THE GREATEST GAME OF ALL TIME, EVER, ANY SPORT … SUPERPATRIOTS DO IT AGAIN!
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY FEB. 7, 2017) — Super Bowl LI was the ultimate game, played in the ultimate fashion, to serve up the ultimate in moral justice. And just like that, Tom Brady became the first QB ever to win the Big One five times. Ditto for Bill Belichick as a head coach. And just like that, the SUPERPATRIOTS competed a two-year odyssey of redemption — others called it revenge — played out in the most dramatic and unlikely fashion imaginable: overcoming a 25-point deficit with just over 17 minutes left in regulation, winning in overtime, the first ever in Super Bowl history.
THE PLANET presents a guest column from Frank Schwab of Yahoo! Sports:
The 16 plays that needed to go the Patriots’ way in their comeback … and all of them did
By Frank Schwab
Shutdown Corner — Feb 6, 2017, 2:29 AM
HOUSTON – With 8:31 left in the third quarter, the Atlanta Falcons took a 28-3 lead over the New England Patriots. No team in Super Bowl history had overcome more than a 10-point deficit to win, and the Patriots were down 25.
This wasn’t statistically the biggest comeback in NFL history. That’s still the Buffalo Bills’ win over the Houston Oilers in the playoffs at the end of the 1991 season, after they trailed 35-3. But the Patriots’ Super Bowl LI comeback, scoring the final 31 points to win 34-28, is the NFL’s greatest comeback. Or, it was the NFL’s most unbelievable collapse if you’re from Atlanta.
When a team comes back from 28-3 down to win, almost everything has to go right for the victors, and the losers have to make mistake after mistake. That’s exactly what happened.
“You have to make all of those plays right when you fall behind by 25 points,” Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said. “Our guys deserve all the credit because they’re the ones who executed under pressure.”
“I’m kind of numb,” Falcons safety Ricardo Allen said. “Like, I don’t really know what to feel. I’m broken inside because this is not us.”
If you happened to leave your Super Bowl party when the Falcons took a 28-3 lead, it’s worth a look back at exactly how the Patriots pulled off this miracle.
“You never know which play it’s going to be in the Super Bowl and there were probably thirty of them tonight where if any one of those would have been different, the outcome would have been different,” Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said.
Actually, the number was 16. The Patriots needed all 16 of these plays to go right during their comeback:
1. The only fourth-down conversion
It’s amazing the Patriots needed just one fourth-down conversion their entire comeback. It came right away too, trailing 28-3 with 6:04 left in the third quarter. On fourth-and-3, Danny Amendola ran a quick out against cornerback Brian Poole, caught it and ran a bit for a 17-yard gain. It seemed trivial at the time.
Tom Brady hits Danny Amendola on 17-yard 4th down conversion
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady finds wide receiver Danny Amendola for 17-yard 4th down conversion.
2. Tom Brady’s run
On third-and-8, the Falcons ran a stunt to Brady’s right. The entire right side opened up for Brady, and he rushed ahead for 15 yards. That ended up being the Patriots’ longest run of the game. It kept the drive going and Brady hit White for a 5-yard touchdown. Brady’s run and the touchdown also seemed fairly trivial, because after a missed extra point, the Falcons still led 28-9 with 2:06 left in the third quarter. Again, no team had ever come back from more than 10 points down in a Super Bowl to win.
3. The first bad penalty
The one thing that didn’t go the Patriots’ way was an onside kick after that touchdown. Then the Falcons immediately got a 9-yard pass to the New England 32-yard line. But a holding call on Jake Matthews pushed the Falcons back 10 yards, knocking them out of field-goal range
4. The first big sack
On third-and-11 after the holding call, the Falcons were at New England’s 42. Falcons kicker Matt Bryant was 6-of-8 on 50-yard attempts in the regular season with a long of 59. Even a few yards on the third-down play might have given Bryant a chance to push the lead back to 22 points. But Ryan took a 9-yard sack and had to punt. Not getting any points from recovering an onside kick turned out to be enormous.
“I felt we should have come away with points there,” Ryan said.
