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The Atlanta Falcons faced the Dallas Cowboys at Texas Stadium Saturday afternoon on December
30, 1978 during the second round of the NFL playoffs. The Cowboys were the defending Super
Bowl champs. Coached by the legendary Tom Landry, they had qualified for the playoffs
in 12 of the previous 13 seasons. The Falcons, on the other hand, were in the playoffs for
the first time in franchise history. This is the CBS Radio broadcast featuring announcers
Hank Stram and Jack Buck.
The Dallas Cowboys opening their bid for back-to-back Super Bowl titles, taking on the Atlanta
Falcons, a team that has made a habit of last-minute victories. The Cowboys with a 12-and-4 record
are making their 12th playoff appearance in 13 years and are favored by at least two touchdowns.
The Falcons entered the postseason playoffs via the wild-card birds with a 9-and-7 record,
then won the right to continue on Christmas Eve with a 14-to-13 comfort behind victory
over Philadelphia. Atlanta's Steve Bartkowski has been sacked 56 times this season. That's
more than any other quarterback in the league, and he could be in for a long afternoon. Now
let's go to Dallas.
Tim Mazetti will kick it off. The Atlanta Falcons will kick from our left to our right. It is
Larry Brinson going back deep, along with Putt Johnson in twin safety. The winner of
this game goes on to the NFC title game on the 7th of January. Tim Mazetti started with
the Eagles, ended with the Falcons, with pending bar before the Atlanta Falcons picked him up
as come on to play a Cinderella role in the Atlanta football story. The right-footed soccer
style kicker, and the ball will go to either Johnson or Brinson to get this game started.
Dallas heavily feathered, and here we go. We hope you enjoy it here on CBS Radio. The kick
goes to Putt Johnson. Takes it on the 5, up the middle to the 10-15, going right to the
20-25 yard line, 25th yard line, and down he goes. And the tackle for Atlanta was made
by the defensive back Bob Glazebrook on the first hit of the afternoon.
You know, one thing that's going to be interesting to see, Jack, is what kind of an effect the
Dallas vulnerable formation system will have on the blitzing defense of the Atlanta Falcons.
They like to blitz a great deal. The one thing that kind of neutralizes all the blitzing
is a great variety of offensive formation.
And of course, the Dallas Cowboys have that with Roger Stobach at quarterback Scott Laidlaw
and Tony Darsett are the setbacks. Robert Newhouse will play today. He's not in there
at the moment. Darsett goes in motion. There's a flip out to Laidlaw. He gets the block, comes
out to the 31-2 yard line for a worthwhile game for the Dallas Cowboys. On the toss,
they got outside and showed on the very first play that they can turn the end of the Atlanta
Falcons.
One thing that you have to do against Atlanta, especially if you have good outside speed
like Dallas has, you have to get outside and you have to do so quickly from a formation
whereby you toss the ball to the halfback or fullback on a quick count and get the ball
out to him quickly so he can outmaneuver the fast pursuing linebackers of the Atlanta team
and that's exactly what they did on the first play of the game.
Laidlaw got five out to the Dallas 32 yard line. Darsett is in the backfield with Laidlaw.
And here's Stobach. The Darsett over the right side comes across to the 35-36 yard line.
Looks like it's going to be third and one. He was tackled by Robert Pennywell who had
made the previous tackle on the sideline on Laidlaw. Now Dallas has been able to get both
Laidlaw and Darsett to handle the ball in the early going and that's important.
Yes it is. You know there's a lot of tension going into a big game like this. And the sooner
you get your hands on the football, the sooner you get hit, the better off everybody is.
They get a hat on everybody on the first couple of plays.
Would you feel better if I popped you one right now?
I'd feel a lot better if I gave you one instead.
We have third and one coming up. The ball is out to the Dallas 36 yard line.
Third and one. They go into the high formation with Laidlaw up.
And here's Stobach on a stake getting the first down.
That's not when you got a back like Darsett. He starts in motion.
You have a real tendency to start chasing him and Stobach is good sized. He can punch it out and get the first down.
Yeah what happened on the play though Jack? They were not able to recognize the offensive formation soon enough.
They were shifting and in the process of the shift and in the process of getting down in a three point stance,
Stobach called the quarterback's stake and took advantage of that movement and got the first down very easily.
To his own 39 yard line. The first down, they shift out of the eye, back into the eye.
Dorsett's a tail back. A man in motion is Drew Pearson.
Here's a toss to Dorsett tackled in the backfield for a loss on the play and a big loss at that.
Atlanta is not without their Reuters and that was Frank Reed the safety man.
Typical of what Atlanta does here on defense and they do it right most of the time.
Well that time they had the flanker to the right side. They sent him in motion to the left side.
But Reed was right on the line of scrimmage and there was no way in the world that you could make that play go
because there was nobody there to block Frank Reed, number 28, to strong safety.
And as a result, they lost yardage on the play.
Drew Pearson comes to the left. Wide receiver is Tony Hill to the right side.
It is second down and 15 as a result of a loss of five when Dorsett was tackled.
Stobach throwing for the first time over the middle. Incomplete and off the fingertips of Drew Pearson.
It was cladding into the middle and had he caught that, I don't think anybody would have stopped him.
Well he didn't and so that's very unimportant.
The big thing was that the strong safety Frank Reed was on the line of scrimmage.
It was a safety blitz. Everything happened a little quicker than they wanted it to happen.
And the ball fell incomplete. It should have been caught. It was a well-thrown ball.
I don't think I've ever seen Stobach release the ball as quickly as he did that time.
We'll see him release it very quickly all day long if he's going to get rid of the football
because the way they put pressure on you, you better get rid of it quickly
or you better block, pick up the blitzers with a lot of people and have plenty of time to throw the football.
What's your stuff to do?
They go into the double wing, have Preston Pearson, Stobach back to throw, the blitz is on,
he stands in the pocket, throws outside, Drew Pearson caught him,
put the 35 down to the 30, down, down, 28 yard line of the Atlanta Falcon
before Rick Fiers punched him out.
It was a very simple, they had plenty of time to throw the ball.
It was a blitz against a spread formation and he just went down inside, turned Fiers to the inside,
broke outside, the ball was right on target.
It was good for 39 yards and a first down, Jack.
A good play by the Dallas Cowboys.
A lot of people have been wondering about Stobach's injured fingers.
He seems here at the outset to be pitching the ball in terrific fashion.
I watched him in a pregame warmup and I assure you there's nothing wrong with his finger
because he threw extremely well.
First down at the Atlanta 28 yard line with Laidlaw and Dorsett in the backfield.
Two wide receivers to the left, Dorsett goes in motion, Stobach to Laidlaw.
Over the right side, got only a yard and he was driven back.
He ran into Jeff Yates, the defensive end, and Jim Bailey and the outside linebacker,
Poulton Keichendahl, one of the best in the game by the way, finished off the play.
Up front they are playing Yates, Bailey, Mike Lewis and Jeff Murrow.
The linebackers are Keichendahl, Pennywell and Brazina, a good trio of linebackers, Hank.
Yes they are and Brazina blitzes a great deal from the weak side position.
By that I mean he's on the side away from the tight end and he does a great job of blitzing
and creating problems from that position.
Second down and nine for Dallas.
Stobach straight back to the throw, looks quickly, drives it over the middle, complete first and goal
for Dallas as it was Drew Pearson covered by Rick Pius again and Stobach was on the body
and his first and goal from the Atlanta, no that's first and goal, his first and ten from the Atlanta 14.
The worst thing about playing against Atlanta, you're going to be involved in a lot of big plays
and involved in a lot of bad plays because it's such a guessing game Jack and you're going to guess right
but you can't worry about the times you guess wrong, you just have to maintain a plan,
keep throwing the ball, take advantage of the blitzing situation.
The defensive backs of Atlanta are not good cover people and as a result if you get the ball off
they're going to complete a lot of passes and have a lot of big plays in this game today.
The tight end drops off the line of scrimmage, starts in motion here, Stobach pitching to Leibloy
is hit on the backfield and tackled for a loss of a couple of yards by Jeff Yates, the defensive end
who crashed in there and didn't go for the fake.
It was sort of like a college option play but Yates, the defensive end, knew that Stobach wasn't going to keep the ball.
Yeah it was an option play Jack, it was a good observation on your part, it was an option play to the right side
and one thing in professional football, defensively when you see the option play you're going to say fine.
You want to run the ball quarterback, you run it but we're going to take away the outside people
and the quarterback is not going to keep it very often so really that's very ineffective on that kind of a situation.
Back at the 16 yard line of Atlanta, second down and 12 for Dallas.
Flip backs in the backfield, Pearson left.
A lot of room on this left side.
Here's Stobach back to throw a look and throwing it into the end zone and Pearson cannot get it.
It was thrown away, there was good coverage on Drew Pearson, this time by Rick Pius
and it will be third and 12 for Dallas, they've kept the ball for almost five minutes since getting the opening kickoff.
Earlier they had a third and 15 came up with the first down, they picked up three first downs in this drive
and now it's third down and 12 from the Atlanta 16.
Pius was very deep that time and I'm surprised that Stobach tried to throw the ball to Pearson on top
because he had all the room in the world in front of him but he elected to throw the ball deep
and he couldn't do that in this situation because he's got an extra person, not a person,
but an extra dimension in the secondary to help him and that's the end zone.
Dorsett was on a wing, goes back into the backfield, Stobach on third down.
The blitz is on, he throws over the middle end zone and incomplete to Tony Hill who had drawn double coverage.
It'll be fourth down, Stobach ends up in a sitting position.
He threw that ball into heavy traffic, Tony Hill was covered by both Pius and Tom Tridemore, the free safety.
Rafael Septien comes in to try to put Dallas on top with 10.07 remaining in the first quarter.
Brasina that time was booking again from the linebacker position.
They haven't booked that much really on this drive with the exception of the spread formation
that enabled Dallas to come up with a big play of 29 yards on a passing formation.
They've got them down in good scoring position like they are right now.
Here's a 34 yard field goal attempt by Septien.
The ball is snapped, set, kicked and it is good and Dallas jumps out in front.
10.04 remaining in the first quarter.
Dallas leads by the score of three to nothing.
And with the score of Dallas three and nine to nothing, let's take time out.
Franco Harris, the forgotten superstar, and John Stalwart, Pittsburgh's other receiver,
turned in record breaking performance this Saturday to carry the Cedars into the AFC championship game
with a 33 to 10 route of Denver.
Harris, a six time 1,000 yard rusher who received little national recognition this season
due to the heroics of Houston's Earl Campbell, set an NFL record of 12 career playoff touchdowns
by scoring on runs of one and 18 yards.
Stalwart, who plays in the shadow of all pro teammate Lynn Swan,
set a division playoff record with 10 receptions for 156 yards,
including a leaping 45 yard touchdown grab in the last period that put the game out of reach.
The victory is Pittsburgh's 15th against two losses, and that's the best record in the National Football League.
And the Cedars will play host to Sunday's Houston New England winner on January 7th
for a berth in Super Bowl XIII in Miami on January 21st.
That final again, Pittsburgh 33 to 10 over Denver.
Sepian who kicked the field goal will kick it off.
Dennis Pearson, who returned 100 yards earlier this year, is in the middle of three deep men.
Sepian usually gets the ball down to about the five yard line.
Very little wind advantage here in Texas Stadium.
Cowboys leading three to nothing.
Sepian boots a line drive kick, bounces that to 20,
and Atlanta wisely allows the ball to go out of bounds.
Their closest to it was George Franklin, and he was smart.
That'll cause Dallas 5.
They broadcast, excuse me, Hank.
That's all right.
Go ahead, Seth. You'll be frustrated if you don't.
No, you upset me now.
I'm not going to talk if you don't.
You got me mad.
I'm not going to talk if you don't.
I was just going to say, Jack, that they're going to welcome that opportunity to get better field position
because Dallas kicked the ball out of bounds, Sepian specifically,
and they should come out of this with much, much better field position than they would have
had he kicked the ball correctly the first time he attempted the kickoff.
We'll get a look at the Atlanta offense in just a moment.
Dennis Pearson is back along with five more, and Franklin, this is a high kick.
Pearson took it on the 14 up the middle to the 20, 25, 30, 35, 40.
Flags go down, and so does Dennis Pearson
at his own 43-yard line, and we probably will have a clip.
We do against Atlanta, boy, it happens to us.
Yeah, it really does, and it really hurts the field position so much to start a drive,
minus 10 or 15 yards, it happens on those kind of penalties.
But you know, he had a big cavity on the right side.
He had a little seam on the left, but a big cavity on the right.
And right or wrong, you have to make a decision to bring the ball back.
That time he chose to go left, and really he did it much better off to go up the right side
because he had a big hole to run through.
Hank, why is there so much clipping on those kick returns week after week throughout the long season?
Well, it's very simple, Jack, because you have to block a moving target,
and once you throw your body, especially if you throw it too soon,
sometimes you think you're going to get the head in front, and you wind up getting it behind,
and that's why there's so many penalties.
The ball is at the Atlanta 22.
They have Steve Parkowski, a quarterback.
They have Haskell Standback and Bubba Bean in the backfield.
Standback now sets up as a wing, it's a double wing formation.
Bubba Bean alone set back, and from the 22,
Bean carries up the middle to the 25, to the 30.
He got a burst down out to the 33-yard line of Atlanta.
Finally stopped by Aaron Kyle off the corner.
Did they confuse the Cowboys with that double wing?
They've been doing that quite often.
They send Standback in motion to the left, and they usually run to the same side of the man in motion.
That's exactly what they did that time.
He started to his left, came up the seam, had some good running room,
and picked up the first down on the play, but it was good blocking
by the part of the offensive line of the Atlanta Falcons,
Mike Kent, Dave Scott, Dan Noat, Fieldman, and McKinley.
Two wide receivers. They have three wide receivers in there.
Parkowski gives to Bubba Bean.
He's across the 35 to the 36, 37-yard line.
He gained four.
Harvey Martin and Randy White got him,
and Bubba Bean has started off in full flight here today.
Nine-ten left in the first quarter. Clock running, three-nothing.
Dallas on top, second and sixth Atlanta from their own 37.
You know, Mitchell is such a fine receiver that they could use him as a third receiver.
He's split out left away from the slot side and gives them a three-receiver dimension,
but he's the tight end in the formation.
On second down, Parkowski throwing for the first down, goes outside,
and it is caught for a burst down into Dallas territory.
It is caught at the Dallas 41-yard line by Billy Rickman.
He had Cliff Harris making the tackle before the net.
He had Randy Barnes turned around, and Barnes never did see the ball.
Well, they were in double coverage. They had a short man and a deep man,
and Parkowski threw the ball as perfectly as you could possibly throw it.
It had to be thrown right where it was.
Billy Rickman made a beautiful catch over the shoulder,
and it's a burst down for the Atlanta team.
A beautiful drive going so far.
Now they've got a standback going leftless if they run left again. They do.
Bubba Beans, then turns it back up the middle.
He's hit at the 40-yard line. He gained two yards.
He was hit by Larry Cole, who was starting rather than just throw a few, and Randy White.
It's going to be second down and eighth for Atlanta.
They're trailing three to nothing.
They've got a variety of things that they do for that formation right now.
When they send the standback in motion, they have run both times,
utilized the play twice, ran to the left both times.
I'm sure we'll see some other things from it on first and tenth situations as we go along.
Now they're in a three-receiver situation with Mitchell split out to the left side.
Here's Parkowski back to throw, looking right, throws right sideline, and incomplete.
Incomplete at the sideline, and a flag goes down as Cliff Harris gave the receiver a friendly pat on the head.
The official threw the flag for a personal foul.
He just capped him on the helmet, Hank.
Yeah, but you can't, you supposedly cannot touch the guy above the shoulders, and that's exactly what he did.
And he had to play for it. That's what the rules specifically say.
You can't measure the degree of the hit.
He was hit on top of the head, and as a result, it's a penalty.
Cliff Harris with a head slap and a personal foul against Dallas.
15 yards penalty, moves the ball inside the Dallas 25 to the 24.
Instead of it being third and sixth, it's a first down at the Dallas 24.
Right conduct, 43. He says first down.
The fans don't like it, but everybody saw it, and it's in the book.
First down at the 24-yard line, four and lead us.
Dan back going left again, and let's see what they do from this formation.
He's got a lot of room on the left side. He'd be a good guy to throw to over there.
Here's Barchowski back to throw, throws it short.
It's caught for a gain of a couple of yards.
The hit made immediately as it was hauled in by Wallace Francis, and the tackle was made by Dee Dee Lewis.
Charlie Waters has to cover, stand back man for man when he goes in motion to the left side.
He's got a lot of room over there from that double wing formation.
I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see him do a little business over there, Jack, and get the ball to him because he's got a lot of room.
Block is running, 7.35 remaining in the first quarter.
A pick-up of two despite the pass completion.
Rickman goes to the left side along with Alfred Jackson, and it's second and eighth.
Again the double wing, and Bubba Bean on a draw play. Goes to the 20 tackled.
And he fell down at the 19-yard line. It is going to be third down and five for the Falcons.
And he ran into the arms of Thomas Henderson, the linebacker.
Henderson, Bob Bruning, Dee Dee Lewis are the linebackers.
Ed Jones, Larry Cole, Randy White, Harvey Martin up front.
Benny Barnes, Aaron Kyle on the corner.
Charlie Harris and Charlie Waters and Cliff Harris are the safety nets.
Third and five, Atlanta from the Dallas 19.
Now the two setbacks are Bubba Bean and Haskell stand back.
Extra defensive back, Randy Hughes is in for Dallas on third down.
The flag goes down and it was too much time to lay up game Atlanta.
While they were setting up a formation designed to confuse Dallas,
they cost themselves five yards and it's going to be third down and ten.
Yes, they confused themselves and here again they deviated a little bit from their bracing personality
because they tried to do a little bit with Dallas by shifting and creating formations.
That time they were confused themselves, took too much time in the huddle and had to pay the penalty of five yards.
And that might cost them on a field goal attempt later if Atlanta fails to pick up the first down.
On this, a third down play from the Dallas 24.
Third and ten.
Wallace Francis is to the right, Billy Rickman is to the left, Mitchell the tight end on the right side.
Third and ten. Bartkowski calls the signal.
Back to throw, rolling right, not much pressure, looks close, tight line and it is caught for a first, close to a first down.
Not a first down, however, at the 15 yard line.
Now the receiver was bobbling the ball a bit when he went out of bounds and Dallas might be arguing about that.
Wallace Francis hauled it in and they're going to measure to see if he made a first down.
It appears he would be short about a yard.
I think he made it, Jack.
Yeah?
Yeah, I got the impression that he might have made it. Let's see what they call.
But Bartkowski did a great job of rolling to his right and hit Francis on the outside who made a nice catch on the outside and it looks like they might have it.
