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The Philadelphia Eagles faced the Atlanta Falcons during the 1978 NFL Playoff Wildcard Round at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium on Christmas Eve 1978.
Both teams finished the regular season with a 9-7 record.
The Eagles were led by Coach Dick Vermeel and the Falcons by Lehman Bennett.
This audio recording is from the CBS radio broadcast featuring announcers Jack Buck and Johnny Unitas.
Unfortunately, it is cut off midway through the fourth quarter.
For this reason, we've added the audio from the CBS TV broadcast featuring announcers Gary Bender and Hank Stram to the end of this recording.
It's Valamete of AFRTF Sports in Washington and today it's the NFL Playoffs getting underway with the first all-Wildcard in the history of the National Football League.
Today, the Philadelphia Eagles tackle the Atlanta Falcons to wildcard entrance at Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
Later today, the Houston Orthers will meet the Miami Dolphins at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
While it rained earlier in the day down in Dixie, but the rain has now stopped in the greater Atlanta area and it promises to stay that way at least for a couple of hours, hopefully.
They've had showers off and on as heavy rains last night tapered off and became more intermittent earlier this morning.
But the field was covered and it's in good shape and should not be a factor, the rain that is, should not be a factor in today's game.
Although there is still a threat of some rain between kickoff time and the end of the ballgame, it has now stopped at the moment.
In just a second, the two will be joining the CBS radio network.
Jack Buck will be describing this game and the old Baltimore quarterback himself, John United, one of the greatest, considered by many the greatest quarterback ever to play in this NFL game,
is going to be handling the color assignment on the radio side for the CBS network.
It's, you can expect, expect it to be an expensive battle as both these teams have come up with superb defenses in 1978 to make the playoffs.
Now let's get out to Jack Buck at Fulton County Stadium.
I must say, John United, that gentleman sang better than you did at the piano bar last night.
He probably had a lot better definitely than we did too.
Both teams are on the field. We'll soon have the opening kickoff.
Well, here's how the playoffs are now shaping up.
As we said, today Philadelphia and Atlanta, then later today Houston meets Miami at the Orange Bowl down in Florida where the temperature yesterday reached 85 degrees
and expected to be pretty much that today, somewhere in the upper 70s, low 80s.
It's not really Christmas weather, but beautiful weather for South Florida.
On Saturday, December 30th, the alignment will shape up this way.
Miami or Denver, depending on the outcome of the game today, later today between Houston and Miami, Miami or Denver will play at Pittsburgh.
That's on Saturday, the 30th of December.
Minnesota or Atlanta will play the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas, Texas, actually at Irving, Texas, at Texas Stadium later in the day.
On Sunday, December 31st, Houston or Denver at New England.
And also on Sunday, December 31st, the Philadelphia Eagles or the Minnesota Vikings will play the Rams in Los Angeles.
And of course, all those matchups depend on what happens in the two games today.
Referee Fred Silva is about to conduct the coin toss.
We'll see if he can come up on the referee's microphone.
This is Ed.
This is the visiting team. They will call the dogs.
Who's left? Please.
Thank you. In the air, please.
Edges fall.
As long as one is on the toss, there's very little winged advantage or disadvantage here.
It's going soft steel for the most part.
So Atlanta will get the ball to start the game with giving you the Eagles starting lineup.
The thousands on defense play a four-man front with Jeff Yates, Jim Bailey, Mike Lewis, and Jeff Murrow.
Holden Kankendall, Robert Pennywalling, Greg Fazzina are the linebackers.
Rollin Warren, Rick Piaz are the quarterbacks with Frank Reed, Tom Plydmore, the safety net and offense.
Wallace Francis and Billy Wright, from the wide receiver.
Mike Cannon left tackle, Dave Scott left guard, Jeff VanMolten center, Archie Field on the right guard, Phil McGinley the right tackle.
They have Steve Marchowski, Papa Bean, Haskell stand back in their backfield.
And the Falcons will receive to start the game.
Now Philadelphia has lost Nick Mickemeyer with a rib injury.
And Mike Michelle, who is their putter, is also their place kicker.
And they are a little testy about their field goal-taking game here today, John.
They are a little shaky.
I picked from the old match-in yesterday in the press conference that they really haven't been down close to the goal line to let Michelle try any kind of field goal.
They certainly do miss Mickemeyer.
And according to their rule, of course, he cannot come back to play.
He's ready to play for what we understand.
But it's like he's not going to be able to come in and perform for the Philadelphia Eagles.
And Jack Wolf-out ready for this kickoff and get this ballgame started.
Dennis Pearson ran one back a hundred yards against St. Louis a week ago.
This one goes short down the middle.
And it's taken by one of the wide men at the eight-yard line.
And that's George Franklin. He's across the 20, 25.
The nut gets to the 30-yard line.
Atlanta will go from there as the ball was returned by George Franklin.
It was started this season with St. Louis, 21 yards.
Returned to Falcons after the ball at the old 28.
Well, we think we will see the Falcons come out and stay with us and serve with this style of play.
I have seen Markowski play a few times this year.
And he does occasionally come out and open the ballgame up with a pass.
We'll just have to wait and see.
Bubba Bean and Haskell stand back. They're in the backfield.
Stand back comes on a wig.
Bubba Bean is hit in the backfield.
Tackle for a loss on the play.
On the very first play from Strimmage, Dennis Harrison and Randy Logan were up there to make the tackle.
Now we have Logan with strong safety making the first hit from Strimmage.
What was he doing? Cheating a little bit, did you?
I believe Logan was up there real tight looking to see maybe they have a tight to the Falcons coming out.
Running on that first down. Logan came up.
He did come up and he really loved the hit, Jack.
You'll see him up there probably all afternoon on that first down situation.
Second down and in Lovin'.
Haskell stand back and Bubba Bean in the backfield.
Stand back over the right side.
Look at Bob Cooke and the McCleary on line.
Thinking about first and third, he's got a hit for 6 with a good first.
And Bill Bergen, the linebacker, got down.
He probably just banned those. R.C. Seelman and Bill McKinley was coming in for Warren Bryan on the right side.
They got off the ball very well.
Bill Bergen won the outstanding middle linebackers in the game coming from Cincinnati in a big trade a few years back.
He's been the second leading tackler on this Philadelphia Eagles team all year long.
A great leader and a fine man to have backer in the middle.
Hurton-Free and the tailback gets the ball.
Stand back a first down and a move to the 49. Over the right side again and tackled by Ray Phillips, the outside linebacker.
Any particular reason why they're winning right?
Well, most teams coming out are right handed.
They're very sheltered in the feet.
They're seeing the runs too often back to their left side.
And we have a good tight end in Jim Mitchell with the Atlanta Falcons who does a tremendous job and blocking down,
and then on that defensive end and then towards the guard coming and kicking out on a linebacker.
You'll see that most teams we prefer to run to the right side more so than what they do left.
On their own 40 yard line, first down, a fake to stand back, first down pass, hit in the backfield and tacked for a loss.
It's Steve Barkowski. He was back 39 times this year.
The pressure was big that time and the Eagles got in there with Dennis Harrison breaking it down for the most part.
And then the tackle in the backfield at the 30 yard line and a loss of 10 seconds.
Well, there was good pressure by the Eagles that time.
And you'll see that Barkowski is a different type quarterback than what Yawarski is.
He will stand back there and take his punishment.
He's really not that quick of a foot. He will run occasionally.
Basically, you're always going to know where to find him and that's seven yards deep back in that backfield.
Harrison made the tackle. Here's the draw play.
Bubba Bean tackled at the 30. No game. It'll be third down and 20.
And it was a good arm tackle that time.
Made by Harrison again along with Reggie Wilkes, the rookie linebacker out of Georgia Tech.
He's probably playing in front of a lot of the home folks down here.
Third down and 19 we'll call it.
As the golf plays, it'll work.
What's the best call, Jack? Second down, Alex 3rd.
You need to draw a screen on site between them. They're getting good pressure.
I would think that he would probably go to his screen or draw quite often during his foul game.
That's a pressure going to put on him pretty well.
Stand back. Ronnie Wright trying to third in the corner.
Gained only five yards and it's ticking time for Atlanta.
As stand back was tackled at his home 35-yard line with Carl Harrison again in the action.
And John James will do the punting.
Well, they did a pretty good job.
And then the Eagles, particularly on that first down pass way in the bank, came up with a big defensive play.
James is strong-futter for the Southland.
He's been a real treat to have, but he can really put the foot into it.
He easily hangs it up there pretty well, so it's very seldom too much of a run back.
Here's John Carter on a dandy punt, taking it on the 23-yard line.
Back to the 30. Back to 34. Pummel. Eagles have it.
Eagles got it back after Shira pummeled the ball.
The ball bounced laterally across the field.
A 42-yard punt by John James.
And they now have a little event going on.
Well, that's a hang time on that ball.
The Alphons were able to get down underneath it.
Shira took a chance on the not-so-maric catch he gets.
He's bringing it up the field.
Look right, right there at the front, but the Eagles were able to capitalize and get the ball back.
Leah Jim, Louie Jim, won a punt on the ball and got it back.
So we have 11-12 remaining in the first quarter. No score. Let's take time out.
During the regular season, the Philadelphia Eagles, who came on real strong the second half of the season,
wound up with a regular campaign record of nine wins and seven losses.
And this is the first time in many, many years that the Eagles have been in postseason competition.
I think you have to go back to 1960 when they last won the NFL championship
and were led by Norm Van Brocklin to the title that year.
The other team in today's first game, Atlanta, also finished with an identical record of nine and seven.
And this is a rather interesting ball game because Atlanta's ex-coach, who was fired last year,
Marion Campbell, immediately was picked up by Philadelphia coach Dick Vermeel
and named as his top defensive coach.
And since Marion Campbell was fired at Atlanta and took over at Philadelphia,
there has been a remarkable change in the Philadelphia defensive alignment and a vast improvement.
And most of the credit by the players and the other coaches has gone to Marion Campbell.
First down, the Eagles, it's an old 34-yard line with Hogan and Montgomery in the high formation.
And he is quarterback.
Tight end on the right side, two tight end formations.
Here is the toss to the tailback on coming.
Trying to get on tight.
Gets away for one tackle.
And the backhills all off.
And the ball is in the middle of the line.
Rollin' Morris up on the far.
They were shooting two in first.
The whole team was up there very tight on that first down situation.
Tom Michael was left out there on the left side of the field.
And they really were not able to capitalize on the situation.
We have a flag on the play, however.
We'll wait and see what the referee has to say.
Holding the play, John.
Holding penalty against the Philadelphia team.
It was a decline because of the logs on the play.
A good play, tackled by Rollin' Lawrence, a steady performer for the Atlanta foul.
Oh, there was a big loss.
That's 12 yards on the play.
And the Eagles are back at their 22.
Yawarski with a split back now.
Two tight ends.
Listen, Carmichael, the wide receiver.
Yawarski crawls outside.
Carmichael made a two-top grab and a short gain on the play.
Out to the 28-yard line.
Now Carmichael curled in front of Rollin' Lawrence.
That was a quick out, Jack.
And Yawarski, of course, coming up, elected to go for the quick out pass, the short gain,
rather than try to get everything back on the first-pound situation.
I think it's a smart call in some instances.
Now it's early in the ball game.
He's just going to try to probe a little bit here and see what the Lattas are going to do for us.
They're down in 17.
The Eagles from their own 27.
They gain five on the last play.
Atlanta chose to blitz.
They are blitzing.
Yawarski back to throw.
They take this back, touch in the backfield.
They're a little bit...
Little linebacker, Robert Pennywall putting up these thoughts.
Don't want this to just pick up.
Full back or half back to the back and to pick it up.
You can't leave the quarterback unprotected.
He's got a good weight.
The Eagles have been suspect on picking up listers, and also their fast reception all year.
They've been back 41 times.
So that you know that the...
The mountain has been successful in the last two.
We're going to see a whole lot more of that type of blitz.
Billy Reichman back to receive the punt from Michelle at the line drive.
He takes it on a 48 at Philadelphia.
He has tackled at the 48 and really thrown back.
I mean, he was thrown back.
Downfield to make the Eagles tackle with Ray Phillips, the linebacker.
A 34-yard punt, no return.
And very good coverage by Atlanta or by Philadelphia on a line drive kick.
With the line drive kick, and Phillips did get down very, very quickly.
And they got down and made the tackle, so it's first down for the Valks.
Well, with 9.48 remaining in the first quarter, there's the timeout on the field with the score.
Philadelphia nothing, Atlanta nothing.
Jack, I think you saw the type of defensive game.
We're going to be watching all season, all afternoon long from the Atlanta Valks.
That blitz has been a tremendous asset for them.
They've shown it all year long.
They've got most of the people with it.
Their defense is number four in the NFC overall.
They're number two in the NFC against the Vats.
So not too many people have been successful running against them or throwing against them.
That's their strong point with the Atlanta Falcons as a defensive football team.
But Casper not doing what I would think should be where he should be doing a lot better job
than what he has in the previous ball game.
He seems to have the ball one.
Now, John, this is when the players settle down and do their thing.
Well, they're nervous when they come on the field.
The best thing to do is get wrapped real quick and get those butterflies out of your system.
I think we'll find if we can possibly open the game up and possibly not.
We just have to wait and see.
Johnny Gnades and Jack Buck with you from Atlanta.
Despite a morning-long rain here in La Georgia City,
the big crowd has showed up and very few no-shows here this afternoon.
Steve Barkowski has Bubba Bean and has to stand back in his backfield.
They will not pack the running wallop the other club does.
Barkowski throws it outside.
It's caught under the 45-yard line of Philadelphia.
Ed Herman Edwards came up and he made the hit as the catch was made.
But Billy Rickman, a little guy who doesn't mind taking his licks, 5'11", 172 from Louisiana Tech.
Rickman, Billy Rickman made the catch from Barkowski for a game of cloud.
So it was a fine catch by Rickman.
The ball was not that well thrown by Barkowski.
He was real high with it.
Rickman went up and picked it up.
And Herman Edwards of course made the touch.
After the first down fast, it's second and five.
Stand back, up the back, up the middle, gets the first foul.
Or Atlanta inside the 40-yard line of Philadelphia.
He's down to the 37-yard line.
Atlanta does not have the big running back.
Bubba Bean is 195.
Stand back is listed at 210.
But if he is 210, he is just barely.
They don't have the big, bruising talking back.
But they have the quick-quicknesses, Jack.
And that's the sometimes makeup for the difference of the big of the sides
with the quickness moving in and out of that line
and being able to make the adjustment as he watches the offensive people do their job.
On first down, Bubba Bean goes right.
Following stand back, who makes the block,
Bean gets inside the 35-yard line down near the 33-yard line.
For a substantial game, Ray Phillips and Reggie Wilkes, the linebackers to the Eagles,
were there to make the hit.
In the first quarter, 820 remaining in the period.
No score.
Atlanta has the ball for the second time, and they gained quite a bit on the exchange of punts
right here at the outset of the game.
They now have it at the Eagles, 32.
Second down and five.
Clip back.
Up very close to the line of scrimmage are stand back and Bubba Bean.
Barkowski gives the ball to stand back running right.
Can't cut back, and he is tackled for no gain on the play.
Just as he made his cut, the Eagles pursuit was there led by Frank Lemaster,
the middle linebacker in Bill Berge.
Now we're down to 745 in the quarter.
Third down and six.
Rickman is wide.
Along with Francis, Barkowski's back to throw.
Stays in the pocket.
It goes.
Complete.
It went off the hands of his tight end Jim Mitchell.
He had a chance to catch the ball right at the first down marker.
There was good coverage there by Bill Berge, the linebacker.
And now let's see with Atlanta.
It's punting time for the second time today for John James.
He'll try to put this one in the call from corner.
He's been very good at that.
He has a very good average year-round.
He's about a 39-yard average.
He gets the ball up very, very high.
He's got this one for the sideline.
James saw the ball bounce inside the pie, bounce straight up,
and then it was down by the Falcons,
and now we'll check the flag with the referee Fred Silver.
Ineligible man downfield for Atlanta.
Well, they got a good break.
The Eagles did that by having a man downfield too soon.
They will have to kick the ball over and have another chance at a run back,
which I think is a fine break for the Eagles.
So far they've had both of them.
One of the coverage is a bumble and gets on this penalty right here.
One of the people listening realized that with the preseason games,
including the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio,
this is the 22nd football game of the year for the Eagles.
That's a beautiful game, isn't it?
That's an awful lot of games, Jack,
especially when you play on that artificial turf stuff in Philadelphia.
That stuff is really, really tough on you.
It's hard falling on as you get the different type of injuries,
a lot of sprains, the toes and the ankles.
It's a long, long season.
I'm sure they're looking, they're happy to be here, however.
