The Booboo Bowl

While 64 million TV viewers were watching the Super Bowl on NBC last week, ABC in New York was running a film called Snow White and the Three Stooges. At times it was hard to tell which show was which. When it came to pratfalls, the Dallas Cowboys and the Baltimore Colts all but upstaged the Three Stooges. At the very end, the Cowboys snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The Colts provided the surprise ending with a last-second field goal that gave them a 16-13 win and $15,000 per man.

What preceded that climax in Miami's Orange Bowl was an astonishing afternoon of fumbles, interceptions and bizarre turns. Shortly after the opening whistle, Colt Quarterback Johnny Unitas set the theme by throwing an interception. Dallas responded by losing 23 yds. on three plays and then punting. Colt Safety Ron Gardin hovered under the kick and then bolted off--leaving the ball behind for Dallas to recover on the Baltimore 9-yd. line. The Cowboys, more or less led by Quarterback Craig Morton, went nowhere and had to settle for a field goal. Minutes later, Morton connected on a long pass play that moved the ball to the Colt 6-yd. line. Incredibly, Morton then managed to draw a rare 15-yd. penalty for intentionally grounding the ball, and Dallas again settled for a field goal.

Later in the second quarter, the Colts pulled off a play more befitting volleyball than football. Sending Tight End John Mackey downfield as a decoy, Unitas took aim at Wide Receiver Eddie Hinton --and overthrew him. Hinton leaped and tipped the ball to Cowboy Cornerback Mel Renfro, who leaped and tipped the ball to the startled Mackey, who raced 45 yds. for a touchdown.

As booboo piled upon booboo. it was apparent that these were two spooked teams. Both were desperately seeking vindication, the Colts for their humiliating 16-7 loss to the underdog New York Jets in the 1969 Super Bowl, the Cowboys for blowing two league and two conference title games in the past four years. What they achieved was 60 minutes of chaotic excitement in which supposed strengths became weaknesses.

After displaying a bulldozing running attack all year long, Dallas could generate only a meager 104 yds. on the ground; Baltimore's premier quarterback Johnny Unitas completed only three out of nine passes before retiring with injured ribs. Earl Morrall, his back-up man and another veteran, did little better with seven for 15.

Rattling Tactics. The game's six interceptions and five lost fumbles were partly due, of course, to the ferocity of the defense. But that could not explain all the incredible miscues. Nor could it account for some of the strangest coaching ever seen in a major game. Near the end of the first half, Baltimore had a first down on the Dallas 2-yd. line. Though the Dallas forward wall is famed for its goal-line stands, the Colts sent Running Back Norm Bulaich into the line three straight times for no gain. Then, refusing to go for a sure field goal, Coach Don McCafferty called for a pass that was easily broken up. Even more curious were some of the calls that came from the Dallas bench. Cowboy Coach Tom Landry is rated a brilliant strategist; in fact, he put Dallas into the Super Bowl in the first place by calling all plays from the sidelines. But consider. With less than 2 min. remaining and the score tied 13-13, the Cowboys were on the Colt 48-yd. line and needed only a few more yards to be in range of a winning field goal. What Landry called was a pass from Morton, a sore-armed thrower who had completed only 27% of his attempts in the two play-off games. Morton was dumped for a loss--and Dallas never again got within scoring position.

One of the few cool heads on the field belonged to Baltimore's Place Kicker Jim O'Brien, a 23-year-old rookie. As he set up his field-goal attempt on the Dallas 32-yd. line with just 5 sees, remaining in the game, the Cowboys started screaming at him: "Don't choke! Don't choke! You're gonna blow it!" O'Brien had prepared for such rattling tactics by having teammates yell at him in practice. With icy precision, he split the uprights to give the Colts a 16-13 victory. In the locker room later, O'Brien claimed that he had foreseen the outcome in "a kind of storybook dream." For the fans, nightmare was a more appropriate word.

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