We'll see in just a second. Here's the bad angle.
Well, one of us is right and the other is wrong.
And you're right, it's a first down inside the 15 yard line.
A first down for Atlanta, despite the third and 10 play.
And they did a good job also of confusing Dallas a little bit because they moved their backs around.
Dallas was ready to blitz, including the safety man, but they didn't do it because of the formation situation and they got away with a good call and a good play on a roll out situation.
Well, some people thought Atlanta wouldn't score on Dallas. Here's a draw play to Bubba Bean and he's inside the five. He's got a touchdown.
A draw play is good for 14 yards and an Atlanta touchdown on the draw to Bubba Bean and is he getting off the ball?
You know, after watching them play on grass for so many times in Atlanta, they look like they're running in cook fan there, but they look like they're really lightning and flying on their synthetic turf here in the Dallas stadium in Irving, Texas.
Well, they, the Atlanta club, kept the ball for about three and a half minutes and they go on top six three. The ball will be held by the punter, John James, and Tim Mazzetti will try to add to the Atlanta total a high snap, John.
John James got it down and it is up and through a good job by the holder that time.
Well, there's a timeout on the field with a score, Atlanta seven and Dallas three.
Very impressive drive by both teams. Dallas coming and taking the opening kickoff going 74 yards and 12 plays, consuming four minutes and 56 seconds.
However, they only came away with three points after Setian kicked a field goal that made it three to nothing.
Atlanta came right back, took the ball on the 22 yard line, their own 22, had a beautiful drive of 78 yards, nine plays, it took three minutes and 26 seconds, executed a beautiful draw play with Bubba Bean taking it in from 14 yards out that made it seven for Atlanta.
The score now, Atlanta seven and the Dallas Cowboys three. But again, both teams, very impressive offensively with big plays, good drives and score on the opening opportunities.
Both teams, Dallas with three points and the Atlanta team with seven.
Thanks Ram and Jack Buck with you from Dallas. I repeat, some people thought that Atlanta wouldn't score all afternoon against the Dallas club, but they're out in front by the score of seven to three.
And then he will kick it off. Larry Brinson is deep along with Butch Johnson.
We have 625 remaining in the first quarter and that score is going to give the Falcons an awful lot of confidence.
Yes it is and give them, you know, they play with a great deal of enthusiasm, a lot of animation, a lot of emotion and this will perpetuate that I'm sure to a great degree.
Butch Johnson is deep along with Brinson. Here's a high kick at head four Johnson and he takes it on tonight to the 10 to the 15 to 20 going right.
He's out to the 25 yard line and the Cowboys will start from their own, well inside the 25 as Ron McCartney was downfield, a linebacker to make the hit for Atlanta.
They rule that Butch Johnson's knee went down at the Dallas 24 yard line.
Well we haven't had a turnover. Each team scored each time they had the ball and so Dallas gets it for the second time.
From the 24 yard line, Joe Pearson goes to the right side.
Dorsett is on a wing, into a setback now with Scott Laidlaw and on first down Roger Staubach rolls right on a bootleg.
He pops the ball off to his side and Jackie Smith, Smith is beyond the 40 yard line and out to the 42.
Staubach could have run forever himself. He gave the ball to the 16 year veteran Jackie Smith who gets it out his first down.
Yeah, so they have such a heavy artillery of explosive weapons the Dallas team has.
That was a good illustration of it. They ran a bootleg play and as you mentioned, Staubach could have run and could have still been running and ran right up the ramp that time because there's nobody around.
He elected to throw the ball to Jackie Smith and he picked up a nice first down in the play.
Now Pearson comes to the left as they use the two tight ends. Billy Joe Dupree and Jackie Smith from the Dallas 42 yard line.
And on first down Staubach again throwing to the sideline, overthrown, incomplete.
Coming up with Rick Pius who will have a busy afternoon covering the outstanding receiver Drew Pearson.
You know that was a great illustration, Jack. We just saw Roger throw the ball way quicker than he should have.
But it's a great illustration of how the Atlanta team will intimidate a quarterback because he expects so much pressure that he tries to get rid of the ball quicker than he should get rid of it.
And as a result that time he threw the ball way over his head and it could have been a well thrown ball had he taken just a little bit more time to plan his feet and throw the ball properly.
And now in the tailback spot, well split backs with late law and Tony Dorset second and ten. Staubach back to throw.
Here's the pass outside, overthrown, incomplete to the tight end Billy Joe Dupree.
They were shooting the outside linebacker, Greg Brazina. They cover up pretty well, Hank.
Yes they do. You see Roger anticipated more blitzing than that down that play.
And here again it was just a one man blitz with Brazina coming on the split inside and again he heard himself and got the ball on top again, threw it much sooner than he should have.
And anytime I think you see a ball go over the top of somebody, Jack, you know that it was released too soon.
Preston Pearson checks into the backfield for Atlanta, or for Dallas, excuse me.
And he goes off on a wing.
And in the shotgun Staubach back to throw on third and ten. Looks, throws it outside, incomplete.
Way over the head of Preston Pearson who had drawn double coverage.
Staubach was blasted as he threw the ball.
Tykendall and the strong safety Frank Reed were both on Preston Pearson and it's kicking time for the first time this afternoon.
And Danny White will do the honors. Billy Rickman, who's a pretty good threat, goes back inside his 20 to get it.
That time from the spread formation they only blitzed one linebacker and that was Brazina.
The other time they were in a spread formation on third down they blitzed all three linebackers.
I think Staubach was anticipating that again, got a different look, and here again threw the ball poorly on the play.
Low snap, Danny White gets it. Now he's going to run with the ball. He's to the 40, 45, let's go. But down, Dallas, Danny White.
Up the next after a bad snap. No runs. So he took off and got Dallas the first down into Atlanta territory.
I think he has the option back there, Jack, any time that he feels he has an opportunity to run he can do so, but he better make sure he's right when he makes that decision.
He does sit and make it by one yard.
Yes. But Atlanta had a return on that time and they were very lax.
The contained man on the left side did not pay any attention whatsoever to the kicker who was trying to get into the wall.
There was nobody there and provided him with the opportunity, Danny White, to make the first down.
To the Atlanta 46 yard line. Out of the high formation now they give it to Laidlaw.
Box it up the middle of the 40, to the 35, to the 30, down to the 25 yard line of the batter, goes, got Laidlaw.
Beautiful draw play right up the middle. Nothing more than a good shot up the middle, good running by Laidlaw.
And he picked up another big first down. But a great illustration of how important big plays are.
And the big play of course in this drive was a run by Danny White on a fourth down situation.
He ran out of pump formation, got a first down. Laidlaw just picked up 16 to the Atlanta 25 yard line.
Staubach on first down with his wide receivers to the right, or set in motion.
Staubach gives to Laidlaw again over the right side. He moves down to the 22, he got three.
The last time they ran that formation, Jack, they had a flop to the right, which means both receivers are on the right side of the football.
The tight end on the left side, they spent door set in motion to the left.
The last time they did that they ran Laidlaw outside. This time they faked going outside, ran a counter play back inside.
And he picked up about two or three yards in the play.
Take the third and seven.
Wilson, Paul Maena checks in. On the second down play, he'll try to help with the pass rush.
Dewey McLean, additional linebacker is in for Atlanta. From the Atlanta 22, it is second down and seven.
They got a lot of room over here on bias. They can throw in front of him.
Staubach back to throw. He looks and he's rushed. He throws the screen. It's caught by Dorcett.
He's inside the 15 and out of bounds. A first down for Dallas on the screen pass to Tony Dorcett.
Boy, it looked like once he got by the linebacker he was going to go all the way.
But he didn't really look like Jackie was fully aware of where he was.
He had a lot of room to run down the sideline, but just a little push knocked him out of bounds.
And he didn't get nearly as much yardage on the play as you thought he would when the play was initiated.
It is a first down, however, to the 12-yard line of Atlanta.
The last time they were in a comparable position, the Cowboys had to settle for a field goal.
They led three to nothing. Atlanta came right back and scored. Atlanta's on top seven-three.
They like to put their safety man, strong safety, inside this area and then their weak safety inside the 10.
Let's see what they do here.
From the 13-yard line, Pearson is to the left. Hill is to the right. Staubach back to throw.
Has time and zone. Incomplete. Incomplete. Tony Hill bobbled the ball as he went out of bounds.
And you have to have complete possession of the ball. Tony Hill then ran into the grandstand, but he's all right.
It'll be second and 10 from the 13.
Their tendency held up that time. Frank Reed, the strong safety, did blitz inside of this area.
Inside the 20, they like to blitz their strong safety. Inside the 10, they like to blitz their weak safety.
Reed came. It had no effect on the play. It was a one-on-one, but he'll just drop the football.
But they're going to try to do business unbiased, which is very obvious, and justifiably so because he played very soft on that corner.
John Fitzgerald, the center out over the ball. Scott and Rafferty are the guards.
Dunovan and Wright, if you'll write, are the tackles. And on the second down, as they show the blitz, the gear is to the running back.
A touchdown for Kellett.
Running with the ball is Scott Laidlaw. He ran right by the blitz and got the score from 13 yards out.
He caught him in a trap. A draw play right up the middle. A beautiful run by Laidlaw.
He goes in for the touchdown. But it's going to be a big play game. There's no question about that, Jack.
And any time that you play against a team that blitzes this much, you're going to have a lot of big plays.
And this has been demonstrated so far in the early stages of this game, with Dallas just scoring.
Waters will hold it. Step the end. Tries to kick it through.
Snap the set. The kick. Good.
Dallas is now on top, and we still haven't had a punt in this football game, with 3.18 remaining in the first quarter.
With a score, Dallas 10 and Atlanta 7. Let's take time out.
Ohio State Athletic Director Hugh Heidman has disclosed that he had personally fired veteran football coach Woody Hayes for striking a Clemson player.
And he says the search for Hayes' successor will start next week.
Heidman said he and Ohio State University President Harold Einerson met far into the night following the incident in that Gator Bowl game,
and he arrived at the decision. And he told Hayes in the morning at the hotel about the decision.
The athletic director said only he and Hayes were present at the time, and he refused to discuss Hayes' reaction or elaborate on the reason for firing Hayes.
Hayes flew back to Columbus with a team.
The first of the week, according to Heidman, he'll be with the president and others in terms for setting a procedure for naming a successor.
Hayes struck Clemson middle guard Charlie Baumann after Baumann, who had intercepted a pass in the closing minutes of Clemson's Gator Bowl victory over Ohio State,
taunted the coach by apparently waving the intercepted ball in Hayes' face.
Well, something's got to give. Each team has scored each time they've had the ball. Atlanta will get it for the second time.
George Franklin and Tom Pridemore flank Dennis Pearson, who is waiting for the set-the-end kick.
3-18 remaining in the first quarter, and Dallas leading 10-7 in the Seasaw game.
Dallas lets free to nothing. Atlanta on top, 7-3. Dallas has regained the lead 10-7.
Here's a high kick, and it goes to the sideline, and it goes to Pridemore, and he is across the 20-yard line and moves across the 25-27-yard line, and the Falcons will go from there.
On that last trap play, Hope Scott, the left guard, really made a good trap lock that provided Laylaw to go in for the touchdown of 13 yards, but he caught him in a blip.
Made the trap, and when we talk about a trap, it means they permit the defensive alignment to come across the line of scrimmage like nobody's going to block him, and then hit him from the side, and that's a trap lock due to the play executed by Herbert Scott.
Mitchell, the tight end on the right side, the give is to the tailback, and no gain over the left side. He ran into Harvey Martin and Randy White.
And Dee Dee Lewis was really involved in the play that time. The right linebacker was right into the play, and he is really the one who made the tackle.
Van De Bein, the coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, is up in the booth, relaxed, enjoying the game. He'll be our guest here at halftime on CBS Radio.
No gain on that last play, second down and 10 for Atlanta.
They have Alfred Jackson to the right with Billy Rickman split left on second down. Barkowski back to throw over the middle, and incomplete.
Incomplete is the incentive for Alfred Jackson, who ran quite a pattern, but the ball just didn't get to him. He had gotten between the quarterback Benny Barnes and the free safety, Cliff Harris.
Yes, there was a big seam there, and he was in there perfectly, but the ball was thrown a little bit too high and incomplete.
Thanks, Ram. We've been talking about blitzing. This is when Dallas loves to come after you.
Yes, they do. They like to come after you, and they're big and they're strong, and they make a real strong commitment to the blitz and put a lot of pressure on you when they do come.
Third and 10 from the Atlanta 27. They have Joy Franklin in the backfield, and running with the ball out across the 35-40, a first down goes Franklin to the 40-yard line of Atlanta.
They caught him in a total blitz, and one of the best things that you can do, Jack, is run outside because the linebackers are going straight ahead.
The ball carrier is going sideways, which eliminates the pursuit of the linebackers, who make 60 to 65 percent of the tackle.
And if you can clear that area out, you're going to make a big play. That's exactly what happened on the last run by the Atlanta team.
Two minutes remaining in the first quarter. Atlanta's ball, first down at their own 40. They've made some big third down plays already in this game.
They have Bubba Bean in the backfield as Mark Tosky gets back to throwing his clips and tackle throw-offs right at the 36-yard line.
Anderson got him.
And Cliff Harris was whiffing from his free safety position on a first and 10 situation.
But here again, Mark Tosky was not ready for that. They fooled them completely on the play, and they lose yardage, which makes it now second and very long.
Second down and 17 back at the Atlanta 32. And they'll come again too, Hank. They're not bashful, the Cowboys, aren't they?
No, they say, here we come. You block us if you can. And it's tough to do.
The extra defensive back, Randy Hughes checks in for Dallas. Mark Washington in there.
Second down and 17, Atlanta. Barskowski with Jim Mitchell, the tight end on the right side.
Hands off to it running back, and that stand back, he gets to the 35, maybe 36. That's all. It's going to be third down and 13.
It was Bob Brunning, the middle linebacker, first there.
There's a great illustration of the guessing game that goes on.
Mark Tosky thought they were going to blitz again. A trap would have been perfect.
Very much the same kind of a play that Dallas used just a minute ago against them.
But they did not blitz. They faked the blitz, ran the trap anyhow, and didn't succeed in making much yardage on the play.
Larry Cole and Brunning were both there, and so it's with 50 seconds left in the quarter. Third down and 13, Atlanta, their own 36.
Barskowski on a long count. Four-man rush by Dallas. He is hit back, back at the 25-yard line.
Randy Wade and Ed Jones keep blowing through there, and they got him. They got him.
Back at the Atlanta 25-yard line, and the Falcons will have to kick for the first time with John James in there.
This game is going to be a big play game, both offensively and defensively, as it's been illustrated so far in this contest.
But we're going to see a lot of sparks fly here and a lot of fireworks, Jack, before the afternoon is over.
It's a good one so far with Dallas leading 10 to 7, 25 seconds left in the quarter.
But Johnson stands at his 35, waiting for the kick from John James, who's been rather inconsistent this year after leading the league previously.
Pretty good Dallas rush. He gets it away, and it's a fine kick. It sends Johnson all the way back to the 27.
He fumbles, and it's a good cover. Now Moriarty recovers a fumble right out of the arms of But Johnson.
Was that a beautiful bounce? He caught it. It was amazing. It came right up to him.
He got it on the first hop, just like a short stop at a baseball game, and it's Atlanta ball first and 10 on the Dallas 25-yard line.
It was such a good kick that it had driven Johnson downfield, and Moriarty had tremendous coverage on it.
I was surprised he was as close to the ball as he was.
There was a blocker in front who didn't take a shot at him, and that was the difference in why they were able to recover that fumble.
So the Balkans get the ball right back. First down pass to the left sideline. He's hit, and up for a loss of 5 yards on the play.
And that's where Barchowski is by Larry Cole, who's playing in place of Gus Roque.
Billy Rickman that time tried to beat Aaron Kyle on a deep pattern, a slant, I mean I should say a flat and up,
meaning that he goes out on the flat like he's going to catch the ball in that area and then breaks up the field.
But that's the end of the first quarter. Cowboys leading the game 10-7.
Now the Dallas Cowboys coming through here with a 34-yard field goal by Sepion to take a quick 3-0 lead.
And then an 11-yard run by Bean for Atlanta, and that gives Atlanta a 7-3 lead, but then another field goal.
And that's the way things stand up here with Dallas coming through with that other touchdown.
And the end of the first quarter Dallas leading the Atlanta Falcons.
The Dallas Cowboys have won six in a row and are leading here 10-7, but there's no doubt they have their hands full.
The official Super Bowl game program will again be a collector's item. You can be one of the collectors.
The program will feature scouting reports on the two competing teams, photos and art portfolio of Super Bowl record holders,
a special feature on the Lombardi Trophy, and the 12-pass Super Bowl ring.
You can get a souvenir copy of the book by sending $3 to Super Bowl XIII Winona, Minnesota, 55987.
Super Bowl XIII Winona, Minnesota, 55987.
The $3 covers purchase of the book, postage and handling allows six weeks for delivery.
A preceding announcement has been brought to you by the National Football League.
And don't forget you can listen to Super Bowl XIII for Miami, Florida on Sunday, January 21st.
Thanks, Sam, and I will be there. You'll hear the game on most of these CBS radio stations.
So far everything's very even, Jack. Dallas has eight first downs, Atlanta has six.
Yards rushing 52 for Dallas, 45 for Atlanta. We'll get back to that in just a moment.
Second down and 15 from the Dallas 30 for the Falcons.
Flipback, Wallace and Rick by the receivers and Franklin going wide, cuts it back.
He got about three yards on the play. It'll make a third down and 11 for the Falcons.
This time Dave Stahls who was in there on the defensive front for Dallas made the tackle.
Third down and 11. Falcons trying to get some mileage out of a raw running back,
George Franklin who has some talent.
Yes he has and he's got some speed and they were trying to take advantage again.
They thought the blitz was on. They guessed wrong. It was not on and they didn't succeed in making much yardage on the play.
So it is third down. Now let's see if Dallas blitzes.
Ball's on there, 26. Third and 11, Atlanta.
And no blitz, the running play to Franklin. Trying to get outside. Couldn't. He has tackled on the 24-yard line.
It is fourth down for Atlanta and they may try a long field goal attempt.
Randy White chased him. Cliff Harris finished him off.
George Franklin running to his left with a ball in the right arm again.
Jack he had no way in the world to protect himself.
Had he had the ball away from pressure in his left arm while he was running left,
at least he would have had an opportunity to use his shoulder or possibly a straight arm.
He was handcuffed on the play and was tackled easily.
Everybody's in there, but they only have 10 minutes.
And we're going to have James holding the ball and Tim Mazetti will try a field goal.
They're down to 11 seconds now before snapping the ball.
A 42-yard attempt.