You're not a turf man, huh?
No, I'm not.
John James funding will kick it away from about midfield.
John Shira is back waiting for it.
It's kicked high by James down near the goal line,
and this time it bounces on the goal line,
goes into the end zone, and it'll be a touchback.
So Philadelphia will get the ball for the second time after the James punt.
We have 6.58 left in the first quarter.
There is no score.
Not much to do from between these two teams.
John, would you expect the winner to go very far in the ensuing playoff game?
Jack, I don't, not really.
I think from the winner from here will go, of course, to the next week,
and I don't think they'll go any further than that.
They're both good bowling football teams,
but they're not of the caliber you want them to have.
With a score at Atlanta nothing, the Eagles nothing.
Let's take time out.
As we said earlier, this is the first time that the Eagles have been in postseason play
since they won the championship back in 1960 with Norm Van Brockland at the controls,
and he is at today's game, incidentally, a guest of the Atlanta Falcons, the team he coached.
He also had coached earlier the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Atlanta Falcons are in their first playoff ever,
and they gained the home field advantage because they had the better percentage against common opponents.
They had a 5-2 record while the Eagles were 5-3.
The teams had five common foes, St. Louis, the New York Giants, Atlanta, Washington, Los Angeles, New Orleans.
During the regular season, it's interesting to note,
and the reason a lot of people think this might be a low-scoring ballgame,
Philadelphia allowed only 250 points.
That was second only to the great performance turned in by the LA Rams, 245, and the Dallas Cowboys, 208,
and then Philadelphia was next, and Atlanta was superb, giving up less than 290 points.
From their own 20-yard line, the Eagles go on first down,
split back, Hogan and Montgomery on first down, Montgomery over the right tackle position,
moves out across to 25, out to the 28-yard line, gained eight or nine yards on the play.
Montgomery did. They're not going to stop him over there.
Now they're not. They're a fine football team. That time, Woody Priebos and the offensive tackle, Jerry Sizemore,
did a fine job on moving the defensive Atlanta Falcons out of the way.
Atlanta was up again, rolling Lawrence off very, very close to the line.
Grimmage just faked the blitz. That time they did not blitz, but the offensive line did an excellent job moving them out.
Montgomery picked up 8-1 half, it's second down and short for the Eagles.
From their own 29-yard line, a long confide Jaworski, the gives it to the up man, Hogan,
tackled immediately. Let's see where his forward progress guide him to.
It appears to be about a foot short of a first down.
It'll be third down on the foot with Pennywell, the middle linebacker, jamming things up for Atlanta.
It's obvious, Johnny, that both teams feel they're going to win with what they have.
They've not done anything on court, no end arounds, just crazy plays. They're just going to do what they have.
Well, it's early in the ball game yet, Jack. Those types of things have to be set up one way or the other.
And both teams, I would feel, as we have seen so far, are going to stay on the ground majority of the afternoon.
Third down and a foot for the Eagles from their own 29, and a first down for Hogan.
Over the left side, he gained four yards diving through the hole created by Stan Walters, Wade Key in the center,
Guy Morris, and Tom Pridemore, the safety man, was the tackler for the Falcons.
That's the first first down for the Philadelphia Eagles this afternoon.
Hogan and Montgomery, two good running backs in that offensive backfield for the Eagles.
They complement one another. Hogan, a little bit better blocker than what Montgomery is,
and I think Montgomery lot better runner than what Hogan is, although they do an adequate job all the time that they're in there.
From their own 34, Jaworski on first down with a two-tight end.
Look, pops it outside, and it is caught by the tight end outside the 40-yard line as Richard Osborne hauled it in.
And we mentioned before the game started that the tight end against the Atlanta Falcons defense can do some business against the Bulls.
They can, and it's a good weapon being used by Jaworski, or Coach Dick Vermeer, who's calling the plays.
The quick tight pass is not having Jaworski stand back there too long and have to wait for that blitz.
The Atlanta Falcons have a good rushing defensive line, too, even when they don't blitz.
So Jaworski must get the ball up quickly.
They stay with a two-tight end, so Larson and Richard Osborne. Osborne gained a second and two for the Eagles.
And the toss is to Montgomery.
Wentz keeps, flips, and is covered in the backfield.
Ellis beat one out from under him on this wet turf, and it's going to be third and long as a result.
I was surprised to start with, Johnny, that Philadelphia went as deep with the play on short-guardage as they did.
Well, they're moving the football now.
Their offensive line is doing a job of blowing out the defensive team.
You have to get that momentum going.
When these fellows are in the trenches, that's where the game's played, Jack.
That's where it's all done, all the work is done.
The quarterbacks and the halfbacks and the receivers worth getting all the credit, but these fellows do the job in the trenches.
They're down and five from their own 39.
Will Atlanta blitz? They show a big front.
And with a snap of the ball, they're blitzing, and Jaworski pops it over the middle, and it's popped for a first down by Charlie Smith.
Down into Atlanta territory at the 46-yard line, and Jaworski unloaded that one in a hurry.
Very good pass protection by the offensive line.
Jaworski went back set.
Charlie Smith came in about a 15-yard curl.
Rolland Lark was sort of hanging to the outside that time, waiting for the offensive end to come around the corner and did not come in on Smith, and of course he picked up the first down.
Another first down for the Eagles, the second of the game.
They're building up now to a 45-yard line. The Eagles going from our left to our right.
Open the up back, Montgomery the tailback, and on first down, Jaworski with Carmichael and Smith wide gives to the tailback Montgomery left side.
Hit it to the line and turn it seven back, no score.
No gain at all on that play.
He ran into Mike Lewis and Jeff Murrow, playing the right side of the front four for Atlanta.
No game, second and 10.
315 left in the first quarter and no score.
Montgomery has run the ball four times and he's minus seven yards.
Well that's a good defensive line by the Atlanta Falcons, also the linebackers.
The blitz is not only effective against the pass, but he's more so against that run because the offensive men are not able to get out and get the hold of those linebacks before they have to get it out to play.
Second down and 10 for the Eagles. Carmichael left, Smith right.
Two tight ends, Jaworski back to throw, four man right, passes to the outside and through the hands for Montgomery and complete.
Montgomery was being covered by the linebacker Pennywell.
Would have only been a short gain on the throw, but Montgomery had to go right through the game.
The ball was thrown well by Jaworski, was a lack of concentration of course on the receiver out there.
We probably would have picked up five or six yards, Jack, which would give you a little different call now in a third and 10 situation.
Second you get third and six and it's your fast front side situation and it puts a little more pressure on the defense to try to come up with the right call.
Charlie Smith is to the right, Carmichael. All six, eight of them is flipped to the left.
And on third and 10, Atlanta shows the blitz again.
Jaworski with a long count, the blitz is on.
He picked up well, the pass is thrown, he could probably Smith at the five and he can't hang on.
Incomplete inside the five yard line.
He was covered by Tom Prydmore, but not covered too well.
Well, he had a step on Prydmore, the ball was thrown rather poorly, I would say, by Jaworski.
He was on his outside shoulder, the ball should have been a little longer and inside on his inside shoulder for him to be able to make the catch.
So Philadelphia went for the big one and didn't get it.
Mike Michelle will kick it away from about his own 45.
And it is Rickman back waiting for it inside his 15 yard line. Billy Rickman of Atlanta.
Atlanta's blocked five points this season, not a very big run.
Line drive kick again by Michelle away from Rickman and he takes it on the 12 yard line and he tackles colored at the 13 or 14.
Now the ball comes loose, the ball comes loose and it belongs to Philadelphia.
Rickman fumbles the ball and Philadelphia has it at the 13 or 14 yard line of Atlanta.
It was Dennis Frank downfield for the Eagles and Rickman has the ball taken loose.
Diving in to get it was Louis Diamona, I believe.
I believe, Jack, that's the second fumble that he's recovered.
He recovered the first one by the Eagles on a punt return and of course came up with this big recovery down here on the Atlanta Falcon 13 yard line.
So the first and then for Goworski, that's going to be a good chance to try to hit that touchdown right away with a throw.
2.25 left in the scoreless first quarter.
And now a timeout is called by Atlanta.
Atlanta is called timeout.
Don't know the particular reason for this except that they didn't want to get down here without having their defense together after recovering or fumbling that punt.
Rickman fumbled it, Diamona recovered it.
There's a pause in the action and let us take timeout.
We mentioned earlier that Atlanta had allowed 290 points.
Now that may seem a little high, but keep in mind that in their final game last week, a game that really didn't mean too much to them because they had already clinched a playoff spot
with the Redskins having lost a day earlier, Atlanta surrendered 42 points to the St. Louis Cardinals for that balloon to figure up.
As a matter of fact, one of the remarkable things about a lot of the teams that are in the playoff because of their good defense, particularly the second half of the season,
is that the teams that got in, not all of them, but some of them, particularly the Wild Cards, Atlanta allowed more points than it scored.
Atlanta scored 240, allowed 290, yet they're in the playoff.
The Philadelphia Eagles were pretty close to 500 marks.
They allowed 250 and scored only 20 more, 270.
Houston scored 298 during the regular season and allowed 283.
So you can see a lot of the teams that made it as Wild Cards had a very low margin as far as points allowed and points scored.
The two teams that had the best points against average were Denver and Pittsburgh, both under 200.
Let's pause briefly for station identification. This is the American Forces Radio and Television Service.
John, did Richmond do the right thing by handling that point?
I think he did all right, Jack. It was down in pretty good shape. He picked it up, he looted one guy, he did the wrong thing and not holding onto the handle.
First down for the Eagles is the Atlanta 13. Jaworski, he fakes the Montgomery's back to throw into the end zone and throws it up!
And send it for the tight end, Bill Larson. And a fine defensive play was made by Tom Seidmore of the three stations.
It was a good play by Seidmore, but Jaworski should have thrown the ball just a little earlier because the tight end on one was open right about two steps before Seidmore got there.
Of course, he just wasn't quick enough with the football and as we thought he may go with Bill Larson rather as the receiver, not Osborne.
And they are using the two tight ends. That presents a problem for the defense center.
It evens up their running ability to both sides. You never have a weak side when you have two tight ends in the ballgame.
Second down and 10 from the 13 yard line now. Jaworski threw on first down. On second down, the Gibbons to Montgomery running right, cutting attack.
Harkle really checked on that field. A loss of about a yard. And Paul Maena, who was in there defensively, the second-year man from San Jose State, almost took his head off.
You're welcome to Atlanta, you feel for me. He really made a good tackle. Montgomery really came across. He really was not hit as hard as it looked.
His feet really went out from underneath him, Jack. That field right there, one particular spot, there's a little tap and a little clopping.
It's third down and 10 from the 13 yard line. Carroll Carmichael's to the right. Charlie Smith is flanked to the left. On third down from the Atlanta 13, the Falcons show the blitz.
The blitz is on and the pass is caught by Carmichael touchdown. They beat the blitz and score.
It was an excellent read by Jaworski because the strong safety was coming up right through the middle, leaving that middle open.
The outside back did not take the inside away from Carmichael. When you're 6'8", you can even throw the ball a little higher.
He broke a tackle at about the 5 and romped in.
He did, and the strong safety came on the blitz, opening up that whole inside secondary, Jack. I kind of questioned that call by the Atlanta Falcons.
Yeah, even before the ball was snapped, I was about to say, it's a dangerous position in which the blitz will approach you.
Most definitely, you'd rather blitz when the blitz is on the outside. That's on its free play, 13 yards, 56 seconds.
And now, Carmichael tries to make it 7-0 with Tyrell holding. The kick is now good! The kick is now good!
And the Philadelphia Eagles were concerned about their play-sticking game, as we told you, before the ball was kicked off this afternoon.
And now you see why they're concerned. When you can't make that extra point, it's very, very difficult to make field goals for the 10, 15, 20, 25-yard line outside.
Fourth and one, it's the fourth one that he's missed so far this season.
We saw Michelle practicing before the game. He was kicking them through from 42, 45 yards out, kick one from 50 yards out in practice.
I'll be darned if he didn't miss the extra point.
There's a little difference, Jack, and that's called pressure.
Visual pressure.
That's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about.
Well, that may be, but I don't think you knew about it when you were playing.
I had to stand back in that pocket one second.
The following announcement is brought to you by the National Football League.
The official Super Bowl game program will again be a collector's item, and you can be one of the collectors.
The program will feature scouting reports from the two competing teams, photos and art portfolio of Super Bowl record holders,
and it will feature on the Lombardi Trophy and the 12-pass Super Bowl rings.
You can get a souvenir copy of the book by sending $3 to Super Bowl XIII Winona, Minnesota, 55987.
We'll repeat the address. Here's the kick coming to Dennis Pearson.
He's across the 20, 25, 30-yard line, and Atlanta has good position after the 21-yard return by Dennis Pearson,
who averaged more than 26 yards per kick return during the year.
Franklin was the Philadelphia Eagles tackler.
Let me give you the address again to get that Super Bowl game program.
You send $3 to Super Bowl XIII Winona, Minnesota, 55987.
That covers the purchase of the book, postage and handling, allows six weeks for delivery,
and don't forget you can listen to the Super Bowl here on CBS Radio on January 21st.
It is raining again. To give us the half-gold standback, he cuts it back, moves across the 35-yard line,
and moves out to the 38. He gained almost eight yards on the play.
Standback started right and made a good cut.
He made an excellent cut because the Philadelphia Eagles are really moving in the direction of the play.
You follow into the guards, and if Atlanta has been doing anything this afternoon,
they've been typing themselves as to running to their right the majority of the time,
and you're going to get a lot of cutbacks whenever you get the pursuits going that quickly for the plays of the play.
Second down and three. Stand back again.
Bubba Bean couldn't get his block, and stand back is tackled near the 40, and appears to be,
well, looks like he's got a first down, maybe by just an inch or so.
What is your eyesight, Dave?
My eyesight is 20-20, but I can't see the field.
Yeah, we're pretty far away and on a low level, but they're going to measure,
and I would guess that he just barely made a first down on the second down carry.
We have only 36 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
We're leading six to nothing, and it is shy by an inch.
Shy by an inch of a first down.
You won't tell if you're so late.
No, not unless I know to be right.
It's a good situation, Jack.
You've got the second down or third down in an inch, I guess it is.
You can, if you wanted to take the gamble, come up with a play-action-type pass and then go for the sixth,
and then on fourth down, come back and go for that first down, that is if you were the gambling-type coach.
Eagles are playing Harrison, Johnson, and Harrison up front, and now they go into a six-man front,
figuring that Atlanta is going to stay on the ground.
They do with Bubba Beatty, hurdles for a first down, moves across the 40-yard line, then he was driven back.
They're driven back by Bill Bergey, by Eric Johnson, the safety van.
And another tackler in on the play was Reggie Wilkes, the linebacker.
First down, Atlanta.
At their own 41-yard line, and that play is going to mark the end of the first quarter.
Atlanta is huddling up, but the clock is running down with five seconds remaining, raining here in Atlanta,
and that field won't take much rain.
It's the grass field, and these players are going to have to contend with some unusual playing conditions.
That's the end of the first quarter with a score. Philadelphia 6, Atlanta nothing.
Let's review the standings as to how the team finished in the National Football Conference this year.
Dallas was the Eastern Division champion. They had the, well, along with Los Angeles, the best records in the NFC.
Dallas the Eastern champion at 12-4, Philadelphia at 9-7.
Washington, after going 6-0, lost eight of their next ten, didn't make the playoffs, and finished a disappointing 8-8.
And St. Louis and the New York Giants at 6-10.
For those of you primarily on the American Horses Radio who do not have access, ready access to these scores of yesterday and last night,
in the Panjarin Bowl, North Carolina State defeated Pittsburgh 30-7.
In the Liberty Bowl, Missouri was the winner over LSU 20-15.
And in the Sun Bowl, a surprising result came on you, Johnny Unitas, from Baltimore, Maryland, Texas 42, and Maryland nothing.
Where do I get a hold of Jerry Claiborne, I might just strangle him.
42 to nothing, that's surprising to me.
That's almost my age.
And that's the second quarter here in Atlanta. Johnny Unitas and Jack Buck with you.
The Eagles scored with 1-25 remaining in the period on a 13-yard touchdown pass.
From Jaworski to Harold Carmichael, they beat the Blitz of Atlanta.
And Carmichael romped into the end zone. What did the stats look like in the first 15 minutes?
Not very, very good, Jack. The Philadelphia sports, Atlanta, both even with three firsts down to feet.
The Yankees are 50 for Atlanta and 0 for Philadelphia. That's a turnaround because offensively Atlanta ended up the season 12th.
And the offensive ranks were the NFC Philadelphia team was fifth.
