catch, but it was, it was.

It was catchable.

I believe Steve Bono was the quarterback for the Chiefs that day.

So the Chiefs had all these missed opportunities and those three missed field goals from all makeable range in the free, in the freezing weather is something that I don't think people quite remember.

But it was a pretty shocking result at the time and had a big effect on the playoffs that year.

Yeah, well, that's.

I. I do remember that game, especially when you talked about Steve Bono, because Steve Bono was the Steelers replacement year quarterback when.

Oh, that is.

So that's what he actually was, a replacement player.

And I think that was the game, you know, when the Chiefs lost that.

I think they commenced that trade to get Montana, that for the following season.

I believe he was 92.

He came from the 49ers to the Chiefs.

Yes.

And that was.

This game was 95.

Oh, 95.

Okay.

Okay.

Colts game.

Yeah, the Colts game.

This is post post Joe Monkey.

This was Schottenheimer.

You know, they had a lot of playoff heartache, heartbreak, just like he had in Cleveland.

But that I think, if you ask Chiefs fans, I think they'll remember.

I don't know if the NFL at large does, but that was a real.

That was a real stinger because the Chiefs were definitely the better team and just weren't that day.

Okay, now.

Now I got you.

When you're talking to Hail Mary against the Steelers, it was Jim.

Jim Harbaugh throwing the yes.

Yes.

Hail Mary.

Who's now coaching the Chargers, correct?

Yep.

All right, number nine, you ready?

Yeah.

Go back a little bit farther.

That was Anthony Carter for the Vikings going bananas in San Francisco at Candlestick.

And another huge upset.

The Vikings knock off the 49ers 36 to 24.

Anthony Carter, amazingly, didn't score a touchdown in the game, but he had 10 catches for 227 yards.

So, you know, 27 yards per cat.

Per catch average.

And these were, like, some major over the shoulder down the field.

Just huge, huge plays.

It was a rough day for Montana.

One of the only bad playoff games he ever had.

He threw a pick six early, and Anthony Carter was unstoppable.

The 49ers were probably the best team in the entire NFL in 87.

And my Redskins wound up benefiting from that game because we were.

After Minnesota won the game, we hosted the Vikings in the NFC championship game, as opposed to having to go to Candlestick, which could have been a different story.

Yeah, that is a good one.

But, man, how do you.

How do you do that?

How do you have 200 yards receiving and don't score?

I don't know.

I was a little, because I remembered it pretty well, and I went.

When I went back and checked the box score to make sure I was remembering it correctly, I was surprised to see that he didn't score a touchdown.

But I have a very vivid memory as a kid watching that game and having a vested interest because my team was still involved, too, and just being in awe of Carter that game.

That was one of the first individual performances.

I can really recall being kind of, like, just very surprised and amazed by.

In my fandom history.

Yeah.

I'm picturing him getting, like, knocked out of bounds at the one a bunch.

Of times or something, you know, it was awesome.

Yeah, he.

They.

That.

That's a lot of people.

I think Bill Walsh called it the most painful football memory of his life or the hardest loss of his career.

Something.

Something along those lines.

Yeah.

Because I think they were considered the best team in the league that year.

Yeah.

Wow.

That's amazing.

Great.

Great fall into nine.

Number nine, too.

Yep.

All right, here's number eight.

This is a little bias, and it's a little bit of a combo.

Of course, I would think maybe the most iconic team in the history of the.

Of the league in the super bowl era.

If.

Maybe not.

I don't know if, you know, we can Debate the best but certainly the most memorable and definitely very near the top of all time defenses for sure.

But I don't know if people realize, you know the 80, you have this dominant 85 team.

So what happened to them in 86 and 87?

Well, Joe Gibbs happened to them in 86 and 87.

So my number eight forgotten memories at the Redskins went into Chicago and back to back years following the Bears super bowl and beat the Bears at Soldier Field in the divisional playoffs.

Two years in a row in, in 86 it was some good fortune for the Redskins because McMahon was out.

Doug Flutie started.

They actually won the game fairly easily.