Almost from the middle of the field and Mazetti gets it up and it is good.
A 42-yard field goal by Tim Mazetti.
Dies this game at 10-all.
We're early on in the second quarter, 13-26 remaining in the half.
And with the score, Dallas 10, Atlanta 10. Let's take time out.
Charlie Bauman of Clemson who was hit by Ohio State Coach Woody Hayes said right after the game,
a reporter asked him, he said, what happened? Did he hit him?
And Bauman said, yeah, Hayes did hit me.
But later in the locker room after the Clemson coaches had talked with Bauman,
he toned down his story. He said after I tackled there was so much excitement I don't know what happened.
He said if it happened I'm not going to say anything about it. I just walked away.
Saturday Bauman was still shying away from flatly saying that Hayes had struck him.
However, television replays clearly showed Hayes coming out on the field about five yards or so
and hitting Bauman in the throat.
When reporters told him Hayes had already been fired for striking him,
the 228 pound guard from New Jersey said, I know he's fired but I want to see the film before I say anything deaf.
And he said there was a lot of commotion and he might have gotten pushed into me.
But again, television replays clearly showed that Hayes was out there all by himself
and clearly threw a punch at Bauman.
Well, the Dallas fumble on a punt cost them three.
A head slap earlier and unfortunately, like Condeck, cost them some points perhaps.
And Mazzetti will kick off with 13 and a half remaining in the half and the score tied 10-all.
We haven't settled anything yet here, Coach.
Now it's still jump ball, Jack, very obviously.
And this I'm sure is a very big surprise to a lot of people around the country
because everybody talked like it was going to be a runaway for the Dallas Cowboys.
And it's anything but that so far in the early stages of this game.
Woods Johnson and Larry Brinson are the kickoff receivers for the Cowboys
playing in front of their home crowd and here is a high kick going down to the goal line
taken by Johnson out to the tenor reverse.
Going to the left side and it's going to be out of bounds beyond the 20-yard line.
Running with the ball was Tom Henderson, the linebacker on a kickoff reverse.
It looked like he was going to go a lot further than he did.
And it was Ricky Patton downfield along with Ernie Jackson to run him out.
Our old quarterback in New Orleans, he made a great play there.
It looked like he was going to make a big gain on the play.
It looked like he was really going someplace. Did he miss a step?
No, Ernie Jackson came on the inside and got the angle and got a piece up
and knocked him out of bounds. A beautiful play by Ernie Jackson.
Tom Henderson got that ball on the kickoff reverse and went out of bounds at the 23-yard line.
Anderson likes to be called Hollywood. He's a character and he can play.
He's one of the many cowboys on the Pro Bowl team.
Yeah, he's a participant. He can really play and really comes after you and really a great hitter.
To the right goes Drew Kersen. Tony Hill is the split receiver to the left.
The tight end is Billy Joe Dupree on the right side.
And it's labeled on Dorsett in the backfield.
Here's the pass to the sideline. It's caught by Tony Hill for a worthwhile game.
He's a character and he can play. He's one of the many cowboys on the Pro Bowl team.
Yeah, he's a participant. He can really play and really comes after you and really a great hitter.
To the right goes Drew Kersen. Tony Hill is the split receiver to the left.
The tight end is Billy Joe Dupree on the right side.
And it's labeled on Dorsett in the backfield.
Here's the pass to the sideline. It's caught by Tony Hill for a worthwhile game.
He is hit immediately at the 29-yard line tackled by Rick Byas.
And it is a game of six yards for the Cowboys. 13 minutes left and a half.
That's the first time they've thrown the ball that way, Jack.
And I'm surprised that they haven't done so more often because really the defensive backs of Atlanta,
even though they put a great deal up front, they play very loosely, very deep.
And you should be able to throw in front of them anytime you want to and also on the inside because they play so deep.
Wide receivers to the right, both Hill and Drew Kersen.
Dorsett has handled the ball infrequently here.
The gibbous to Dorsett over the manani gets about two, maybe three yards, moving across the 30-yard line,
trying to find a place to go, couldn't.
And Jim Bailey, the defensive tackle, made the Atlantis stop.
Now the ball is at the Dallas 32 and it's third down and one.
Hill, the wide receiver, goes out and the two tight ends are in there, Jackie Smith and Billy Joe Dupree.
The score is tight, 10-10.
Surprisingly here, one of these teams will be eliminated this afternoon.
They'll fight the dust down here in Texas.
Laid law is a long setback.
Now they shift into splitbacks with Dorsett.
A third down play.
And Stubbock gives the ball and Dorsett gets the first down across the 35-yard line.
Boy, what a hole they open up there.
He moves to the 36 and it was Greg Brazino, the linebacker, stopping him.
Oh, like that hole?
Oh, listen, Ray Fiel Wright and Rafferty,
this girl, all of whom did a great job at the point of attack,
meaning where he ran the football, a big cavity, a good seam, and a lot of running room,
and he made the first down.
You know, one thing about the Dallas team, everybody, you know, they're so flamboyant,
people think they throw the ball a great deal, which they do,
but they have 39 runs a game and 28 passes for the entire season, which is good balance.
And they have a first down at their own 37-yard line.
Dupree, the tight end is on the right side.
Motion by Drew Pearson, Scalbach back to throw.
They pick up the blitz.
He pops it off to the tight end of the 40, Dupree to the 45.
Soon they feel first down for Dallas into Atlanta territory at the 47-yard line.
Dupree tackled by Frank Reed.
Wilkinson, play again.
They fake the sweep, a play-action pass, and then Dupree comes back across shallow.
And with wide open on the play, the linebacker on the backside blitzes a great deal,
so he's not there to cover on the pass.
And if you get the ball up in time, why, he's going to be wide open,
which he was that time, and a big first down for the Dallas Cowboys, first and tenth.
The Cowboy Blockers did a good job of picking up that blitz.
They did, and they did a good job of acting on the play to make it look like a sweep,
which you have to do.
First down now for the Cowboys.
Pearson and Hill, the wide receivers.
First down pass by Scalbach coming up.
Back to throw.
Down the middle, off the hands of Tony Hill as the ball took off on Scalbach.
He didn't throw it very well.
He had Tony Hill wide open inside the Atlanta 30.
Yes, he threw it a little bit too soon again, Jack,
and again it goes right back to the anticipation of the blitz.
He wants to make sure that he gets the ball off in time.
He hurries himself a little bit, and as I mentioned a minute ago,
any time that you see the ball sail over the top of people's heads,
you know definitely that he's releasing the ball too soon.
He's throwing off the back foot before he gets planted on top of the ball.
Yes, and throwing the ball from way back about the area of your head
instead of out in front where you should throw it.
Second down and ten for Dallas.
Hill goes left again with Drew Pearson to the right side.
Laylaw and Tony Dorsett are the setbacks.
And on second down, Dorsett goes to the right.
Cuts it back up to the 40.
He's down to the 35 for a first down.
Tony Dorsett matching the running speed above a bean of Atlanta.
Jumpy is quite a person.
When he sees a place to go, he goes.
Oh, he really flies, and he did exactly that.
The only one foot's around the play.
Perzina was flitzing from the back side,
which means that you don't have the pursuit angle from the back side linebacker.
And he cuts back to that area, was wide open,
and looked like he might go all the way, but was finally tackled.
But here again, they have a first down, good field position,
and I'll bet you they come back with a play action pass here on first and ten.
Let's see what they do.
They're in the Atlanta 35-yard line. Pearson is left.
Hill is right.
Dupree, the tight end, is on the left side.
On first down, here is the running play to Laylaw.
No game.
He was tackled right at the 35-yard line and driven back.
I'm impressed with the scarcity of penalties here in a very important game.
Both teams are executing very well.
We have had a head slap.
That was something that was inadvertent.
We've had a clipping call, but not much more.
That was a trap play, Jack, and Pennywell, number 59,
did a good job of stopping that play at the line of scrimmage.
Pennywell, the middle linebacker.
Kuykendall, Brazina, the other linebackers,
are now doing the claim checks in for the Falcons.
8.50 left in the half.
We're tied 10-10.
And a second and ten Dallas from the Atlanta 35.
They're in the eye formation.
Here's Stabach, faking to the side nine, now looking, looking, looking, looking, looking.
And it is caught at the 30-yard line of Atlanta by Dupree.
For a gain of five, it'll be third and five.
He was covered by Rick Fias, who almost walked right into the pass of that ball.
And Stabach must have had eight or nine seconds before he threw it.
He had a lot of time, and that's unusual against this Atlanta team,
because they provide such a good rush.
But I think it illustrates why they do blitz as much as they did or do,
because on that play, they only rushed four people, and there was no rush whatsoever.
That's why they have to blitz to get to the quarterback.
Stabach just kept looking.
He looked to the right side.
Looked down the middle.
Looked to the left side, bound Dupree.
And now it's third and five.
Preston Pearson is into the game.
The ball is at the Atlanta 30-yard line.
Stabach from the shotgun, dropped further back, looked, throws, and it is caught by Preston Pearson.
Incomplete, incomplete on a diving attempt at the Atlanta 20-yard line.
And Stabach really threw that into heavy, heavy traffic.
And Brazina was blitzing on the spread formation again.
You know, the first time they saw the spread, they blitzed three linebackers.
The last few times they've seen it, they only blitzed one linebacker and were involved in coverage.
And they had pretty good coverage that time because they had people around the football.
Well, here's one by Septienne of a long distance.
The line of scrimmage is the 30, so it's going to be 47 yards.
He can kick them this far.
His longest so far this year has been 48.
And that's what this will be.
The one thing about Septienne is that he doesn't get the ball up very quickly.
He has to really concentrate on getting it up fast.
Charlie Waters got it down for him and he got it too.
48 yards for Septienne.
Slippin' Dallas back on top.
48-yard field goal.
738 remaining in the half.
There's a timeout on the field with the score now.
Dallas 13 and Atlanta 10.
This game, going into the game, Jack, we talked about the fact that it would be a big play kind of a game.
And it's been exactly that with a lot of big plays both offensively and defensively.
The Atlanta team has a reputation of doing a lot of blitzing during the course of the contest.
They really haven't blitzed that much with the exception of the one linebacker, Greg Brazina, who comes almost all the time.
But the real surprise, I think, really, has been the fact that the Dallas team has blitzed quite a few times, including a safety blitz.
And it's been very effective for them.
But I think any time that you have a lot of blitzing, you're going to see a lot of big plays both offensively and defensively.
You're going to guess right, you're going to guess wrong.
But you can't worry about the mistakes that you make.
You have to go into the game with a big play philosophy and say if we catch them in the right defense, why, we're going to make a big play.
If we miss, why, we're going to lose yardage.
But we can't be discouraged about it. We just have to play according to what we feel we can best do to win the football game.
And it's very obvious that's what they're doing.
Now this game hasn't settled down yet.
There's been only one punt. We have 7.38 left and a half.
Septien will kick it off.
And the deep men are Tom Prydmore, George Franklin, and in the middle, Dennis Pearson, the biggest threat of the three.
You know, Septien's last kick of 48 yards was the longest field goal in Dallas' playoff history.
Here's his kickoff. It is high, rather deep.
Taking on the 8 by Pearson to the 15, to the 20, he's to the 30.
Gets outside to the 35, 40 yard line and on above.
A flag goes down.
There's going to be a personal foul tacked onto this against Dallas on a slugging or a face mask violation.
Septien, the kicker, is the one who got him out of bounds and probably saved a touchdown return.
Well, it looks like he hit him in the head again. It's one of those things, Jack. It looks like it anyhow. Let's see what they call.
Dennis Pearson ran the ball back.
To about his own 45 and now they mark the ball down to the Dallas 45, 40 yard line.
Personal foul, yes sir, he runs it. Number one defense first down.
A personal foul against Dallas, the second of the day.
And instead of paying back at their own 45, they're down to the Dallas 40, the Falcons are.
Rickman goes to the right along with Alfred Jackson, the wide receiver.
And Mitchell, Jim Mitchell, the tight end splits out.
And on first down, Mark Kowski at quarterback with stand back and Bubba Bean at the backfield, a draw play.
And here's Bubba Bean getting four or five yards on the play tackled by the linebacker, Tom Anderson.
You know, that was a good play that time. They split Mitchell again, the tight end. He went out and Warner went out with him.
But in conjunction with that, the linebacker, Dee Dee Lewis, also reduced his split.
And there was a lot of room in that area. They ran a good play, a draw.
And they picked up about five yards in the play, makes a second and five.
The ball to the Dallas 35 yard line. Rickman goes right with Jackson.
Mitchell splits left again. There is the running play and it is Bubba Bean moving down to the 31.
And he looks like he did, talking about Bubba Bean when he was running right after coming out of Texas A&M.
And when we saw him last week, he had a neck injury which slowed him down considerably.
He just picked up nine in two tries. It's third and one from the Dallas 31.
Yeah, it's amazing how much faster though, and specifically, they do run faster on synthetic turf than the muddy track that we've seen them run on in recent weeks.
Larry Bethe is in there defensively for Dallas on third and one.
They really stack it up on the line of scrimmage. Will Kowski gamble?
No, he gives to Bean. Bean is hit and stops. He didn't get a first down.
Riven back, it will be fourth and one.
That's the one thing that hurts Atlanta. They do not have a big, strong, sledgehammer running back at all.
Bob Rooney made the tackle that time from his middle linebacker position.
But they don't have that sledgehammer back that can get the extra yardage on his own.
It has to be cleaned out perfectly for him to get the yardage. And it wasn't that time and he didn't make the first down.
They're going to go for the first down on the fourth down try.
They're going to go. It's fourth down and a foot from the Dallas, just outside the Dallas 30.
George Franklin is into the backfield. Now, he's the big back that Hank's talking about.
He weighs 230. And he's in the high formation. Two tight ends are in there for Atlanta.
Fourth down, they're gambling at the Dallas 30 yard line.
The toss is to Franklin. He gets the first down to the 27 yard line of Dallas.
D.D. Lewis got him, but they didn't go up the middle. They tossed it to Franklin and he got the first down.
It was a good call because the Dallas defense were all in the gaps.
It's hard to run into those areas when you have people in the gaps.
The place to run was off-back or outside. They picked the right spot, made the yardage in his first and 10, and they keep the drive alive.
One thing, you know, Mitchell has been splitting off from his tight end position to the left side.
Waters is covering him man for man. He's got an awful lot of room on Waters.
If they haven't thrown him the ball yet, they should because they'll make some yardage.
The ball is to Dallas 27. Bartkowski on first down.
He is back to throw. Rolling left. No pressure. He throws now.
It is caught at the 20 yard line by Wallace Francis and he is spun out of bounds at the 20.
That's pause five seconds for stations to identify themselves on the CBS radio network.
This is the American Forces radio and television service.
The ball is marked down on the Dallas 19 with five minutes remaining and the clock stopped.
Five minutes remaining in the half, that is. And it is second down and two for Atlanta.
You know, Dick Wood, the offensive backfield coach and the quarterback coach specifically for Atlanta,
has really done a great job with Steve Bartkowski and he, of course, he was our quarterback coach at New Orleans.
Second down and two. Stand back and Bean in the backfield.
And the double bean on a slant to the right side dives for a first down near the 17 of Dallas.
Larry Cole was on him, but he couldn't prevent the first down.
And we have four fifty one remaining in the half. Great play calling by Atlanta thus far.
Yes, they're calling the play from the sideline. The coaching staff is doing that.
But Bartkowski has the privilege of changing the play at the line of scrimmage any time he has to do so.
And he's done it quite a few times in this game.
He's really done a good job of recognizing situations and coming up with the right call.
They measure for a first down and it is a first down.
The left handed referee, Cal LaFour, tells us at the Dallas 17.
So Atlanta trailing 13 to 10 with four fifty one remaining in the half, trying to move in for the go ahead score.
Moving the ball surprisingly well against the Cowboys.
They really are. And as I mentioned, they don't have the great running backs.
They have good, steady, dependable backs, but especially do not have a big sledgehammer back.
Here we see three receivers in the game.
Three wide receivers on first down. Bartkowski back to throw.
But throws and it is a touchdown to all of Clampton.
He got in between two men and Bartkowski was on the money.
And it's a touchdown of 17 yards for Atlanta.
He got between Cliff Harris and Benny Barnes.
And Bartkowski couldn't have thrown the ball any better.
I tell you, he's a great young talent. He's got a good gun, good strong.
The RPMs and that ball that time was really fizzling.
But he did a great job of getting the ball between two defensive backs.
Beautiful play by Bartkowski, a great catch by Wally Francis.
And now the extra point is good by Mazzetti.
So the Cowboys and their fans are thoroughly shocked here with 426 remaining in the half.
The Falcons lead the Cowboys 17-13 and let's take time out.
If Monday's lineup of college bowl games is a slow sip of champagne for football fans,
then Sunday night's blue-bonnet bowl between Stanford and Georgia Tech could be the popping of the court.
According to Georgia head coach Vince Dooley, if we can hold up our end of the scoring,
it should be a wild football game.
The Stanford Cardinals at 7-4 are not to be confused with a good defensive team this season,
despite suffering their four losses by a total of 16 points.
But their offense, ignited by the 63 percent passing of Steve Dills,
caused opponents defensive coaches to run screaming into the night.
Stanford coach Bill Walters says, we'll complete passes and Georgia knows we will.
Accepting that, the seventh-ranked Bulldogs must outscore the Cardinals.
And they may be able to do that with Southwest Conference Offensive Player of the Year,
tailback Willie McClendon, and two quarterbacks, one of them who can run very fast.
So that should be quite a football game in the blue-bonnet bowl from Houston, Texas.
Thanks, Sam and Jack, but from Dallas.
Well, the Dallas Cowboys might win this playoff game.
They're trailing 17-13, but they're not blowing anybody out, as had been predicted by everybody.
They're going to hurt everybody.
Yeah, they're going to have the right to do that.
It's not going to be given to them, Jack.
That's very obvious because of the way the Atlanta team is playing.
And they're really doing a super job both offensively and defensively.
I anticipate the same kind of a game tomorrow in the Vikings play at Los Angeles.
We'll be on the air at 4.50 p.m.
Prior to that, Houston and New England, Jim Kelly and Tim Ryan at 12.50 Eastern Time,
here on CBS Radio.
Here's the kick from Mazzetti.
Brinson and Johnson are deep.
This is a line drive kick.
And it is fumbled at the ten-yard line.
Recovery by Atlanta.
Loose ball inside the ten.
Loose ball at the goal line.
The ball's a long two.
It's a touchback.
Dallas has it.
It'll come out to the 20-yard line.
It's a touchback.
It'll come out to the 20-yard line.
The ball was fumbled.
And first of all by Bush Johnson.
It was near the 20-yard line.
It was touched by Atlanta at the 15.
Touched by Dallas at the 10.
By Atlanta at the 5.
