By TJ Troup
Today, Tuesday, November 8th, 2022 is a day all Americans should relish, since we have the opportunity to help decide who works for us by voting. Hope all of you take advantage of the opportunity.
The games this past weekend continue the season narrative of the haves and the have-nots. Halfway through the season and so many teams still have a chance to earn a playoff berth, and in the coming weeks should be able to identify a couple games that could have real meaning. New England's fierce pass rush was one of the keys to their victory over the Colts as they recorded nine sacks.
So, let's journey back in history 45 years ago as the 7-0 Dallas Cowboys beat the Giants 24-10 and recorded a season-high eight sacks. Led by Harvey Martin & Randy White with two sacks apiece this is a foreshadowing of what is to happen in the SB. The rest of my weekly saga is to detail one of those days that still stands out for me personally. Ready?
Here goes . . . during the summer of '83 at the age of 32 had complete control of the defense at Mater Dei High School. My fifth year there, and had a group of returning starters, and three talented juniors that were to become "11 tough dudes" . . . a quote from head coach Wayne Cochrun when a reporter after one of our victories questioned Wayne about Al Pola and another of his outstanding performances. Cochrun felt the need to educate the reporter by telling him that the defense had other young men who played smart, resilient, and at times nasty football.
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| Eric Dickerson |
Having recorded five shut-outs in the past seven weeks, we were headed to the playoffs, but at Angel Stadium on Sunday, November 6th my beloved Bears were again gonna take on the Rams.
Went into the office early, did my preparation for the upcoming week, and met with my long-time Ram fan buddy to watch rookie sensation Eric Dickerson take on an improving Bear defense. The year before Sir Walter Payton had a game for the ages in one of those games where both offenses shined.
Rams are leading 7-0 right before the half, and Dickerson is continually pounding out yardage. Jim McMahon's errant pass is pilfered by Jim Collins and set up a Ram score on the last play of the half, and Chicago never caught up.
Payton's best play of the day was his touchdown pass to Jim McMahon (who says the Bears can't be creative?), yet the Ram pass rush led by Jack Youngblood and Dickerson's 127 on 34 attempts carried Los Angeles to victory.
This would not be the last time Dickerson and Payton would attempt to lead their respective teams to victory by controlling the game by running. The 1983 season is one of those historically that is never mentioned as one of the best seasons in league history, yet could go hours, and pages detailing where the league was at, and where it was headed.
Never, EVER missed an issue of Sports Illustrated since they now had a writer who really understood the game. Quoting Paul Lionel Zimmerman in the November 14th issue "in terms of blue-chip quality, though it's hard to match the 1973 group, when Ray Guy, Greg Pruitt, and Isaac Curtis made the AFC Pro Bowl Squad, and Charle Young, Tom Wittum, Nick Mike-Mayer, Chuck Foreman and Wally Chambers the NFC team".
The '83 campaign much like '73 had a boatload of talented rookies. Now back to November 6th, 1983 . . . .the 6-3 Raiders beat the Chiefs, the 7-2 Steelers beat the Chargers, the 8-1 Cowboys beat the Eagles, the 6-3 Dolphins beat the 49ers, and the defending champion Redskins demolished the Cardinals.
Will end this narrative though with another game on the slate that afternoon simply because one man literally carried his team on his back to victory.
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| James Wilder |
James Wilder had played 32 games in his career at this point (almost all positioned at fullback), and had carried the ball 259 times for 927 yards (3.57 a carry) . . . not exactly All-pro stats to say the least.
The week before in a losing effort, the big stud lugged the leather 42 times for 126 yards, but now against a Viking team with a winning record he is aligned at tailback, or halfback and gains 219 valuable yards on 31 attempts as the Buccaneers finally win a game!
The title of this narrative has an additional quote from James Wilder; "the better chance you have to make something happen". How many times in our current NFL will we see a back carry the ball 73 times over the course of two games?
Oh yeah, my MD boys....otherwise known as 11 tough dudes....went on the record the school's first playoff victory in 16 years.
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