Bert Jones - Colts - 1977 - Week 14 - TV (3 of 4)

[trygmac]

1. Thanks so much for posting this, @joneseracolts.. This game is one of my first football memories. I remember watching this as a 7-year old Pats fan living in MN. My Dad & brothers were relentlessly teasing me for liking the lowly Pats (& not the Vikes) and when they lost this one I was hysterical..

2. This was great, physical football game between 2 really good teams. I wish NFL Films would touch it up and air this.

3. Bert Jones was a damn good QB that people forget.

[deepthreat]

I can't believe people are even debating that fumble. One of the worst calls I have ever seen. Good thing the Colts choked in the playoffs like they always did.

[fin8glr]

Actually, the play should have been blown dead. I just noticed Lydell Mitchell was guilty of illegal procedure. Watch starting at 1:23

[alanrdowney]

Terrible call on the Jones fumble. Especially after the Colts threw the game the previous week to eliminate the Patriots from the playoff hunt. No one remembers that the Colts - by LOSING the game the previous week - eliminated the Patriots from the playoffs. And the Colts lost how? On a blocked punt in the final seconds against the Lions (13-10) when they could have taken a safety (or just not had the freaking punt blocked). Neither Chuck Fairbanks nor Don Shula were happy campers...

[bsatl]

THE COLTS NAME AND COLORS SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN BALTIMORE

[bsatl]

I GUESS THIS IS WHY THE PATRIOTS GET ALL THE CALLS NOW :)

[TKellybal]

As a Colts fan, I always felt guilty about this win because of that blown call on the fumble. That Patriots team was excellent, and had some bad breaks- this game being one of the worst....but they still blew an 18 point lead.

[picark]

New England should've been given the football at 2:05 in the video when Jones fumbled The Colts were given an early Christmas Gift on that call

[MrGb4ever]

Sure looked like the refs were trying to tilt rhe game in one direction.

[FRSFreeStateES]

The Patriots and Colts playing for a chance at everything in 1977. Including a Playoff Berth.

[alanrdowney]

@FRSFreeStateES No - the Patriots were eliminated the previous week by the Colts LOSING to the Lions under VERY suspicous circumstances (a blocked punt returned for a TD by the Lions in the last minute of the game). Only the Dolphins (who the Patriots had BEATEN 14-10 in Foxboro the previous week) were still alive. Had the Pats won, Miami would have won the AFC East and the Colts would have been eliminated.

[fromthefarside]

leonetski...you really are an idiot w/comments like that

[ManiacRaven1]

Sad that indianapolis colts fans think this is part of there history!!!! C-O-L-T-S COLTS!!!!! YEY!!!!! Godda love rex barney holding down the PA annoucing.

[FRSFreeState]

Great game in 77 with everything on the line

[leonetski]

typical colt patriot game with a goober qb and getting hosed by refs...some things never change

[jsicolts]

GREAT Colts memories - thanks.

[FujiVyce]

The blown calls in this game cost the Dolphins the division title if my memory is correct.

[eugenemcgirt]

A blatant fumble and blown call. The "human error" element.

[rstp354]

the Jones "non-fumble" and the Rob Lytle "non-fumble" against the Raiders in the AFC Championship the same year began the move towards using instant replay.

[fatcatsathat]

@rstp354 You may remember the previous year when Ray "Sugar Bear" Hamilton was called for roughing the passer on Ken Stabler. Even if your are the most die hard Raiders fan, if you look at that play, you have to be completely honest and say "That is not a penalty!"

[alanrdowney]

@fatcatsathat The Sugar Bear play in 1976, the Colts suspicious loss the previous week that eliminated the Patriots, and the blown fumble call here. The Pats never seemed to get any breaks. The one thing the Colts couldn't control was the the Dolphins were still alive while the Pats weren't. But after the Colts threw (and I believe it to this day - THREW) the prior week's game, realizing it would eliminate the Patriots (who had already won). And the Pats should have won this game...

[fatcatsathat]

@alanrdowney I can't say for an exact certainty whether the fumble in the Colts game on the last Sunday of 1977 was a blown call, but it is definitely questionable. I can say with confidence that the roughing the passer penalty on Ray Hamilton in the playoff game the previous year was not a penalty and the Raiders got an undeserving break.

[deeniemarie7]

@fatcatsathat I am a Raider fan and I admit that was a horrible call on Hamilton. The Patriots were the

only team to beat the Raiders that year,destroying them 48-17. But justice was served in 2001 on that miserable tuck rule.

[revlooshin]

home cookin'.

[blockbuckster]

Good shit!!! Thanks for the post!!