Special Teams

Weird. The best way to describe the journey of the 1983 Pittsburgh Steelers, who played without their Hall of Fame Quarterback until he got healthy just in time for one last game, and one last moment of glory. Terry Bradshaw's elbow betrayed him the final few years of his career, but he had one last shining moment before hanging up his cleats. How did the Steelers navigate the daily drama while they waited for him to heal? How did they keep winning games without him - until he had to save their season? How abrupt was it that his final game was cut shockingly short? And what the hell did the Jets fans do to the field following the game that lives in infamy? It's the 1983 Pittsburgh Steelers - Terry Bradshaw's Last Game. 

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We talk about 'bests' all the time. But how about what was probably the worst defense in a single season in NFL history? The numbers you will hear are absolutely stunning. Almost as stunning as the fact that things got so bad for the 1981 Baltimore Colts, the owner got so fed up he went to the booth to call plays during one game. Yep. It happened. From there we jump to the NBA, where the 1981 Western Conference Finals took place between the two teams who were not only the lowest seeds in the conference, but both had losing records overall - the Kansas City Kings & Houston Rockets. The playoffs involved two huge upsets, one Magic Johnson airball, and one future Hall of Famer who, in the end, probably shouldn't have said what he did. It's Special Teams 1981: Losers, and Winning Losers. 

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What would happen if fans threw snowballs on the field during a football game? Well, now you'll be able to find out. This week on Special Teams we look back at three of the biggest football games in history that were affected by those special spheres of winter fun. Snowballs ruined a field goal that could've won a game between the 49ers and Broncos in 1985. Ten years later, fans at the Chargers-Giants game were so out of control with snowballs there were ejections, arrests, and team personnel knocked unconscious. Not to be outdone, Jason was in attendance at the infamous Michigan-Penn State snowball game the same year which resulted in an angry Joe Paterno yelling at fans on a stadium microphone. Bundle up. It's Special Teams: The Snowball Games. 

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The AFC Championship game for the 1982 season between the Jets and the Dolphins is known more for it's weather than it's play on the field. "The Mud Bowl" was a shocking display of offensive ineptitude on a field better suited to swim in than play football on. The game has been shrouded in conspiracy theories for nearly 40 years, and it will probably stay that way forever. It had one great play to hang it's hat on, and all sorts of drama involving the losing team you have to hear to believe. It's Special Teams: The Mud Bowl.

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The Dolphins and Patriots met under frozen and snowy circumstances late in the 1982 season in a game immortalized due to a snowplow.

On January 10th, 1981, the Bengals hosted the Chargers in the AFC Championship Game - a contest that would go down as the coldest football game in NFL history.

Without a doubt, the 1980 Holiday Bowl is one of the top three college football bowl games of the past 40 years.

The Rams Greatest Show on Turf offense never met a defense that stifled it as much as the Buccaneers did this day.

No one knew how MLB would return from the strike year of 1994.

On today's episode, Jason explains why he believes Luka Doncic's 43 point, 17 rebound, 13 assist performance in the Dallas Mavericks' Game 4 win over the Los Angeles Clippers will go down in history as one of the seminal individual playoff performances of the last 40 years, tells us why 'Playoff P' Paul George could be one of the worst postseason performers in recent history, and wonders aloud why Kawhi Leonard and Doc Rivers aren't facing more criticism from the talking heads as the Clippers' best player and head coach, respectively. Jason also explains how the fact that Donovan Mitchell and Jamal Murray both dropping 50 points on Sunday night in the same game is further proof that the overall talent in today's NBA is much higher than in year's past. Plus, FS1 and Bleacher Report NBA analyst Ric Bucher swings by to explain why he's still not 100% sold on LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, why Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid - and necessarily head coach Brett Brown - should shoulder much of the blame for the Philadelphia Sixers playoff struggles the past few seasons, why he's betting on the Golden State Warriors keeping the #2 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, and much more! Finally, Jason puts his gaudy 71% winning percentage to the test in the Monday edition of the Best Bet.