Super Bowl X, ‘One For the Ages’ (Second Half)
In this final installment, I take you through the third and fourth quarters of one of the best Super Bowls of all time.
Pittsburgh took the second-half kickoff at their 25-yard line. Two runs by Harris lost yardage, and a third-down pass was incomplete. The Steelers had to punt, and Dallas took possession at their 42. Two runs gained only three yards.
Then, on third-and-seven, Pittsburgh defensive back, J.T. Thomas intercepted a Roger Staubach pass and returned it to the Dallas 25-yard line.
Three straight runs by Franco Harris gained enough for a first down, a run by Bradshaw lost two yards, and two pass attempts fell incomplete. The Steelers lined up for a 33-yard field goal, but Roy Gerela missed again. Gerela had bruised his ribs while forcing Thomas Henderson out of bounds on the opening kick, and it was apparent the hit was affecting his kicking.
Dallas took over at their 20. A run by Preston Pearson gained nine yards, and then Robert Newhouse ran for two and a first down. Two more runs by Newhouse gained five yards and, on third-and-five, Staubach dropped back to pass, but was forced out of the pocket by a Pittsburgh blitz. He came up about a half-a-yard short of the marker.
The Cowboys punted, and the Steelers took possession at their 24. Harris gained three, and a pass to Swann got 12 more. Two more runs gained eight yds, but a third-down pass was incomplete. It was an all-out defensive battle with heavy-hitting on both sides.
Pittsburgh punted, and Dallas took possession at their 19.
Three straight runs gave the Cowboys enough for a first down. A two-yard run and an eight-yard pass gave them another first down. But on the next play, a clipping penalty nullified a four-yard run by Staubach, and it put Dallas back to their 26-yard line with 25 yards to go.
Staubach ran for six yards, and a handoff to Newhouse gained two more. On third down, Preston Pearson caught a 15-yard pass, but it wasn’t enough for a first down.
That play marked the end of the third quarter.
It would be easy to say that the Cowboys offense was getting too conservative or that they were sitting on their lead, but saying that underestimates the impact of the Steelers’ defense. Staubach’s passing game was getting stifled by a heavy pass rush and strong secondary defense.
To open the fourth, Dave Brown fielded the punt and then fumbled. Had Dallas been able to recover, the Cowboys would have had the ball at the Steelers 17-yard line. It’s all speculation, of course, but a Dallas TD would have given them a ten-point lead and, the way the Cowboys defense was playing, that might have been enough to win. Instead, Pittsburgh kept the ball and went to the air quickly.
Bradshaw hit Franco for a 26-yard gain and a first down. An incompletion and a two-yard run made it third-and-eight. Bradshaw dropped back to pass, but rookie reserve linebacker Randy White dropped him for a 15-yard loss.
After a booming 57 yard punt by Bobby Walden, the Cowboys started at their 18 but went nowhere. Things got worse when Reggie Harrison blocked the punt with the ball going out of the end zone for a safety.
With two more points, the Steelers were now only a point behind.
A good return put the Steelers at the Cowboys 45 yard line. Five runs in a row gave Pittsburgh a third-and-one at the Dallas 20-yard line. The Cowboys’ defense rose to the occasion and stopped Harris for no gain. Fans wondered if the Steelers might go for it on fourth down. Instead, Chuck Noll sent in Gerela, who had already missed two field goals from about the same distance.
But Gerela came through this time. With just 8:54 left in the game, the favored Steelers took the lead for the first time, 12–10.
In what could have been a disastrous play, Preston Pearson fumbled the kickoff but then recovered at his 15. On first down, Staubach threw to Drew Pearson using the same pattern used in the first quarter to score a TD. But this time, safety Mike Wagner read the play perfectly and intercepted. He returned it to the Cowboys six-yard line.
Staubach later said: “It was our bread and butter play all season long. It was the first time it didn’t work.”
The Dallas D dug in, and after three runs gained only four yards, Gerela came through again, making the score 15–10.
Dallas took possession at their 24. Newhouse gained four yds on a screen pass, but the next play resulted in a nine-yard loss as the Steel Curtain D once again sacked Staubach. An eight-yard pass to Charles Young was not nearly enough for a first down, and Dallas punted again.
Pittsburgh took possession at their 30. Two short runs left the Steelers with a third-and-five, and, with only a five-point lead, the Steelers needed a first down to run down the clock. Instead, they gambled by throwing deep. The Cowboys gambled, too, by blitzing.
The Steelers’ gamble paid off–a 64-yard touchdown to Lynn Swann, who was named the game’s MVP. With a missed extra point, the lead grew to 21–10.
Dallas took over at their own 20. Forced into passing, Staubach first hit Charles Young, and then he hit Drew Pearson for a 30-yard gain. Then Staubach was sacked on the very next play (the Steelers seventh sack of the game).
With time ticking away, Dallas had it’s back against the wall, but Staubach came through when he hit backup receiver Percy Howard on a 33-yard TD, making the score 21–17.
With just 1:48 left in the game, Dallas tried an onside kick, but Pittsburgh recovered.
The Steelers needed to run out the clock, but Dallas had wisely saved all three of their timeouts. Bradshaw wasn’t at the controls at that point, having taken a vicious hit from Cowboys’ lineman Larry Cole on the TD pass to Swann. Out with a concussion, backup QB Terry Hanratty came into the game.
After three straight runs resulted in no gain, Pittsburgh faced a fourth-and-ten situation. Noll decided to gamble again, and he went for it on fourth down.
It seemed like a risky move, but it was the right call. A 50 plus-yard FG was well out of range for the injured Gerala. A punt could be dangerous.
They already had one mishap on a punt and several others that were almost blocked. And even though Noll knew it was highly unlikely that his team would make the first down, he was confident that his defense could hold the Cowboys.
A first down didn’t come (a handoff to Bleier gained only two yards), and Dallas took over at their 38 with 1:22 left in the game. But they had used up all of their timeouts.
Another fierce pass rush forced Staubach to run but, instead of running to the sidelines, he ran straight ahead, gaining ten yards. A completion to Preston Pearson put the ball at the Pittsburgh 37. But just like Staubach on the prior play, he ran straight ahead instead of getting out of bounds to stop the clock. The two plays had gained 23 yds but had used up an entire minute, leaving them with only 20 seconds left.
A third low snap in a row left Staubach scrambling for the ball, and his pass fell incomplete. With only 12 seconds left, Staubach threw a Hail Mary pass to Howard in the end zone. The ball hit him in the helmet and fell to the ground. But replays showed that had Howard positioned himself just a little bit farther back; he might have caught the ball for a Dallas victory.
Undaunted, Staubach threw another Hail Mary pass, but this time Glen Edwards intercepted, and Super Bowl X was over.
It was a Super Bowl to remember. The two teams would meet again three years later to wage another epic battle. The Steelers would win again, this time 35–31.