There's a 41-yard pass to Philadelphia 5 for Atlanta. Total yard 41 to Philadelphia 55, Atlanta.
From their own 41-yard line, Barkowski back to throwing first down.
And he's got it to the sideline. And it is caught by the wide receiver, Wallace Francis, who caught 45 during the regular season.
And he is very close to a first down. They might even have to measure.
The sideline markers are always on the other side of the field, aren't they?
They are, and it's difficult to see. Bobby Howard that time was really playing off Francis.
He's concerned about his feet, plus his footing down there.
And field conditions as we're having them right now is kind of slippery.
It certainly has the advantage, especially if you're throwing a football,
because the offensive receivers know where they're going and the defense has to play off just a little more than what they would really like to do.
Philadelphia had their own safety blitz on that time.
As they came up, the Atlanta came up a foot short of a first down, they were shooting Randy Logan, but he couldn't get to Barkowski.
He took the deep drop before Bobby Howard, who as I mentioned was playing off Francis, which really enabled Howard, or rather, Barkowski to get the football to him.
The ball is to the 49-yard line of the Philadelphia Eagles, second down and one for Atlanta.
Johnny, how do you rate Barkowski?
Well, I saw him in the early part of the season, Jack, and he was struggling for about the first four ballgames.
And he got himself banged up a little bit, but he's come off the entry. I think he's progressing quite well.
Talking to Coach Cleveland Bennett, he's satisfied with his progress so far.
Here on second and short, he's back to throw and he airs it out far downfield, and it is intercepted by Philadelphia.
And it is going to be run out of the end zone, back out to the 5, to the 10, to the 15.
And out of bounds goes Herman Edwards, the cornerback, who made a brilliant one-handed interception on the 2, went into the end zone.
He could have downed it back there for a touchback. He acted confused. He didn't know whether he could down it or not, and he ran it back out to the 19.
He wasn't sure. He could have just sat right in the end zone. No one could have touched him. He would have brought the ball out to the 20.
That ball was thrown just as far as Barkowski could. It's as good as a punt, although you don't like to see the interception at this point, because we're back out to the 18-yard line.
That was second and short, John, second and a foot.
Right, and really you don't like to see him throw the football that way. It was an easy interception really for Philadelphia Eagles.
Well, there's the timeout. 14-41 remaining in the half. The Eagles have it first, contending their own 19 with the score of the Eagles 6 and Atlanta nothing. Let's take timeout.
Continuing our look at the final standings in the National Football Conference during the regular season minutes.
The team in NFL history, they won 8, lost 7, and tied 1. That tie with Green Bay, the team they beat out for the divisional title.
Actually, they finished in a tie. Minnesota and Green Bay were both 8-7 and 1, but Minnesota had won an earlier game, and the second contest between the two finished in a tie, so Minnesota in head-to-head competition got the edge.
Detroit was next in line, 7 and 9, but the Lions improved a lot during the last four or five games of the regular season, and they may be a team to be reckoned with next year. A lot of young talent on that team.
Chicago, which had a dismal season, finished 7 and 9. They were figured to do a lot better. And Tampa Bay, John McKay's crew finished 5 and 11.
In the West, no contest. Los Angeles won it easily, 12 and 4.
And they're in the backfield. And they give it to Montgomery, running right, hit in the air, and driven back. On the play, the ball was intercepted by Herman Edwards, and by the way, he had seven interceptions during the regular season.
And he's running a night as, didn't like the call, and it's not a second guess, it's not just because it didn't work that you don't like it, John.
No, I think the reason I don't like it, Jack, is it was second on about a foot or a yard to go. If you're going to go for the long pass in that kind of a situation, you really have to have something to try to pull people.
You have to play action type fast, then go off the play action for the long pass. I can understand that, but just a straight drop back and then say, I want to throw it up there, whoever gets it can get it. I think it was a poor call.
No game on the last play by Montgomery. He's been signing his second down and 10 Eagles. And you'll see back to throw a quick out, and it is caught by Charlie Smith out to the 26 yard line, making it third down and about three in front of the Eagles.
And they're getting in the half, and the clock stopped. Rollin Lawrence was the tackler. Lawrence has intercepted six this year.
On the other corner, Rick Pius has picked off a couple, and Atlanta for the year has had only 12 interceptions. That's not very many in the 16 game schedule.
Not really good with that type of defense they have. You notice what type of passes that Jaworski is throwing, is the quick out, the quick passes that he can get off, rather than sitting back and have pocket because of the defensive play by the Falcons.
And they're on 26, third and three, Philadelphia. And Jaworski gives to Hogan. Tackle Dogan on the play, driven back by the swarming Atlanta defense, and the Eagles will have to punt on third and three. They try to run it to the short side.
They continue to use the two-tied end, so it's not weak side, strong side.
The defense of the man was helped out by Greg Grazina, a very active linebacker. One of the better linebackers in the game today. He's very, very active. He's good pass drop, getting back into the secondary. He's also very, very tough on the run, as we just noted.
Atlanta's blocked by punt. Michelle will kick it away. He gets it away, and it's not a very good kick. It is taken on the 46-yard line by Billy Rickman, and Atlanta really wasn't burned too much by the interception earlier in the end zone.
That was a 29-yard punt and no return. 13.09 remaining in the first half. There's a timeout on the field with the score, the Eagles 6 and Atlanta nothing.
The big play so far, of course, has been the blitz by the Atlanta Falcons, where they sent to safety Carmichael being able to come in front of the defender and picked up the quick throw by Jaworski, which put them ahead 6 to nothing.
Of course, then we were concerned about the Eagles kicking ball game, and you see why when you miss that extra point.
It's been a predominantly ground control, conservative-type football game so far. I think that possibly Philadelphia's ahead now. They may even try to go on the ground a little more often than what they would do usually.
The Atlanta Falcons with Borkowski has the ability to throw the football, but they're going to have to get some kind of semblance of attack against strong Philadelphia defensive football teams.
Philadelphia gets very, very difficult whenever they have the lead and they can play their type of football, which is hard-nosed type of football, they want to get in and get the thing done.
Surprising figure, Wilbert Montgomery has carried six times for minus seven yards against the Atlanta defense, yet the Eagles are leading 6 to nothing here early in the second quarter. Atlanta has the ball first down at their own 46-yard line.
They send Wallace Francis and Alfred Jackson both to the left side. The tight end Jim Mitchell is on the right side. And Borkowski hands off to Bubba Beane, couldn't get started, gained the yard over the right side.
Berge, Wilkes, and others drive him back. Some extra-curricular activity breaks out involving Phil McKinley and a couple of the Eagles. No game by Bubba Beane, he didn't get all the ball very well.
No he didn't. And again, we mentioned the Falcons running again, stripping to the right side. They've been doing that all afternoon and the Philadelphia Eagles were right foot past the stop, but they have not picked up that much yard.
Their offensive football team is doing a fair job against the Eagles on the right-hand side of this line and moving them off. That time, to Noville, however.
Now it's a four-man front with Ken Clark checking in for the Eagles, second down and 9-4 Atlanta from their own 47-yard line. Borkowski back to throw, has time from the pocket to the right sideline, incomplete.
It was covered there by Bobby Howard against Billy Rickman, some of the fans thought there was some early contact made, but no flag was thrown. And it's third down and 9.
Jim Mitchell is the tight end of Atlanta. He can be a force in the game. He's caught 32 passes this year. It takes time for a young quarterback to make maximum use of that tight end.
Well, for captain, he's been around long enough to be able to do that. I don't think there are many teams in the national football league that really throw the ball as often to their tight end as they should because a good tight end certainly makes up at least 50% of your passing attack.
On third and 9, Borkowski rolls left, has time, he's rushed, he's hit, he's back in the backfield, back at the 41-yard line and a flag goes down on the field. Carl Hairston was in there to get Borkowski who had plenty of time to just get in front of anybody.
He did, he had no pressure whatsoever. He rolled out to his left. But what he does when that happens, when you start rolling right or left, you really limit yourself to one side of the field.
And 9 out of 10 times if you're rolling right or left, your defense is going to rotate towards the side of field that you're running on. Really complicating things because then you do not have as much room as you would really like to throw the football into.
Red Silver, the referee, is going to mark off some yardage against Philadelphia. Way down to the 37-yard line. Let's listen. Defense, number 68. Headslap, first down.
Headslap, personal foul against the Philadelphia Eagles. Well, it's a big break now for the Atlanta Packers who have not been able to move the football this past series.
We're happy getting their knockdown with one interplation. Big break for them now. It seems like the momentum may have turned a little bit here at that.
The 38-yard line on the Eagles. And on first down, Jackson and Richmond are both to the left side. Barchowski, a first down pass. Straight back, pops it off to Bubba Beamer running back into the 45.
He is down to the 38-yard line of Philadelphia and he picks up four or five yards on the play.
And another flag is down back at the line of Stinney. Holding against that ladder. Well, he doesn't get a better one.
Yeah, you don't like to see that, especially when you have a 15-yard penalty certainly penalizes. It's something, or a 10-yard penalty rather, certainly penalizes.
Sometimes it's hard to get back. They only had a three-man rush that time on Barchowski and you should be able to hold those people out without holding them.
They've had an awful lot of penalties this year, the Falcons have. Number 73, holding.
McKinley, the offensive tackle on the right side, was holding. I guess that goes along with being one of the youngest teams in the National Football League, the number of penalties.
It does. There are a lot of mistakes that are made. A lot of times you miscount and then, of course, the holding side penalties.
You don't want to get your quarterback hurt so the last minute you grab a jersey and you're in. But the officials are down and they normally control it pretty well.
Down and 20, Barchowski hits his wide receiver at the 46-yard line and with the ball goes Waller-Francis for a first down.
Inside the 30, down to the 25-yard line of Philadelphia before John Sanders got it.
Grant has been really shaken wide open.
Francis has shot the same type pass he shot earlier, a little turn in about 15 yards downfield.
Bill Berge that time almost got a hand on the football. Bobby Hart's playing off of Waller-Francis because of his great speed. He doesn't want to let it get behind him.
So they overcame the holding penalty. Atlanta did and it's the first down of the Eagles 25-yard line as the Falcons go from our left to our right.
On first down, they give us this stand back, the tail back. He drives down near the 22-yard line and picks up three straight ahead.
You notice Bubba Bean and he's had a bad neck. He missed the last regular season game. He's just not clearing out with his blocks.
No, I think he's being a little protective of that neck problem that he's had, Jack.
Once he gets, maybe the game gets a little tighter and they can score down here, he might just forget about it altogether and start running with reckless abandon.
You just can't be careful when you're an offensive back back there. Be careful about doing this. You have to run with reckless abandon. That's the sign of a great back.
The Eagles 22-yard line, second down and seven. Markowski to Bubba Bean, picks his way over the middle. Bumbles the ball! Recovered by Philadelphia!
Bubba Bean has gotten down near the 15-yard line, the ball popped loose and coming away with it was number 26, John Sanders for the Eagles in Boosley, the band.
Well, he was hit fairly well and the ball knocked out of his arms. One thing you have to do if you're back coming through that line, when you're coming through the middle of the line, you're going to have to remember to keep both hands on the football.
When you're in traffic like that, you never know where you're going to get hit from. A guy coming up on the side, behind, is liable to put a hand in there. Reggie Wilkes, who was a fine linebacker, number three draft choice by the Philadelphia Eagles, came in and knocked the ball loose. Of course, a big turnover now for Philadelphia.
Forty-three left and a half with a score of Philadelphia six to nothing over Atlanta. Let's take time out.
While San Francisco finished with the worst record in the National Football League at two and fourteen, and the worst in the NFC as well, of course, the American Football Conference top teams in the Eastern Division, New England and Miami, finished in a deadlock at eleven and five, but New England had beaten Miami in head-to-head competition so they got the nod.
The New York Jets, who were an improved ball club during the year with a lot of offensive fireworks, but not much on defense, finished a surprising eight and eight. And then Buffalo and Baltimore in the AFC East Cellar at five and eleven.
Now the last time Atlanta got down deep into Philadelphia territory, they had a fast interceptor in the end zone. Now they have fumbled on the Philadelphia 15-yard line and the Eagles go back the other way. And all of us at CBS would like to congratulate Mr. and Mrs. John United, the parents of a new ten-pound baby boy, James Elliott.
That's seven kids, huh? Oh, that's seven of them, right. Six of them boys. Six boys. Six boys. Well, that's terrific. Congratulations, John. Thank you, Jack.
It's the first downer for the Eagles from the 15-yard line. Here's Jaworski giving him Montgomery, running right, cutting it back. He is hit after gaining two yards on the play. That's all. Montgomery can't get anything done.
Jack on the back, like Montgomery, the Atlanta Falcons have to be concerned about over pursuing. He is a great cutback type runner. Same as Haskell's stand back or Bubba Bean. And these are one of the things that they really have to be concerned about when they're starting out to the right. They always have someone following down behind them to pick up the cutback.
He gave Montgomery three yards on the play. Second down and seven from the 18 of Philadelphia. The toss is to Hogan, the other back. He comes across the 20-yard line, tackles short of a first down. It will be third down and above two. Jeff Murrow was one of the tacklers. And there with him was the linebacker Dewey McClay. 9.50 left in the half.
I can't get over so far that both of these teams seem to be right handed. It's about everything they have been doing, even throwing the football. Montgomery has run in Hogan. Both have run predominantly to the right side, as has Haskell's stand back and Bubba Bean.
Philadelphia hasn't been very good trying to get first downs on third down. They've made it only two out of six tries. They have third in a yard and a half from their own 23-yard line. Jaworski tosses to Hogan, cuts it back, gets a first down, moving across the 25. And he is out to the 30-yard line for a Philadelphia first down.
Guy Morris, Wade Key, Woody Peoples, Jerry Sizemore, Stan Walers with two tight ends, Richard Osborne and Bill Larson doing the job. And Greg Brazino, the linebacker, was there to make the tackle. They've been staying away from Brazino's side. On the other side, Kachendall is a good linebacker also.
They've already had a good linebacker. That old defensive football team has had a good season. And those fellows will sing you and hit you just as hard as they possibly can.
Jaworski's long count gives to Hogan, pops up the middle, gets only a yard and a half, and he is driven back. I'm sure that Jaworski is using that time with his long count before the snap to read that Atlanta defense and try to figure out what they're going to do.
He's trying to pick up that blitz. If he can pick the blitz up at the last second and then change the play of the line of frimmage, he can come up with a very big play, possibly a touchdown because they have a single coverage back there.
And I just told me when he's shoveling the plays to the sideline, he likes to get them in there early so you have a little time to adjust to the line of frimmage.
That's right. Your time should be spent on the line of frimmage, not in the huddle.
Second down and eighth from the 32 for the Eagles. Carmichael to the left, missed the wing back. And Montgomery started right, cuts it back to the 30 yard line, 35, 40 yard line, first down Philadelphia on the misdirection play.
Montgomery took two steps to the right, turned and came back the other way. Even Jaworski was trying to block for him and he's not a very good blocker.
He's a quarterback, not supposed to be. There's a play, as we mentioned before, that the Atlanta Falcons are getting an awful lot of pursuit.
Once that play starts to the right, instead of just kind of staying back and playing your position, was pursuing right down that line of frimmage.
And the Eagles, taking advantage of the pursuit, started right, came back on a reverse by Montgomery, picked up a first down. It was a fine call.
Recovered the fumble on their 15, the Eagles did. They're now out to their own 43 yard line. Jaworski on first down.
Goals in long, Carmichael couldn't make his move as he was being covered by Rolland Lawrence.
They showed a little square out, Jaworski gave an arm pump and then Carmichael tried to turn it upfield but couldn't get away.
Well, that's what they tried to do. They ran into the zone over there. Carmichael had a quick out call, as you mentioned.
And in those types of situations, Carmichael has to read the zone and make the adjustments.
And Jaworski saw the zone and Carmichael did not read it as well. He was trying to throw it into the dead spot, into the zone, Jack, which they weren't able to do.
Jaworski is five out of nine, one touchdown, 45 yards, no interceptions, second down and 10.
From their own 43 for Philadelphia, going from our right to our left, Jaworski takes the snap, straight back to throw.
Brazina's after him, hits him, backs him in the backfield.
That Brazina gets the second Atlantis back of the afternoon. Jaworski never saw him.
Never saw him and he beat Montgomery. Montgomery was there to pick him up and did a fourth job of blocking on him.
Whenever you're going to do that, as an offensive back, you see the blitz, you want to come up to the line of scrimmage and meet the blitz at the line of scrimmage,
not give that defensive linebacker much room to maneuver. The closer you get up to the line of scrimmage, the better off you are.
That time Montgomery did get it.
The ball is now back at the Philadelphia 36 and it's turned down 16.
Carmichael to the left, Charlie Smith right.