Went into the end zone.
Recovered by Dallas at the touchback.
And the Cowboys were really lucky that time.
Oh, they dodged a bullet there, Jack, because they were in serious trouble at Atlanta.
And really Atlanta had possession it looked like.
And they blew the opportunity to have possession in good scoring position.
Finally coming away was Bruce Hother, the linebacker.
He saved the day by getting the ball actually outside the goal line, but split into the end zone.
And it's a touchback.
Dallas goes from their own 20, trailing by four points with 412 remaining in the half.
And on first down, Staubach with a two-tied end, starts Drew Pearson in motion.
And he gives the ball to Dorsett.
Cracks it up the middle.
Across the 25-yard line.
He fumbled the ball.
And Atlanta recovers at the 30.
Dorsett fumbled.
And Tom Pridemore got it for the visiting Atlanta Falcons.
And they could do more damage before the half.
Dorsett had gained six yards and popped it up.
Oh, a wild football game.
The tackle was made by Kuykendall.
And he shook the ball loose from Dorsett.
And on the 30-yard line, Pridemore, the safety man, recovers.
So Atlanta is at the Dallas 30.
If they run right, Jack.
On first down with Bubba Bean, the long setback.
The blitz is on.
The draw play.
Bubba Bean goes to the 25.
Gets down to the 21-yard line.
Gained about nine yards.
Clippers tackled him.
And Atlanta is just ripping him up here.
Got him in a draw trap that time against a blitzing situation.
And there again, any time that happens, boy, you're going to have some big plays.
If you guess right, they did guess right on that play.
And makes it now second and one on the 21-yard line of the Dallas Cowboys.
What a surprising turn of events.
Three and a half remaining in the half.
Second and one for the Falcons.
That's the 21-yard line of Dallas.
Stand back is in the backfield with Bubba Bean.
It's Bubba Bean lurking at the 20 for a first down to the 19-yard line.
Then the ball claimed loose, but the ball had been whistled in.
Dee Dee Lewis made the tackle.
It's a first down at Atlanta.
Three-ten remaining in the half and clock running.
The ball is marked at the Dallas 18-yard line.
Well, Hank Strand said the Cowboys dodged the bullet a moment ago,
but another bullet came right back and got him.
Found its mark when door set bubbles.
First down at Atlanta.
Wide receivers to the left are Rickman and Francis.
The right side is wide open on a running play.
Now Francis goes out over there and sets up there.
On first down, Bubba Bean cracks it back over the middle to the 15-yard line.
That's what you're talking about, Hank.
The right side was wide open that time.
It looked like they were a little confused as to where they should line up
with a double-wing formation that time.
There was a lot of running room, even more so on the outside right
than there was on the inside.
But despite that, he still made a good chunk on that situation,
first and 10, now a second and five, a five-yard gain on the play.
And we have 2-13 remaining.
Atlanta's going to let the clock run out.
We'll have the two-minute warning.
They'll have the ball second down and four from the Dallas 13,
and then they'll still have two minutes to try to add to their lead of four points.
There is the two-minute warning.
A pause in the action with a score.
Atlanta 17, the Dallas Cowboys 13.
Let's take time out.
A confident team coming off its biggest victory in 10 years
opposes the club, trying to ignore the controversy surrounding its head coach
when the Houston Orders play the New England Patriots
for a first in the AFC championship game.
The Orders in the playoffs for the first time since 1969
earned the right to play New England with a 17-9 upset
of the Miami Dolphins last week in the AFC wild-card playoff.
New England's last game also was against Miami in a regular season finale, December 18,
but the Patriots suffered a 23-3 loss for a few hours
after coach Chuck Fairbanks was suspended
for announcing he had accepted a head coaching job at the University of Colorado.
Two days after dropping the bombshell about his new job,
Fairbanks was reinstated as the New England coach by owner Billy Sullivan,
but is expected to leave the Patriots for the Colorado job when the season ends.
The Patriots' coaches deny their teams are at opposite ends of the emotional spectrum.
Thanks, Sam.
Suggest that when Atlanta went into the stall waiting for the two-minute warning,
the Dallas should have called a timeout.
No, no, Atlanta should have called a timeout.
Atlanta should have called a timeout, Jack.
That way they would have still had three timeouts at the two-minute warning,
and they could have run another play.
They still had three timeouts because of the automatic timeout
and the timeout.
Well, let's see what happens.
It is second down and four from the Dallas 13-yard line.
Stand back goes off on a wing.
Bubba Bean is the setback.
Two wide receivers to the left.
Here's a gift to Bubba Bean.
He has hit it to 12.
He gained only a yard, a yard and a half.
Cliff Harris came up along with Tom Henderson,
both out of the secondary, Henderson the linebacker,
and Harris the safety man,
and they were gambling that Atlanta wasn't throwing.
The ball is at the 12, and it is third down and the four for Atlanta.
I can't understand why they don't throw the ball outside the stand back
when he goes in motion because Waters,
the strong safety goes out into that area,
gives them a lot of room,
and they ought to be able to throw in front of Waters anytime they want to,
but they haven't done so yet with that double-wing formation.
With 1.30 remaining, officials have called a timeout,
so let's take a moment for this message.
In college basketball action on Friday night, a big upset.
Ohio State knocking off the nation's top-ranked team, the Duke Blue Devils.
It was 76-all at the end of regulation,
but Ohio State got them an overtime 90 to 84.
Mississippi State upset 10th-rank Louisville 80 to 73
to win the championship in the Louisville tournament.
Fourth-rank Michigan State defeated Oregon State 65-57 in the Far West Classic semifinals.
Fifth-rank North Carolina beat Dartmouth 86 to 67.
Sixth-rank Illinois, led by the College of the Ozarks, 88 to 82.
Number seven, Louisiana State down Colgate 100 to 73.
Eighth-rank Michigan beat Texas at El Paso, 60 to 54.
Number nine, North Carolina State took Penn State 80 to 58.
Number 12, Texas A&M defeated the Air Force 73 to 66,
and Nevada Las Vegas dumped Loyola of Los Angeles 103 to 73.
Well, believe it or not, folks, the Dallas Cowboys are facing extinction
from the National Football League playoffs here this afternoon at Texas Stadium.
Hank Stram and Jack Buck with you.
Atlanta leading 17-13, 1.30 left in the half.
Third down and four for Atlanta from the Dallas 12-yard line.
Markowski with stand back and puff a bean.
Good place for another trap, for another trap play, Jack.
The middle is wide open.
Markowski calls the signal.
And takes the snap. They run with the ball.
Stand back, trying to get outside. Does. And. First down to the seven-yard line.
Stand back on a plant to the left side.
And a game tackle by Jones and Henderson, but he got some good blocking up front.
Bill McKinley was out leading the play with others and did a heck of a job.
Yes, they did, really did.
And that time they didn't have anybody in the middle area, Jack, and a draw trap.
Anything up the middle would have been a good play.
Obviously the play they ran was also a good play because they made the necessary yardage
for the first down, but let's see, possibly, if they might do that on this series.
By that I mean run something up the middle if they can get the line back or moving.
That line has just called a timeout here, Hank, and that seemed a real waste to me
with 1.21 remaining in the half. They have but one timeout left.
Well, it is a waste, Jack, but it isn't if there was confusion on what he was supposed to call.
They're sending a play then from the sideline.
Evidently there was some confusion on what was done, and rather than do something with indecision,
you want to make sure that you get a straight in this scoring opportunity,
and that's why they probably called a timeout to make sure that it was all straightened out.
They've marked down six and a half yards away from the Dallas goal line,
and assuming good ball handling on the part of Atlanta, they'll get at least three more points
if things go their way and be ahead by seven and a half and maybe by more than that.
A reminder, fans, that CBS Radio Sports brings you the Super Bowl on most of these stations on January 21st,
the colossal windup of the pro football season.
Hank Stram and I will be there to bring you the festivities and the play-by-play,
and Pat Summerall will provide special commentary before and half-time and after the game.
Listen here for the Super Bowl, January 21st, on most of these CBS stations.
First down and goal to go, six and a half yards away for Atlanta.
And the give is to George Franklin, trying to get outside, cuts it back,
has hit it to line of scrimmage, dives to the five, second and goal from there, George Franklin.
Falcons still have plenty of time, 1-10 remaining, clock running, Larry Cole tackles Franklin,
and they go into the automatic play this time.
It's called two in a row, it's second and goal for the five,
Barkowski back to throw into the end zone, and incomplete.
Incomplete and bobbled around by Wallace Francis, who is a lightning bolt going into that end zone.
Benny Barnes trying to stay with him, he almost caught that ball.
He had it and dropped it. It was right where it had to be, right at the numbers, a little low,
but it was impossible to guard against, but he had it and dropped it.
Good play, however, by Benny Barnes, who got a hand, I think, in the area where the ball was thrown and knocked it three.
Al Jackson checks in as a wide receiver, Franklin goes out,
so they will have Atlanta, Wallace Francis, Alfred Jackson, and Billy Rickman
as their wide receivers, third and goal from the five.
Good place here for the draw play now, they're not going to have anybody in the middle area,
they changed the defensive philosophy in this area, they don't have a middle linebacker.
Markowski on third down, third and goal from the five, back to throw, not much pressure, into the end zone, and incomplete.
Overthrown to Wallace Francis, who went high, and Mark Washington might have tipped the ball high over the head of Francis,
and with 52 seconds left in the half, Mazetti and Company come in, trying to make it 20 to 13.
Mazetti kicks a long one a moment ago, 42 yards, the ball will be held by John James at the 13, at the 12 yard line.
22 yard attempt is up and good, Atlanta keeps climbing up points.
They lead 20 to 13 with 50 seconds remaining in the half, and Dallas is stunned as they trail by touchdown.
And they'll have only 50 seconds and three timeouts with which to accomplish something.
And Atlanta is sky high, Mazetti will now kick it off, a 22 yard field goal by Tim Mazetti.
He's a story isn't he Hank? Oh isn't he something?
And he had tryouts with other clubs in the league and didn't have an opportunity to stay with other teams.
One of the Atlanta team has really done a remarkable job for this franchise.
Well Dallas has been grown to make mistakes today, they fumbled a punt, that cost them.
They fumbled a kickoff, and they fumbled on the very next play from scrimmage after recovering their own fumble, and that just cost them three more.
And in addition they've had a couple of personal fouls which have mitigated against them.
How's that word mitigated? Fancy, fancy, I know you don't know what it means but he used it well.
I was about to ask you if it's right or wrong. It's right.
50 seconds left in the half, Mazetti will kick it off, Larry Princeton and Butch Johnson at back, standing inside their five yard line.
The Atlanta, the underdogs by as much as two touchdowns coming in. They were underdogs last week against Philadelphia Eagles.
They've been underdogs all week long, they're underdogs in an inter-squad game I think, Jack, but they keep winning.
Here's Mazetti's kick. High, coming down to Princeton on the three yard line, he's to the ten, to the 15, to the 20, he's to the 25, he's out near the 27 yard line for Dallas.
45 seconds left and the defensive back, Bob Blaisbrook, a good downfield tackler, did the work for the Falcons.
They mark it at the Dallas 26.
You know Hank, when your team has been making mistakes and they're falling behind, you receive a kickoff like that and the first thing that's in your mind is don't fumble.
Returning it for a score is secondary.
That's right, make sure that you hold on to the football regardless of what happens so that you don't lose possession in this part of the field and give up an easy opportunity for another score.
Into the double wing, Stabach from the shotgun formation is back to throw.
Atlanta puts on the pressure, Stabach throws it over the middle and it is down at the 40 yard line.
Drew Pearson went up and it was Rolland Lawrence who went up, wrestled with him and slipped the ball and Stabach has been getting hit on every play, his plan on his back right now.
And it looks like there's a flag down there too, no, that's just a yellow arrow.
But he has been getting hit on every play Hank.
Yes he has and that's one thing that fans around the country don't realize, you know once the quarterback releases the ball they automatically follow the play of the ball, they don't see what happens to the quarterback and that's when he really gets a shot.
Somebody gave him a shot this time.
It was Pennywell I think.
The linebacker got to him and Stabach is stretched down on the turf near the 10 yard line.
38 second remaining in the half as Danny White starts to loosen up along the sideline.
Danny White is now the penalty is marked off and you were right Hank, it was a flag and the ball moves out to the first of the fouls.
First foul roughing the passing.
First down.
And a first down for Dallas.
They're confused, they don't know what to make of the transpiring here. Yeah they're not in this position very often, 38 seconds left in this first half Jack and Atlanta's winning as you know 20 to 13 over the Dallas Cowboys.
Well last year in the Super Bowl, Super Bowl 12 it was Dallas beating Denver.
Denver was eliminated earlier this afternoon.
That's a goal with 33-10 Pittsburgh and we might very well see both Super Bowl contenders of a year ago bite the dust this afternoon and have new participants on the 21st of January.
We'll be there.
Won't you?
I hope.
And prior to that we have two games tomorrow here on CBS radio.
First it'll be Houston at New England.
And then it'll be Minnesota at Los Angeles.
Staubach is in a sitting position now at the 10 yard line.
Still hasn't gotten to his feet as he's tended to.
And the officials of course here will give you all the time that you need.
They don't want anybody moved unnecessarily.
A wild football game here in Texas.
Pennywell Reedy got a beautiful hit on Staubach that last time.
Staubach is in a kneeling position now in a standing position and he is really hurting as he goes to the sideline.
He is hurting Hank.
I'm not about to guess what the ailment is but he is not right.
No and the great competitor that he is and as tough as he is there's got to be something pretty seriously wrong with him.
For him to have to leave the field the way he is leaving it at this particular moment.
Danny White is the quarterback.
He guided the Cowboys last week in their last game two weeks ago to the 30 to 7 win over the Jets.
He operates out of the shotgun.
He looks to the side line and he's caught at the line of 45.
Down the 40 yard line.
Out about at the 45 yard line.
Stepping out with the ball was Drew Pearson covered by Frank Reed as White was on target with his first throw.
Now we have 32 seconds left in the half. First down for Dallas.
Blocked up and they are at the 45 yard line of Atlanta.
You don't get the impression that they're picking on bias at all.
They're playing with the pick on bias the right corner back Jack.
Do you get that feeling at all?
Just a little.
At almost every play.
The other corner back is Rolland Lawrence who took the ball away from Pearson a moment ago.
Out of the shotgun again.
Double wing.
And that's the first and first in the game for Dallas.
And Atlanta.
Still not flicking.
Not flicking the throws to the sideline and broken up by Lawrence of whom we spoke a moment ago.
He came dashing in there in front of Pearson again.
28 seconds remaining in the half.
Second and tenth Dallas from the Atlanta 45 yard line.
Dewey McLean and a little extra curricular activity there that time.
52.
To the left linebacker.
No inflection on the play.
No penalty on the play.
There was some bumping around after the play was over.
Second down and tenth.
What's the score?
Well Atlanta leads Dallas 20 to 13.
Dabach heads for the dressing room.
Second down and tenth with Danny White.
An awful lot of room on the outside in a one on one situation with the flankers on the corners.
There's White back to the throw.
There he is.
He throws and it is caught at the 35 by the time in Dupree.
And 21 seconds remaining.
It's not enough for a first down.
Let's see where they mark the ball.
They gave him a little more forward progress than they thought he had.
They stopped the clock to measure for a first down and that really helps Dallas because they have only one time out remaining.
Yes, definitely so and Puchendahl that time.
Looks like he was hurt on the play.
I don't know what was wrong specifically but he is.
And here comes Frank Reed, the safety man to the sideline looking for some medical help.
They're going to measure to see if Dallas has a first down in the area of the Atlanta 30 yard line.
They're already within likely field goal range for Septienne who kicked one earlier of 48 yards.
Now they're short on a first down.
The Cowboys are only 21 seconds remaining in the half.
Roger Stavok has been injured.
He has left the playing field, retired to the dressing room.
We'll have to wait a word on the injury and we'll have to wait word as to whether or not we'll see him in the second half of this game.
Meanwhile, the four year veteran Danny White from Arizona State, this being his fourth year, 6'2", 192 is the quarterback.
Cowboys have only one time out remaining and they cannot squander it.
Why not have the shotgun?
Here comes the blitz.
Bad snap from center.
White picks it up and he is tackled with 18 seconds remaining.
They were coming and he got a bad snap and now Atlanta has recovered the fumble.
A fumble by White with only 16 seconds remaining.
The linebacker Dewey McLean got the ball.
Another Dallas mistake.
You know, I'm sure that we'll see if Danny White plays in the second half, I'm sure that we'll see a lot more blitzing in the second half by the Atlanta team.
How could they blitz it any more than they have?
Well, they haven't blitzed that much really, Jack.
They, total blitzes I'm talking about.
They've done that maybe four or five times in a ball game and that's about all.
Atlanta leading by 7'20"-13' probably will be content to run it out.
The Cowboys won't be able to do anything about that.
Atlanta has the ball with their own 45 yard line first down.
White got a bad snap from center and then lost the ball.
Dallas goes into the prevent defense and Bartkowski ears it out, throws it long downfield and it is incomplete inside the 10 yard line.
Inside the 10 yard line there are no less than three, five, eight players.
That time, Jack, we saw the fake bin play is what you saw.
Three receivers on the outside, all of whom went straight down the field with the anticipation of getting a jump ball situation, getting a deflected ball possibly coming up with a football like they did against the New Orleans Saints to win the game and the waning second twice against the New Orleans Saints.
That was what they call that play, the fake bin.
Three receivers on one side, throw the ball up in the air and hope somebody comes out down with it.
Ball still at the Atlanta 45 yard line.
Here it is again on the left side.
Three wide receivers all to the left side.
And it is Bartkowski back to throw.
He looks and hears it out again down inside the 20 and it is intercepted by Dallas with no time remaining on the clock.
Intercepted by Randy Hughes and the gun is sounded.
What a revolting turn of events as far as the Cowboys and their fans are concerned.
And by the way, another player is down for the Cowboys.
Randy Hughes intercepted the ball, is slow in getting up and he needs medical attention.
So not only are the Cowboys trailing, but they appear to be getting the worst of it from a physical viewpoint.
There's the gun sounding the end of the first half with a score.
The Atlanta Falcons 20 and the Dallas Cowboys 13.
Thank you very much Dan.
Dan Devine, the head coach of the University of Notre Dame.
The Cotton Ball is at 2 p.m. Eastern Time.
The broadcast here on CBS Radio with Connie Alexander and Tom Hedrick.
Still no word on Roger Stubbock.
He was being examined during the halftime and they've given out no word.
And here is the kickoff forthcoming from Sepp Tien.
And Dennis Pearson waits for it.
It goes to Plymore.
He takes it on the 13.
He's to the 20s planning to the 25 yard line.
Cuts it back up, did not get to the 30 and there goes the flag.