And then in 87 it was bitter cold.

Daryl Green takes the punt back for the, for a touchdown.

After they fell behind early.

Washington kind of holds on to win that one.

And at Walter Payton's final game, the pretty iconic NFL film shot of him with his head hands on his helmet on the sidelines.

But the Redskins sort of ended a dynasty there because the Bears were home field advantage in the playoffs.

85, 86 and 87.

But in 86 and 87 they ran into the, the Joe Gibbs machine.

Wow, great memory there.

There you go.

I didn't realize, I didn't realize.

They do it two years in a row.

I remember two years in a row.

Yep.

Two years in a row.

Number seven.

Number seven.

I have.

We don't to go back too far on this one.

And I don't know if people remember how incredible of an ending that was.

The, the Cardinals had the seven point lead, literally last play of the game.

Rogers hail Mary, final play of the game, complete touchdown.

They decided to kick the extra point, go to overtime.

And then in overtime we have The Larry Fitzgerald 75 yard catch and run down to the 5.

He scores a touchdown on the next play.

So in this very one of the greatest playoff endings in NFL history, without a doubt the entire game was pretty good back and forth.

It was, it was a well played game and that's one that I just don't think anybody really remembers much.

But a, an incredible game with an incredible ending.

Okay, that's a great one.

And Fitzgerald's always a gamer at the end of those games or in overtime, isn't he's always.

Yeah, that though he cut.

And the great thing is it was a 70 yard pass, 75 yard pass.

Excuse me.

But it was really about a four yard pass and you know Fitzgerald just did the rest kind of thing.

So those are always really exciting.

Like that little, little slant, little cross.

And he kind of almost took it to the house.

And that was.

That was cool.

Yeah, that was cool.

That was one of those get up out of your chair moments where, you know, so much was happening in such a small amount of time there that.

That one stuck with me for sure.

I always think of Fitzgerald doing that with his yak.

He's almost like a long legged, you know, giddy up.

You know, he gets so quick.

Amazing player.

All right, we got number six.

This.

This is kind of painful.

Even though it doesn't involve my team, it does involve a team I loathe, and that is the New York Giants.

I can't stand the Giants for a lot of obvious reasons probably.

Also, my brother in law is a huge Giants fan.

I've got other friends that are Giants fans.

I'm not a 49ers fan, and I'll never forgive him because this is ridiculous, right?

You have two fumbled punts in the final stages of a championship game that.

That cost your team 10 points and essentially cost your team the game.

Now, a lot of times I think people say so and so's mistake, you know, lost the game for his team.

And, you know, if you look back at it, it's really a series of things that happen and it's kind of unfair that it gets pinned on one player or one thing.

This time I think it's actually kind of accurate because the 49ers have a 14 to 10 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

They force a punt, right?

He muffs it.

The Giants recover.

The Giants score a touchdown.

They take the lead.

The 49ers do come back and tie the game.

Game goes to overtime.

49ers get a stop on the first possession of overtime, force the Giants to punt, and Kyle Williams fumbles the punt.

Both were recovered by Devin Thomas of the Giants.

This time, the Giants are already in field goal range.

It's been two possessions in the game, so we can just kick the field.

Go.

It's over.

And.

And the Giants go on to the super bowl handed to them on a platter by poor Kyle Williams, who was only playing in that game because Ted Ginn was injured.

So just, I mean, I felt terrible for him, but I actually felt worse for me having to listen to my brother in law celebrate that, that.

That evening, it was.

It was painful.

The.

Was that one.

That one shouldn't have happened.

So Kyle Williams, we have beef there.

You go on to number five.

You ready?

Yeah.

All right, number five.

We have another gaff.

This is the game.

This is a well played game.

Back and forth also goes to overtime.

There are a lot of.

Of Brett Favre.

Memorable mistakes from Brett Favre over the years, some interceptions.

So it's overtime again.

The Eagles forced the packers to punt on the first possession of overtime.

Packers get the ball back.

It is first and 10 at the 30, and on first down, I don't know what he's doing.

He literally drops back.