Atlantis showing the blitz.
And they are blitzing, chasing five men to pass over the middle, caught by Carmichael, tackled, no first down.
And that was a third down play. Carmichael was tackled by Rick Byas.
Byas did the only thing he could do. Rick Carmichael got him and dropped him.
That's right. The mistake Carmichael made was not getting enough yardage for the first down, getting enough depth.
Get back to that first down marker so that if you have to come back to the ball, you have a chance of maybe breaking a tackle, picking it up.
Billy Rickman is back. He has averaged eight yards per punt return.
Michelle kicks the ball, not too high. Rickman took it on the 23 yard line, 25, 30, out to the 35 yard line.
And Atlanta has the ball again trailing 6 to nothing, 5.52 left in the half.
The foul he was downfield for the Eagles, a 30 yard punt. A kicking game, not very good by the Eagles, and a 12 yard return.
They haven't kicked the ball that well. The returns have been pretty good, Jack.
Surprised they haven't been better, are you?
I am too. It's a little chilly out there. Maybe the ball is just not getting airborne quickly enough or something. I don't know.
But the players and the kickers in this ballpark, which is also used by the Atlanta Braves, where the baseball really rides down here.
Football players tell me the ball usually carries very well in this enclosed stadium.
Well it does. And there's no wind factor after the fact. So it shouldn't be that much of a problem.
There's a pause in the action with the score. The Eagles 6, Atlanta nothing. Let's take time out.
In the Central Division of the American Football Conference, Pittsburgh won it easily, and they had the best record in the National Football League.
A fine year for the men of Chuck Knowle at 14-2, and they had a great year offensively and defensively, scoring 356 points.
That was second only to the Dallas Cowboys 384. And Pittsburgh allowed the fewest points of the National Football League, only 195.
Houston was next 10-6, then Cleveland at 8-8, and the Browns had a lot of trouble on defense this year, surrendering 356 points.
And that was a key to the reason they finished at 8-8. And Cincinnati, which came on strong and won its last three ball games, still wound up with a poor record, 4 wins and 12 losses.
But keep in mind they had a lot of problems. Kenny Anderson was injured during the year, and the club was decimated by injuries during the first half of the season with a lot of personnel.
Cincinnati at 4-12 in the Central Division, Seller.
Johnny and Titus is alongside as we describe the action for you on CBS from Atlanta. Falcon ball, first and 10, their own 35.
Barkowski, 3 out of 6, 36 yards, no touchdowns, 1 and a 7. Wide receivers are Alfred Jackson and Billy Rickman, they're both to the right side.
Mitchell with tight end is on the left side. The give is to Bubba Bean, trying to come up the middle, nothing doing.
He ran into Dennis Harrison, who wouldn't turn him loose. And Harrison is really big, 6'8", 275, helped out by Carl Hirston.
You can hardly miss him. I think that Barkowski is going to have to start throwing the football on first down, just a little more than what he has.
I don't know what percentage he's off his on first down, but he has to loosen him up. Jack, they have not done that good a job against the Eagles so far.
Bubba Bean got 2 yards, and from his own 37, Barkowski is faced with second and eighth.
And he's back to throw. The pressure is considerable, he swings it off to Bubba Bean. He's to the 40, makes the move to the 45.
He gained good yardage on the play, and he does have a first down.
They mark the ball down on the Atlanta 46, that's a first down for the Falcons.
With 4.53 remaining in the first half, 6-0 for the Dolphins.
I think he may want to go to a different attack, Jack. He's not picking up enough yards on the first down situation, so he may want to get that ball to
Standback or Bubba Bean on some screens on the first down situation, which is a real fine down to screen on.
Rickman and Francis are the wide receivers. Barkowski, a first down pass batted down by the safety man, Randy Logan, who was looking right into his face.
He tried to get it out to the sideline, trying to get it out to Wallace Francis, but Randy Logan was right on top of him.
Well, we talked about the first play of the ball game, I believe, that Logan was up there as well on a safety blitz.
And there he is, you see him again right in Barkowski's face, not able to get the football off.
You're going to blitz, you better do something when you get in there.
Oh, please hit someone.
Except the quarterback, right?
Don't hit that, that hurts the next day.
Second down and 10.
Barkowski on the running play to stand back, broken tackle, moved across midfield.
He gained good yardage outs to the 48-yard line of Philadelphia.
Frank Lemasca, the middle linebacker for the visiting Eagles, made the tackle.
We're coming to the four-minute mark remaining in the half.
Third down and three for the Falcons now.
At the 47 of the Eagles.
They alternate their wide receivers.
Rickman comes out along with Alfred Jackson.
Wallace Francis in the wide receiver.
Two tight ends are in there.
Lewis Gilbert with Jim Mitchell.
The running play and the running play by Atlanta is not enough for a first down as we view it from up here.
John Sanders, the primary Philadelphia defender.
Stand back was the runner.
Two of the kind of forward progress they give him. He came very close to a first down.
If they didn't make it, John, they might be inclined to gamble with 3.42 left in the half.
It's a good spot to gamble here, Jack. There's no reason why they shouldn't.
There's no tomorrow for any one of these teams if they lose.
In Philadelphia it's not that explosive.
That's right. It really has not been an offensive football game at all this afternoon.
We really didn't expect one.
They're very activism all the way and both teams playing a very fine defense.
They have to throw the football at this point.
That becomes academic. I think this field is a little crooked.
I could have warned it was short a couple of inches and they made it by an inch.
They don't have to gamble even if they were inclined to do so.
They're now at the Eagle 44.
We'll see what they can do on first down now.
It's a good time to start throwing the football.
They're not going to make it, but make sure they're the right type of passes.
Rickman and Francis ball to the right side.
Eye formation, stand back, carrying the ball, up the middle, makes a little try to get outside.
Got only a couple of yards.
The reason you heard the big, loud reaction was that if stand back had beaten the tackle,
he would have had some running room down the side.
But he just couldn't turn the corner.
They came out in the eye formation that time.
I don't believe that's the first time that eye formation is really good
because you have the type of formation to when you have back, like to stand back,
above a beam to be doing that cutting back, cutting back off of the block by your offensive people.
Second down and six from the Eagle 40.
And Bartkowski looks outside, throws outside, and a bad throw incomplete.
He intended it for his wide receiver, Al Jackson, but nothing doing.
Third and sixth comes about, 2.42 left in the half.
A 13-yard touchdown pass to Harold Carmichael from Jaworski with 1.25 left in the first quarter.
The extra point was missed, and it remains 6-0 Philadelphia.
The Falcons have to get further down the field from the Zetti, I think, to kick the field goal.
They like to come out of this drive with at least three points.
They prefer seven, but three at least put them on the scoreboard.
From the Eagle, 43rd down and six.
Eagles are blitzing now.
And the pass over the middle is caught and dropped by Sandback.
And what not has been enough for a first down anyhow.
An incomplete pass is the call.
I don't really know if the Eagles were coming with the blitz or not.
They showed it, started hitting and jumped off.
Well, they came with a pretty good rush.
Harrison got to Bartkowski that time and unloaded on him after he, just as he was throwing the football.
Kenny Clark, rather. I'm sorry, Mr. Clark.
I apologize, but he did put the boom on Bartkowski, and he was a little slow coming off the field.
You know, the punt by John James, this will be his third of the afternoon.
A low snap, he handled it well, kicked it high.
It's well covered by Atlanta, and it bounces out of bounds near the ten-yard line, at the ten-yard line.
Fine punt by John James.
During the regular playing season, he kicked 25 of them out of bounds inside the 20,
and he just put the Eagles back at their ten-yard line.
More rain falls, 2.28 left in the first half.
In this situation, I think we can look for the Atlanta Falcons to possibly blitz two out of three downs down here.
They have Philadelphia in a very tight spot against that goal line.
They're on a nine-yard line, and I think you'll see them coming to try to stop any type of run or passing situation
which might prevail itself here.
Yeah, the Eagles are leading six to nothing. They're backed up to their ten-yard line.
They probably won't gamble here in this playoff game.
They give us to the up-back Hogan and a move to the 13-yard line for a gain of three,
second and seven coming up, and we'll probably have the two-minute warning before we have another snap of the ball.
Well, Johnny Unitis and I and all of us at CBS Radio certainly wish a happy Hanukkah and a Merry Christmas
across the country on CBS Radio and around the world through American Forces Radio.
And tomorrow will be the start of both religious holidays, the Christian and the Jewish holidays.
We hope that those listening to us right now are safe, warm, comfortable, and have a nice holiday season.
Here is the two-minute warning from Atlanta Stadium down here in Georgia.
And we've got a good guyum here, don't we?
Oh, we've got a good guyum.
As they say in Georgia, it's quite a guyum. And the two-minute warning, officials have called the timeout.
So let's take a moment for this message.
And they'll give us an opportunity to complete our look at the final regular season standings
in the American Football Conference.
The Western Division champion was Denver with a record of ten and six, and they allowed only 198 points,
one of the best defensive records in the NFL during the year.
The Orange Crutch was at it again, particularly the second half of the season
when they regrouped after a rather sluggish first half.
Oakland, for the first time in many years, didn't make the playoffs.
They finished with nine and seven, as did the Seattle team.
The Seahawks, a very impressive ball club.
Many people are saying Jack Patera may be coach of the year, even though the team didn't make the playoffs.
But they came close.
Then it was San Diego at nine and seven.
That's a three-way tie between Oakland, Seattle, and San Diego.
And Kansas City in the basements, the Kansas City team,
the Chiefs finished with a poor record of four and twelve.
Defense was their problem. They allowed 327 on the year.
Seattle, an exciting team. They allowed 358, but they sure could put points on the board with 345.
We have two minutes left in the half.
At halftime, Eddie LeBaron, the general manager of the Falcons, will be a guest here in our booth
along with George Young and Scalp for the Miami Dolphins.
They don't go away.
Second down and six for the Eagles.
They're at the 13-yard line. The up-back is Hogan, moves to the 15-16.
It'll be third down and short as the Eagles try to punch it up.
Timeout called by Atlanta.
They want to stop the Eagles here, get the ball, and have a little time.
Now they have, and that's the first.
Now that's the second timeout used by Atlanta. They have only one remaining.
Earlier, Johnny United said that he didn't think the winner of this game would progress any further in the playoffs.
If Atlanta wins, they play at Dallas.
If Philadelphia wins, they play at Los Angeles.
And I've been trying to think that if Philadelphia wins this game, they'd have a pretty good chance at Los Angeles on the 31st.
Well, I think that if they do go to win here and go to a Los Angeles display,
they certainly are going to have to improve their offensive thinking quite a bit.
The Los Angeles Rams is a fine defensive football team.
And I, for one, don't think that the Philadelphia Eagles yet are in the class of the Los Angeles Rams.
Later today here on CBS Radio, and those two teams are itchy right now, I'm sure.
Houston Oilers and the Miami Dolphins in the orange ball in Miami.
Don Klein and Jim Kelly are there to describe the action for you.
It won't put up against this game.
It'll probably start some 10 or 15 minutes after we're through.
It commences at 3.50 Eastern Time as the AFC first round playoff game of the wild card team takes place Houston-Atlantic-Miami.
Who do you like there?
Well, I'm inclined to go with Don Schuyler's Miami Dolphins, although they are pretty well beaten up throughout the season.
They have a lot of people that are injured.
And I think that Coach Schuyler has a way of coming up with some outstanding coaching
and some outstanding playing by his team when he's a fourth game.
You know him very well, then.
We made him famous in Baltimore, Jim.
Is that a quote?
Oh, certainly.
That's a quote.
It's third down and two.
The Eagles would like to get a first down and keep the ball.
They're throwing 17.
A very tight formation with a wing back.
Carmichael who goes in motion, sets up on the other wing.
Jaworski on third down, facing a big Atlanta front, gives the ball to Hogan,
trying to get outside, can't tackle for a loss on the play-driven way back inside the 10-yard line.
And it's going to be kicking time for the Eagles.
Kicking time for the Eagles, 1.45 remaining in the half.
Rolland Lawrence, Frank Reed, both out of the secondary, led the defensive charge.
This will be the fourth punt by Carmichael.
If you're an offensive coach for the Philadelphia Eagles and a special team coach,
what do you tell them?
You know they're going to be coming to get the football.
They'll do everything they possibly can to get back here and block it and lead fourth of four punts.
They'll be coming after this punt too.
The Falcons block five during the regular season.
And the center lifted his head and Atlanta came roaring, either offside or illegal procedure.
It's going to cause somebody five.
Procedure against the Eagles.
Now they're going to get back further and Michelle will get the kick away from the goal line.
I kind of think the procedure was against the center with a false move.
I think it was too and that hurt.
Mike really had a nice kick that time.
Dennis Frank moved his head and of course drew the whole Atlanta Falcons team right back.
That one back there is a safety man.
But Michael really had a fine kick that time.
Now the ball is marked at the 10.
Ball starts.
Illegal procedure against the Eagles.
Now Mike Michelle is in the end zone and he's a good snap from Dennis Frank.
The Falcons will be coming after it.
And we have Billy Rickman out at the Philadelphia 45 waiting for the punt.
The snap is low, handled by Michelle.
And it is not blocked and Rickman took it at the 38.
He called for a fair catch and then he was hit by a member of the Eagles.
A flag is dropped by one official.
One official thought that the Philadelphia players did everything to avoid him.
But another official disagrees and I think the Cowboys might have pumped it that way.
I don't know Jack.
I don't know how he did everything to avoid it.
He smacked him right in the middle of his wrist.
I agree with it.
Inaffirmed.
Fair catch, interference.
Vince Papale came downfield and he just couldn't stop.
And he ran into Rickman and Bill Berge wants to know what the call is about.
I don't think the tally even saw his hand go up there.
This is a major penalty, 15 yards moving it to the Philadelphia 25 with 107 up to the half.
Fair catch, interference called by the official Fred Silver.
Marks the ball down to the 25 yard line of Philadelphia.
Now the last time they were down here they fumbled.
The time before that Atlanta had one of these.
What's going to happen now?
On first down both receivers to the left side.
Three wide receivers in the game for Atlanta and Bart Kowski rolls left.
Look, runs east down to the 22 yard line.
He gained only a couple of yards and he was really smothered.
And Bart got two.
Boy they love to see those quarterback runs.
Time out Atlanta, they have no more time outs remaining.
Johnny, there's not too many quarterbacks you're going to beat with a run.
That type of quarterback that Kowski is outside of Macy Grogan who's an outstanding runner with the two in the Patriots.
Again Kowski rolling to his left limits himself the amount of field he can throw the football in.
Of course that dictates the garbage right away once you start rolling.
Nine out of ten teams will roll up to that zone on that side toward the roll that you really don't have that much area to throw the football in.
Well they're now out of time outs.
The Dawkins are and they're down to the 22 yard line of Philadelphia.
I bet they wish they had one time out remaining because even though they could afford to run the ball maybe once, surely once, and maybe twice,
then they'd really put themselves up against the wall.
They're going to have to call two plays in a huddle to be able to keep this ball moving.
Unless the clock runs, of course you know that's going to happen.
And if you get to a situation where you come up with a fourth down or a third down and say maybe eight,
you almost have to throw the football away to stop the clock to get the field going the same way.
Johnny, you were so good in that two minute period at the half and at the end of the game.
I know you're not going to play Mr. Humble with me because you really worked very hard at being good during that time period.
Well it's part of our work. We worked at it every day at least once twice a week.
And we had things on that we knew we wanted to do and we just had control of the game at that time.
I think most teams with control, that's part of the football games that come out in winter than a lot of close ball games.
Second down and seven Atlanta from the Eagle 22 back to go.
Jaworski looks close to the sideline. It's caught by Mitchell with the tight end.
It's going to be four bounds of the 18. It'll be third down and three for Atlanta.
And they have 48 seconds left and a half as Mitchell was being covered by Bobby Howard.
And Bill Berge hits Bocasca that time and Bocasca's a little slow getting up off the ground.
There's a situation now where Mitchell took the pass, went out of bounds, stopped the clock.
Now he can come back in and call two more plays and not really be concerned about the clock in this situation.
Third down now, third down and he's got to come up with a big play here to pick up that bird down.
You have to figure he's going to throw the ball through the outside.
Third down and three. Of course they have some speedsters on the team.
Wallace Francis most notably and you play him too tight in the corner.
You get the good bye, I'll tell you this.
Francis is to the left, Rickman to the right, Bocasca back to throw.
Make sure it throws it to Mitchell out of bounds. Bobbling the ball, did not have protection,
any one out of bounds inside the fire.
The ball is thrown behind him and it turned Mitchell around.
A very awkward catching position.
And now it's fourth down and field goal time for Tim Mazetti who wore the Philadelphia uniform in preseason.
