![]() There was nothing in front of him but 35 yards of a churned-up field to the goal line.EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. Duhe, who lines up at left linebacker, charged through a hole in the right side of the Jets' line and picked it off. Pressure on ToddĮarly in the final period, Todd attempted a screen pass to Bruce Harper. title games, or their predecessors in the American Football League, have yielded since they began in 1960.ĭuhe was virtually more productive than his offense. The Dolphins were to net only 198 yards in the game - the two-team total of 337 yards the lowest that these A.F.C. An unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty called on Darrol Ray on the play pushed the ball to the 7.īennett, in for Franklin at fullback, then charged up the middle for the score. A Penalty Is CostlyĪ few plays later, on a critical third-and-3 situation, Woodley connected for 14 yards to Duriel Harris at the Jets' 14. ![]() The officials ruled that Franklin had fumbled after being pushed backward, and the play was dead. Gastineau's dramatics and exuberance were all for nothing. The Jets recovered the ball, and Mark Gastineau, who wound up with two sacks, spiked it. He was knocked back and lost the ball, having been hit so severely that he was through for the game. Today, a swarm of defenders attacked him on the carry as he pushed forward for 1 yard. Then he was given the ball again.įranklin had fumbled four times in the previous playoff games. The Dolphins' Andra Franklin, the conference's second-leading rusher behind McNeil, picked up 8 yards. ![]() The ball sailed behind the fullback, who could only tip it, deflecting it to Duhe, who snared the ball and ran it back 1 yard to the Jets' 48. Near midfield, Todd tossed the ball over the middle for Augustyniak. The game began to turn when the Jets took the ball on their first possession of the second half. Meanwhile, Marty Lyons, the right tackle, played the entire game despite a hamstring problem. Joe Klecko sometimes played at left tackle for Abdul Salaam, who has a groin injury. The finely disciplined Jets' defensive unit sometimes threatened to blitz Woodley, and it pressured him and his runners. On their own, the Dolphins could get no closer than the Jets' 45 in the opening half. Even the two touchdowns were not a tribute to the Miami offense. championship-game record set by George Blanda of Houston (in 1961 and again in 1962) and Dan Pastorini of Houston in 1978.Īs a result of such poor offensive play (or perhaps great defensive efforts stymied the runners and quarterbacks) the teams produced the only scoreless first half in A.F.C. Todd's five inteceptions today tied the A.F.C. Five of those interceptions had come in the two regular-season losses to Miami. Indeed, in all of the other 11 games this season, including the playoffs, he had been picked off only 11 times. This was the first time in his seven seasons that he was intercepted five times. Todd is accustomed to worse weather at Shea Stadium, but he had a game that was a throwback to the days when he was an unsure quarterback who tossed the ball away wildly under pressure. ''We did that with the thought that we might have to play under such conditions later,'' Shula said after the game. The Dolphins held a brief practice in it. Thursday, there was a rain squall that ushered in the weekend of bad weather. ''When you hear Walt Michaels make a lot of excuses, let me know.''ĭon Shula, whose Dolphins posted a 7-2 regular-season mark, said his team prepared for today's foul weather. ''It would be easy to make a lot of excuses,'' he said, when asked about the field conditions. Some of the Jets thought the soggy surface (the Dolphins do not own a tarpaulin, and the field was rained on heavily since Thursday) hurt the Jets' offense more than it affected the Dolphins. The Jets, with a patchwork defensive line, allowed few big plays and confounded the Dolphin quarterback David Woodley, who, at age 24, will become the youngest quarterback to start a Super Bowl. The rest of the time, the defenses of both teams prevailed. In the third period, a Duhe interception started a 48-yard Miami drive that ended when Woody Bennett -whom the Jets cut in 1980 - drove over the middle for a 7-yard touchdown run.īoth times, Uwe Von Schamann, the West German-born place-kicker, who broke a small bone in his lower back in a playoff game last week, kicked the extra point. ![]() One of his interceptions resulted in a gamebreaking, 35-yard final touchdown run in the fourth quarter. title-game record as he picked off three of Todd's tosses. Duhe, performing at linebacker for the Dolphins, set an A.F.C.
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