5. Martellus Bennett comes up big
On third-and-1 Bennett lined up in the slot against safety Keanu Neal, and Brady liked the matchup. He lofted one up to Bennett, who came down with it for 25 yards at the Atlanta 7-yard line. The Patriots don’t generate a ton of long plays – Bennett’s catch was their third-longest play of the game, and the longest was 28 yards – and this one put the Patriots in position to get a field goal. Stephen Gostkowski had a difficult year, and missed an extra point in this game, so kicking a 33-yard field goal instead of a 50-yarder (which it would have been had the pass to Bennett been incomplete) was a big deal.
6. The biggest play of the comeback
Julian Edelman’s catch will go down in history because it was so spectacular. White’s overtime touchdown will live forever too. But without question, the biggest play of the game was Dont’a Hightower’s strip sack. It was a total breakdown from the Falcons, starting with the play call from offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.
The play came on third-and-1 with 8:31 left. Why the Falcons didn’t run there is a mystery. Nobody would place the blame on Shanahan for calling a pass in that situation, up 28-12.
“Too aggressive? No. I think Kyle did a good job,” Ryan said. “We played the way we play.”
Hightower came on what he said was “not a complicated blitz.” Hightower lined up outside and rushed. Somehow running back Devonta Freeman never picked him up, looking inside and barely getting a piece of Hightower as he sped by.
“I guess Freeman didn’t see me from outside, and he went to chip or check release, and lost sight of me,” Hightower said. “I saw Matt Ryan with the ball, and I wanted it.”
Hightower hit Ryan, who fumbled. The Patriots recovered at the 25. If Ryan was sacked and didn’t fumble, or if the Falcons just handed off for no gain, a decent punt puts the Patriots back in their own territory. Time wasn’t on their side either. Instead, New England scored a touchdown in five plays and 2:28.
“The strip sack was huge,” Brady said. “It got us back in it.”
It’s not exactly like the Seattle Seahawks calling a pass play at the goal line in the Super Bowl two seasons ago, but the Falcons will regret that play call forever.
“The Hightower sack was a huge play for us,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “We really needed that.”
7. Malcolm Mitchell comes up big
The Patriots faced a third-and-11 after the Hightower strip-sack. Brady found rookie Malcolm Mitchell for 12 yards. That was the longest third-down conversion of the comeback.
8. Two-point trickery
The Patriots used a direct snap on a two-point conversion, after Amendola scored a touchdown. James White took it and ran it up the middle into the end zone.
“We’ve been working on it for a couple weeks now, me and Dion [Lewis] have been working on it,” White said.
That came with 5:56 left and made the score 28-20. Without that two-point conversion, the Patriots still would have needed two scores. They probably would have had to onside kick again.
“The two-point conversion, the way it timed out, we probably had to have it,” Belichick said.
9. A 1-yard loss that was big
The Falcons responded after that score by driving to New England’s 22-yard line with 4:40 left. All they needed was a field goal to virtually ice the game. But Freeman was stopped for a 1-yard loss on first-and-10. The Falcons could have just kept running, figuring at worst they’d bleed the clock and kick a field goal, but that 1-yard loss changed their mindset. Or, put another way, they panicked.
“A couple things got us off schedule and we weren’t able to recover from it,” Ryan said.
That led to …
10. Another pass call
The Falcons could have taken a knee twice and tried a 40-yard field goal, and that would have been much, much better than what happened. The play after Freeman’s 1-yard loss, Ryan went back to pass. Center Alex Mack – usually a fantastic player, but playing on a fractured leg in this Super Bowl – couldn’t handle Trey Flowers, who came through the line and sacked Ryan for a loss of 12. It’s unfathomable that could happen – or even be allowed to happen with that play call – given the situation.
“That was a tough one,” Ryan said. “I wish I had done a better job getting rid of the ball.”
11. Another holding call
Instead of running three times and trying a field goal, all of a sudden the Falcons were passing again on third-and-23. And Ryan found Mohamed Sanu for 9 yards to the New England 26. That would have been about a 44-yard attempt for Bryant with less than four minutes left. Bryant was 28-of-29 on attempts of less than 50 yards this season.
But Matthews was called for holding. And it was a good call; Matthews had Patriots end Chris Long around the neck. That pushed the Falcons back 10 yards and out of field-goal range. After an incomplete pass, they punted. A drive that brought them to the Patriots’ 22-yard line, with a kicker who had missed one attempt of 50 yards in the regular season, ended in a punt.