A flag is down and the Falcons have the football here at the outset of the second half.
Hank Stramm, the Dallas Cowboys have let the Atlanta Falcons know that they, the Falcons, can win this football game.
Yeah, there's no question about that and it's going to be a tough second half really for both teams
because there's a lot of fireworks remaining I'm sure.
You know it's difficult on these kickoff returns and front returns invariably.
You know anytime you see one come back why invariably there's going to be some kind of a penalty.
As we mentioned it's very difficult, Jack, to block a moving target.
Sometimes you think your head is in front of the person that you blocked.
It winds up in the back of his body and as a result there's a clip on the play.
Atlanta had good field position now they're back to the 14 yard line first and 10.
Oh what a wild game this has been.
There is only one punt in the first half and Dallas fumbled that one.
Atlanta kicked only one time and Dallas hasn't punted at all.
The ball is at the 14 yard line after the penalty mark off with a clip.
Here's the give to the tailback, Bubba Bean, he gets a yard, that's all.
And I'll say this for Bubba Bean, in the first 30 minutes he really gave Atlanta a lot of spark.
That Jones attacker on the last play.
Flag down on the play, I don't know what it was, but there was a flag down on that last play, Jack.
I think a legal procedure on the part of Atlanta.
Bubba Bean had gained only a yard so they talk it over with the Dallas defensive unit.
They're going to mark it off further back.
Yep, Gallupore is the referee.
Did you glance at the statistics in the first half Hank?
Aside from the lack of punting, what impresses you the most as the ball is now marked back to the Atlanta 7 yard line?
Well actually it's pretty even.
Atlanta has 11 first downs, Dallas has 13.
Rushing yards, Atlanta 97, Dallas 81.
Fasting yards, Atlanta 74, Dallas dominates that category, 129.
Total net yardage, 171 to 210.
Dallas has a little advantage in that category, but they're behind in the game.
Here's the running play to Bubba Bean, and he has wrestled down for a loss of another yard.
As the play started from the 7, he has tackled back on the 6 yard line.
And the pressure is really on now by the Dallas Cowboys.
And it is going to be second down, 18 for Atlanta from their own 6 yard line.
He's got word, Jack, that Roger Stavos did receive a concussion and is not expected back in this game.
Let me say this, even if he doesn't come back and Atlanta wins this game, his absence won't detract from the Atlanta victory.
No, I don't think so. Not the way Hank's winning that first half.
It's second down and 18 for Atlanta.
Barkowski hands off to Bubba Bean again, moves across to 10 near the 11 yard line, but that's all.
It's going to be third down and long.
Third down and 12 for Atlanta coming up.
Harvey Martin was in on that stop along with Randy White.
Now they mark the ball back at the 10 yard line, so it's third down and 14.
They present the news on the board to the fans here.
Stavos has a concussion not expected back in this game.
He was hurt when hit by the linebacker Pennywell.
Let's see if Atlanta, leading by seven, will put the ball up in the air.
Barkowski hands off to Sandback. He avoids one tackle.
He gets to the 10, he gets to the 15, he's tackled and Atlanta will have to punt the ball.
Another flag. Another flag goes down.
And that might be against Dallas and give Atlanta a first down.
I don't think so, Jack. No, it's the other way.
And now Bubba Bean is slowing getting, Sandback is slowing getting up.
He'll be fine to penalty, I'm sure, and make him fun.
Atlanta players injured across the field.
That's the running back, Haskell, Sandback.
He's walking off the field under his, he's starting to walk off under his own power, but now he's being tended to.
And here is a punt forthcoming by James, John James, only his second of the afternoon.
And here's Johnson, will be back to get it.
Dallas is trailing by seven, 20 to 13.
Atlanta was not able to keep the ball for two minutes after receiving the kickoff, so they're going to kick.
We'll find out what the approach is going to be for Atlanta once Danny White is a quarterback, too.
I'm sure that we'll see, as I mentioned earlier, we'll see a lot more putzing than we saw in the first half.
I would imagine, as you mentioned, Jack, early in the ballgame.
Sandback comes to the sideline.
It's going to be all right.
Easy for me to say, right?
And John James stands at the goal line.
He'll need a good snap.
Here comes from Paul Risick, the center.
He'll get the kick away from about the five.
Here's what Johnson waits at his own 45.
The crowd is alive now.
They sense elimination from the playoffs.
The big rush is on.
James gets the line drive, kicked away.
Johnson takes it at the 43 and goes right to the 45 to midfield, and he's out of bounds.
Downfield was doing the claim, the linebacker.
And Dallas gets the ball at midfield.
What a downer's have.
Four bubbles in the first half, four bubbles, and they lost all four of them.
Yes, that's right.
They sure did.
The crowd makes a thunderous ovation for their offensive unit.
13.02 left in the third quarter with the score.
Atlanta 20, Dallas 13, let's take them out.
The Pittsburgh Steelers had something to prove Saturday, and they did it in record-shattering fashion.
A year ago, the Denver Broncos overran the Steelers 34-21
and went on to win the AFC title.
But Saturday, the charged-up Steelers left no doubt as to which was the better team.
Franco Harris, the forgotten superstar, and John Stalwart, Pittsburgh's other receiver,
turned in record-breaking performances to carry the Steelers into next week's AFC title game
with a 33-10 rout of the Broncos.
Harris, a six-time 1,000-yard rusher who received little national recognition this season
due to the heroics of Houston's Errol Campbell,
set an NFL record of 12 career playoff touchdowns by scoring on runs of 1 and 18 yards.
Stalwart, who plays in the shadow of all-pro teammate Lynn Swan,
set a division playoff record with 10 receptions for 156 yards,
including a 45-yard touchdown grab in the last period that put the game out of reach.
Jack Buck and Hank Stram, will you?
The Cowboys have the ball at the Atlanta 49-yard line.
Atlanta leads 20-13.
Drew Pearson comes to the left.
The two tight ends are in there. Billy Joe Dupree and Jackie Smith.
Laid law, and Tony Dorsett shifts out of the eye, and Danny White is the quarterback.
They go back into the eye formation. Pearson goes in motion.
Dorsett's to tailback.
The give is to Dorsett. He comes back up the middle and got a yard, and that's all.
Pennywell, the middle linebacker, fill the hole and knocks Dorsett down and out.
Dorsett didn't do much in that first half, Hank.
No, he got carried the ball six times in the 24 yards. Not very impressive.
But the thing about a back like Dorsett, he can have a mediocre quarter or a half
and all of a sudden blow the thing wide open because he's got such great speed
and the ability to make the big play and break up the ball.
Earlier today, the Pittsburgh Steelers won their game, eliminated Denver 33-10.
Could it be that both Denver and Dallas will be eliminated on the same day?
Here's second down and nine for Dallas, and White's back to throw.
He's hit as he throws it long, underthrown, and intercepted by Rolland Lawrence.
Lawrence has the ball at his own 14-yard line.
A big rush primarily by Edgar Fields, the defensive end, and he blasted White as he threw
and caused the ball to be underthrown and intercepted.
So Atlanta gets the ball at their own 14, 12-16 remaining in the third quarter.
A timeout on the field with a score, Atlanta 20, Dallas 13.
This is going to be quite a challenge for the young quarterback,
the four-year pro from Arizona State, Danny White, who is going to occupy the quarterback position
for this Dallas team in the second half of this playoff game against Atlanta.
As everybody knows, they're behind Dallas' 20-13 at this stage in the third quarter.
That time he was back to throw a play-action pass, was hit as he threw the ball,
did not have enough stuff on the ball.
It was intercepted by Lawrence, and now the Atlanta Falcons have possession,
first and 10 on the 14-yard line, exactly where they started their drive
on the opening kickoff of the second half.
They didn't succeed in making any yardage on that first drive.
We're forced to punt.
Now they start all over again on the 14-yard line in this particular situation.
You know, one thing that's very surprising is that they've been splitting their tight end
away from their slot formation, meaning that both outside receivers on the right side,
but they haven't thrown the ball at all to Mitchell.
We'll look for that to happen in the second half.
Again, the Cowboys fans implore their defensive unit to get the job done.
First down at Atlanta, they're on 14.
And they send the running back Ricky Patton off on a wing.
Here's Bubba Bean running right.
Running right, he cuts back at the 15, gets out to the 17-yard line.
He's down to the 18 and blasted by Randy White.
Bubba Bean is piling up some yardage.
The other running back at this time is the rookie out of Jackson State,
Ricky Patton, filling in for Haskell's standback, who is along the sideline at the moment.
Bubba Bean got four at second and sixth from the 19-yard line of the Atlanta Falcons.
Bubba Bean is carrying the ball six times for 66 yards, Jack.
Sixteen times for 66 yards.
Second down and sixth.
Wallace Francis off on a wing.
Barskowski back to throw.
Brooks throws it long down the sideline and it is incomplete.
Almost intercepted.
Charlie Waters had it and dropped it.
He should have made that interception.
That would have been a big play for Dallas, but he had an opportunity to make the big play,
but he didn't succeed in getting it done.
It will be third and sixth for Atlanta.
Barskowski that time rolled to his right with the express purpose of throwing the ball back to the backside of the formation,
hoping to get man-on-man coverage with a halfback on the linebacker,
and he threw it there regardless of what the coverage was.
He frequently does that day, Hank, one, twice, three times during the game.
If he can't find that first one, he just unloads it, doesn't he?
Yes, he does.
Third down and sixth from their own 19 for the Falcons who lead by seven.
Here's a draw play.
No good for Atlanta.
The tackle is a 20-yard line, as was Bubba Bean running into Harvey Martin.
And the linebacker helping out on the play was Mike Hickman.
No kicking time again.
Interception by Danny White didn't hurt, except that Dallas lost some valuable time.
James back to punt for the third time today and puts Johnson standing at his 40.
James will touch it off at his 10-yard line.
The snap by Ryzek.
It is a good one. James steps into it and kicks it away.
It's a good kick.
Johnson waiting, takes it on the 38.
He's to the 40. He's to the 45, 46. That's all.
And the Cowboys go from their own 46-yard line.
Some of the fans wanted a flag for a late hit, but there was none.
But Dallas is back at their 46-yard line. Danny White is in again.
He's had no scoring here in the first four minutes and 20 seconds of the third quarter.
You know, the last time they had the ball, Jack, on the 49-yard line was the best field position they've had all throughout the ball game.
Now they get another good opportunity on the 46, but they didn't generate any points from the last opportunity.
Two tight ends for Dallas, Smith, and Dupree.
White on first down, starts door set in motion.
Tosses to Laidlaw running right, trying to get outside, gets a couple of yards, goes to midfield.
He picked up four before he was stopped.
Laidlaw finally stopped by Tom Pridemore.
Laidlaw is a four-year veteran, five years now out of Stanford.
Six-footer, 2-0-5. We haven't seen Robert Newhouse, although he is available to play.
They might be saving him for the senior prom, but there may not be any prom this year for the Cowboys, hey?
Yeah, that's exactly right. There might not be a dance.
The ball's in midfield, and it's second down and five for the Cowboys.
Laidlaw got five. Wilson, Baumelina checks in defensively, laying over center for Atlanta.
The corners are still giving the outside receivers a lot of room of Atlanta.
I'm surprised they haven't thrown more in front of the defensive backs.
Laidlaw has tackled and no gain on the play.
They tried the trap play, it didn't work.
Kikendall, the outside linebacker, crashed in there, tackled Laidlaw right in his tracks,
and it'll be third down and five for the Cowboys.
Nine-thirty-five left in the third quarter.
This game surprised you, Hank?
Very definitely.
Why?
I really didn't think that the Atlanta team would be able to move the ball as impressively as they have against the Dallas defense, very frankly.
Now, it's Danny White, quarterback. Staubach is injured and out.
Third down and five. White straight back to throw, pops into the sideline, caught for a first down by Drew Pearson.
In front of the cornerback, Rick Fias. Hank, you've been talking about that all afternoon.
That's the second time they've tried it. They completed both passes that time for a big game,
but I assure you, Jack, they can do that anytime they want to, and especially on first down.
And now it's a first down at the 41-yard line of Atlanta.
Let us pause five seconds for stations to identify themselves on the CBS radio network.
This is the American Forces radio and television service.
First down for Dallas at the Atlanta 41.
They got 10 yards again over on this side, a thick cushion by the corner.
And motion by Pearson, back to throw. White on first down.
Funny of time, look, throws downfield. Tony Hill, broken up,
incomplete in the end zone by Rolland Lawrence.
He's done an exquisite job of covering Tony Hill, who's complaining to be a pitcher.
Yeah, he really did a remarkable job of covering Tony Hill into the post area,
but the guy he should have thrown the ball to was a tight end duple, who was wide open underneath coming across that he didn't see.
And there again is a great illustration of a young quarterback making up his mind who he's going to throw the ball to,
regardless of coverage. He had a shot downfield, but the guy that was open was Dupre,
and they hit him two or three times in a game already on the same play for Big Dean.
I'm talking about Dupre, but they forced fake that time to throw the ball down deep.
Two tight ends. Smith and Dupre for Dallas.
Dursons to the right. White rolls right back to throw. Chase, throws.
Caught by Dupre at the 30-yard line to the 25, to the 20.
Down to the 17-yard line in the center.
And that called another play for you as Dupre was open.
Tackled on the 12, 17-yard line of Atlanta for another first down.
Chasing the quarterback, Danny White was the linebacker Dewey McClain.
He blasted him just as he released the ball, and there was Dupre all along.
Yes, he blocks down and then comes right across shallow.
That's Brezina is glitzing so much from the weak linebacker position,
but there's nobody there if the tight end gets into that area.
As Brezina vacates the spot, he's wide open. He was on that play first and then Dallas.
Dursons to the right. Tony Hill comes left.
For the Dallas Cowboys, a first down at the 17. Dorsett goes in motion.
Rolling right is White. Stop. Lost throws back screen the other way.
This one's going to go.
Late law has it at the 15, to the 10, to the 5, to the 2-yard line.
A first down for Dupre.
What an execution by Danny White.
Beautiful roll-out. He acted to play out extremely well.
He rolled to his right, threw way back across to late law, who was wide open,
screened to him, and he almost took it in for the touchdown.
The ball is on the 2-yard line. First and goal on the 2 going in for Dallas.
The saving tackle made by Kaikindall and Pennywell.
The linebackers first and goal, Dallas. They trail by 7.
They're on the 2-yard line of Atlanta.
They're in the high formation with late law and Dorsett.
They shift now and just flip back.
And on first and goal with Pearson in motion.
They like the trap here.
Here is White, rolling with the ball, looking, looking, looking, running.
Close the ball. Touchdown to Jackie Smith.
A 2-yard touchdown pass to Jackie Smith.
His first touchdown of the year for the Dallas Cowboys, who could now tie it up.
White was really cool.
White's got a lot of poise for a young quarterback who hasn't really played very much.
White is 6-9 with one interception for 73 yards in the touchdown.
Looks very poised, very confident in not operating this vulnerable attack on Dallas extremely well.
Today was the first day that Jackie Smith caught any passes for Dallas.
And he has just caught his first touchdown pass.
If Seth Jahn kicks him through, we'll have a funny, funny game.
We do.
7-0-7 remaining in the third quarter.
And now with a score, Dallas 20 and Atlanta 20, let's take time out.
Woody Hayes, whose temper tantrums often brought him and Ohio State University unfavorable publicity,
has finally been adjudged by his superiors to have gone too far.
When he punched Charlie Bauman, a Clemson sophomore nose guard who had just intercepted a pass
to clinch a 17-15 victory over Ohio State in the Gator Bowl,
Hayes abruptly brought about the end of his 28-year career at the school.
Hayes, the fourth winningest coach in college football history, was fired Saturday.
Sources close to the program at Ohio State say that Arkansas coach Lou Holes,
the one-time former Hayes assistant, will be named to succeed his 65-year-old former mentor.
There is speculation that Hayes would have been fired win or lose after the game,
and that the incident merely caused the university to speed the announcement.
But there was no doubt that the run-in with Bauman, caught on national television,
epitomized an aspect of Hayes' career at Ohio State, during which he compiled a record of 238 wins, 72 losses, and 10 ties.
I've heard that expression a whole new ball game.
That's what we have here in Texas Stadium, 20-20, 7-0-7 left in the third quarter.
At the end, kicking it off, Tom Pridebor and George Franklin's flank, Dennis Pearson,
who is standing at the 5-yard line.
20-20.
Field position plays a very prominent role in every game.
The Atlanta team in the second half started on the 14th both times.
Dallas on the other half started on the plus 49 and their own 46.
Big difference in field position.
Here's a line drive kick and it's taken by Pridebor on the 11, he's to the 25, he's to the 30, to the 35.
Thompson down at the 40-yard line.
A big kick returned by George Franklin.
Now a flag goes down as 50 cups break out.
A flag is down and something will happen.
Meanwhile, George Franklin was under a big head of steam and ran it out to the 40-yard line.
Edgar Fields got involved then with Robert Steele, a wide receiver for Dallas.
And a penalty against Dallas coming up.
Franklin was impressive with that run, wasn't he?
Yes, he was.
He made a decision and really took off on a straight line for the opposite side of the field.
Personal foul on the 30-round, that's 82 and defense the first down.
And now a personal foul moves the ball to the Dallas 45-yard line.
I didn't see the extracurricular activity, did you?
No, I didn't, Jack, I really didn't.
I was watching something else at the time, didn't see the 50 cups.
First down for Atlanta.
We're tied here.
Atlanta hasn't made many mistakes.
They've played an outstanding football game.
They've been a throwback.
Kowski Russ hits fast back to the 45-yard line for a loss of 10 by Ed Jones.
He came like a house of fire and he really blasted the quarterback.
Phil McKinley, the right tackle of the Atlanta team, just did not block Tuto Jones and it's a big pack for the Dallas Cowboys.
Bryant was the offensive tackle.
Warren Bryant for Atlanta, he was injured with a knee.
Phil McKinley replaced him and couldn't handle Ed Jones that time.
A nine-yard loss back at the 46th of Atlanta.
Second down and 19.
They'll run the ball here, probably, Jack, if you're going to sweep, let's see what they do.
On the second down play, with Dan back in there, Kowski back to throw, looks, throws, wobbly pass.
Incomplete, incomplete.
Off the hands of the intended receiver, Alfred Jackson, who probably should have caught the ball.
It was a wobbly pass, however.
Yeah, well, the nice thing about that, he could have caught it either end there, Jack.
He was going in a very wobbly fashion, but he had possession, or should have had possession.
It was a well-enough throw for him to catch the football.
George Franklin checks into the backfield.
Standback is out now.
They put in the three wide receivers.
They are Wallace Francis, Alfred Jackson, and Billy Rickman for Atlanta.
They have third and 19, back at their 46th with the score tied 20-20.
