Adrian Fedkiw
The game was sloppier than a college freshman on Thirsty Thursday.
A win’s a win, though, and it propelled the Philadelphia Eagles to the NFC Championship Game and a showdown against the hated Dallas Cowboys.
The Eagles forced all eight of the Minnesota Vikings’ turnovers in a span of 22 minutes in the second half as Philadelphia pulled away for a 31-16 victory in the 1980 NFC Divisional Playoffs.
Philadelphia stormed back from a 14-0 hole after sleepwalking for the first 25 minutes. The Eagles had defeated the Vikings 42-7 at Veteran’s Stadium earlier on in the year. Minnesota went just 9-7 during the regular season, but closed with six wins in its final eight games.
Both teams traded turnovers six times in a seven-possession stretch in the latter stages of the third and early portion of the fourth.
It was ugly!
Cornerbacks Herman Edwards and Roynell Young each had a pair of interceptions, with Frank LeMaster hauling in the other one. You can check out all eight of Minnesota’s turnovers in the second half below.
The Eagles’ defense, which allowed a league-low 222 points during the regular season, certainly flipped the switch in the second half. Head coach Dick Vermeil was carried off the field following the final whistle as he was hoisted onto the shoulders of Charlie Johnson and Claude Humphrey.
Carl Hairston had two of the Eagles’ three sacks.
Ron Jaworski was off his game, completing just 17-of-38 passes for 190 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Harold Carmichael caught seven passes for 84 yards and a score for Philadelphia, which was the No. 2 seed in the NFC after going 12-4 during the regular season.
The Cowboys upset the top-seeded Atlanta Falcons 30-27, setting the Eagles up with homefield advantage against Dallas in the NFC title game.
Tommy Kramer, who tossed an interception on each of the Vikings’ final four possessions, finished 19-of-39 for 209 yards with one touchdown and those five picks. Minnesota ran for just 36 yards and totaled just 215.
The Eagles doubled up on scores at the end of the second and start of the third quarters after falling behind by two touchdowns.
Wilbert Montgomery had a 14-yard gain on a swing pass into the left flat, Jaworski fired a 15-yard dart along the left sideline to Scott Fitzke on a 3rd-and-10 and Carmichael picked up 12 on a crossing route to highlight the march before Big Harold finished it off the with a pretty fingertip catch along the right seam for a 9-yard score.
Highlighting the opening second half drive, Jaws took a huge shot in the pocket, but still delivered this beautiful pass to Carmichael along the right sideline and Montgomery scampered in from eight yards out to level the score on a draw play.
Young’s interception at the 1-yard line was the first forced turnover of the second half, but due to the bad field position, the Eagles took a safety. The left defensive end Doug Martin and blitzing linebacker Matt Blair combined to sandwich Jaworski and help the Vikings go back in front, 16-14, midway through the third.
It was all Eagles from there, however, as they put up the final 17 points of the game.
After Walter Payton’s older brother Eddie muffed a punt, Montgomery scored from five yards out on a toss to the left for a 21-16 Eagles advantage.
Then the game started becoming nearly unwatchable, turnover after turnover after turnover.
It wasn’t until LeMaster’s interception that the Eagles finally capitalized on a Minnesota miscue. In a funny sequence, Vikings head coach Bud Grant called a timeout prior to barefooted kicker’s Tony Franklin’s 33-yard field goal attempt. Franklin put a towel over his foot to keep it warm in the cold conditions. The game was played in the low 30s. Franklin then split the uprights to give the Eagles a 24-16 margin with 7:31 left.
After Edwards recorded his second interception, Perry Harrington’s 2-yard TD plunge put a bow on it.
Earlier, Minnesota marched right down the field on the opening drive.
They picked up a pair of third-down conversions, with Kramer maneuvering in the pocket beautifully on 3rd-and-5 by eluding Claude Humphrey and finding his running back Teddy Brown for a gain of 15 yards. Minnesota lucked out on the next play when Bob Tucker inexplicably tried to lateral the ball back to Rickey Young, but the Eagles were called for a defensive holding penalty. Kramer flipped a drag-out to Joe Sensor for a gain of 10 on another 3rd-and-5 later in the drive.
Kramer lofted a beautiful 30-yard touchdown pass to Sammy White running a post pattern on the very next snap.
Young hauled in a 24-yard completion off a Kramer roll to the right and Senser rumbled down to the 1-yard line on a seam route for a pickup of 22 yards before Brown capped the 10-play, near six-minute march with a 1-yard TD plunge off the left side. It gave the Vikings their two-touchdown margin with 5:30 left in the opening half.