Now it's time for the second 1981 AFC Divisional Playoff from Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Game time temperature is Game time temperature is 49 degrees, with cloudy skies and an east-southeast wind at 5 MPH.
The Bengals scored first after taking the opening kickoff. It was the running game that led the way, as fullback Pete Johnson barged for sixteen yards off left tackle and running back Archie Griffin slipped off the right side for a thirty-one yard gain. The Bengals were suddenly at the Jets' fifteen, but they could only gain five more yards before the drive stalled. Kicker Jim Breech was called on for a twenty-seven yard field goal attempt, and he was successful, giving the Bengals a 3-0 lead with 9:08 to play in the opening period.
The Jets answered with a field goal of their own the next time they had the ball. Richard Todd, who was playing with a flak jacket to protect his injured ribs, proved effective with short passes, connecting for ten yards to Bruce Harper and eleven yards to Lam Jones. The big play of the drive was a seventeen-yard run off left tackle by Freeman McNeil that was supplemented by a fifteen-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on Bengals linebacker Jim LeClair for jumping on the pile after McNeil was tackled. The combined thirty-two yard gain oved the ball all the way down to the Cincy sixteen, but the Jets lost four yards on the next three plays, and thus had to call on Pat Leahy for a thirty-seven yard attempt. The kick was good, and after one quarter we were tied at three, and we'd remain that way for the next two periods.
The next points were scored early in the final period, and by then Todd had had his rib injury reaggravated and once again had to leave the game in favor of Pat Ryan, the hero of last week's Wild Card Game. The Bengals' Kenny Anderson was out as well; the New York Sack Exchange had beaten him to a pulp, sacking him seven times and knocking him to the turf at least twice as many.
The Bengals' defense created a break late in the third period when a short Ryan pass intended for McNeil was intercepted by linebacker Bo Harris, who returned it to the Cincy thirty-five. Backup quarterback Turk Schonert hit wide receiver Cris Collinsworth for thirteen yards and a first down on the final play of the third quarter, and running back Charles Alexander pounded up the middle on a draw play for nineteen yards and a first down at the Jets' twenty-three. Schonert then threw short to tight end Dan Ross, who broke two tackles and rumbled all the way down to the half-yard line. After Johnson was stuffed twice for no gain, Schonert rolled to his right on third and goal and hardly had to move his arm to flip the ball to wideout Isaac Curtis for the touchdown. Breech added the extra point, and with 11:22 left in regulation the Bengals had taken a 10-3 lead.
The Jets came right back, as Kurt Sohn returned the ensuing kickoff all the way to the Bengals' nine-yard line, a total of eighty-six yards. The Bengals' defense managed to move the Jets back to the elven over the next three plays, but Leahy easily converted a twenty-eight yard attempt to cut the Bengals' lead to 10-6 with 9:04 remaining.
The Bengals answered with a time-consuming field goal drive of their own. Schonert used short passes effectively, hitting Ross for fourteen yards, wide receiver Steve Kreider for sixteen, and Collinsworth for twenty-one more and a first down at the Jets' fifteen. The drive stalled at the thirteen, but Breech converted from thirty yards out to extend the Cincy lead to 13-6 with 3:28 left in regulation.
The Jets figured to be finished when they were stopped on downs at their own forty-five just after the two-minute warning, but they caught a break when Johnson bobbled and dropped a handoff. Linebacker Lance Mehl pounced on the ball at the Cincy twenty-nine, and Ryan had just forty-two seconds to get his team into the end zone. He threw a ten-yard pass to Walker and an eleven-yarder to Jones to set up a first and goal at the eight, but with eleven seconds left it was third and goal at the six. LeClair nearly broke Ryan in half as he threw, but the pass somehow found Walker for the tying touchdown with just five seconds left. Leahy's extra point tied the game at thirteen, and we were headed to overtime.
The extra period was a sloppy affair, as no one seemed able to hold onto the ball. Johnson fumbled again on the first Cincy drive, and this time linebacker Greg Buttle recovered for New York. Runs by McNeil and backup Scott Dierking helped get the ball down to the Cincy thirty, but Leahy pulled the potential game-winning field goal wide left from forty-seven yards out. On the Bengals' next drive, it was Curtis' turn to lose the ball, as he was hit and stripped by Ken Schroy. Cornerback Jerry Holmes recovered for the Jets, but no sooner did they get the ball than running back Kevin Long was popped by LeClair. Linebacker Reggie Williams recovered for Cincy, but the Bengals were forced to punt after making two first downs. Thee were no further scoring attempts, and we were headed for a second overtime still tied at thirteen.
Before we go on, there's an obscure but important rule change concerning multiple overtimes in the Pythagorean universe; unlike in real life, each overtime period has a separate kickoff.
The Bengals won the toss to begin the second overtime, and they marched to the winning score without allowing the Jets to see the ball. Johnson rumbled up the middle for fifteen yards on the first play, and Schonert connected with Curtis for fifteen yards and Alexander for ten, which turned into twenty-two when Jets defensive end and New York Sack Exchange ringleader Mark Gastineau was called for tackling Alexander by the facemask and was penalized half the distance to the goal. On first and ten from the New York eleven, Schonert found Kreider for the game-winning touchdown, and after seventy-eight minutes and forty seconds, the Bengals had a 19-13 win and a berth in the AFC Championship Game next Sunday against the Chargers.
Schonert was named MVP by NBC for his heroics in relief of Anderson. Since this game needed two sims to be completed, I don't have exact final stats.
The following week, Anderson was back, and the Bengals and Chargers dueled in wind chills of -59 degrees in what became known as "The Freezer Bowl". Anderson's pair of touchdown passes lifted the Bengals to a 27-7 win and a berth in Super Bowl XVI, which will be contested at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan on January 24. Game time is 4PM Eastern on CBS, with Pat Summerall and John Madden on hand to call the action.
Next: We begin the NFC playoffs with the Falcons visiting the Cowboys in the Wild Card Game.
Thoughts?