“I was betting we’d get some points right there,” Falcons defensive end Vic Beasley said. “We were definitely in field-goal range, unfortunately we were unable to and gave them another chance.”
12. Hogan comes up big
On the second-longest third-down conversion of the comeback, Brady hit Chris Hogan for 16 yards on third-and-10. That also got the Patriots out of a hole; the play started at their own 9-yard line. Had that been incomplete the Patriots, who had two timeouts left, would have had to consider punting with a little more than three minutes left. Or they’d have been going for it on fourth-and-10.
13. The Edelman catch
There will be a million words written about Edelman’s great catch for years to come. It was one of the most spectacular in NFL history. One hidden part of that play came when the Patriots rushed to the line. Falcons coach Dan Quinn had to rush his challenge. It was unsuccessful and cost the Falcons their final timeout. That loomed large with 19 seconds left, when Ryan spiked the ball and wasted a play on second-and-6. The Falcons then had to punt after a third-down incompletion. When you consider the Falcons had an MVP quarterback and the great Julio Jones at receiver, even one lost opportunity to run an offensive play in the final minute was costly.
14. Two-point screen play
The Patriots tied it on a perfectly executed receiver screen to Amendola, who went in motion before the snap. The Patriots were prepared for the situation. Belichick said he figured the Patriots would need more than one two-point conversion in the game, so they worked on a few.
“We worked on those two-point plays all week,” Belichick said. “Josh [McDaniels] and I had the sense we might need them.”
Two-point conversions are a little less than a 50-50 proposition for the offense, and the Falcons went 0-for-2.
“I think that was a real factor,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “Not only did they score but they got the two points as well. So, to me, we thought we had a chance to stop them and we didn’t.”
BONUS: The coin toss
The team getting the coin toss in overtime has an edge, because the game is over if they score a touchdown on their first possession. Patriots special-teams captain Matthew Slater was on the call.
“Heads or tails is up to me,” Slater said. “I have called heads for the last six years.”
It came up heads. If Slater had decided six years ago that tails never fails, the Falcons and their offense that led the NFL in points scored would have had the ball first. When it’s said that everything went right for the Patriots in their comeback, absolutely everything went right.
15. Bennett draws a pass interference
A field goal would have been nice in overtime, but a touchdown was the only way to end the game on the first possession. From the Falcons’ 15, Brady threw one up to Bennett. Bennett was interfered with at the 2-yard line by rookie linebacker De’Vondre Campbell. At that point a touchdown seemed inevitable.
16. White scores the walk-off winner
The Patriots’ first play after the pass interference was an incomplete pass. The second could have put them in a tough spot. The Falcons hit White at about the 3-yard line. Had Ricardo Allen been able to finish that tackle or someone had arrived a second sooner, the Patriots would have had a stressful third-and-goal call. Instead White scored, and the Patriots had somehow pulled off the victory. Both sides will wonder forever exactly how it happened.
Had any one play listed here gone a different way, there might have been a different Super Bowl champion.
“It’s hard to imagine us winning,” Brady said. “It took a lot of great plays.”
——– 000 ——–
In the end, there’s nothing more to say.
Tom Brady — Greatest of All Time
Bill Belichick — Greatest of All Time
SUPERPATRIOTS — NFL’s Greatest Dynasty.
——————————————————————————–
“Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” — Attributed to Vince Lombardi, origin unknown.
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
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I don’t even like football that much, but last nights game was so good I couldn’t take my eyes off the tv screen. That last 17 minutes was magical. The whole Patriots team did one unbelievable play after another and in a very short amount of time. I don’t know if I will watch football from now on, probably not as I’m not even a big sports fan (except for horse racing), but I’m so glad I didn’t miss last nights game.
A truly awesome and mind boggling comeback especially in light of how poorly things went in the first three quarters. It certainly let the air out of Roger Goodells’ balls.
Watching Tom Brady get his trophy from deflated Roger was priceless!!! The perfect ending getting booed relentlessly……. from PatsNation!!
Goodell makes twenty million dollars a year, do you knuckleheads think he really cares. Aside..recall legislators who took an illegal raise.
Mr Goodell made around 34 million this year. Don’t think he has any trouble sleeping. He even took a pay cut, what a guy.