6-23 remaining in the third quarter.
Atlanta going from our left to our right.
Quick snap, the gift to the running back, Franklin trying to get outside, gets to midfield, and it's back.
It'll be kicking time for Atlanta.
Randy White chased the play, caught him, and with the help of Cliff Harris, made the tackle on the Dallas 47.
But this touch by John James to put Dallas way back.
Close to the ground.
James will punt the ball.
He's been busy lately.
Paul Isaac gives the snap man.
If he kicks the ball to his left, that's where he should try to kick it.
Let's see what he does.
Having difficulty setting against the rush of Dallas.
But James kicks it away.
It's a dandy affair.
Cash is called for.
It bounces into the end zone.
It'll be a touchback, and Dallas will go from their 20-yard line.
And James didn't do with the ball what he desired.
No, he didn't.
He looked like he was stepping to his left to kick the ball left, but he didn't kick it there at all.
He kicked it kind of down the middle, and got it in the end zone.
5-24 left in the third quarter.
There's a pause in the action with a score.
Cowboys 20, Falcons 20.
Let's take time out.
Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer says he couldn't believe it when he was told his sooners are more than a touchdown favorite in the Orange Bowl game in Nebraska.
He says, you've got to be kidding me.
How could we be favored in the ball game when Nebraska already beat us in Lincoln?
Cornhusker coach Tom Osborne was predictably a little bit more low-key about it.
He says the people who make the odds make their living at it, so you have to respect their judgment somewhat.
He says, but I hope they're wrong this time.
Despite Nebraska's 17-14 win November 11, the Cornhuskers rate no higher than 6 to Oklahoma's number 4 in the rankings, and the Sooners have it installed as a heavy favorite.
Switzer said final examinations cut deeply into the Sooners' practice time at Norman, and the rain kept them from making it up after they arrived in Miami.
Osborne was more pleased with the way his Cornhuskers had practiced.
He said they felt they had fairly good preparation, although they were rained on.
Osborne says the main thing that remains now is to go out there and play that football game.
We might go out and play a heck of a game, and then again, we might not.
Roger Staubbach has been injured in this game. He suffered a concussion. He'll not return.
Danny White, who engineered the last touchdown drive to tie the game, is at the controls for the Cowboys at their own 20-yard line.
With Lake Law and Dorsett in the backfield, Dorsett running right, dips inside, cuts across the 25-yard line, spins to the 26-27, and he got seven yards on the play.
Tom Pridemore finally finished him off.
Coming up on the five-minute mark remaining in the third quarter.
We'll have two games for you tomorrow, again, on CBS Radio at 12.50 Eastern Time, Houston at New England, 4.50 Eastern Time, Minnesota at Los Angeles.
Both games here on CBS Radio.
Second and four Dallas. More like three and a half.
They shift out of the eye. Two tight ends in there, Dupree and Smith.
Now they go back into the eye formation.
And they just did get the playoff in time. Here's Dorsett's first down out near the 35-yard line, and he ran with a real third set time.
He had on his blue shirt suit, didn't he?
Yes, he did, and he didn't get any lint on it that time either because he moved too fast to acquire any of it.
Tom Rafferty, John Fitzgerald, and Rayfield Wright, all of whom did a great job of blowing people off the ball and providing him, Dorsett, with the opportunity to get the first down.
And by the way, on that last play, Dallas snapped the ball with only one second left on the 32nd block.
And I know they didn't want to play it that close. They're at their own 35.
And they still have plenty of room in front of those corners to throw the ball on first down.
They've only done it twice and succeeded both times, but I'm surprised they don't do it tomorrow.
Out of the eye with only one second left again, they snap the ball and White throws it outside, caught by Hill.
He gets to midfield, cuts into the 45, 44-yard line of his letter, and Hanks Chan called another on first down.
The little square out in front of the cornerback.
Tykendall caught up to the play after the pass had been caught by Hill in front of Rick Byers for another Dallas first down.
Yeah, that really aggravates the devil out of the defense too because even though you're blitzed, you get rid of the ball so quickly that you can't do much about it like throwing a piece of popcorn into the deep offensive line of the Dallas double.
Were they blitzing that time?
No, they weren't that time, but I say in the event that they were blitzing, why, it doesn't make any difference because you get rid of the ball so quickly.
The ball at the 43 of Atlanta. Pearson goes to the right and Tony Hill comes left.
The tight end is Dupree. He's on the right side.
They ought to do it again. It's the same situation, Jack. They've got all the room in the world.
Here's White back to throw again.
He throws it along. Tony Hill all alone and can't get it. Cannot get it at the five yard line. Tony Hill had run away from Rick Byers and Danny White missed him.
He was wide open and so was Dupree again on the same pattern underneath. It would be interesting to see if they come back and hit Dupree because he's a very high percentage pass.
He's wide open. There wasn't anybody around him. He gets the ball to him. He let him run, although he chose the right guy at that time because Hill was wide open. It was a chance for a home run. He just threw the ball too far out the front.
He was about five yards out in front of the speedy Tony Hill. I mean he can fly. Now second down and ten.
The tight end has been open throughout the game on that particular play and they've hit him three times.
Dupree's on the left side. It's second down and ten. Split back. White back to throw. Pops it out. It's caught by Dupree. The tight end. He pummels the ball and it goes out of bounds. It belongs to Dallas and there was a game of six yards on the play.
He pummelled the ball and it was knocked out of bounds. That by Brazina who tried to recover the bumball.
Thank you. Right on with the call. As you see the thing happening, I'm not detracting from your ability to do that, but it must be very obvious to you.
Well, it's just, you know, the way they're covering, you have to understand coverage, Jack, and see how they're playing to understand where they should throw the ball.
A lot of times, you know, even though it's clear they don't throw the ball to that particular individual, but the way it turned out, why they hit the right people the last two times.
Now it's third and three and they're in the eye. They shift out. All they have to do is throw a square out pattern again here.
And on third down, White back to throw a square out. Caught by Hill at the 30 yard line. First down. He's out of bounds.
Not out of bounds. The clock continues to run with 2.35 remaining in the third quarter, but a Dallas first down at the Atlanta 30 yard line and they're killing Rick Byas, the cornerback.
And he's got a tough score. How come he doesn't have any help over there? Well, it's a one on one situation. He can't get any help on a quick square out like that.
The only thing he can do is play him much tighter and then he's vulnerable for the deep batter. And the linebacker never falls off to help. He's always going the other way.
Well, by the time he gets there, it's over because it's a very quick pattern. He goes down six yards and breaks for the sideline and it's open.
Anytime you want to throw it, they're finding he sees that that's what the situation is and have done a good job there.
And he goes Dorsett running right. He gets about two or three yards before his pushback by Edgar Fields and Jim Bailey, primarily Bailey, the left tackle of Atlanta.
Couldn't be taken off his feet. And he made the first hit on Dorsett after a gain of a yard and a half. We'll call it two to the Atlanta 28.
One forty remaining in the third quarter score tied twenty twenty some football game which will find one of these teams, Atlanta or Dallas, eliminated when the final gun sounds.
I've had a hunch early on in this game, Ang. We're headed for an overtime game.
I haven't had that feeling at all, Jack. Never gave it a thought that you're right. It might happen.
Here's second down and eight for White. He's been chewing them up through the air.
And the great rush, the blitz is on. White has hit, throws the ball, caught by Dorsett.
It's a 35 to the 30, to the 20 and down to the 15-yard line with the play with Whistle dead.
Back at the 40-yard line and it's a sack. It's a sack of Danny White.
As the referee, Calipore, was simply protecting White, blew the whistle, blew the play dead.
Then tossed it off to Dorsett. He's up for it, comes to come and carry it to the 15-yard line, but the play was Whistle dead and it's third down and twenty for Dallas.
Edgar Fields that time did a good job of providing the rush and putting the pressure on Danny White, number 77.
The referee was just trying to protect him, Hank.
That's all he did. That's exactly right.
Actually, I think there was Cookendall who made the play. Blitz, a linebacker who blitzed on the play.
Fields was coming from the outside, but Cookendall was the one who made the tackle on Danny White.
Now it's third down and twenty. Dallas has to get to the 19 of Atlanta for a first down less than a minute, remaining in the third quarter.
This scores by 20 all and they'll be coming after Danny White this time. He's in the shotgun formation.
And on third down, he's back to throw. Everybody's coming after him.
He hears it out long down field and incomplete inside the five to Tony Hill.
Tony Hill just couldn't get there on the...
He had him open again that time, had he thrown the ball properly and on the money it would have been a touchdown, but he overthrew him.
And here again he was intimidated a little bit by the fact that he knew the blitz was coming and got rid of the ball a little bit quicker than he had to.
Forty seconds left in the third quarter. White will kick from about midfield.
And Rickman is back to receive it.
Billy Rickman standing on his ten.
He's averaged eight point two per punt return. He'll be handling the ball in dangerous territory if White kicks it to him.
There's the snap. There's the kick by White. Bounces at the three and goes into the end zone for a touchback. It's a touchback.
The ball bounced out to the field of play and the fans react because they don't know the rules.
The ball went into the end zone and therefore it is a touchback.
The only thing that could happen after that would be for the receiving team to get it and run it out of there, but it is a touchback.
You know, Atlanta really has had the big advantage as far as field position is concerned.
On five different occasions they had the ball on the plus 25, plus 40, plus 30, minus 45, plus 45.
Dallas on the other hand has only had field position twice, plus 49, minus 46.
Twenty-nine seconds left in the third quarter as Bartowski starts from his own twenty.
A blitz is on and Sandback gets outside. He's to the 30. And he is out of bounds.
They beat the blitz by running outside that time. And Charlie Waters finally got to him.
Yes, it was a safety blitz with Cliff Harris coming on the play. And they called the right play that time.
They guessed right. They ran outside and there was nobody there to pursue from the inside out.
He made a big gain in the play.
Fourteen yards, the first down to the Atlanta 34.
The wide receiver, Alfred Jackson, is out. Mitchell the tight end. I don't think he's caught a ball all day. He's quick left.
Look how much room he's got over there. He's wide open over there. They haven't thrown a ball to him yet.
Bartowski back to throw. He looks. He throws it over the middle and it is intercepted by Dallas.
They come back the other way. Aaron Kyle has it at the 45. He is down to the 40 of Atlanta.
Aaron Kyle had it go off the hands of his teammate Charlie Waters.
And Kyle intercepted with twelve seconds left in the quarter.
They went ahead of the game with three interceptions. That makes it number four.
Applied down the penalty against Atlanta. It's defined. Dallas keeps the ball.
And they have it at the 39 yard line and an Atlanta player is into it across the field.
Now they put it at the 40 yard line of Atlanta with twelve seconds left in the half.
What about that pass pattern and throw, Hank?
Well that time he threw the ball poorly, very obviously, Jack.
And a very alert play by Aaron Kyle who got to ricochet ball and made the interception.
He went in the game with three. Now he has four interceptions.
Benny Barnes has five. Kyle has three. Waters has four.
And Cliff Harris has four. Very good balance on the part of interception on the part of the Dallas Cowboys' secondary.
Yeah, they picked off 23 during the regular season. Recovered 13 bubbles at 58 sacks.
They're formidable upon them, but Atlanta has moved the ball against them.
That has led a couple of times here. Dallas has been ahead. We're tied 20-20. Twelve seconds left in the quarter.
After punting a moment ago, Dallas gets it back on the interception.
They throw the ball on first down here, Jack.
Danny White at quarterback. Hands off on an end-around play to the tight end of three.
Breaks the tackle at the 30. Down to the 25. Down near the 20 yard line.
Beautiful deception on the play.
It was the defensive end. Edgar Fields who finally stopped Dupree on the play that marks the end of the third quarter.
When we resume with 15 minutes left to play, Dallas will add the ball first down at the Atlanta 20 yard line.
The end of the first of the third quarter with the score Dallas 20, Atlanta 20.
The Los Angeles Rams were favored by 9.5 points to beat the Minnesota Vikings in their first NFL playoff game last season.
It rained in Los Angeles and the Vikings won in the mud 14-7.
Los Angeles has been made a little more than a touchdown choice against the Vikings in their first playoff game Sunday.
And it's not supposed to rain in Los Angeles on Sunday.
According to Rams owner, Carol Rosenblum, he checked with a weatherman and the weatherman says it's supposed to be a beautiful sunny day.
But Rosenblum goes on to say, I don't think the weather will have any effect on the outcome of Sunday's game.
The Rams coaches and players have been talking that way all week, but the feeling persists that the Vikings who won the NSC Central title with a mediocre 8-7-1 record
have something extra going for them against the Rams in the playoffs.
And that fact is that they are 4-0 against Los Angeles in playoff games.
Last season's playoff shocker cost Coach Chuck Knox his job.
He wasn't officially fired, but the displeasure was evident.
Dallas Cowboys have won six games in a row.
They're involved in a humdinger here in Texas.
They're dominating the stats so far in total offense, Jack, right now.
Dallas 332, totally arc. Atlanta 141.
Did you get the impression that Atlanta has sat on the ball when they've had it here, or did they try to move it in the third quarter?
Well, you know, they're a very, very unusual team. They're very conservative when they're even or ahead.
Once they get behind, they change personalities completely. They're like the Hulks.
Once they have to get something done when they're behind, but it's hard to understand why they don't execute that kind of aggressive attitude when the game is even or when they're ahead.
How do you assess the work of Danny White filling in for Staubach here?
The facts are facts. He's 9 of 14 with one interception, one touchdown for 109 yards. Very impressive.
And he has the first down at the Atlanta 20-yard line.
Pearson goes to the left. The two tight ends, Dupree and Smith, are in there.
Laid low on Dorsetta, the running back.
And on first down, they shift into the I-formation.
And White gives to Dorsett, comes back up the middle, goes outside, spins, goes to the 15.
And about the 13-yard line goes Tony Dorsett. He picked up about seven yards with a slashing brilliant run.
And they say he went out of bounds at the 15, giving him a five-yard gain.
He fumbled a ball and Scott Laidlaw was very alert and scooped the ball up because he was rolling around loosely that time and would have been recovered by Atlanta had Laidlaw not recovered that fumble.
The Cowboys are at the 15-yard line.
And Dorsetta picked up seven and fumbled it back a couple of yards.
And Laidlaw, trailing on the play, took it out of bounds at the 15-yard line.
Now Hill goes left and Pearson is right.
The second and five for Dallas, tied with the latter here, 20-20.
And Laidlaw tries to find running room. Got only a yard.
He was hit right at the line of scrimmage by Jeff Murrow.
N-E-double-R-O-W, the defensive end, along with Keikin-Dahl, the linebacker, Laidlaw going only a yard.
They shuttle in the plays with the guards, as they call the plays from the Dallas bench.
The ball's to the 14. And it's third down and four. Here's a key play.
May cause them to settle for three rather than get the touchdown if Atlanta's able to stop them here.
The square out is still there, Jack. They did it the last time they had a short yardage situation.
White's back to throw. He looks, he throws, and it is intercepted at the one-yard line by Atlanta.
So Dallas comes away empty as the ball is intercepted by Frank Reed.
Now they say no. One of the other officials has overruled it and said the ball hit the deck.
Reed made a diving catch after a deflection and it is fourth down.
For Dallas, they still have the ball. Reed is in an uproar.
As is Helmidoff cleaning up the officials who overruled him.
Rosina is trying to keep Frank Reed from being penalized.
How'd it look to you, Coach?
I very honestly thought he made the intercept.
I did, too.
Reed is complaining that he had caught it at the one-yard line.
And now the ball will be held by Waters at the 22, a 32-yard field goal attempt by Septien,
trying to put Dallas back out in front.
Waters gets it down. Septien kicks it off to the right, no good.
And they do come away empty, the Cowboys do.
A 32-yard miss by Septien and the Atlanta Club gets the ball, still tied.
14-0-3 remaining in the game.
Atlanta's ball first down at their own 20 with a score.
Dallas 20, Atlanta 20, let's take time out.
Well, a tough call by the officials on that, but replay on CBS indicates that that ball was indeed trapped.
You know, it's so easy for me to sit here at AFRTS in Washington, or the guys up in the press box.
You know, there's an old saying, but it's very true, and that's this, no one ever blows a call up in the press box.
That call was not blown, it was a very good call, but again, Fritz Graff, the official making that call,
this is his 19th year in the National Football League, one of the senior officials in the National Football League.
Pretty tough call, but with six officials this year, that's one of the advantages.
You get a lot of different angles on a particular call, but Graff did one thing that sometimes is good at doing, sometimes it's not.
He checked with his fellow officials, and the idea there, of course, is to get the call right,
but of course, sometimes when you do that, you let people think that you might be in a little bit of doubt of your call,
but he called it, and he called it right, at least according to a look on the replay.
Instead of being given the interception of their own one, Atlanta makes out the better board after the missed field goal,
they're at their 20-yard line.
Kachowski ends off to his running back, and here comes Standback out for about 10 yards over the left side, near the 30-yard line.
Bubba Bean, the little guy, the little back, threw a block and helped clear the way,
along with the offensive tackle Phil McKinley, who pulled and was out there leading the appearance,
along with Mike Kent, the other tackle, and a gain of nine by Haskell Standback, injured earlier, back in there now.
And has only made one first down so far in the second half, Jack.
They're just about to get another one, it would appear, second and one from their own 29.
And oh, they didn't make it that time. It was Randy White running into Bubba Bean.
Standback again, getting him in an upright position and then just stopping him right in his tracks.
Bob Rooney, the middle linebacker, was also involved in that play along with Dee Dee Lewis, the right linebacker.
So it is third and one from their 29.
And they put in the two tight ends. Jim Wright, the rookie from Texas Christian, is in there.
Larry Cole, Larry Bethe, checking for Dallas.
Third down and one from their own 29 for Atlanta with a key play. 12.43 left.
Here's Standback, and he's a baker to him and a sack of Barskowski back in the 20-yard line.
Randy White again on Larry Cole, primarily.
Kicking time for Atlanta.
A sack by Dallas. They've gotten him a few times. That's the fifth time they have sacked Barskowski.
Play action fast that time, and he had Francis breaking open downfield, but he just couldn't get the ball to him because of the rush.
And now we have John James standing at his five about to punt the ball to put Johnson, who is at his own 40.
Funny time in this game. A lot of things will happen before the curtain comes down.
Dallas has done a real good job of confusing the blocking responsibilities on kick situations with all the jumping around they're doing.
They have 10 men at the line of scrimmage. There is a snap. The rush. They don't get it, but it's a bad kick by James.
And it bounces out of bounds at the 30-yard line of Atlanta.
James with his hands on his hips. Comes off the field thoroughly disgusted with that kick.
Greg Brazina got into a little break-up along the sideline with Bruce Hother, the linebacker.