And what a hero he has been down here in Georgia.
Oh he's won three or four ball games for the Atlanta closing second of the ball game.
He's been just absolutely perfect for them all season long.
We're going to get a chance to look at him and see what he can do here.
He was a former Philadelphia Eagle player and Dick Vermeer topped Neiman Bennett into picking him up after he was released.
James holds it, Mazetti kicks it, it's no good. It's no good.
And so that bad pass, and I have to call it that by Parkowski,
kept the Falcons from continuing a touchdown drive,
made them try a 37 yard field goal and Mazetti missed it and the Falcons are still blank with 44 seconds left.
Well he hit that one low and hooked it to the left.
He didn't get the ball up in the air. It looked like it may have had a slightly bad snap coming.
He was right handed. He came over the top.
Right. He sure did and we certainly didn't like it too.
That's it, wasn't it? Did you get it that way?
I've done that on the golf course a few times. Too much right hand.
Now the ball's at the 20 and the Falcons have no timeouts remaining.
The Eagles probably will be content to sit on the ball.
They lead 6-0. They'll get the second half kickoff and Jaworski calls the play and hands it off to the up back who is Hogan.
And the ball almost came loose, believe it or not, on that simple dive play.
And the clock runs and Atlanta will not be able to stop it.
The quarterback in this situation has to keep reminding his offensive people about the time and where they are on the field
and they keep two hands on the football.
We're down here. We're ahead 6-0. We've got the second half to play.
We don't want to give anything up.
They won't even snap the ball again. They have time on the 32nd clock.
15 seconds, 12 seconds left and a half clock running.
This intermission is going to find a score of 6-0 on a 13 yard touchdown pass to Harold Carmichael with 1-1 half remaining in the first quarter.
It's going to be hard in Atlanta right now and the crowd here is disappointed. The first playoff game ever for the Falcons.
In the first 30 minutes have gone by, their team has been blank.
There's the gun sounding the end of the first half with a score.
The Philadelphia Eagles 6, the Atlanta Falcons nothing.
The following week. Thanks for coming by, Dad.
Thank you, John.
The score at halftime is Atlanta 0, Philadelphia 6.
Well, we're back here at halftime and the rain is continually coming down on the field.
I'm sure it's going to make for a real muddy football field and a muddy football game later this afternoon, Jack.
You know, John, everybody feels that Atlanta outplayed the Eagles although they trail 6-0 at this time.
And this rain and the muddy field will help Bartkowski if he's playing that catch-up football game. It should.
Well, if he's throwing the football, certainly the advantages to the offense because the receivers know exactly where they're going.
The defense has to play off a little bit more than what they would like to do and are able to throw the football.
If they're able to throw the football, I think you'll see Atlanta do something well.
Here's the kickoff by Mesetti. It's taken by one of the up men on the 10, 15, 20.
The Eagles come out across the 30-yard line.
Thirty more minutes of football remaining.
Score 6-0, I think it's a half. The Eagles leading and right now it is raining harder than it has rained since early morning here in Atlanta.
The Eagles have the ball back at their 35-yard line and they can't sit on it here, John.
Now they have to get across the goal line. It's 6-0. They can tie it with two field goals.
And if they get touched down the extra point and put them ahead, the Eagles have to generate more offense than what they've shown in the first half.
It is Logan and Montgomery in the backfield. A long count to give to Montgomery.
He makes a good cut and moves out to the 41-yard line.
I'm sure it's been a frustrating game for Montgomery thus far with a few yards that he has gained.
His longest gain has been 11 yards. He's had 7-yard net, that's all.
Yeah, they had 8-a-taps and 7-yard, which is not a very good day for Montgomery.
But you have to give the defensive line of the Atlanta Falcons credit and also those linebackers who are really shutting things up on the front of the line of scrimmage.
Tom Freidmore, the safety man, made the tackle at the 41 after a gain of 6 by Montgomery.
And on second down and for another long count and Montgomery again, nothing.
Started right, tried to cut it back and there was nothing there.
Jeff Yates, the defensive end, went in underneath and he really jammed that play.
He jammed up, you know, they've been doing that all afternoon and the defensive playing tremendous football.
As noted, Montgomery has not been able to break loose again in the arc.
He did pick up a few yards and that one trick play they had was a start to the right, came back on a reverse and picked up about 11 yards as we mentioned earlier.
But he's lost a lot of yardage all day long.
No game that time, 3rd and 4 Eagles from their own 41 going from our left to our right here in the third quarter of the game.
Will Jaworski pass? The up goal's right, pops it out and it is incomplete.
It was bobbled around, Freidmore was there defensively.
And the Eagles, Montgomery couldn't come away with it.
Had one hand on it, but it's kicking time and they were very conservative.
Two runs and a pass, they had a pain for that, John.
They saw the blitz coming, Jaworski could have looked over here at Roland Lawrence, he was down in the three point stance and he was coming all the time.
The type offense they've shown with a double tight end in there, certainly tells the defense it's going to be a running afternoon for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Mike Michelle will get it away from his 30, there's no pressure, Billy Rickman is back.
A fair catch is called for by Atlanta and it was the running back strong, Ray Strong stepped right in front of him and took the ball away.
Only a 25 yard punt. The Eagles are winning 6-0 despite a poor kicking game, a poor try on the extra point, a miss there, bad punting.
The Falcons have had good field position, they're back at their own 34 as they get the ball for the first time in the second half.
With a score, put it off to your 6-0 over Atlanta, let us take time out.
Well Missouri Coach Warren Powers had his answer quickly Saturday and it was the LSU left the field with some doubts about its ability to stop his Missouri Tigers.
Powers is openly concerned about his team sharpness going into Saturday's Liberty Bowl with the LSU Tigers.
Since his 15th ranked Tigers have been idle for more than a month.
But all the questions of roughness were answered to his joy when his club took the opening kickoff, drove 75 yards for a touchdown and then won in a good ball game 20-15.
Missouri which finished 8-4 was sparked by sophomore running back James Wilder, the game's most valuable player with 115 yards rushing.
And they rolled to a 20-3 halftime lead but then saw 18th ranked LSU come back behind the running of second team All-American tailback Charles Alexander.
Who eventually outgained Wilder 133 yards on 24 carries.
The sophomore quarterback Bill Bradley connected on 11 passes for 117 yards and did a great job directing the Mizzou Tigers attack.
County Unites it's obvious that both clubs have to generate a little more offense for their own benefit here. The Falcons to catch up, the Eagles to solidify their lead.
The question is, is either club capable of generating an offense?
I think they are if they go out and start throwing the football and pass the section but I don't think they're going to generate much by keeping the ball on the ground and not pulling each other.
All of that the Atlanta 34 first down, stand back runs over the right side on a slant, moved across the 35 yard line and got only a couple of yards with Bubba Bean leading the way.
And the blocking on the right side by Fieldman and McKinley the center, Jeff Dano and Carl Harrison the tackler.
And the Eagles would be happy if Atlanta just keeps playing like this wouldn't they?
Well they certainly will and I don't see it coming out in the second half that they come out and doing the same thing they have done in the first half.
I think they have to open the ball game up Jack, I think they have to throw the ball on the first down so I think Markowski has to go to the screens and the draws and throw the ball down field and not be concerned about what happens.
Stand back got three, Markowski's back to throw.
Look's throws, pops it off to the short man Bubba Bean, he gained about five more yards on the play.
It'll be third down and three as he was blasted immediately by Bill Berge but first by Reggie Wilk.
Rookies play a big role on both of these teams, Wilk in particular with Philadelphia.
Reggie Wilk of course was a good draft choice by the Philadelphia Eagles when he wasn't named the new coach.
Now you forgot what his name was getting to the middle.
He got perfect for Bill came in, he didn't have too many draft choices but that was his number one and he's proven to be a good one.
Third down and two, stand back running hit by Berge again and driven back without getting the first down. It wasn't Berge, it was Harrison.
Harrison rather, Dennis Harrison the rookie out of Vanderbilt who walked right in and took over.
I just can't believe they continue to run that right side of their offensive line running at the Philadelphia Eagles left side.
They have gained some yardage over there but nothing real large and I just don't agree with their type of game, calling the game the way they're doing.
It's very, very conservative. You have nothing to lose here outside of course if you don't win you don't go next week.
Here is James handling a close snap from Sutter getting the kick away, a poor kick and it goes out of bounds and the Eagles will get it at their 40 yard line.
You know a lot of people will say when you're trailing 6-0 it's too early to open up. Man it's never too early.
You should have opened up the first play of the football game rather than sit there and trying to wait for someone else to make the mistakes.
I think if you're going to play offensive football you have to go out and take the bull by the horns and just go after it.
John James did a very good job after getting a low snap from Sutter of getting the ball away.
It was almost blocked by Philadelphia's Cleveland Franklin. It went out of bounds on the Philadelphia 40 yard line and the Eagles get the ball for the second time.
Osborne the tight end had carried Pride Moore, the safety man, with him and there was a pretty good rush on the quarterback.
He had plenty of time to throw it. It was just a forced throw by Osborne who really had about two steps on the right when going across the field.
I mean he got that ball to him it could have been about a 10 or 15 yard game.
Pride Moore admits that.
Hello.
See you in LA.
It's third and eighth.
Four out of ten tries for the Alvarez made a first down on third down.
Only four out of ten.
Atlanta shows the blitz again.
And the blitz is on. It's late getting there. Jaworski throws it and it is caught inside the fire.
First and goal. Charlie Smith caught the ball. First and goal for Philadelphia at the two yard line.
They beat the blitz again. They beat the blitz. The protection, everything was fixed up. Jaworski had plenty of time to throw.
Again a 26 yard target since making a fine reception on the throw.
To the two yard line of Atlanta.
They're now at 9-11 left in the third quarter.
And the way Atlanta has been playing, if Philadelphia scores here, this afternoon might be over.
Well they're going to have to come back. They're not going to be able to stay on the ground, Jack.
They're going to have to come up and make those points up some way.
Philadelphia has called time out here. They want to make sure on this scoring opportunity.
8-52 left in the third quarter. A time out on the field with a score.
Philadelphia 6 and Atlanta nothing.
Well they're doing something here now which I just like seeing actually.
Calling a time out and of course they are ahead by six points.
They don't get the quarterback because they're used to that down in the time actually in the latter part of the ball in the last two minutes.
Which I think is so important to have.
Dick Vermille, we were talking about this yesterday, Jack, in the press conference about his two minute offense.
He was the first one to admit that he has not done a good job teaching and working that two minute drill or teaching the two minute offense which I feel is so important.
I think a lot of coaches do.
He admitted he hasn't done it and he said it's going to be one of his prime things that he does next year coming back into early training camp and taking that two minute offense and working with it.
On the two minute offense you know that the quarterbacks are the guys that are supposed to be calling the plays.
And Coach Vermille said that the quarterback will call the plays when they get to be at two minute offense at the time.
First and goal for Philadelphia.
They have marked the ball down at the two yard line of the Falcons.
Don't forget if Atlanta wins they go to Dallas Saturday.
If Philadelphia wins they go to Los Angeles Sunday.
And the other team of course to be considered the Minnesota Vikings.
A very tight footage.
Too tight in.
Tom Michael is the wingback.
Over to Montgomery in the backfield.
Joe Worske.
Gives to Montgomery and he did not get in.
He got down to about the one.
And it's going to be second down.
The Falcons inside the one yard line right through the goal line.
Clock running.
Eight thirty five left in the third quarter.
They certainly would help the Falcons morale if they can hold the Philadelphians out of the end zone.
But it's that short yardage to go it's not quite likely with those type of backs the Eagles have.
Tom Michael is confused.
He finally ends up on the wing on the right side.
Second and goal.
Joe Worske.
Gives the ball to Hogan Hurdles.
Did not get in.
It'll be third and goal.
He got down to about the one yard line.
Tried to go up over the top but couldn't do it.
It's going to be third down.
You know when the ball is inches away from the goal line by the time the center gets over the ball.
The quarterback behind the center.
A handoff to the running back.
He's about two and a half yards deep.
That's right.
Normally down this kind of situation you think they'd run that quarterback take and let him make it right on in there.
Is that what you'd do right now?
Well I would.
Yeah I think you know it's tough to keep the ball in the center.
It's tough to keep a quarterback out.
Actually all he has to do is get up over the top of the center.
He's got a six point doesn't he?
They'd have to settle for three if they don't get it here.
Third and goal from the goal line for Philadelphia.
Montgomery Hurdles got it.
Touchdown the ball came loose.
A touchdown for Philadelphia.
The ball came loose but the touchdown had already been called.
And Philadelphia lead 12 to nothing.
And Latter-Hargues about it.
But it's obvious that they're unaware of the rule.
You have the ball and you break the playing and it's a TV.
That's what happens once the ball goes across the goal line.
It's six points for the Philadelphia Eagles to lead down 12 to nothing.
And we will have the man who puts the excitement into the extra points coming in to kick it.
Michelle.
One yard, one fire.
Montgomery with 7.36 left in the third quarter.
Chiro holds the ball and the kick is good.
And that makes the score 13 to nothing but a flag is down.
The flag has been thrown.
The rain has abated somewhat here.
We've got a holding call against Philadelphia.
Holding against Philadelphia.
They're going to have to kick it over from further back.
They went 60 yards in seven plays and I'll say this for the Eagles.
They earned it.
They opened it up didn't they?
They did.
It's something we talked about in the first series of downs.
They're going to have to open the game up and they did.
They started throwing the football.
Caught the Falcon defense again in a blitz.
Fine protection, fine pick up by the offensive back in the backfield.
Of course the offensive line doing an extremely good job.
It was beginning the football down the corner to Charlie Smith.
Now the kick will be 29 yards for the extra point.
We saw them see a holding on an extra point.
We saw it then.
Chiro gets it down and it is good.
A line drive went muckling through the goal post.
Looks like Hoyt and the Wilds will be there.
One more time to have the big love to catch it with.
7.36 remaining in the third quarter and now the score.
Philadelphia 13 and Atlanta nothing.
Let's take time out.
Some other college notes.
Georgia Tech football coach Pepper Rogers says running back Eddie Lee Ivory will miss Monday's
Peach Bowl game against Purdue.
Rogers says Ivory has not recovered from an ankle sprain suffered earlier this month.
Ivory set a Georgia Tech rushing record this season with 1,562 yards.
Taking Ivory's place for Tech in the Atlanta game will be Bucky Schamburger.
And of course Ivory earlier in the season against the Irvings.
Ivory earlier in the season against the Air Force Academy has set an all-time NCAA rushing
record for one game well over 350 yards.
Michigan coach Bo Schembechler expresses concern over a lack of healthy tail backs for the
Wolverines' upcoming Rose Bowl game against Southern California New Year's Day at Pasadena.
Schembechler says none of our tail backs are healthy.
Harlan Huckleby is running number three.
Roosevelt Smith and Butch Wufolk are one and two.
Huckleby missed the Ohio State game in November with a groin injury and a twisted left knee.
If he doesn't start, that could hurt the ball club against the Trojans.
Pearson, Strong and Franklin wait for the kickoff from Mike Michelle.
With Pearson in the middle.
He ran one back 100 yards for a touchdown against St. Louis last week.
And he's averaged more than 26 yards for a kick return.
Michelle boots it.
It's high.
Rather deep.
Taken on the three by Pearson.
Up the middle to the 10, to the 15, to the 20 going left.
Breaks the tackle across the 25 and he's out of bounds at the 28-yard line of Atlanta.
The tally was downfield to help with the tackle made primarily by Orrin Middlebrook.
A 27-yard return.
And the Falcons trail 16 to nothing and they have no choice now.
The Falcons need a big play here to get back on the football game.
And Barchowski certainly is capable of doing it.
Let's see whether or not the head coach is going to let them open the football game up or not.
And that of course is Lehman Bennett.
On first down out of the eye formation with Bean and stand back Barchowski back to throw.
Stands in the pocket and then he is tacked.
He is tacked by Philadelphia's Ray Phillips, the linebacker.
The second time today that the Atlanta quarterback has gone down.
He certainly had time to throw.
He had time to throw.
Philadelphia slouched him up that time.
Instead of going to the regular type zone, they went to a double zone, which means that both outside people were double covered.
And that the Berge had to cover big Jim Mitchell to tight end all the way downfield and he was right with him.
Barchowski didn't have anywhere else to go.
Berge did a good job.
He did an excellent job.
A loss back to the 19-yard line.
And it is second down and 20 on the 19 for Atlanta.
Philadelphia with that three-man front.
The blitz is on for Philadelphia.
Barchowski dropped it off to stand back outside the 20, breaks the tackle, gets to the 25, and then he is brought down.
Stand back, moves the ball out to the 25.