Brady is the greatest QB of his era. That era being a pass first/pass happy/offense friendly NFL, helmet speakers with every play being called for you, a paper that covers your forearm with all the plays on it, where you can’t touch a QB or hit a receiver without getting a penalty. Brady has lost Super Bowls. Joe Montana is 4-0. Troy Aikman is 3-0. I think the most over looked and best QB of his era is Terry Bradshaw. He is 4-0 in SB’s, called his own plays and had to manage the game without a helmet speaker or a book of plays on his arm, and when you could body slam a QB and get away with it, and his speakerless helmet had only a cheesy thin bar for a face mask. I am not a Steelers or Pats fan but don’t dislike either also. A true and real football fan should consider the debate based on what I have said. How many SB’s do you think Dan Marino could have won as a Patriot?
Salient points for sure.
How many Super Bowls would Montana, Bradshaw win a salary cap era?
Brady lost twice to ELi Manning, so Manning is the best.
Eli is not even the best in his family, never mind the NFL.
Good point. How does the greatest team, with the greatest QB and coach drop two to Eli and TC?
It’s sports anything can happen on any given Sunday.
Nice metaphor joe!
Niners beat the Pats. Montana to Rice, forget about it!
Don’t get me wrong, I loved watching the 49ers in their heyday, but if you gave Belichick two weeks to prepare for them, I think Rice would have had a pedestrian type of day. Just look at Julio Jones. He sure didn’t torch the Pats for 200 yards and 3 TD’s.
Don’t forget, it was Belichick’s NY Giants teams that eventually dismantled the Montana led-49ers.
Belichick’s defense’s. I know Parcells was the HC.
Julio Jones. 4 catches. Total. Period. … James White. 14 catches. Period and Game.
The Coach also plays an important part of a teams success especially in the Big Game, top Coaches are Lombardi, Landry Madden, Walsh,Parcells,Shula,Noll,but the Best is Belicheck, no question. Although I am not a fan of the team, the most fun team to watch was the Buffalo Bills with Jim Kelly and Marv Levy, they had a great run and team, used to love watching them in the bitter cold late December games, there was something about that team, it was truly Americas Team contrary to the Cowboys being A T.
Rocky, you make a lot of great points all of them true. It’s always hard to compare one athlete against another when they played in different eras with different rules and equipment.
Go Pats. Given the State and financial condition And the City’s, both hundreds of millions in debt, how are politicians like Mayor’s and administration,Reps, State Senate ect. Able to give themselves hefty raises,? Shouldn’t they reflect the condition of the very economy they control. Retiree’s aren’t getting raises, most retirees are living on SIxties wages. Current ssi recipients get nothing with increasing fees ,taxes, water-sewer, food ect. Where is the accountability. The mood is to pay upfront for the best possible candidate, but are these the best? Are they worth a forty percent raise. Should they be allowed to start at the top of the pay scale. Sen Hinds received a raise and has maybe had a handful of votes, two of which were a pay raise for himself.
It’s taxpayer robbery. That’s 16 to 18 million dollars extra every year from now on for their salaries. These people are completely shameless. The protesting marchers should storm Boston. Do you think they will? Yeah, right. Democrats let Democrats get away with anything. This is why these Mass. politicians do something like this. They know they can get away with it. The local media will give them a pass because they look out for each other. The BB can’t put down Trump enough, but not even a peep from them about this robbery. Only MassLive did a good job printing the names of reps and other politicians who voted yes to override Baker’s veto of these outrageous raises.
Kathy Amuso not seeking re election on City Council. The shit has risen so high, even she can see the psunami…..of which she had a heavy hand.
And I am sure the special interest already have groomed her replacement. No way an independent thinker gets on that school committee.
Heh Heh: It’s not the school comm., she’s an at-large member of the CC.
I heard Mike Bloomberg intends to run.
My bad. But still.. independent thinkers are advised not to apply to the city council either. Does not look good on the resume if you want good old boy backing.
Damage ha$ been done SPa G
tsunami
The reason why the Patriots win is they don’t do stupid things like Pete Carroll’s decision to pass instead of handing the ball off to Lynch, or Atlanta’s decision to try to pass when they had the ball well within FG range in the 4th quarter. If they had run twice and kicked the FG the game is over. But instead they not only decide to pass but call a play that requires a 5-7 step drop and left Ryan vulnerable to the pass rush.