12-0-1 left in the game. I don't know if there will be any yardage marked off here.
But a terrible punt by John James.
He shanks that one, and it went out of bounds at the Atlanta, well, they mark it at the 20-yard line of Atlanta.
The
Buckeyes are about to make a 4-yard mistake. That's a 30-yard line of Atlanta.
How long was that punt?
10 yards.
I saw Bobby A's make one like that at the Pro Bowl game, Hank. They didn't have any kickers, and A's kicked one about 9 yards.
A 10-yard punt gives Dallas a scoring chance from the Atlanta 30.
Looks like they're going to run left.
With Dorset and Laidlaw in the backfield, and Pearson in motion, they come the other way with Dorset.
Behind the block of Laidlaw, he cuts it back down near the 20-yard line.
Looks like he's got a first down.
And now a flag goes down. Who's doing what to whom down there?
As hefers flair, another flag is down.
Laidlaw got a good block, and Dorset cut it back.
And now it's against Atlanta. The flag has been thrown.
Dallas was penalized a moment ago.
Brazina was into it again downfield.
And the ball is marked to the 10.
A personal foul on this area of the 59th defense first down.
Number 59, Pennywell.
The middle linebacker was caught on a personal foul. Did you see what he did, Hank?
No, I sure didn't.
But they've been throwing late elbows and everything.
And his first and goal is a 10-yard line for Dallas with a score tied 20 all.
51 remaining in the game.
And on first down, there was movement by the tight end Dupree.
The pass is thrown, caught by Laidlaw.
He's out of bounds, but I'm almost certain that this penalty will be against
Dallas and Billy Joe Dupree, who beat the snapcops.
In which case, it would make a first and goal from the 15-yard line.
Left 45 left in the game, score tied 20-20.
The Dallas fans won't boo this decision because they all saw it.
Yeah, it was really obvious Dupree jumped offside prematurely and they get a set 5-yard.
But there's a listen to the foul from Dallas.
Offside 89, offense first down.
The offside call against Dallas makes it first and goal from the 15-yard line.
You know, Atlanta's third in the National Football League in penalties,
and today they already have six penalties for 66 yards.
On first and long, Danny White at quarterback.
With Pearson on the right side.
Hands the ball off in the running play.
And going down inside the 10-to-the-5, down to the one-yard line goes Scott Laidlaw.
Rolland Lawrence came up and got him.
Tremendous a touchdown, but the ball is right at the goal line.
And this will be second down, and Atlanta players are strewn all over the field,
two of them shaking up.
God Laidlaw's had a fine running day, he's piled up some yardage as has Bubba Bean of Atlanta.
That was a trap play with Herbert Scott, their left guard trapping.
He wanted to really trap Mike Lewis, but Mike Lewis came inside very tough.
He jumped on the outside of Lewis and popped into the scoring area,
just about a yard short of the goal line.
A big personnel loss as Rolland Lawrence comes limping off the field, Hank.
He's injured him.
Rolland Lawrence, the cornerback, is injured.
And he's on the sideline.
You know what I can't see, Hank?
It's second down, and I don't know if it's second and goal.
Is that forward marker right on the goal line or not?
I think, could they get a first down?
Yes, I think they could.
Without getting a touchdown?
Yes.
So it's second down and inches.
They could get a first down without getting a touchdown.
Dallas could.
11-28 remaining in the game.
Danny White filling in for the injured.
Rodgers, stop box, trying to put his club on top again.
The two tight ends are Smith on the right side, Dupree on the left side.
They're in the high formation.
Split backs now.
Laidlaw on door set.
On the second down, Danny White gives it to Laidlaw.
To the goal line and did not get in.
Did not get in.
Now they'll measure and see if it is a first down, which it would appear to be.
That was another trap that time.
Well, the old personal foul, the flag thrown against Atlanta a moment ago,
had a lot to do with it.
Dallas drive, 11-01 remaining in the game.
They're going to measure.
Ball right on the goal, right at the goal line.
And if it indeed is a first down, it'll be a first down and about two inches to go.
It is a first down for Dallas.
Two inches away.
I mean just two inches away.
They take out the wide receiver, Drew Kersen.
They keep the two tight ends in there.
Smith and Dupree.
10-55 remaining in the game.
But Johnson is in as a wide receiver, tight formation otherwise.
In the high formation now.
First down, Dallas trying to regain the lead.
It is Laidlaw and he has stopped again, caught in midair and driven back.
Right at the line of scrimmage, two inches away.
He keeps leaving his feet, Coach, and they're flucking him off in midair.
Well, usually the defensive linemen come in very low and you want to get over the top.
But that time the safety man, Frank Reed, did a good job along with Kukendall,
who made the stop at the line of scrimmage and prevented him from going in for the touchdown.
Second and goal.
And now 10 minutes remaining in the game.
Score tied, 20-20.
Dallas tied it up.
They got the last points on the board.
Atlanta really tough on defense.
They send up an eight-man front.
They're in the high formation and Laidlaw gets the touchdown.
Laidlaw gets the touchdown over the left side.
And Dallas goes on, got 26-20 with 946 remaining.
A wild playoff game, massively different than anticipated by most people.
Here's the extra point attempt, and don't take this one for granted.
It's quite meaningful.
Waters will put it down, set the end, kicks it.
It's good.
And it's a seven-point lead for Dallas with 946 left in the game.
There's a timeout on the field with a score.
Dallas 27 and Atlanta 20.
So far in the second half, the Atlanta team really has not been able to generate any kind of a consistent personality offensively.
And even though they had good field position in the first half, the second half has just been the opposite way.
They got the first position on their own 14, and next time on their own 14.
Then they got a good break.
They got it on the 45-yard line of Dallas.
But they didn't succeed in making the yardage for the first down.
We're forced to punt.
The next time they got the ball was on their own 20, the next time on their own 20.
So they really didn't have good field position like they had early in the game.
On the other hand, the Dallas team wound up with good field position, got the ball on the plus 30 of the Atlanta team on the last drive to put them ahead 27-20 with 946 left in the fourth quarter.
Prior to that, Dallas had the ball on the 41-yard line of Atlanta and had good field position.
So the field position structure has changed dramatically in the second half.
This game has been tied twice.
Dallas has had the lead three times.
Atlanta's had the lead three times.
This is the biggest lead of the afternoon for the Cowboys, who's 70-n will kick it off.
These stats tell the whole story in the second half.
Atlanta has had only one first down, minus 9 yards passing, 38 yards rushing.
Jack, that tells the whole story.
It's a line drive kick that zones into and out of the end zone.
A line drive knuckleballing kick by Rafael Septien.
And Atlanta will start from their own 20.
And now they're under the gun.
The gun will sound in 9 minutes and 39 seconds.
And Atlanta trails by 7.
Dallas seems to be the pressure of the two teams.
Hank, do you notice that?
Yes, I think you're right.
They have a little bit more bounce at this stage of the game.
You know, sometimes when you lose your quarterback or a key performer,
sometimes it acts as a catalyst.
And it's very inspiring.
It looks like this team has really played inspired football once they lost Roger Sabat.
Let's see what Barkowski can get done.
First down from his own 20-yard line.
Going from our right to our left, he's back to throw.
He's rushed, he looks, he throws the screen, and it is caught.
At the 30-yard, 20-yard line, and the play comes out beyond the 25 for a pickup.
As Haskell stand back caught that one, and Barkowski was lucky that somebody else didn't pick it off.
Randy White was all over Barkowski, but he got rid of the ball for a gain of 7 yards.
He expressed a good touch on that last pass because he threw it over the top
and got it to the receiver in good shape and picked up 7 yards on the play, makes a second and 3.
I still have a feeling in my bones about an overtime game.
Here's Barkowski handing off and a tackle in the backfield and a loss on the play.
George Franklin was dripped up by Harvey Martin for a loss on the play.
Back at the 21, it's going to be a 39.
That was a big play.
Yes it was, and you know that's the first time we've said anything at all about Harvey Martin.
You didn't even know he was in a ball game until that last play.
We have 838 remaining in the game.
The ball is back at the 21-yard line of Atlanta, and they have third down and nine.
Things might be crumbling out from under them.
After struggling everyone here in Texas Stadium, Barkowski on third down, the blitz is on.
He's back to throw, he runs and throws, and it is incomplete.
Incomplete, and brother, that was very close to interference.
Billy Richmond was about to catch the ball, and he was heavily covered by Benny Barnes,
who came within an eyelash that had been interfering with the match.
Yes, it was very close. It could have been called either way, Jack.
But the officials evidently didn't think it was pass interference.
Very honestly, from this vantage point, I thought it was.
It's kicking time for James who got off an 11-yard putt a moment ago.
And Dallas shows the big rush.
The snap of the ball.
Still yet to come.
Still yet to come. Now it's high, handled by James.
He kicks it off down to the Dallas 43, taken by Johnson, the 45 to midfield,
and the 45 is Atlanta.
And down near the 40-yard line are the Dallas Cowboys in Atlanta territory.
And Mike Gostezino made the Atlanta tackle.
With 8.01 remaining, the Cowboys lead by the score of 27-20.
And there's the timeout. They have the ball at the Atlanta 41.
And with the score, Dallas 27, Atlanta 20, let's take timeout.
With his early-season mental lapses hopefully behind him,
the talk about Steve Grogan has now turned to a physical well-being.
The New England Patriots quarterback said Friday his strained left knee
should present no problems when he leads the path into the AFC semifinal playoff game of the Houston Oilers.
Coach Chuck Fairbanks said he doubted Grogan would have been ready to play
had the Patriots played last weekend, but he expects his quarterback to be ready on Sunday.
Fairbanks said Grogan's slow start this season was partially due to the paralyzing injury
suffered by Darrell Stingley in an August 12 exhibition game.
Grogan's pass was a bit overthrown, and Stingley fractured two vertebrae when he leaped for the ball
and was hit in midair by Oakland's Jack Tatum.
Steve had a period of time where he was upset over Darrell's injury,
and there was a period when he wasn't throwing the ball very well and subconsciously
wanted his receivers to be wide open.
Those are the comments from head coach Chuck Fairbanks.
So the New England Patriots and the Houston Oilers on Sunday.
Earlier today, Pittsburgh eliminated Denver 33-10.
Here Dallas leads 27-20, first down of the Atlanta 41-yard line.
And on first down, Danny White out of the eye, gives the door set,
and the man running over the middle got two or three yards.
As he went over the left side, found little to go on, went up into the air,
spun forward, Robert Pennywell, the middle linebacker, got him.
Now we're under eight minutes remaining in the game, 7.45.
Yes, earlier today, Pittsburgh defeated Denver 33-10,
and Pittsburgh will host the championship game against either New England or Houston.
That will be determined tomorrow. You'll hear the game on CBS Radio.
And again, season's greetings from all of us at CBS Radio Sports.
And a happy New Year to you.
Out of the eye formation on second and seven, White's back to throw,
throws long down the sideline, incomplete to Drew Pearson.
He had to get it over the head of Rolland Lawrence, injured earlier,
back in there now, and Pearson could only try for a one-handed grab,
but couldn't come away with the ball.
Because of the coverage, it did look like Drew Pearson expected
to get the ball thrown to him that time, and it was kind of a feeble effort
to make that one-handed catch.
Now it's third down and seven for the Cowboys.
The Dallas team, the way this Atlanta team has played late in the fourth quarter
of so many games, they better take advantage of this field position
because it could make a big difference in the final outcome of this game
with 7.15 left in the contest.
They're at the 38-yard line of Atlanta. Preston Pearson is in the backfield for Dallas.
Out of the shotgun formation, the blitz is on, the blitz is on,
White's back to throw, he's rushed, and on the run, he throws the ball,
and it is incomplete out of bounds.
Well, the blitz worked that time.
They chased him out of the pocket and made him throw it away.
It's fourth down for Dallas.
You know, that's why the count and the cadence is so important.
If you permit the defense to anticipate what the rhythm and the cadence is going to be,
they can blitz like they did that last time.
Dewey McLean is so frustrated.
He's about a half-yard away from Danny White all the while, chasing him at full speed.
But he made him throw the ball into the turf, and that's what it's all about.
He didn't complete the pass.
Now we have 7.08 remaining as Dallas will punt.
That was really a big series for the Atlanta team because had they scored on that last drive
or on this possession, they really would have been in serious trouble.
White gets the snap from about midfield. He kicks it high in the air.
The blitz is called for and taken on the eight-yard line by Rickman.
He should let that ball go, eh?
Yes, he should have. He was inside the ten, and the basic rule of thumb is
anytime that you're inside the ten, let it drop and play the percentages
and hope it'll go into the end zone.
So now Atlanta will start from their own nine-yard line with 7.01 remaining.
A pause in the action with a score.
Dallas 27, Atlanta 20, and let's take time out.
A lot of bitter remarks came out of Lincoln, Nebraska when it was learned
November 18th that Nebraska's opponent in the Orange Bowl would be Oklahoma
in a rare rematch, but most of that feeling has died away.
At the time, just after Nebraska's upset by Missouri,
Costa-Cornhuskers are shot at the national title against top-ranked Penn State.
The players and coaches said they thought it would be unfair to have to beat Oklahoma again.
The feeling was that it was tough enough to beat the Sooners 17-14
the first time on November 11th.
According to Nebraska tailback IMHIP, earlier it was disappointing to the whole team,
but now everyone is up because we have to prove a lot to a lot of people
who think the first win was a fluke.
He said we went through a lot of things in those seven days,
but anyway, we had our destiny in our own hands to play for the national championship
and lost it.
Those comments from defensive back Jim Spillen.
He says, I think for myself and everybody else on the team,
it was about the toughest thing we've ever had to handle.
I'm in Jack Buck with you, Hank.
Should I repeat my gut feeling about the overtime game?
Yeah, you might as well.
You've been doing it all afternoon.
You might as well do it again.
I've got a feeling I'm going to go into overtime here.
The ball's at the nine-yard line, a first down for Atlanta.
Bartkowski, a quarterback, hands off on the running play,
and out it comes to the 15-yard line and a flag goes down.
Running with the ball was Mike Esposito is in there now for Atlanta.
Esposito is out of Boston College.
Here's a penalty going to be marked off against the Atlanta Falcons.
Boy, the field position for Atlanta in the second half has really been atrocious.
I mention again, second half, they've had it on their own 14, their own 14,
plus five, and they blew it.
Holding, Devano off it, first down.
Then they had it on their own 20, their own 20, their own 20,
and now on their own nine.
Conversely, Dallas had it on the plus 49, 46, plus 41, plus 30, plus 40,
and that's really been a difference in the game so far.
The holding call puts Atlanta back at the five-yard line.
Makes it first and 15, back at their own five.
Barskowski from the end zone, scrambling, throwing, and broken up,
and a flag is down.
Interception.
The ball was a beautiful interception.
But now a flag is down back upfield.
We caught that ball on the interception, Ag.
I was watching the flag upfield.
Did Waters get it?
It looked like Penny Barnes got it.
But now let's see what happens.
That's interference they call.
It's against Dallas.
An illegal chuck downfield as the Atlanta man was racing by, Wallace Francis.
He was given an illegal chuck.
And the ball is going to be marked off against the Cowboys.
That was really a fabulous interception.
And I saw the one, and very frankly, I don't know whether it was Penny Barnes or Charlie Waters.
Illegal chuck, heck, 31.
Defense is the first down.
It was Penny Barnes.
Penny Barnes gave the illegal chuck, and it's the first down for Atlanta,
an automatic first down, a five-yard penalty out to their own 10-yard line.
And Barskowski keeps it on the ground and comes out to about the 13-yard line
with Standback running with the ball, Bubba Bean running with the ball.
This is CBS Radio.
We are experiencing transmission difficulties from the site of this National Football League game.
We hope that you will please stay tuned on this CBS Radio Network station.
Well, as you heard, we are experiencing technical difficulties on CBS Radio.
This game is being televised by CBS Television, and we can just tell you that Haskell Standback
is carried for about pretty close to a first yard down out to the 25-yard line.
Things have resumed. Let's get back.
Come out to the 25.
Mitchell, the tight end is out.
And they put in the three wide receivers, Wallace Francis, Alfred Jackson, and Billy Rickman.
Rickman is left.
First down from their own 25, Barskowski and company is back to throw.
Rolls right a little, goes in over the middle, caught beyond the 40-yard line,
and the tackle is made near the 45.
Francis caught that ball in rough, rough traffic and was wrestled out by Henderson and others.
But another Atlanta first down, and they're on the move.
Steve Barskowski, you know, he continues to impress you with the way he reacts in pressure situations.
That time there was a lot of pressure on Steve.
He moved slightly to evade the rush, got the ball right on the money to Francis,
and it's another first down for Atlanta.
Beautiful throw by Steve Barskowski.
Five minutes left. Dallas leading 27-20.
Here is Sandback coming outside, crossing midfield, going to the Dallas 47-yard line.
The play calling of Atlanta has been exquisite all afternoon.
Yes, it has been, and they're doing a good job of mixing up the run and the pass.
They keep them off balance.
And I want to mention again, Dick Woods, my former quarterback coach with New Orleans,
has done a great job here with Barskowski, as has Bill Walts, the offensive line coach
who was with me for 15 years in Kansas City,
along with Doug Shively, who also worked with us in New Orleans, working with our linebackers.
All of whom have done a great job for Atlanta.
The ball at the Dallas 47, second down and two.
Sandback has been tearing them up.
It was seen in the first half.
Sandback here in the second half doing the damage.
The fake handoff, Barskowski back to throw.
Looks, throws long, overthrown, incomplete.
Intended the ball for his running back Mike Esposito, and he was well covered.
Aaron Kyle was over there on the corner and got the help he needed from Charlie Waters.
That stops the clock with four oh eight remaining.
Second, third down and two.
So a critical down coming up for the Falcons.
You know, Mike Chen, the offensive tackle, left tackle of Atlanta,
has really done a great job on Harvey Martin.
You know, you don't even know that Martin's been in the game.
He nullified him.
Yes he has.
Now it's third down and two.
For the Atlanta club.
The running play gets the first down inside the 45 of Atlanta to Esposito again.
Esposito, only a rookie.
Cliff Harris that time was looking from his free safety position.
They ran right in the area where he vacated the spot and picked up the yardage for the first down.
It's a beautiful march here by the Atlanta changes.
Started this march on their own nine yard line.
And then were penalized back to the five.
Now they're down to the Dallas 41 with three forty one remaining in the game.
A first down.
That was a crucial third down call.
I don't know.
I've told you this, Jack, before.
But you know, there's a chance this might be an overtime game.
No way.
Here's a first down play coming up and Barchowski back to throw.
Look throws it long.
He's got it.
He is incomplete.
Overthrown to Al Jackson.
He was covered on the corner by Aaron Kyle.
Have you had that feeling at all, Jack, about the possibility of being an overtime game?