He's under a little bit of pressure, and he throws a jump ball to only Eagles.

There's two defensive backs there.

It is like a punt, essentially.

I can't remember.

It may have been Brian Dawkins.

I'm not sure exactly who intercepted it, but he could have called a fair catch.

It was that bad.

And he returns it down to, like, the Packers 30.

So it's essentially game over, field goal, Eagles win.

It's for a Hall of Fame quarterback and an elite quarterback like Favre to make that level of a mistake in a playoff game, again on first down, that was just baffling.

And I'm not sure people really remember that amongst all of his other accolades, both good and bad.

Yeah, coming out of retirement a bunch of times and that.

But, yeah, had some great plays, but he was a gunslinger, so he took the chances, and sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

So, yeah, that one sounds like more of a lob play, though, not a thread.

Well, I just.

Just.

I watched it a couple times going back, and I just, you know, maybe there's some sort of explanation for it.

He thought someone's gonna zig when they zagged or something.

But it's hard to wrap your head around it when you.

I'd encourage everybody to go check it out on YouTube because it's like, I have no idea what's happening there.

You know, if it's 4th and 10, sure.

But on 1st and 10, it makes zero sense.

And it, you know, very well cost them a playoff game.

And that.

Those are.

Those are pretty valuable.

Yeah.

You ready to go back a little farther?

Sure.

Yeah.

This would have been the, I believe the divisional round in Dallas.

The Rams and the Cowboys.

I think it was an 8 or 10 point favorite in that game.

And they have.

The Rams are kind of hanging around.

The Cowboys can't quite.

Can't quite put them away.

And then with about 2 1/2 minutes left, Vince Ferragamo, he's one deep 50 yard touchdown.

Rams take the lead.

The Cowboys are unable to.

To mount a comeback even with Stall back there at the end.

And we have this huge, huge upset.

And it really, it.

Because of course the super bowl that year winds up being Rams and Steelers.

The fourth of the.

The Steelers four Super Bowls.

But you know, very likely Tampa Bay was the other team that made the NFC Championship game that year.

So they would have played at Dallas had Dallas beaten the Rams.

So likely Dallas, it likely would have been round three in the super bowl of Cowboy Steelers at the time.

Yeah, that, that could have been.

And that Brams team was kind of a surprise that year, you know, especially with Ferragamo, because I was with.

But Pat Hayden I think, got hurt or something and Ferragamo comes out of nowhere.

I think he was a Canadian football player.

I think.

I'm not exactly sure.

I don't remember exactly where.

What his origin story was, but.

Yeah, certainly not on the level of the other quarterbacks at the time that were playing at Super Bowls.

Right, right.

Yeah.

But that was a big upset against the Cowboys.

I remember that.

Yes.

And it's a little bit of a gem if you, if you go.

It's on YouTube.

I'd encourage a lot of people to go find it because Vin Scully calls the game too, which is kind of.

Which is kind of cool.

Which is kind of cool.

So he was on the call, but I think with Dick Vermeil, who had recently retired.

All right, so we're gonna go on to number three and we're gonna stay in the same year.

And I know you know this one and I, the.

I was very hesitant on this one because I think this one is pretty well known, but I went ahead and went with it anyway.

This would be the, the.

An AFC championship game from 79 Houston against Pittsburgh and the really infamous Pastorini pass to Mike Renfro, which was a com.

Which was a touchdown called incomplete on the field.

And then the Steelers wind up going on to win the game.

Now, in the defense of the Steelers, the score is 17 to 10 at the time, and it's the third quarter, so it's not like if they complete the touchdown, that it's a for sure win for the Oilers.

Far from it.

However, that sort of ended their real chance.

You know, they really needed to tie the game at that point to kind of keep the momentum going, and they didn't.

And that game had some real significance to the league later because it really became the play that instituted and really pushed for instant replay because it was an egregious miss.

It's a clear catch two feet in, it's a touchdown.

Obvious they reel in incomplete and, you know, probably one of the more notorious, not the most notorious, because I'll get to that in a minute, but one of the most notorious missed calls in playoff history, I think.

