Monday, August 28, 2006
Opinions on 1977 St. Louis Cardinals vs. Philadelphia Eagles
I was going to do this with a review of invincible but due to circumstances out of my control that won't be possible. At least I will have something to talk about here tho.
The broadcast team was Gary Bender (who is now the PHX Suns' TV voice) and Tom Matte. (the former Baltimore Colts great) It's interesting to note the minimalism that was employed in this broadcast as it was a very straightforward description of the game, some analysis of some big plays and even some not so big plays. Matte was a bit grating on the ears tho as he didn't really seem to have a very good broadcasting voice. This was offset by his explanations of some of the plays and how they were executed. He wasn't very fancy about it and explained things in a concise manner.
One reason why I picked this up was because I wanted to see Ron Jaworski at QB and Harold Carmichael at WR for the Eagles. I also wanted to see the Cardinals' Jim Hart at the helm. I also heard a lot about Mel Gray who was an excellent WR for the Cards.
Anyways it wasn't the greatest game for Jaworski as he made some poor reads that resulted in killing drives or an INT. There were some flashes of brilliance and you can tell there were some better days coming for him.
Harold Carmichael didn't get the ball very much. I think he was only thrown the ball 5 times or so. This absolutely baffled me as the guy was 6'8, 225 pounds and looked like a man amongst boys. He had some great speed and a long stride. I think he wasn't too happy that he didn't get the ball very much as he caught a TD in the 2nd half and looked a bit pissed off. I wouldn't blame him. I distinctly remember that he only got the ball thrown to him ONCE in the first half of the game.
As for the Cardinals players I wanted to look at well, Jim Hart was banged up but he didn't play that way! He made some great reads, coaxed the Eagles defense to go offsides a couple or so times and threw the ball with great accuracy.
Mel Gray didn't get TOO involved in the game. (both teams decided to play more ball control type of game) but he did make a spectacular catch at one point. He basically jumped up for the ball, caught it and got slammed down onto the turf. It wasn't a very violent hit but it sure had to hurt!
I did see a good young(ish) RB by the name of Terry Metcalf who made one of those kind of plays that makes you stand up and shake your head. He was carrying the ball and more or less LEAPED over the defender to get the first down. Bear in mind that this was in the open field as well.
I also got to see the great NFL Today halftime show (smirk) it had the feel of a news broadcast. I know it's 1977 but there was NO breakdown of the game you were watching. (this could be because it seemed like I got my hands on a master as all commercials were national ones) I didn't expect to get a Sammy Davis Jr. song thrown my way but hey that's an added bonus! Irv Cross intro'ed a video about the Cowboys and they had a Sammy Davis song called "I'm gonna build me a mountain" playing over the NFL Films clips.
As for the game itself? It was 21-17 St. Louis but the score is a bit misleading as the Cards had a commanding lead of 14-3 then 21-3 in the 4th QTR. The Eagles made a mad dash of it but they couldn't come back to win.
I'm going to be getting a helluva broadcast sometime in September tho as I am going to get my hands on the 1979 shootout between Steve Bartkowski and Dan Fouts as the Atlanta Falcons take on the San Diego Chargers.
The broadcast team was Gary Bender (who is now the PHX Suns' TV voice) and Tom Matte. (the former Baltimore Colts great) It's interesting to note the minimalism that was employed in this broadcast as it was a very straightforward description of the game, some analysis of some big plays and even some not so big plays. Matte was a bit grating on the ears tho as he didn't really seem to have a very good broadcasting voice. This was offset by his explanations of some of the plays and how they were executed. He wasn't very fancy about it and explained things in a concise manner.
One reason why I picked this up was because I wanted to see Ron Jaworski at QB and Harold Carmichael at WR for the Eagles. I also wanted to see the Cardinals' Jim Hart at the helm. I also heard a lot about Mel Gray who was an excellent WR for the Cards.
Anyways it wasn't the greatest game for Jaworski as he made some poor reads that resulted in killing drives or an INT. There were some flashes of brilliance and you can tell there were some better days coming for him.
Harold Carmichael didn't get the ball very much. I think he was only thrown the ball 5 times or so. This absolutely baffled me as the guy was 6'8, 225 pounds and looked like a man amongst boys. He had some great speed and a long stride. I think he wasn't too happy that he didn't get the ball very much as he caught a TD in the 2nd half and looked a bit pissed off. I wouldn't blame him. I distinctly remember that he only got the ball thrown to him ONCE in the first half of the game.
As for the Cardinals players I wanted to look at well, Jim Hart was banged up but he didn't play that way! He made some great reads, coaxed the Eagles defense to go offsides a couple or so times and threw the ball with great accuracy.
Mel Gray didn't get TOO involved in the game. (both teams decided to play more ball control type of game) but he did make a spectacular catch at one point. He basically jumped up for the ball, caught it and got slammed down onto the turf. It wasn't a very violent hit but it sure had to hurt!
I did see a good young(ish) RB by the name of Terry Metcalf who made one of those kind of plays that makes you stand up and shake your head. He was carrying the ball and more or less LEAPED over the defender to get the first down. Bear in mind that this was in the open field as well.
I also got to see the great NFL Today halftime show (smirk) it had the feel of a news broadcast. I know it's 1977 but there was NO breakdown of the game you were watching. (this could be because it seemed like I got my hands on a master as all commercials were national ones) I didn't expect to get a Sammy Davis Jr. song thrown my way but hey that's an added bonus! Irv Cross intro'ed a video about the Cowboys and they had a Sammy Davis song called "I'm gonna build me a mountain" playing over the NFL Films clips.
As for the game itself? It was 21-17 St. Louis but the score is a bit misleading as the Cards had a commanding lead of 14-3 then 21-3 in the 4th QTR. The Eagles made a mad dash of it but they couldn't come back to win.
I'm going to be getting a helluva broadcast sometime in September tho as I am going to get my hands on the 1979 shootout between Steve Bartkowski and Dan Fouts as the Atlanta Falcons take on the San Diego Chargers.
# posted by Chris Fung @ 9:53 PM 