The Patriots just don’t beat themselves.
Yeah and it was the same coach each time. He was the “O” coordinator for Seahawks when he called for that pass from inside the 1. He was head coach on Sunday. Refused to run. Stupid. Do that to the Patriots and they kill you every time.
Great game great team. Go Pats.
comparing athletes is never objective – it’s emotional – Giant fans love Eli, Steelers fans love the Blond Bomber, etc – its always fun to do – Ok gotta go and buy a Patriots shirt that has 2017 Worlds Champs in HUGE letters !!!! 😉
Ghidora, Thiis is something. I was just sitting to write my post regarding same play. Pete Carroll approved biggest bonehead play in history of pro football. Fast forward 2 years to last Sunday and we have all that Dan analyzed so well. Best QB, best coach, best game, in other words best everything. But, but, it could have all changed because of a similar bonehead call – by our Pats, believe it or not. Here it is; overtime and a great drive brings Pats to a first down on the 2 yard line. Two yards for a winning TD and the accolades that go with this amazing win. So what do the Pats do with first down and 2 yards to go for a Super Bowl win? They pass of first down and it was damn near intercepted. Next play they run it in for the TD. They were lucky, fortune was with them. But what were they thinking of passing on first down with 2 yards to go for the win? Pete Carroll must have been smiling.
Butler should have been flagged for pass interference
Fugi, it looked like pass interference to me, too. That’s not the point. Point is the call. This was as big a bonehead call as Pete Carroll’s. Difference is Pat’s lucked out with an incomplete pass opposed to Carroll’s intercepted disaster. That’s the game. Breaks fall one way or the other.Rocky said it best, “Somebody up there likes me”.
I wouldn’t have called that play, but if the refs called PI like they should have it would have been 1st and goal at the1
That was not pass interference. Remember, the defensive player has every right to the ball as the offensive player. Butler went for the ball with both hands. He wasn’t draped around the Seattle WR.
Butler clearly made contact with the Seahawks receiver before he ever touched the ball. He darn near knocked him over.
FUGI
Butler played the ball. He has as much right to do that as a receiver. He was just tougher than the Seattle wuss. Butler wanted it more. But that was history. How about the 2016-2017 SUPERPATRIOTS, huh?! By the way, I saw your brother today, Hideki. He says “arigato.”
Correct-a-mundo, Kate!
Putin rigged the Superbowl and Belicheck wears a pussyhat.
Trump may nominate Belichick to the supreme court if Gorsuch gets canned.
Belichick for mayor of Pittsfield
That would be like going from the NE Patriots to the Cleveland Browns and taking a honorary (i.e.-stupid) pay-cut to boot.
Dan didn’t analyze it Chuck. He copied and pasted what someone else wrote.
Once again, my dear friend, you have it wrong. CHUCK is talking about the Butler interception, which we did, indeed, analyze in extremis. Ah, but THE PLANET loves his critics. They are my most loyal viewers/readers/listeners.
Let’s have more big government in Massachusetts so the Boston politicians can get a 60% raise next year! Yah!!! The sheep public will let them get away with it and faithfully vote for their dirty politics every time. Despite all of the education that Massachusetts promotes, very little of that education actually sinks it for the obviously not very intelligent public who keep voting for these out of control corrupt Massachusetts politicians.
It’s amazing what Pittsfield and Commonwealth sheeple have allowed their legislative and representative bums do in their name.
First the Giants destroyed a perfect season then they destroyed a claim to dynasty.
GARY
I can understand your need to remain locked in the past. You were by far the best QB on the Giants back in the day, not Y.A. Tittle couldn’t carry your atomic balm. In 61, 62, and 63, you guys went to three straight NFL championship games with Tittle at the helm. Lost all three. You would have won them. Tucker Frederickson and Steve Thurlow, not to mention Joe Don Looney, all agree.
http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/012617aab.html
I am not a Pats fan but was really impressed by their comeback. Best super bowl game I’ve ever watched.
Good news – Betsy DeVos was just confirmed as Ed. Sec.
Go Betsy!!!!!
Thank you VP Pence.
I predicted the Pats would score 31straight and that was at the 28-3 score, had a vision I guess or refused to believe the Pats would lose this game to begin with. But when I said it, the people watching with me thought I was some kind of whack job. When they had to go to O T. Then they all new the Pats were going to win
Awesome reading of the tea leaves. Want to take a shot at how long it will be before Mr Trump implodes?