Never entered my mind.
Cliff Harris was also back there helping on pass defense.
Now the clock has stopped with three twenty four remaining.
They went for the bomb that time, Hank.
I guess every once in a while you've got to air it out.
But for the most part, you better take the short stuff that's available to you.
Yeah, but it's good sometimes to blow out the carbon.
And that's what happened on that last play.
He had a chance to get the ball on top.
They were expecting something short, but he just didn't get it on the money like he should have.
It's second down and ten for the Falcons.
Dallas shows the blitz.
And on second down, the blitz is on.
The pass is incomplete.
Intended for Dennis Pearson.
A little square off pattern and he got rid of it a little too quickly.
Yeah, there again.
So he was intimidated by the blitz.
He didn't have to get rid of the ball that quickly at all.
He would have had a chance to lick him on the outside, but he got the ball off too quickly and it falls incomplete.
Third down and ten.
Now what happens, Hank?
Three twenty one remaining.
You don't make a first down on third down.
Can you afford to kick the ball away?
No, I don't think so.
I think you have to try to, in this field position, you've got to try to make the first down and keep the ball moving.
The ball's at the Dallas forty-one and a third set.
The crowd rises to the occasion.
Rickman is left.
Two wide receivers to the right.
Jackson and Francis.
On third down, Barchowski is chased by Jones.
He throws the ball and it is complete, complete.
Down at the thirty-two yard line.
Very close to a first down.
Apparently short by inches to Wallace Francis.
Boy, was that a great throw on Barchowski's part.
I thought he was throwing the ball away.
But he got it.
Jones was really after him.
Yes he was.
Number seventy-two, the defensive left end.
And Wallace Francis was Johnny on the spot.
He caught the ball.
Just inches away from a first down and a fourth down for Atlanta with three fourteen left.
Barchowski.
They put in the two-side end.
Mitchell.
And Lewis Gilbert.
Here's a big play.
Stand back.
Here's the up back.
Right side.
They ought to run right outside.
See if they do.
It's fourth down and inches.
And here's a toss to Franklin and he.
It's stopped.
On fourth down.
Appears to be south by Dallas.
Henderson gammed up the play.
And let's see if Franklin got it.
They're going to measure.
I don't think he did, Jack, but he might have.
But it's very close.
I don't think he made the first down.
But that was the place to run on the defense.
The defense really did a great job of responding to what they saw.
And came up and did a great job.
He went quite deep, didn't he?
Well, he's going to always be deep from the eye formation.
But he just didn't turn it up field with as much enthusiasm and aggressiveness as he should have.
Let's see if they made it.
They did not.
The ball goes to Dallas.
They cover with three oh nine remaining.
And Dallas leading by seven, twenty seven to twenty.
And they have the ball at their own thirty three yard line.
Well, Atlanta started from their own forty five.
And they give it up to Dallas at the Dallas thirty three.
Three oh nine left.
A pause in the action.
The score, Dallas twenty seven.
Atlanta twenty.
Let's take time out.
Terry Bradshaw's passing and Franco Harris's running carried the Pittsburgh Steelers to a thirty three to ten victory over Denver in the AFC semifinal playoff game.
Bradshaw hit on sixteen and twenty nine passes for two hundred seventy two yards and two touchdowns.
While Harris ran for one hundred five yards and scored twice.
John Stallworth set our playoff record by catching ten of Bradshaw's throws.
Four other Super Bowl contenders are watching the playoff action before taking the field on Sunday.
In Foxboro, Massachusetts, the New England Patriots host the Houston Orders and in Los Angeles, the Rams entertain the Minnesota Vikings.
Arkansas coach Lou Holtz says that he has no plans to leave the Razorbacks to take the head coaching job at Ohio State.
Holtz was reported to be a leading candidate for the job, which opened up at longtime Buckeye coach Woody Hayes was fired earlier Saturday.
Holtz made the remarks from Honolulu where he'll coach the West squad in next week's Hula Bowl.
Ball control is the name of the game now for Dallas.
They have Danny Whitey quarterback Roger Stopock was injured earlier.
The boys had the ball at their own thirty three yard line and the Gibbets to Doris said running right.
He hurdles at the thirty five gets out to the thirty six.
He got three yards Tom Pride more finished him off.
Three minutes left in the game.
Cowboys leading by seven.
They send in the new play with Burton Lawless one of the guards.
Jackie Smith comes in to join Billy Joe Dupree as the tight end.
Two forty five remaining.
A light drizzle is falling now here in Dallas to the point where the official umpire keeps the ball covered.
Center is John Fitzgerald.
The quarterback is Danny White.
Flip backs Laidlaw and Doris said on second down a bootleg play in the pass play and it is caught by Jackie Smith at this field.
He's down to the forty six yard line in Atlanta.
Jackie Smith got the first down pass.
A bootleg a roll out right and a little flip pass to Jackie Smith who got a touchdown pass here earlier.
That's quite a big part in this game.
He has and of course he's a great performer very sure handed tight end and a good pressure player as was expressed on that last play where he made the nice catch on second down.
Two minutes left in the game.
Time is called.
The clock is stopped.
Two minutes remaining in the football game.
When we resume Dallas will have the ball first and ten of the Atlanta forty one and Dallas is leading by seven.
And now with the score Dallas twenty seven.
The Atlanta Falcons twenty let's take time out.
We're talking about Arkansas coach Lou Holt saying that he has no plans to leave the Razorbacks to take that head coaching job at Ohio State.
So Woody Hayes fired earlier in the day for hitting a Clemson player in that football game on Friday night.
That was the Gator Bowl Clemson versus Ohio State.
That game was televised at ABC and ABC in New York says that Hayes attack on that player during the Gator Bowl touched off a swarm of fans.
Off a swarm of phone calls at network headquarters in New York and a network spokesman says that half the calls protested Hayes action while the other half complained because the network replayed the incident only one.
The New York Knicks won their third straight NBA game Saturday afternoon by defeating the Kansas City Kings one twelve to one oh eight.
Bob McAdoo led the Knicks with twenty nine points.
One of them doing a fourth quarter surge so the Knicks three straight one twelve one oh eight over Kansas City.
The Falcons lead at the half twenty to thirteen they trail now twenty seven to twenty they've been shut out here in the second half.
First down Dallas going from our left to our right at the Atlanta forty one and on first down is Jorsett running left trying to go outside.
He is hit breaks the tackle and goes out of bounds near the forty stays in bounds as it turned out at the forty yard line of Atlanta and he got six one forty five remaining.
That was critical for Atlanta when Jorsett did not go out of bounds.
Fox still running.
He's seen as three timeouts in Atlanta.
It better use one of them Hank.
Yes they have to pretty soon here.
They've got second second down and four situation.
Jorsett just got sick.
Atlanta has led about 20 seconds click off the clock here.
It's second down and four one fifteen remaining in the game and Dallas leading by seven twenty seven twenty.
Preston Pearson is in the backfield and now with one second left Dallas calls timeout.
Jackie Smith didn't know where to line up on the play was confused on the formation and he went from one side to the other and Danny White finally said let's talk it over.
Let's get it straightened out here.
You and I were talking about Atlanta and their need for a timeout.
Who gives a dumb with Jackie Smith and the Dallas Club block has stopped with one on nine remaining in the game.
Dallas leading by seven they have the ball at the 40 yard line of the Falcons second down and four they get a first down here and do not fumble the ball.
This one is just about over.
Yes it'll be in the vault and I'm sure they'll try to run another play outside on the second and fourth situation to consume as much time as they possibly can.
And of course at the same time try to stay in bounds. Greg Brazino the linebacker who is a leader on the field for the Falcons trying to rally his forces.
And out come the Cowboys wide receivers left and right Pearson and Tony Hill.
Now the official keeps them from snapping the ball.
Two games tomorrow the first of the two at 1250 Eastern time the AFC playoff game Houston at New England to determine the opponent for the Pittsburgh Steelers on the seventh of January.
The Steelers beat Denver earlier today.
Here's Danny White rolling with the ball running with the ball falling on the run and complete to three to try to make a one handed check.
Now the clock is stopped with one oh three remaining and all of this gives Atlanta a further opportunity if and when they get the ball going to be third down and four one oh three left.
And another new play from the sideline carried by the messenger Burton Lawless.
Dallas leading 2720 lead three to nothing trailed seven three tied it to 10 all dollars regain the lead 13 to 10 and Atlanta 1713 Atlanta 2013 at halftime with the Falcons haven't scored.
Dallas tied it up at 20 all and Dallas took the lead 2720 with about 945 left in the game.
Now we have one oh three left if they run right sweep Atlanta show the blitz on third down white back to throw throws it to the sideline.
A little pumping over there on the sideline the Cowboys wanted interference but the official said it took place out of bounds.
Now 59 seconds remaining in the game.
I understand those last two calls.
The officials had it happen out of bounds. I'm talking about the offensive calls with regard to stopping the clock on two successful plays.
They might have gotten the first down.
They surely would have kept the clock going made Atlanta calls.
I'm out of that.
Now they have three timeouts left.
Atlanta has and there's 59 seconds left in the game which is a lot of time reading the way this Atlanta team is operated in a short yardage.
They have a very short time period in four or five games that they've won this season.
Here is Danny White waiting for the snap from center.
It is crucial Billy Rickman is back standing at his 10 waiting for the punt and the snap the kick by White.
He angles it for the sideline Rickman lets it go over his head.
It bounces into the end zone.
They come out to the 20 yard line and Atlanta will have only 49 seconds with which to do something about their seven point deficit.
Let's pause five seconds for stations to identify themselves on the CBS radio network.
This is the American Forces radio and television service.
I ask you to play the role of medical expert but when you're dealing with a concussion does that mean that Stobrock might be able to play next week.
I'm sure he'll be able to play next week but I don't think he can afford to take a chance the day that he gets hurt.
Bartkowski back to throw throws long down the middle and it's dropped incomplete.
Incomplete is the call beyond the 30 yard line.
Incomplete as Bartkowski threw high to Rickman got his hands on it but couldn't come down with the ball.
40 seconds left.
You really have to give this team a lot of credit this Atlanta team because they're not nearly as gifted as the Dallas Cowboys and yet they played a remarkable game here this afternoon.
Win lose or draw they still deserve a great deal of credit.
Lehman Bennett is fine coaching staff the entire organization.
They're off on the right track doing a great job and they really express a lot of spirit and animation in this game here today.
The ball is in the opening ball now with 40 seconds left.
Second and 10 from the 20.
Bartkowski back to throw he looks throws it's in his gutter.
Then comes Dallas the other way with the ball.
And Cliff Harris has it.
Dallas has it.
29 seconds left and they've got this football game.
I know the Falcons do have free timeouts for them.
Bartkowski threw it.
Dallas man Cliff Harris was just standing there couldn't wait for the ball to come to him.
He had four during the regular season.
He's a member of the Pro Bowl as is his running mate at safety spot Charlie Waters.
And Dallas has a seven point lead.
Bartkowski is intercepted.
You know normally you go into a game with the anticipation of having a ball on 13 possessions.
Each team and ironically right at this stage of the game with 29 seconds left.
Atlanta has put it in play 13 different times and Dallas is not putting it in for the 13th time.
So the balance of that situation is perfect.
Atlanta will have to use their timeouts immediately now and they have three remaining.
The ball is at the 24 yard line of the Falcon.
White at quarterback wants to avoid mistakes penalties and so forth.
And the blitz was on and a whistle sounds before the snap of the ball.
And perhaps well let's see if Atlanta was drawn offside.
Yep. Pro-sever against Dallas and that's what was in my mind Hank about mistakes.
And five yards to be marked off against him.
It's hard to understand why they'd make that kind of mistake at this stage of the game Jack.
The ball starts moving before the snap.
Ball is moved back to the Atlanta 29 yard line.
Herbert Scott the left guard was moving on the play.
North first and 15.
Preston Pearson is in the backfield.
With Laidlaw, Dorsett is out.
Oh Laidlaw is really horse-collared as he took a handoff and he ran right into Bailey and Fields of Atlanta.
Timeout called by Atlanta with 22 seconds remaining and they have two timeouts left.
There was a loss on that play sending the ball back to the 31 making it second down and 17.
Laidlaw was laid low that time with that tackle wasn't he?
Was he not.
Now the clock will start with a snap of the ball.
22 seconds remaining in the game.
Rosino went to the sideline.
Comes back to try to rally his defense.
Dallas will be in action on January 7th in a game here which you'll hear on CBS radio.
They'll be going against either Minnesota or Los Angeles.
Either here or in Los Angeles if Dallas does indeed win this afternoon.
White was second down and 17 just trying to run off the final 22 seconds.
As Pearson and Laidlaw against the Laidlaw he tackles it to 13 and goes down.
And another timeout called by Atlanta with 16 seconds remaining.
And now the Falcons have but one timeout remaining.
And it is third down.
Third down coming up for the Cowboys.
It might turn out that the Falcons will get the ball one more time.
16 seconds left in the game.
Dallas earlier had an opportunity to really put Atlanta in a bad hole not only score wise but time wise.
They got a little mix up with their offensive play calling.
And they call a timeout which stopped the clock.
And then a penalty stopped the clock.
Ball is at the Atlanta 30.
And only the most bizarre of events would change this around.
But remember what happened this year in that giant Philadelphia game.
Danny White on third down and 16.
Calls the play from the Atlanta 30 with 16 seconds left.
And he gives the ball to it running back.
Jason Pearson wants to stay in bounds killing off the dime, dancing around.
Finally tackled with nine seconds left.
Seven seconds left as Atlanta calls timeout.
And it's fourth down coming up for Dallas.
And here comes Big Ben.
They'll put three receivers on the right side, I'm sure on the right side of the field because they're on the left hash mark.
And try to take a chance with throwing the ball up field and getting a jump ball.
Would you do that?
Yes, I would.
I wouldn't do it.
I would.
You have to try to get a chance to get back in the ball game some way.
And I think that's the thing about the Atlanta when they get it.
Oh yeah, if Atlanta gets it.
Sure.
It's fourth down coming up, seven seconds remaining.
Dallas is to the point now where they could take a safety and run off the clock if they wanted to do so.
But of course that would be a dangerous play also.
I guess they'll just play it straight here, Hank.
Maybe even punt the ball and play it a normal bet.
You know, a good thing to do here would be line up in the field goal, fake the field goal and roll out right or left and either make the completion or run the ball.
As much time as possible and in all probability the game would be over.
The ball is at the Atlanta 31 yard line.
Seven seconds left.
The clock will start with a snap of the ball.
They're going to run from scrimmage.
Dallas is on fourth down, fourth down and long, fourth and 18.
White gets the ball, bootlegs the ball.
He's being chased and he is tackled with two seconds left.
And because now the game is over.
The game is over.
The
time has run out and the season is over for the Atlanta Falcons.
Dallas has won this game and what a tough chore it was.
27 to 20 and they go on to the NFC championship game.
The end of the contest between the Atlanta Falcons and the Dallas Cowboys.
Where the final score is Dallas 27 and Atlanta 20.
The Dallas Cowboys coming out with a seven point victory.
The victory a lot of folks figured would be a laugher.
Dallas was savored by some two touchdowns in this football game.
But Dallas after taking a three nothing lead in the first quarter and a 34 yard field goal by Ray Fiorsepian.
Then being for Atlanta on 11 yard run to give the Falcons a seven to three lead.
Dallas came back to recapture the advantage on an 11 yard run by Laidlaw.
Then a 42 yard field goal by Mazetti tied the game.
Dallas took the lead again on a 48 yard field goal by Fiorsepian.
But then Bartkowski hooked up with Francis on a 17 yard touchdown pass to give Atlanta a 17 to 13 lead.
It was a 20 to 13 advantage on a 22 yard field goal by Mazetti.
And then a three yard pass from White to Smith after Roger Staubach was shaken up.
And he suffered a mild concussion from what we understand in the first half.
White to Smith for three yards to tie the score.
A one yard run by Laidlaw and that was the final margin of victory.
While the Atlanta Falcons were in their first playoff position in the history of their franchise.
They won last week over Philadelphia.
But they couldn't handle the Cowboys today.
Earlier today Pittsburgh eliminated Denver from the playoffs with a 33 to 10 win.
And just now Dallas has taken the measure of Atlanta 27 to 20.
Dallas went out in front in the first quarter.
And a 34 yard field goal by Fiorsepian.
They led 3 to nothing.
14 yard draw play scored by Bubba Bean.
Put Atlanta on top 7 to 3.
A 13 yard burst by Scott Laidlaw put Dallas back out in front by the score of 10 to 7.
That was after Danny White had run out of fun information.
At the end of the first quarter the score was tied 10 all.
As Atlanta had gotten back into the game to tie it with a 42 yard field goal by Tim Mazetti.
Fiorsepian a 48 yard field goal which tied a Dallas Cowboy playoff record for distance.
And Dallas again had the lead 13 to 10.
But Wallace Francis got a 17 yard touchdown pass.
The Falcons, the visitors here today, led 17 to 13.
And then 20 to 13 on a 22 yard field goal by Tim Mazetti.
And they enjoyed that seven point advantage at halftime.
But Atlanta was not the score in the second half.
And when Roger Staubach was injured it was Danny White coming into the game through a 2 yard touchdown pass to Jackie Smith.
The extra point tied the game in the third quarter with 7 minutes remaining.
That was 20-20.
That was the score at the end of the third quarter.
And then Dallas, after a personal foul that helped them move the ball down near the Atlantic O-line,
sent Scott Laidlaw over from inches away, 27-20.
That was with 9.46 remaining in the game.
There was no further scoring.
Atlanta is out.
Dallas will play on January 7th against either Minnesota or Los Angeles.
And we'll continue with our wrap up here in just one moment.
You know the big difference in the second half, Jack, as you mentioned,
is the fact that the Atlanta team was winning 20-13 at halftime.
And they had a distinct advantage as far as field position is concerned in the first half.
In the second half, however, they had the ball on 8 possessions.
And only one time out of the 8 possessions did they have any kind of good field position.
That being on the plus 45 yard line of Dallas.
And they didn't take advantage of the opportunity.
Conversely, however, the Dallas Cowboys had possession seven times.
And of the seven times, they had good field position on every occasion
and had the ball in the following areas.
The first time on their own 49, the next time on their plus 46,
then plus 41 of Atlanta, plus 30 of Atlanta, plus 40 of Atlanta,
plus 24 of Atlanta, minus 33 of Dallas.
And that was really the difference in the second half.
It was amazing that the Atlanta team stayed so close, making it 27-20.
And quite a surprise it was.
Danny White, who has patiently served as an understudy for three years,
coming in to replace the injured Roger Starbucks or Raleigh Dallas
to that seven-point playoff victory over the Falkens
to put the Cowboys in the NFC Championship game for the ninth time in the past 13 years.
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