Four again up six.
It's going to be third down and 14 for Atlanta.
Ball at their own 25-yard line.
6.51 left in the third quarter.
Well, he had the big loss, Mike, in our first down.
It's tough to come back with it.
He's got about 13, 15 yards now to pick up the first down.
It's got to be a big call for him.
I don't want to do anything silly like throwing an interception at this point.
But everything has been in favor of the Philadelphia Eagles and they have earned it.
They've made it work.
Rickman is to the left.
Gramps is to the right.
Barchowski drops back to throw, looks right, forward pass, incomplete.
He was hit just as he threw the ball.
Again, there was Carl Harrison.
The Atlanta fans don't like it as they're going to have to kick for the fifth time this afternoon.
He's actually going to have to put two men on Harrison.
If he's giving the offensive tackle, that's not so much a problem.
He's got to keep a fullback in there, a halfback in there,
and just tell him to key on Harrison and help out that offensive tackle.
Harrison's been in there two or three times and caused an awful lot of damage to that passing attack.
And it's taken just a little bit longer for Barchowski to get rid of the football
than it would have for Barchowski.
James kicks it to Shira.
He takes it on the 37, runs left, flips, dives across the 40-yard line,
and the Eagles will again have good field position after a 37-yard punt and a 4-yard return.
6.34 remaining here in the third quarter,
and the Eagles will start from their own 42-yard line.
There's a pause in the action with a score.
The Royal Beagles 13, Atlanta nothing. Let's take time out.
Football players at Boise State in Idaho are very unhappy
with the sanctions taken against their school by the Big Sky Conference.
The players have asked the Big Sky Council of Presidents to hold a special hearing in January.
Boise State's football team has been penalized by the conference
for an illegal scouting effort made by Coach Jim Kreiner.
Under the sanctions, the team is now ineligible for conference championship play next season.
Well, the Atlanta Falcons are going to have to start generating some sort of offense,
or this game is going to be over in a hurry.
Long time since the Philadelphia Eagles have been in a playoff, and the first time ever for Atlanta.
It has been the last time.
They were 1960 when the back and former coach Van Brompton was at the helm
playing quarterback for them in Philadelphia.
It's quite a man. They did quite a job at that time.
I guess the last winning season was in 1966 when Baltimore coach played them in the overtime,
not overtime, but the second game playoff down in Philadelphia.
At that time, Sonny Jurgensen was the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Again, from all of us at CBS Radio, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah to you and your family.
Those of you listening across the country are on CBS Radio and overseas on American 4th News Radio.
First down, Philadelphia.
From their own 41-yard line, here is a quick pass to Carmichael on a screen that didn't form.
He tackled for a loss.
And it was Jeff Yates, the defensive end, who fell off the screen and nailed it.
He read the screen very, very well. He went out there and got Carmichael.
That's the first screen that's been thrown all afternoon by either team, and not very successful at that.
So you have an outside receiver like Carmichael, you like to get him to football.
That is just one particular way in which you can get it was outside with an out going downfield on a pass.
He's actually in the top as I think of playing well.
Jack, they just got tied in a blitz situation twice and have been taken advantage of by...
Jaworski from his 40, second and 11, back to throw.
Looks for Carmichael, hits them inside the 50-yard line, a first down for the Dolphins, to the 43-yard line of the Atlanta Falcons.
Frank Reed had the tough job of bringing down the 6'8", Harold Carmichael, who weighs 225.
They haven't used him very much today, but they're burning the Falcons with him now.
It's a quick turn in on Rolla Lawrence who is playing off Carmichael.
He does have some pretty good speed, and Lawrence with the bad footing out there in certain areas has to be careful.
Not to get too close on him, he goes right on by him.
First down from the 43-yard line of the Eagles.
Hogan and Montgomery in the high formation. Carmichael to the right, Charlie Smith is to the left.
Now split backs and a quick pass out here is incomplete.
It was intended for the tight end.
The wide receiver came in and the tight end Osborne went out.
But Jaworski's throw was off target.
You see so many quarterbacks having difficulty with that little clamp pass, John, and you did it so well.
Is it difficult to throw?
It's one of the more difficult passes to throw because it's at a difficult angle, especially that the offensive receiver must take a step down field to gain a little bit of ground and give you a little bit of a better target to throw at.
If he doesn't do that, then you're throwing right over the defensive end and it makes it quite difficult.
How's Jaworski doing?
He's in the 7th save for 118 yards, 1 CB, no interception, so he's playing well.
Second down and 10 from the 43 of Atlanta for the Eagles.
Again the long count, Jaworski, a quick drop to pass to the tight end is caught but for a gain only of about 4 yards.
Prydmore, the safety man, was right on top of Osborne and it's going to be third and long for Philadelphia.
Richard Osborne, a third-year man out of his fourth year now out of Texas A&M.
Good size, 6'3", 230, but caught only 13 passes prior to today.
Well, not an extremely good fast receiver.
He's in there because of Gremley who was out.
Gremley's a much better fast receiver and Osborne has been doing an incredible job and they're happy they had someone to replace them.
Third down and 6'4", the Eagles from the 38-yard line of Atlanta.
Eagles leading 13 to nothing. Jaworski back to throw, outside and caught by Charlie Smith for a first down at the 29.
An excellent catch by the backpedaling Charlie Smith.
Well, I'll tell you what, Jack, if they're going to continue doing the playing, they're going to have to have the back.
They're going to have to get closer to these receivers and put a little bit more pressure on Jaworski.
He's getting rid of the ball very, very quickly and it makes it difficult for those defenders to stay off of a man that far.
If they're going to do that, they're going to have to play a little tighter.
Smith so far has 5-10 for 73 yards. The big one was down and they're on the 2-yard line again against the Blitz.
Pretty good drive for Philadelphia. 4'08", remaining in the third quarter.
We're at the 29-yard line of the Falcons now.
On first down, Hogan carries the ball for one of the few times over the left side, 2 yards, maybe 3.
Jeff Yates jammed it up. He's playing up front with Jim Daley, Mike Lewis, and Jeff Murrow and Robert Pennywell, the middle linebacker, finished off the play.
A game of 2, 2nd and 8. If the Eagles get in here now, you'd hate to have Atlantis chances, would you?
I certainly would. They're going to have to throw the football and they have not been very successful at it.
Bukowski, as we mentioned, does not release the football as quickly as Jaworski does.
He takes a little bit more time and his defenders have been running a little deeper pattern.
All right, the Eagles are now at the 27-yard line of Atlanta, 2nd down and 8.
And Jaworski's back to throw. He looks, he throws it away. He throws it away over the sideline.
He saw the double coverage on his tight end from Osborne and simply threw it away as Jeff Murrow and Jeff Yates put the pressure on it.
I said he put the pressure on it, they're not going to be able to grab him.
That's pressure.
Jaworski did the right thing. He concentrated primarily on the right side and he could have come back and gone to Carmichael on the left side, who was open after the defense came up to pop him.
Third down and 8.
The Eagles take Montgomery out.
Carmichael and Smith are the wide receivers.
Running now for the first time is Billy Campfield, the rookie out of Kansas.
Campfield in the backfield.
The game is to Hogan and he ran by a tackler, gained about a yard and a half and was really driven back.
So it is fourth down.
Now, Michelle has very long range, but he is not consistent from way out.
The line of scrimmage is the 25-35. It will be a 42-yard attempt trying to make it 16-0.
And even this would help field the fate of Atlanta.
Well, they're going to give him a shot at it.
42 yards, Michelle attempting it.
That from center is high. Schreiber gets it down. The kick is going to be short and no good. Short and no good.
So the Falcons are still in it with 2.41 remaining in the third quarter. The score is 16-0. Philadelphia, the ball will come out to the line of scrimmage.
The last line of scrimmage. So the Falcons will start at their 25.
Fighting Irish and Notre Dame and the Cougars of Houston will get after their practice in earnest.
They'll be the opponents in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day. Connie Alexander and Tom Hedrick will describe the actions in Dallas on CBS Radio at 2 o'clock Eastern Time.
Orchowski a first down pass. Screams it. It's caught by Puppet Bean across the 25 to the 30, 35, 40-yard line and more.
To the 44 goes Puppet Bean on the screen.
All right Jack, that's what we talked about that he's going to have to mix the tack up earlier. Go to those screens and those back and straight drop back side screens.
Get the defenders coming in on you and then just drop it over top of their heads. There you saw a perfect example of it.
Those who are watching TV thought anyway. We're up here describing it was a fine foul and a first time today that Puppet Bean has used to creep.
Puppet Bean number 44 went to his 44-yard line. First down for Atlanta. On first down to give to the tailback, stand back, cuts it up the middle, goes to midfield.
And a foul and it is picked up by Philadelphia. Stand back, bumbled the ball and the Eagles end up at the Atlanta 35.
That ball was knocked right up in the air as he was going through the line and one of the Eagle players picked it right out of the air and advanced the football down the field.
As we have a big play at the fourth turnover for the Falcons, down for the Eagles.
The Eagles end up on the Atlanta 35-yard line.
It just wanted to look like the Falcons had a little momentum going for them with a screen pass which moved out to their 44. Stand back on the very next play, bumbled.
How many turnovers were there? Fourth turnover for the Falcons, Jack. And the Eagles have played it very well. They have none.
And a first down at the Atlanta 35. The give is to the tailback and a bumbled Atlanta miss at right side.
It was Canfield and he was really thrilled. He bumbled and Atlanta came away with the ball.
It was Chikendall, the linebacker, who got it.
Just as we opened our big math to say how well Philadelphia was playing, holding the football up just the old mystery, up to football.
He was really, really hit hard and now Atlanta has the ball back again with an opportunity to see if they can move it across that goal line.
And the exchange of bubbles, they only lost six yards so the Falcons are in good shape and they're on 38.
Both wide receivers to the right, Mitchell with tight end is on the left side. Barchowski back to goal.
He screens it to Bubba. He gets it and he is tackled at the 31-yard line and a flag is down.
And that wasn't very good looking play.
No, it wasn't good at all, Jack. It was pressure down by Edwards who cornerbacked with something in.
No one touched it and he had to give it to football a lot quicker than he really wanted to.
And a holding call on top of that. It probably will be declined.
There was a loss on the play, a substantial loss of about seven yards.
And the referee, Fred Silver, is talking to Bill Berge, the defensive captain, giving him his ups.
The block is stopped with 139 remaining in the third quarter.
Johnny United is on the long side and I'm Jack Buck.
And the score is 13 to nothing in favor of the Eagles over Atlanta here in the third quarter.
Now they're going to mark off the holding.
And move the ball all the way to the 23 of Atlanta.
I think that's a smart call by Berge to take the penalty.
In fact, their offensive team has not been doing much.
They declined the holding call for the Dolphins, but there was also a clipping call against Atlanta.
And they accepted that.
And therefore the ball is all the way back to the 23 yard line.
It's first down and 25 for Atlanta.
Stand back goes in motion.
The fake is to Bubba Bean. The pass to stand back and he's in trouble.
He has two defenders on him and he dives forward for about a yard.
Boy, he drew some attention over there when he went in motion.
The crowd doesn't like the way the Falcons are trying to overcome this deficit.
And Bobby Howard really covered the play well.
They're not moving the football in the right direction.
They're just going back and forth.
They should be going downfield with the football.
You know, you can, screens are fine, but they have to be a surprise type thing.
I'm sure that the way the Eagles played that, they must have scouted that play extremely well.
Second down and 25 for Atlanta from their 23. No gain on the last play.
And Bartkowski looking at a blitz. The blitz is on.
Bartkowski back to throw. He gets rid of it.
And it is caught out of the 30 yard line by Mitchell, the tight end.
He is brought down immediately on the 34.
And it is going to be third down and long. Third down and 14.
Harrison again had a shot at Bartkowski just as he was throwing the football.
Steve was able to get it off and Harrison popped him just as he was releasing it.
So it was not a penalty and he's taking his lumps this afternoon.
Only 20 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
The ball is at the Atlanta 35. The Falcons have it. It's third and 13.
Rickman is to the left. He flances. The wide receiver is flanked right.
On third down. It's a four man rush by Philadelphia.
Bartkowski hit as he throws incomplete.
Getting in on him for Philadelphia with Dennis Harrison and the guns down.
Ending the third quarter. When we resume, it will be kicking time for Atlanta.
Only 15 minutes left and the Falcons are fighting the dust here this afternoon.
That's the end of the third quarter with the score. The Eagles 13 and Atlanta nothing.
Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell is upset with an article in a recent edition of the NFL Players Association newsletter.
The article says Modell, as owner of the Cleveland Stadium Corporation,
has shortchanged the financially troubled city in rent and bond debt.
And the story, which first appeared in the Ohio Magazine, claims Modell has made a profit from stadium rental to the Cleveland Indians.
Well, through a letter written to the magazine by General Counsel Modell,
calls the article inaccurate and misleading. The council says the stadium has been operating at a loss.
Fifteen more minutes of football coming your way.
The preceding message by the Education Commission of the state has been brought to you as a public service on behalf of the NFL.
The peak ball is going to be played here tomorrow. That's Purdue and Georgia Tech.
The playing field won't be in very good shape for the collegians, will it?
They're going to have to get a helicopter down here and just kind of blow a dry jack.
They expect to have a good field because it looks like this rain is here to save for the evening.
The only scoring in that third quarter after a long pass to Charlie Smith set it up first and goal from the two.
The summary went over from one yard out for Philadelphia. Wilbert scoring the touchdown to make it 12 to nothing.
Despite a penalty, Michelle kicked the extra point, 13 to nothing.
Yesterday in the college football results, the Anderene ball went to North Carolina State, 30-17 over Pittsburgh.
The Liberty ball winner was Missouri. They defeated LSU 20 to 15.
The Sun Ball, Texas over Maryland, 42 to nothing.
We'll have the Cotton ball here on New Year's Day for you from Dallas, Notre Dame, and Houston.
Atlanta has the ball. And they'll be kicking. John Shira stands inside his 35 waiting for the punt.
John James has kicked the ball five times. It's a number six for him.
33 yard average.
Snapped by Paul Risick. James gets into it. Low kick. Shira takes it. 34, 35. 40 yard line up the middle to the 45.
So again, the Eagles have fine field position. Neither team has been able to force the others into bad field position as a result of the kicking game here today on a wet field.
Only a 31 yard punt that time.
Not a very good kicking game at all. Neither one of them seemed to be able to put their foot into the football to get it up high enough and far enough to hurt anyone on it.
We did have one good kick in earlier part of the ball game, but that was nullified because of a man being down the field too quickly against the Fountains, I believe.
The ball was dropped and rolled dead on about the two or three yard line. And then the next time James kicked it out of the end zone.
So we have had good field position, Jack. To me it just shows you that the score's not higher.
We have two good defensive football teams out there and it has been until the second half before the Philadelphia Eagles even started to thinking about throwing the football against the Atlanta Falcons.
And of course the Falcons playing it close to the vets all through the football game. Only in this last series did they try to make any attempt whatsoever to throw the football and to get into their passing offense.
So it's really, I guess you'd say, it's been rather a dull football game. Nothing that great. The Jaworski so far is 12 for 20, 131 yards in one TD.
He's been hitting the little curl ends and the quick outs and of course he caught Charlie Smith on one down just before going into the end zone in the third period.
He caught Atlanta in the blitz and took advantage of it.
The first touchdown for it's coming from the one going to Carl Michael, again on a blitz and Atlanta shooting a strong safety, leaving the middle open.
Robin Lawrence was not up to something big 6 foot 8 Carl Michael.
Very strong. One of the Atlanta running backs was blocking on that punt, comes off injured.
A leg injury of some sort. We won't guess any further about it.
Raymond Bennett, the head coach of Atlanta said he thought it would take 23 points to win this game. It's a long way to go, isn't it?
From the 45 yard line, the Eagles on first down.
Atlanta shows the blitz again. They always do.
Jaworski with a quick pass out here to Carl Michael who's underthrown and incomplete.
And again he has a right play called, he just missed connection. He did. He was pressured a little bit by number 75 Murrow in there.
He had to get rid of the ball a little quicker than he wanted to.
Carl Michael of course coming in, the ball was thrown low and when it's thrown low like that to Carl Michael he has an awful long way to go down to get it.
Yeah, he's only 6'8". It's hard to over throw him.
Second down and 10. Charlie Smith goes to the right, Carl Michael splits left.
Montgomery is back in there for the Eagles.
And on second down, Jaworski is back to throw. Wings it out to Montgomery, one on one, trying to get outside.
He's back over a loss of 5 yards on the play.
Frank Reed was looking him right in the eye and wouldn't turn him loose.
The footage is a little slippery down at this point too. Montgomery really tried to out maneuver him, wasn't able to and lost the footing.