If Brady has the records, he has to be considered or is the Best and I agree Belecheck is the greatest Coach. Don’t forget, Billy was the Giants defensive coordinator during the Championship Giant teams.Of course they had probably the greatest defensive player on the Planet ….L T
Definitely had the most coked up defensive player on the field.
True joe,Butkus, Bednarek, Jack Lambert,and alike, certainly didn’t use coca cola.
Mean Joe Green did Coke Commercials.
One of my all time favorites Liver, the Jersey and the little boy.
Springfield Mayor Dominic Sarno is asking serious questions of the same Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts who wants to sent 50 refugees here in Berkshire County. This same Western Mass. agency is filling up Springfield with refugees and according to Mayor Sarno:
“Once again, these resettlement agencies with no prior contact and/or coordination efforts with our city departments, use our Springfield as their “designated resettlement site,” Sarno said. “Yet when these resettlement agencies are asked to assist these families in need in their own cities and/or towns — they state they do not have the capacity. Maybe they should try to create their own capacity.”
Sarno restated his claims of the past that the resettlement of refugees in Springfield was a situation of concentrating “poverty on top of poverty,” with low income people added to low-income areas.
This is the exact thing they are doing here in Pittsfield. I’m sure our mayor and local politicians will not take the position that Mayor Sarno is taking. In fact I know they will not. It’s an open door policy here. They are supposedly having a meeting here in Pittsfield on February 13th to address the concerns of the public about this same agency bringing refugees here.
Exactly Pat,
I’m curious if Mayor Tyer or Tricia Farley-Country-Buffet, could tell us what type of skill these adults are bringing to the city?
When you really get down to it, education and school are not two high priorities of Syria. Not now, probably never, otherwise, they wouldn’t be a 3rd world sandbox.
So with this being said, if they have no education or job marketable skill, what are they going to do, Sweet Pete? He’s another bobble head in this issue. Sweet, you can even post the answer on your FB page. I’m not friends w/you, but would “be one” to read your response………..I’m waiting.
No skill (reading, or otherwise), leads to a life of crime. You think these dealers from NYC, Springfield, aren’t licking their chops to use these guys to do the dirty work? Then keep your head buried in the sand, or Syria.
Maybe they paint electrical boxes?
Go to MassLive and read the comment section from this article and you will see that many citizens of Springfield agree with their mayor. Several of the comments were:
“We told you for years there would be a price to pay and you never listened. You finally see the light and all of America is waking up. Send them back or the Springfield taxpayers will suffer the consequences ranging from financial burdens to social burdens to criminal burdens.”
and
“Do you remember when the Somalian family was living in squalor and the Mayor and city had to go in and help them?
These refugees agencies are making money for themselves off of the backs of the city and the unfortunate situation of the refugees.
New idea. Refugee Agencies. Go to these countries and help the people there. You won’t do that because it’s too hard.”
Is that Trump’s son on channel 16 out front tv,cool, sounds like a hot shot lawyer.
Dan
Yesterday’s post had an interesting exchange between Gary Wood and you. The name Gary Wood sounded familiar and I recalled it was from a past communication with Jim Schulman who was a classmate of Gary Wood at Cornell. Gary Wood was a gee-whiz quarterback who was drafted by the NY Giants. This can’t be the same Gary Wood because I recall he died.
In a recent exchange I told you about Dick Lalla, a Colgate quarterback destined for greatness but knee injuries eliminated hopes of a pro career. Lalla and Wood grew up in Cortland, NY, an upstate city of working class people who prioritized their parks, schools and sports. The system produced and sent many jocks to higher education. Sounds a lot like Pittsfield. Many of these Cortland, NY young men matriculated to Cornell and Colgate, two nearby collages.
CHUCK
It was not THEE Gary Wood from Cornell, just someone using the name. I got your note about Dick Lalla. Interesting connection between Wood and Lalla, one that I never knew. From your descriptions of Lalla, he sounds like one of those “What if” guys. What if he had good legs. Lalla and Ralph Guglielmi of Notre Dame were the two stud QBs of the mid-50s. Guglielmi played for the Giants and Eagles but he never became a #1.
The great Valenti does it Again!