I'm not sure people remember it.

No, I. I mean, I. I know I remember it, and you're right, it probably is what the impetus for.

For instant replay, you know, like two.

Almost two decades later coming in.

But, yeah, it was.

It was an egregious error.

It was almost kind of embarrassing.

As a Steelers fan, you sort of sat on your hands, you're happy, but you're like going, oh, that's.

That's kind of ugly to do it.

But I. I had the opportunity to talk to Craig Colquitt, who was a punter for the Steelers in the Super Bowl 13, Super Bowl 14 era, and he.

That was.

Would have been his.

His second season in the league.

And he.

He pointed out, he said.

He goes, yeah, because do you remember what the Steelers did on the next drive after that?

So, like you said, you know, there was plenty of time left, and the Steelers moved the ball on the Oilers again.

He goes.

He goes, I don't.

I think we would have still had the same outcome.

He goes, yeah, it was unfortunate.

Renfro didn't get the catch and, you know, gets a stat line in the playoff game and pastoring to get his next touchdown, but he goes, we were pretty good that year, too.

So, yeah, given.

Given the Steelers history, I think, you know, tie game, late third quarter, if.

If they would have called it a touchdown, still probably would have had to certainly lean their direction.

But I know that for the.

I guess there's not many left anymore, but the Oilers fans, I know that that was always something that really stuck with them and grinded them for many, many, many years.

Yeah, that was the height of the Lavia blue teams.

Sure.

Great teams because they played in the championship game the year before as well where the Steelers destroyed them.

Yeah, that was, it was battle that AFC Central was a battle.

The Browns were good, the Bengals were good, the Steelers were good and the Oilers were good.

And it was, it was a bloodbath every.

Every game.

Yep.

All right, so now we're going to go.

We're going to go even farther back for number two and what is probably the most controversial call that nobody remembers in the history of the playoffs.

The Patriots Raiders divisional playoff game now started off with this.

You know the Raiders.

That's the year the Raiders did win the Super bowl.

That's the Madden year.

But there is a massively controversial call at the end of this game.

They're the.

It's very important.

The, the four point lead is important.

So the, the patriots have a four point lead.

It's 21 to 17 with less than two minutes left.

Like it is.

It's down to the, it's that this is the final drive for the Raiders and it is third and 18 and they are not field goal range.

Doesn't matter because they're not going to kick a field goal down four of course.

And Stabler goes back to pass.

He throws it down the sideline.

That's.

There's nobody really there.

It's incomplete.

So it's going to be fourth and 18, yellow flag.

Roughing the passer.

Right.

So this is not when roughing the passer calls were nearly as prevalent as they are now.

It was Ray Hamilton who was the defensive tackle I believe that was called for the penalty.

First of all, he's not late in any way.

It's not a late hit.

There is maybe a little bit of hand to the like head area contact a little bit.

But there's no face mask grab.

There's no clubbing.

There's nothing egregious about it at all.

It would be about as nitpicky as it gets even today.

And then was sort of unheard of.

But think about how massive that is because if they don't call it, it's 4th and 18 now.

Right.

So the Raiders have to go for it.

Odds aren't great that you're going to get it down by four.

Patriots are going to win that game and the Raiders are not going to win the Super Bowl.

And so that I think.

And I don't think that that's something that people are really particularly aware of.

And that is.

I'm sure Patriot fans are.

But that is, I think, a worthy number two on my list.

Yeah, I. I think you're absolutely right there.

I am a little bit familiar with it because currently I was one of the writers.

I'm not sure what the publisher has.

And I got to be a part of that and wrote.

I wrote the chapter on Fred Bulitnikoff.

He's from.

From Erie, where I'm from.

So I got to do that.

So I got a little bit.

And I, I was not a Raiders fan.

I.

You know, Raiders and the Cowboys were the enemy for being a 70 Steelers fan and.

But Fred Bulitnikov.

But I got to relive some of those moments of the Raiders and doing.

Very colorful team, no doubt.