And the crowd were up to the test. They stopped him for no game.
So it's third down and 15 from their own 40. Clock stopped, 14.18 remaining in the game.
Eagles scored a touchdown in the first quarter, missed the extra points. They got a TD in the third and they lead 13 to nothing.
They're going from our right to our left here in the final period of this game with 14 minutes remaining.
On third and 15, Jaworski hasn't been intercepted all day.
He's back to throw. Good protection. Now he's safe. Runs out of the pocket, hits from behind and tackles.
The ball comes loose, but the play was whistled in and I don't know if Jaworski is going to be able to get up.
He was really whacked. Boling Kajkendall was the first one in there and Jaworski was really blasted and sacked for the third time this afternoon.
He's forced out of the pocket. A very good rush by the out the football team and they're still fighting on the field down there.
They're not going to have the football, but the referee has called a play hit and it's going to be a fourth down and running situation.
How's Jaworski? Jaworski is still down on the ground. Ooh, it hit pretty hard.
John Walden and John Chirer are the other quarterbacks for Philadelphia in case Jaworski, who is now on his feet, is not able to continue.
He's a big kid, 6'2", 195. He took two hits. One took him down and the other on the way down and he gets smacked again.
He's a good kid. I think he'll be back. I don't think he wants to stay out of this football game. He's a tough competitor.
He's a hard study. He's a quarterback, watching films and doing his homework very, very well and I think he's got a fine job here this afternoon.
Here's the seventh punt by Mike Michelle. He'll get it away from his own 25.
He kicked the dandy this time and he sends Rickman way back inside the 20 yard line.
He got one block, a flag goes down and so does Rickman at the Atlanta 30 yard line and we probably have a clip as we frequently do.
That was a 52 yard punt by Mike Michelle and if it is clipping against Atlanta, they'll start way back in their own territory with 13 and a half left in the game.
Gary Tottolo is downfield for Philadelphia. Some kick by Michelle.
An outstanding kick. So he's back as long as one this afternoon and he kicked another one just previous to that, Jack, but that course there was a penalty on the play and then came back and did not get a particularly good kick off the next time.
And we do have a clipping penalty against the Atlanta Falcons. It puts them in a very precarious situation knowing that they're going to have to fill the football and the Eagles are going to come after it.
With 13 and a half left, Falcons are way back of their 8 yard line after the booming punt by Michelle and the subsequent clipping penalty.
They're trailing 13 to nothing Atlanta is. Barskowski has played all the way. He's that quarterback.
And he gives the stand back. He gets across the 10 to the 11, a gain of three, going to the left side.
It'll be second down and now the old clock is going to start to kill the Falcons.
13 minutes and 12 seconds to go in the fourth quarter play. The Falcons have not shown much offense all day long.
What little they've shown has been on the ground. Barskowski has been rushed two or three times and has not been able to throw the football as well as you would like to think that he can.
Alfred Jackson is a wide receiver along with Rickman. And on second down and six Barskowski is back to throw.
Rolling right, he throws it to the underneath man and that's Jackson. He is tackled across the 15 yard line.
Short of a first down, it'll be a third down play for Atlanta.
Coming up for Philadelphia is Bobby Howard, the quarterback, to make the tackle. Now 12 and a half left.
And time's running out. They still have plenty of time, but they have to have some kind of sustained drive. They haven't had any all day long.
Hopefully they'll get one of this period sometime to be able to make the football game a little more interesting to these people here.
It is a third and two play for Atlanta. The first down is of the utmost importance here.
And the give is to stand back. He has tackled and did not make a first down. Up again with Bobby Howard, the quarterback, and Bill Berge helped finish him off.
And it's kicking time for Atlanta. And they're not in a spot where they can gamble or do anything except kick.
Now they have to kick the football here. There's still too much time left to gamble from this situation that they position on the field.
They have to kick and hope that James really puts his foot into it and sends it way back.
James stands inside his five. We'll kick it from the five. John Shira is at midfield for the Eagles. The rain has stopped here.
And a high punt by James should be well covered. A fair catch called for by Shira takes it on his own.
Forty-nine, a 34-yard punt, no return. And again the Eagles are in great field position.
They have the ball. They have 11-17 remaining. And they have the lead. With a score, put it up to 13, Atlanta nothing. Let's take time out.
So let's have a look at how the top basketball teams in the college ranks did this week.
This is for the period December 18 through December 24.
Number one, Duke at 6-0 was idle, as was number two, Notre Dame at 4-0 idle.
Number three, UCLA, up this record to 6-1, their lone defeat coming at the hands of the Irish a couple of weeks back.
UCLA this week defeated Fordham 95-64 and Boston College 103-81.
Number four, Michigan State ran its record to 4-1 with a win over Cincinnati 63-52.
Number five, North Carolina State starts record, dropped to 7-3 as they were upset by Maryland 124-110.
Number six, North Carolina is now 6-0 after defeating the Michigan team by a score of 62-59.
Make that North Carolina defeated Cincinnati 62-59.
Number seven, Michigan 4-1 was idle. Now let's get back to Atlanta.
13-0 Philadelphia, 11-17 remaining in the game. Neither Johnny Unitas nor I have an axe to grind with regard to the winner of this game.
So Johnny's reference to making it a better game is on behalf of the Atlanta club.
Right, John? I hope that they'll make a better showing before the final gun shot.
They played well and I think the fans deserve to see a lot better football game.
They've been out, they've supported this football team, and I think we all know that Atlanta is able to play a lot better than what they've shown so far today.
Motion by the tight end, Jaworski was back in there, gives to Montgomery. Montgomery went for only a yard and a half over the right side, starting from his own 49, and he was driven back.
And the primary tackler was Jeff Murrow. And the other Jeff Yates was also in on it. Montgomery has carried 14 times and only gained 19 yards.
It's a little bit below his average. Just a touch. He gained during the year a total of 1,220 yards. And he averaged 4.7 yards per carry.
But not today, second and eighth. 4th Philadelphia from the Atlanta 49.
And Jaworski not sitting on it. It's back to throw. He looks, plops it over the middle, and it is incomplete. Incomplete intended for Charlie Smith. He had drawn heavy coverage.
And the pass was thrown low into the deck by Jaworski. They're not sitting on it. The play calling is not ultra conservative, but his throwing is conservative, John. He's not putting it up for grass.
That's right. He's throwing the ball well, and he's keeping the ball low when he has to. Charlie Smith that time was right on target. He was just too low with the football.
That's 5 seconds for stations to identify themselves on the CBS radio network.
This is the American Forces Radio and Television Service.
Third and eighth Philadelphia from the Atlanta 49.
Jaworski under a big rush, pops it off, and it is dropped incomplete at the 40 yard line.
He had the right play call, threw it low, but Charlie Smith couldn't catch it. Now it's kicking time again for Mike Michelle.
Well, he read the blitz that time, Jack. He had to see, he mentioned the right play called. He did not have the ball up where it should have been, however.
If he had it there, I'm sure it would have been a first down for the Philadelphia Eagles. He was reading the blitz very, very well, and they're changing the play at the line of scrimmage. I think he's doing an excellent job.
A bad snap, but Michelle did a dandy job. Scooped it up, punted it away, and a fair catch is called for by Rickman at his well. What a good job by Michelle.
He did. He's made next shortstop someplace because he had to be to pick that football up. It's a 36 yard punt with no return.
This has been a kick, kick, kick game. Ten-fourteen remaining in the contest. The sun is coming out now, and there's a timeout on the field with a score.
Going off your 13, Atlanta nothing.
That doesn't really matter. It hasn't been that good of a football game. The two big plays by the Philadelphia Eagles, the scores are on passes, one of which were touched down to Carl Michael.
Charlie Smith coming up, making a fine catch on a fine throw by Jaworski again against a blitz-like situation. Montgomery on a one yard score after on about the third down.
And we thought maybe that the Atlanta Falcons were going to hold them, but there was no holding Montgomery as the goal, but a break to play into the end zone for the touchdown.
So far the Atlanta Falcons have not shown much offense whatsoever. Their defense has been good.
Prakowski is 11 for 20 for 96 yards with one interception. Not what you'd call a particularly good afternoon for a quarterback of his caliber.
His offensive line has done the job fairly well. He's been pressured by Harrison most of the afternoon, and they have not been able to hold him out.
Hopefully they're going to do a better job as the game progresses.
The Atlanta crowd is whooping it up now, and the Falcons by the way, with seven and one at home. The crowd hasn't helped them this afternoon.
And they usually are a fourth period football team too, Jack, but so far they haven't shown any kind of offense, generated any type of offense so far, which could be due to the excellent play of the Philadelphia Eagles defense.
The 10-14 remaining, the Falcons are back to their 12-yard line. They have a first down. Prakowski is back to throw.
As time brings it to the sideline defense, and it is caught by Bubba Bean and he dropped it.
Bubba Bean had the ball all the way out to midfield, and Auburn's honor, they didn't drop the ball.
Well, you can't have those things happen, especially when you're behind 13 and nothing. That's just the poor concentration on Bubba Bean.
I don't know whether the ball was red or what, but the ball was perfectly thrown by Prakowski. You wouldn't want the ball thrown any better than that.
The ball came down right in his arms and bounced right out.
What do you say to the guy when he comes back, get out of here?
We might be looking back at that player, the player of the game, when he dropped it at midfield.
That's certainly true.
So it's 2nd and 10, back of the 12, with 10-07 remaining in the game. And the Eagles leading 13-0.
Out they come.
Francis and Rickman, the wide receivers. Prakowski fakes short and throws it long, and it is intercepted.
Taken away by Bobby Howard. The Eagles come back the other way to the 40, to the 35-yard line.
Down to the 30 goes Bobby Howard, and the Eagles have the ball, and that's the second time today Prakowski just threw it as far as he could and said, who wants it?
That's a bad call, Jack. A bad decision on his part. If he was the one who called the play, it was his decision to throw the football.
He should have gone elsewhere with the football. There was no way that anyone was going to get deep on Bobby Howard, who was five yards behind the receiver all the way.
And, of course, when the ball was thrown up in the air, he played the football extremely well, coming up with the intercept.
And then no reaction by the Atlanta club to stop him was a, what, a 27-yard return by Howard.
That's right. I don't know whether they just have lost all the enthusiasm or what, but they're still in the football game.
You have 9 minutes 52 seconds to go, and you're only down 13 points. You better get it up.
Jaworski from the 29 to Montgomery to the 28, and that's all.
Montgomery has been stopped almost all day long, gained only a yard. That was the fifth turnover.
The fifth turnover for Atlanta. Philadelphia has one turnover.
It's a big Philadelphia football game. They're playing, playing well both offensively, defensively, and, of course, the Southlanders are only playing one half of the football game.
The defense is playing extremely well offensively. They leave a lot to be desired.
Nine and a half left in the game. Amelina made that last tackle.
And it is second down and 10 from the 29-yard line of Atlanta.
Bartkowski is back to throw, and he's quick shot is caught down to the 25-yard line by the tight end Osborne.
A short gain on the play. He was immediately taken down.
They didn't bounce. Clock running, 8.55 remaining.
And it was Tom Friedmore, the safety man, with the tight end. All the Eagles are in good shape now.
They're in extremely good shape. Jaworski, watching it, to see what they're doing. He's not thrown that many different variety of patterns.
The diagonals, the quick out, and the quick plant has been what he has been throwing in a few turn ends.
And that is it, but he's able to get the ball away very quickly before the rush is able to get to it.
7 from the 25. The blitz is on. Jaworski dropped it off quickly for a first down, and it is caught by the wide receiver Ken Payne.
Another first down for Philadelphia.
Again, you see what I just mentioned and illustrated to you, that it's quickly quick out, quick turn in, quick plant, turn in by Charlie Smith.
And that's been his whole offense, the quick stuff.
And I think that it'll kill that blitz fast as anything, especially if you can pick it up and get the ball off, and the defenders are playing off of the offensive feet.
He's taking only two steps off and letting it fly. That's all you need, pal.
From the 15, you're at line up Atlanta now. The Eagles have a first down. They lead 13 to nothing.
And the give is to the up back Hogan. He drives to the 14, the ball came loose.
Who has it? A big pile up as they travel for it. They dig down into the pile to see who has possession.
For the remainder of the game, we now switch over to the audio from the CBS TV broadcast featuring announcers Gary Bender and Hank Stram.
It took a long time to determine, but Atlanta came up with a football. Who's getting up? Wright Moore and it looks like Kuykendall is the guy who got it. That's who it is.
There you see Hogan going up the middle and you get Jeff Merrill, number 75, really made good contact.
Hit him head on, Kupendall was able to make the recovery, number 54.
Kuykendall coming up with the fumble and Atlanta is not dead yet with 8'16 left to go.
They have the ball as the 12 yard line goes. They like to hang on and win here.
Get another crack at the Los Angeles Rams who they lost to on a last second field goal at the start of this year.
Markowski, thus far 11 for 22 and passing on a first down from the 13 yard line.
The far side coming up to get to Dennis Pearson. First time we've seen him from the line of scrimmage.
And Pearson who topped five passes this year comes up with it. First down.
Goes right down on Herman, breaks to the outside, the ball is right on the money and he makes the catch first down.
I tell you Hank, as many times as the Lans come back they can do it again. They've done it time and time again.
Both of them rookies with wide receivers on the first down. Markowski on a blip, he had to get rid of it.
Big pressure put on that time. Dennis Harrison coming from the left hand side was first to get there.
And now Gil Berge was also blipping on the play number 66. Looks like Steve will shake it up on that play.
Steve Markowski. That's all, it'll come to a second and ten from the 26 yard line.
One thing about Philadelphia, they're not known for their blips but they've done a pretty judicious job of using that today.
They've been depending on their blips as they've been extra. Change of pace has been very good. On the second down, ten.
Jackson and Pearson again the wide receivers. Markowski on there some pressure. He's got Wallace Francis down there.
Who's got it? Jaira is back there. They're giving it to Wallace Francis.
They both came down with a football and any time both the defensive player and the offensive player have this exit, it goes automatically to the offensive player.
Jackson did a great play. Great play. He really took it away from John Sanders number 26.
Wallace Francis. Yeah, Wallace Francis that time really made a fantastic play.
They had three wide receivers in on that. A 49 yard pass completion to the 25 yard line. John Sanders had half of it but the tie always goes to the offense.
The mistake Sanders made that time, he waited for the ball to come down. Had he gone after the ball and caught it high, he would have made the interception but he didn't and as a result, Francis was able to take the ball away from him.
The fans are on their feet here. Markowski dumps it off to Bubba Bean. Bubba Bean to the 20, to the 15 yard line. That's the other first down.
Carl Harrison, Reggie Wilkes combined on the stop but Bubba Bean picks up another first down for the Falcons.
A nice screen pass developing to the outside to Bubba Bean, 44 to cut back in a little bit prematurely. He had some blockers out in front but he took what he could get and got the ball down in good shape.
First and 10, he didn't win. You see Papale and Michelle looking on. They hope the Eagles can hang on here at the 15 yard line, a first down.
Markowski off to Bubba Bean. They're going to lose yardage on that one. Reggie Wilkes. Oh that Wilkes could be around for a long time at the NFL.
He's very active, strong and responds well to both the run and the fence.
You see the time remaining. 5.35. 13 to nothing. That point that they missed still leaves the door open for the Atlanta Falcons. The point after. At the 19 yard line, second down, 15 yards to go.
Atlanta trying to capitalize on a 49 yard pass completion to Wallace Francis.
A lot of room in the left corner, on the right corner, to the left side of the ball.
Markowski. And the end zone, broken up beautifully. Jackson the intended receiver, Randy Logan got back there.
And at the last instant got a hand on it.
As you can see it, he throws. It looked like he had a chance to make the play to Jim Mitchell. But by the time the ball got there, why the safety, Randy Logan, 41 came in and made a great play.
There's Randy Logan, a former standout at the University of Michigan. And he just came up with a touchdown saving deflection.
Third down, 15 yards to go.
There's your time remaining, 5.01. Markowski back to Mitchell. Touchdown. Jim Mitchell has put him back in the picture.
Okay, this is an amazing team, the way they come back in the fourth quarter. They still have a big job to do, but they've really started on the comeback.
And in this fourth quarter, with four minutes and 56 seconds left on the clock.
This is a 19 yard scoring strike to the big tight end. He was wide open. Markowski looked to his left and came back to his right.
To Mitchell, made the catch, wide open touchdown. This place is in Bedlam right now as Mazetti to attempt the point after.
Mazetti's kicked us up. It's good. And all of a sudden now, it's a 13 to 7 game. The Atlanta Bakans have climbed right back in.
Don't go away, we have a lot of football left. Dick Fermin, looking on as this team. Now that's just 13 to 7.