Yeah, yeah.

Boy, they had a bunch of good players on that team too.

So number one, drum roll.

I didn't go back very far at all on this one.

This one is super weird to me because I barely remember it and it wasn't very long ago, but when you look at the details, it's shocking.

So I'm going to the night.

I'm sorry.

Jaguars and Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Of course, we all know the Patriots win the game.

I don't think people realize that the Jags had a 10 point lead with eight minutes to go in that game.

And you know, Blake Bortles was having a really nice day.

And the Patriots score.

Touchdown to Amendola.

Pass to amendola with about 8:30 left in the fourth quarter to get within three.

And then they don't score again till under three minutes, you know.

So the Jags have the lead in the AFC championship game in Foxborough.

Approaching the two minute warning, another Amendola touchdown.

Brady kind of doing his thing.

They take the lead.

But what I kind of didn't remember was, or remember at all was Bortles got the ball and they come right back down and cross midfield again.

And so the AFC championship is like hanging in the balance.

They get near field goal range, but then I believe there's a penalty or a sack that pushes them out.

They can't kick the field goal and it winds up 4th and long and they don't convert.

Patriots kneel.

It Out.

It's over.

But that was a game.

If you go back and look, it is hanging.

It is.

It is right there.

For Jacksonville, I'd say a team that nobody remembers.

I mean, because that is.

And.

And so to think that this great run for.

For Brady, that was really, in a way, one of their more improbable wins that I don't think anybody ever mentions ever.

You know, they.

Well, they had so many like that that were, you know, turned around at the last minute, you know, including Super Bowls that they won.

Just, you know, they were sort of a team of destiny.

They had.

I think they got more good breaks than anybody I think I've ever seen for one team, you know, with a single, with Brady at quarterbacking and Belichick at the helm.

Seems like, man, they always got a good break on something, a big game, but, yeah, that is definitely one of them.

Yeah, it was strange to have the Jags on this list.

That was strange to me, but I don't think anybody really remembers that, how close they were.

I'm sure Blake Bortles remembers it.

Yeah, but.

But I don't know if anybody else really does.

I was sort of maybe the.

The pin that popped his balloon of the great NFL career, because before that, he was a hot commodity.

He really was.

He went.

He went downhill fast.

But if you go back and look at his numbers and his performance in that game on a really big stage, he was really, really good.

Really good.

And then, you know, maybe that.

Maybe that.

Like you said, maybe that broke them.

I don't know.

But that.

That is my list.

Well, that list is.

Is excellent.

I.

First of all, I love the criteria you put out there.

You didn't want the popular.

You know, the things that the media always picks up on for every time you have a playoff game.

Those that.

Those.

Any two teams meet, they have something famous they talk about.

So they're so obscure and they're.

But they're things that we remember.

And.

And you got me on a bunch of them.

Have the aha moments like, oh, yeah, I remember that.

I'm sure the listeners are, too.

So, folks, if you do remember some of those, you know, hit us up in the comment section on YouTube or you can email us@pigskind dispatch gmail.com and I'll make sure those get shared with Ed, because this is fun stuff and we really appreciate you joining us today, Ed.

Yeah, you bet.

I want people to let me know the ones I forgot and see if they were on my cut list or not.

Oh absolutely.

Yeah, that would be fun to do too.

And maybe we'll even have a follow up show.

Yeah.

Thank you.

We'll do this again.

Thanks Darren.

That's all the football history we have today, folks.

Join us back tomorrow for more of your football history.

We invite you to check out our.

Website, pigskindispatch.com not only to see the daily football history, but to experience positive football with our many articles on the good people of the game as well as our own football comic strip, clete Marx Comics, pigskindispatch.com is also on social media outlets, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and don't forget the Pigskin Dispatch YouTube channel to get all of your positive football news and history.

Special thanks to the talents of Mike and Gene Monroe as well as Jason Neff for letting us use their music during our podcast.

This podcast is part of the Sports History Network, your headquarters for the yesteryear.

Of your favorite sport.

You can learn more@sportshistorynetwork.com.