With four and 56 left in this game, and it's not over. There it is, 13 to 7. Louis Giamotta, Philly camp fielder, back as the twin safety for Philadelphia.
As Vermeer's team, not out of this one yet. Mazetti to kick off.
This is Giamotta to the 20, and he brings it out to the 24 yard line. And you no doubt can hear the roar of this crowd in the background.
Look at the playoff situation. It's changed a little now. It could be Atlanta playing Dallas, if they would pull this one out.
On the other hand, if that does not happen, Philadelphia hangs on to win. They meet Los Angeles on Sunday. A lot at stake in the last 4.47 in this game.
That return was 16 yards by Giamotta from the 24.
Now Orski gives to Montgomery. Montgomery is going to get a yard, and that's all. And Hank, this crowd is going crazy.
The emotional pitch of this crowd and this football team is at very high level at this particular stage. It was sagging, and understandably so when they were behind 13 and nothing, but they really picked up the tempo and it's second and nine now for Philadelphia.
Yes, they've got to try desperately to make a first down and not kick the ball back to Atlanta because they could be right back in the football game with good field position.
Second down and nine. You see the time. And the upper right hand portion of the screen.
Joe Orski wants to throw. He's got Smith, and Smith didn't get it.
I think they caught him out of it. It looked like he did have it.
Watch what happens here now. I really thought he, nope, he did drop it. That was a good call. Very good call, but that's why, you know, really from this angle, there's a lot of time to the sideline where his coaches are fans. You think maybe the official blue one.
There's such a great illustration of what a good job they do. Third down and nine. You can see what this crowd means to this Atlanta football team. They've been seven and one at home this year.
And part of that enthusiasm coming forth right now. Payne Smith, the wide receiver. On a third and nine from the 25. They're flippin' everybody.
Look out, here comes Brazina chasing Joe Orski, and Joe Orski is hit. Coming over is Dewey McClain, number 52.
Everybody but the coaching staff looks on that play, Gary. And Joe Orski had a run out of the pocket. He's just in to tackle there by Dewey McClain, number 52.
And so, with the sun now breaking through the clouds, Michelle will kick to Rickman with three. Twenty-seven and the clock is moving.
Michelle, the last time, really got into one. Forty-seven yard kick. He needs another like that right now.
You can see the master having to yell the signals out. It's so loud here. Michelle didn't get into that one as well. Rickman from the forty yard line.
And good coverage at times by Cleveland Franklin. He got him by the face mask. Cleveland Franklin got him by the face mask, and that'll tack fifteen yards on.
A thirty-two yard kick by Michelle. That's exactly what they didn't want to have happen.
And now Atlanta, who's come from behind so often this year, now will have excellent field position.
The Falcons this year won four games in the final ten seconds of play. They may come down that again.
Number thirty on the run back. First of all, face mask. First down.
The penalty sets it up. That's the fifty yard line. There's your time. Three minutes remaining. Thirteen to seven. Philadelphia's the lead.
And Atlanta's got to have the touchdown. And of course that all-important point after.
They have the three receivers in the game. They take out the tight end.
The crowd now getting quiet. So Markowski can mark the signals out on the first down. And that play was a dangerous play. Bubba Bean, the intended receiver.
And Berge that time was glitzing on the play through in the flats of Bubba Bean that time, but it was almost intercepted.
You can see that develop, couldn't you? Yes.
He waited a little bit too long. He couldn't find anybody open. Decided to throw the ball to the safety valve. And the defensive back was right there and almost made a play and intercepted.
That was Michelle. Looks like he injured his tongue or his mouth.
There's your timeout situation. All of them remaining for both sides.
And there's your time. Two fifty-four. You see it with a second and ten. Now for the midfield strike. Thirteen to seven. Philadelphia's the lead. Markowski back on the second and ten. Over the middle. He has his hand at Francis again.
And the ball is going to be marked at the thirty-eight yard line. Francis is hurt. Wally Francis. Wally Francis is hurt on the play seemingly. He just got shaken up a little bit on the play I'm sure.
But they win a three receiver situation. Wally Francis went right down the middle in front of the safety man Randy Logan. And stopped. There he is. Logan makes the tackle. But Francis makes the catch and that's a first down opportunity for the Atlanta Falcons.
Now we have an official timeout while they get Francis off the field. There's his receptions for the day. Two thirty-two left in the game.
Second down. Should say first down and ten from the thirty-seven yard line. Three wide receivers in the game now. Ford Latta. Gets up off of Bean and six. And Bean inside the thirty-five to the thirty-three. Ken Clark made the stop.
They're going to let it play down to the two minute warning now. I'm sure that's what they're going to do. So we're going to come to the two minute warning. The issue is still very much unsettled here in Atlanta. Two minutes remaining.
The ball will be at the thirty-two yard line. It'll be second down at five. Atlanta trailing thirteen to seven and trying to pull out a game. They've done it on four different occasions earlier this year in the last ten seconds of play.
Three to seven. Two minutes remaining from the thirty-two yard line. Atlanta, as you look at Dick Vermeel, he looks very calm. The boy's got to be turning inside as he sees the Falcons come to the line.
Coming to the second and five. Francis, Jackson, Rickman. Three wide receivers. Markowski with two hundred and one yards passing now. Has time. Above a Bean. He can't get it. And it's going to be a third down. Looks like we have a penalty too. A flag on the play back at the forty yard line.
It's holding against Atlanta. What that does, that really changes your play calling. You're going to have a third and five and now you're going to have fifteen yards to go.
Bill Berge. They've got to go for the touchdown. There's no field goal thinking here with a thirteen to seven lead. Markowski, who's had a hot hand now in this fourth quarter, he is sixteen of thirty for two hundred and one yards for the day.
Off in. Number seventy-eight. That's Mike Kent, the rookie, their number one draft pick out of Michigan that was holding. Now we have a second down. Fifteen yards to go. There he is. Big guy. Six-six, two hundred and sixty pounder.
Dennis Kersen just went in the game for Billy Rickmuntz. With a Wally Francis, Jackson, and Dennis Kersen, the three wide receivers in the game at the time.
That should be a second down at fifteen. With one fifty-four as Markowski rolling. He's got Francis. Francis. And he's still about ten, maybe eleven yards short of that first down. Bobby Howard reacting on the play.
There's the time with one forty-six. And it's getting down now to very close to the end. We come to a third down. Third down and about ten and a half yards to go.
Want to thank our statistician, Joe Willingham, our spotter Rick Baker for their help today on this telecast. Third down, ten and a half. Well Hank, this is a big play.
Rick made that in the game for Kersen. Markowski, got time to throw. He's got a man over Francis. Well as Francis was wide open. He went right down the middle. He was in the slot.
Right down the middle of his own defense. Hit the seam. And Markowski really spotted him perfectly. Left the ball right on the money. Touchdown for Atlanta. Unbelievable.
You know in the pregame show, the NFL today, we saw that hugging scene a couple of times in the end zone. They pulled him out quite like that before. They come right back here today.
And that's an instant replay of the four games they won in the winning seconds of the game during the course of the season. Boy was he open on that play. They were concerned about the outside receivers and they let Francis go right down the middle. He was wide open. He got the ball perfectly. And the touchdown that went.
13 to 13. Mazetti trying to have the play after he got it. And Atlanta takes the lead. Here we go again.
Markowski does a good job of picking left throwing it right down the middle. This place is in Bedlam. A 37 yard touchdown strike has given Atlanta the lead. After the point after, Dick Vermeer, well his team with a minute 39 with which to pull it out. He talks things over as Ron Jaworski.
You know Francis in this game, including that last catch, has six catches for 135 yards. That's an amazing effort. And Leemon Bennett.
This took a long time to get on track offensively. But they have come back to score a touchdown in each of the last two quarters. And I mentioned this several times. It's amazing how much better they play offensively when they're behind in the game. I'd like to see them sometimes go off the bus and play like they're behind and start a game that way because I think they blow somebody right on the ball park. But they wait for them behind to do that kind of firework.
Louis Giammon is going to bring it up for the Eagles. 25, 30 and he has a head of steam on. And this forward progress is close to the 35 yard line.
I want to take this opportunity to thank our producer, Bob Senter.
And our director, Tony Vernon. Gentlemen, you're pros. Our associate producer, Gail Bledsoe.
As we now have the ball at the 34 yard line. A first down, a minute 32 left. And that's a lot of time, Gary. A minute and 32. They have three timeouts. They're still out of fireworks we're going to have here before this thing is over.
Keep in mind that they just have to get close enough to keep a field goal. Carmichael, by the way, is not in the lineup now. It's back to throw Jaworski over the middle and trying to come up with it is Charlie Smith again. He's had two of them who were very close but nothing going.
One time Jaworski threw the ball a little bit prematurely. He had enough time to set up and throw the ball but he didn't have much on at that time. He threw it into the ground and it calls in complete. A minute 27 seconds left in this game.
That was Pride Board defending on the play for Atlanta. They have three timeouts remaining. They beat Philadelphia. A minute and 27 left. Second and 10 from the 34.
Over the middle and Charles Smith comes up with this one and they're alive. They're alive and well at the 49 yard line. They're going without a huddle. And I'm surprised that time they blitzed them that time which gave them man for man coverage and an opportunity to get one for one and he completed the pass.
Now remember they have a field goal attempt. Michelle has attempted only one in the entire season and he missed that one earlier today. Jaworski to Hogan and Hogan is going to make it just about to the 45 yard line and I believe we'll have a timeout call.
Philadelphia has asked and they have received a timeout with 54 seconds left.
There's Michelle and boy what pressure he would have in the last four regular season games he was never called upon to kick a field goal. He had never kicked one until he attempted one today and he missed that one.
The timeout left Atlanta. Philadelphia has only one left. We'll be back in a moment.
Fourteen thirteen. There's our score. Philadelphia was one time out left. They took one earlier. Now the ball is resting just outside the 45 yard line of Atlanta.
The key to the whole thing really Gary as you know is the fact that they just have to get close enough through the ball down the field for a couple of first downs.
Johnny Payne is in the lineup. He's split out along with Charles Smith. Safety blitz are all glitzing again. Jaworski bypasses it. He's drawing deep. And down there is Orrin Middlebrook. Orrin Middlebrook had it for a second. Ernie Jackson.
Middlebrook had the ball and just dropped it. I was surprised Atlantis came with everybody that time. Watch it. Look at it. He had possession and then he dropped the ball. Ernie Jackson was responsible for John the ball loose.
There you see it again. He has possession and Ernie knocks it through there. A good play by Orrin Middlebrook. And Middlebrook you know has the kind of that. He was a young man they picked up as a free agent after playing with Denver.
Now it's third and four. From the 45 yard line third and four. Jaworski this time he hits his man Middlebrook. Middlebrook going to get out of bounds. He stops the clock and it's another first down.
So they go right back to him and. Yeah 38 seconds left in the game. Boy they played awfully loose on this one didn't they? Yeah and of course that's their personality. They play loose all the time even though they blitz.
You see Bias 38 finally bumps him out but now it's a first down at the 34 and boy it is coming down to the last second. It's getting sticky. There's Vermeer. First down 10 from the 34.
You see the time remaining. Jaworski to Smith. He has it too. What a catch by Smith. And they used the time out. They only have one remaining. They call the time out. They call the time out.
And so with 27 seconds left the ball is now outside the 15 yard line. That's a great catch by Smith. He had to come back a little bit for the ball.
Brazina was putting on the play. The fifth thing is they can't decide themselves with the opportunity to get out of the kicking range. They're in that range right now. All they want to do probably is get a little closer so they give Michelle an opportunity to glide ball up to the goal post.
Hank Mike Michelle number two is the guy that would have to kick it. He missed a 42 yard earlier and he's never made one this season for the Philadelphia Eagles. What he's done in the past is very unimportant. The only thing that will be important is what he does with this opportunity when the time comes.
27 seconds. A lot of room on the right side of the total ball. Short again.
He's got the wide reach stuff. I like the left hand was running an inside pattern of post flag that time and he looked like he really had bias licked on the play except there was a deflection. There you see it. A deflection on the play and it falls in complete.
For me that makes the deflection number 74 the defensive tackle. All right. You see McLean number 52 coming out of the grid iron and leaving the league.
Hey, let's keep things under control here.
Well, that's the third down. Well, there comes number two Mike Michelle and it's down to the last play.
He's never kicked a field goal successfully. He missed a 42 yarder back in the third quarter.
That is going to call a timeout and make you think about it. That's exactly what they're going to do. Good move on the part of Atlanta to make him think a little bit more about the kick that he's going to try to make on this next step. You know, it's interesting about this.
There's been one situation all year long. The Burmese has never been able to solve and that was a kicking game. He shuffled punters around and what Nick Pekkemeyer went down with a broken rib.
Not to add another field goal kicker. He felt that Michelle could do both. And now the day of reckoning has come. Right now with 17 seconds he's going to find out whether that decision was a good one.
Boy, boy, this game has so many little things.
Do you think they could maybe try another down before they try to field goal? They evidently felt they didn't want a number one. The only thing they could do was throw a pass. If they try to throw a pass and they caught him in the blitz and threw him back deeper into the backfield, it would have been a longer kick.
Plus the fact they have no timeout. They don't want to take a chance of blowing the opportunity to at least try to win the game with a field goal. And I think it's a very wise decision.
Okay, 17 seconds. I wonder if Atlanta will call another one.
Alright, 34 yard attempt by Michelle.
Skyra to hold. We'll just watch it and you'll know.
It's good. No!
It's no good.
There's still 13 seconds left with the fans. They're on the field. And look at Michelle.
Greg Rosina, one of the fine, outstanding men down there. And I'm sure he had some words of condolences to Mike Michelle. And this place is in Bedlam. This game isn't over yet.
There's still 13 seconds left in the clock. So the game is not.
There's Parkowski and what a come from behind effort. They're all over the field. They may not be able to continue this game.
They have to, but it doesn't look like they're going to get it done right now.
Look at that.
They're still pouring out of the stands.
Boy, the Michelle kick. It veered right on him, Hank, as it took off.
It looked like he was through there and it sailed to the right. Exactly right. And I was way premature in making that call.
It got swallowed up in the excitement of it, but it looked like he was good when it took off.
Let's go down now with Brent Musburger and let's see if we can figure out what's happening down there.
It is like New Year's Eve down here on the field in Atlanta. Norman, we've got 13 seconds for you out of it.
I know. I'm probably going to release it for 13 seconds if he goes to Atlanta, I think.
Jane, have you ever been through anything quite like this?
Not quite like this. They were saying they were going to pull it off not quite but earlier when I said wait until the second half.
Atlanta, you never know what they're going to do when it comes right down into it.
Well, I see some of the Atlanta players now are headed down out of the tunnel out here and they're still trying to get the people off.
And what a remarkable story this year it has been, Greg.
It was beautiful.
I love it.
Let's go back upstairs right now to Gary Bender.
Okay, Brent, thank you and boy, you can see the emotion in this football game.
Moijia Mota down there earlier, Michelle, Atlanta who has won three games, 20 to 17 in the last seconds, leading to this one 14 to 13.
They just seem to be a team of destiny if there's any such thing, eh?
They've won four games in the last 10 seconds.
At one stage they were one and three in the early going. Things looked bad for them and boy, they've been able to hang on, hang on and look where they are right now.
You really have to give a lot of credit to both coaching staff and both teams, Dick Vermeel and of course, Leland Bennett.
Both teams played extremely well all year long and did a great job of withstanding adversity and making things happen, coming from behind, winning football games.
And this was a fantastic game here this afternoon.
It's a great compliment, really, for the Atlanta Falcons to come back and win it like they did.
We'll be back in just a moment.
14-13, they're now clearing the field. They must finish this football game before it can become history.
And so we'll pick it up after this miss field goal attempt of 34 yards.
There you see it. It looked like it was just sailed right off to the right, right before it got to the upright.
And so now, at the 20-yard line, Atlanta has it. It's really academic, but they must finish it.
Of course, you've got to remember that miracle of a medal lands.
There was a fumble in that game. Philadelphia ran it in.
But something like that to happen again, well, the crowd is still milling around the sidelines.
The capacity crowd are better than 60,000.
And today, what, if you watch the Atlanta Falcons play, you better check your heart.
They have really had some photo finishes this year.
So with 13 seconds left, Atlanta, before they can put this away,
move in against the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC playoffs.
We've got to grind out the remaining time.
Of course, Philadelphia has no timeout, but so they just have to snap the ball one time.
Barkowski will fall on it, and that'll do it. And the Atlanta Falcons have won, as Dick Vermeel walks off,
and he has to be disappointed. His team leading 13-0.5.
Losing this one 14-13, and Barkowski and Company came back.