End Zone Insight

Perfection. In the history of the NFL there has been just one team, in one incredible season 50 years ago, to win every regular season game and every playoff game. That team was the much-celebrated 1972 Miami Dolphins, who went 17-0 that magical year including a 14-7 victory over the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII. End Zone Insight will take a unique look at the way that great team was constructed from scratch, going from struggling expansion team to Super Bowl champion in just seven years. The hero of the story is player evaluation extraordinaire Joe Thomas, whose work in the front office acquiring talent has been unfortunately overshadowed by legendary head coach Don Shula and his wonderful team. 

If ever there was a football coach who wanted no part of rookies, it was George Allen. When he arrived in Washington with an unlimited expense account, which he quickly exceeded, he acquired every available veteran player he could find. He traded for, signed, or cajoled them into joining the Redskins. When the dust settled, so to speak, the roster was unrecognizable and given the nickname of the “Over the Hill Gang.”

Paul and Bob take their listeners on a strange trip on which an outlandish number of tie games threw the NFL divisional title races into near chaos. Learn how the Pittsburgh Steelers missed winning the East partly due to a warped goalpost, while their three ties almost dethroned the New York Giants despite having four fewer wins.

Now playing in the modernistic So-Fi Stadium, the NFL Chargers have returned to their Los Angeles birthplace. But the Chargers left L.A. after only one season in the old American Football League to boldly bring bigtime sports to a bright, new, and growing city, San Diego. END ZONE INSIGHT relives the time when the Chargers redefined offensive football under the brilliant guidance of head coach Sid Gillman and stars like Paul Lowe, Keith Lincoln, Don Norton, Ron Mix, Ernie Wright, Jack Kemp, and Tobin Rote.

After 68 years of crowning unofficial and 61 years of voting for the college football national championship, fans now have the soon-to-expand College Football Playoffs. But are the playoffs the best solution for naming a champion? The Pigskin Pod Cats look back at how the AP Writers’ and UPI Coaches’ crowned a title-winner and debate what the future holds for a sport in the middle of change and upheaval.

In this episode, End Zone Insight debates the merits of a few of the greatest games in the history of the National Football League.  Bob and Paul break down the reason why a particular game deserves its ranking or should be moved higher or lower.  The list was compiled by the NFL and Associated Press and is now presented by Pro Football Reference.  Many of the big games of the past are discussed including The Catch, The Ice Bowl and The Immaculate Reception.  Where does your favorite land and who is number one on the list?

The NFL had never staged a sudden death overtime to decide a championship game. But, late in 1958, the Baltimore Colts beat the New York Giants in the late day gloom of Yankee Stadium to win an overtime thriller. Many have called it “The Greatest Football Game Ever". END ZONE INSIGHT hosts Paul and Bob weigh in on that claim and discuss the ramifications in the years that followed.

The NFL is clearly America’s most popular sport, but fans were led to believe it happened overnight. The magic moment is said to be the overtime thriller in the 1958 NFL title game, won by quarterback Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts over the New York Giants. It helped that 40 million TV viewers were electrified by Colts-Giants that day, but Paul and Bob show how it was inevitable that the NFL would leave Major League Baseball in the dust.

Given the NFL’s humble beginnings in 1920, it would seem impossible that pro football could ever topple the college game as America’s favorite form of football. In time, wise NFL owners and commissioner Bert Bell overcame foolish policies to lay out the blueprint for unrivaled success. It helped that rulers of college football inflicted a stupidly democratic TV plan and dull “ironman football” just as the NFL was doing the opposite.

The Pigskin Pod Cats turn back the clock to describe a trio of great Army-Navy games. In 1946, West Point was one impressive win from an unprecedented, third straight, undefeated national title. Navy had other plans, however. The mysterious “Lonely End” was unveiled by the Cadets in 1958 and carried Army to a come-from-behind win over Navy. In 1963, Navy, led by Roger Staubach, had one of its greatest teams, and fought through another nail biter with its rival.

During this holiday season, Paul and Bob fondly remember their fathers—Robert “Bob” Guido and Houston “Hugh” Boyles respectively—who introduced the boys to the great game of football. Bob B. recalls the Sports Illustrated story, “A Dollar on Dartmouth” and a trip to West Point for “Everybody Up for the Kickoff!” Paul remembers his first in-person football trip, also to scenic West Point. Most of all, Paul relives the times they were glued every week’s Notre Dame game on radio, especially for national championship races.

Paul and Bob sit down with the remarkable J.D. Hill, Arizona State All-American and first round draft choice of the Buffalo Bills in 1970. This END ZONE INSIGHT episode coincides with the release of a book titled, Go Long: The Life Story of J.D. Hill. J.D.’s candid story is remarkable: his fall from football fame, due to dependence on painkilling drugs, to today as one of the most caring of others anyone would ever meet.

Today’s fans look at the achievements of the mighty New England Patriots and their record six Super Bowl championships. But, back in the early days of the American Football League, the on-field fortunes of the Boston Patriots bounced up and down like a yo-yo. And matters were far worse for finding a place to play. Ride along with END ZONE INSIGHT as the Pigskin PodCats examine the goofy early years as owner Billy Sullivan tried four different stadiums and never found a true home.

To honor our nation's veterans, End Zone Insight revisits a past episode detailing the amazing life of Heisman Trophy winner, Tom Harmon, who became a ground-breaking sports broadcaster after surviving harrowing war experiences.

The unique skillset and incredible success of Benny Friedman as the first passing superstar of the NFL helped keep the league afloat as the Depression hit and may have changed the league as much as any other player.  So, why is he forgotten?  Our Benny Friedman profile brings to life this special player, from his early days in Cleveland to his stunning emergence with the Maize and Blue at Michigan and then continued success as a professional.  Friedman made passing popular and the league rewrote the rules book to encourage it for every team.  Friedman's incredible story was forgotten at the end of his life 40 years ago, which greatly troubled the former football great.

Charley Trippi, an all-around athlete from Pennsylvania coal country, fulfilled a promise to enroll at the University of Georgia and leads his Bulldogs to a Rose Bowl victory and national championship before making the College Hall of Fame. After World War II, Trippi had the opportunity to become both a Yankee football HB and a Yankee baseball outfielder, but he again fulfilled a promise and became a Pro Football Hall of Famer with the NFL Chicago Cardinals.

The Pigskin Pod Cats sit down with legendary Hall of Fame coach Vince Dooley and find him to be a charming, colorful ambassador of the game. He admits he “wouldn’t have hired himself” had he been athletic director. But his Bulldogs managed a quick return to glory in the 1960s, and the “Dawgs” continued as a force in the SEC, winning six titles over 18 years. The great Herschel Walker sparked the undefeated 1980 team to a national title, but Dooley had to keep an even keel as Walker challenged the NFL’s underclassman policy.

Every podcast listener loves murder and mayhem of real crime. In this episode of End Zone Insight, Paul and Bob investigate how Sid Luckman, an all-time great quarterback, overcame the homicide conviction of his father Meyer. While Sid fashioned a Hall of Fame career, Meyer was stuck in Sing Sing Prison, doing 20-years-to-life.

The Chicago Bears are a storied NFL franchise. But since the retirement of Hall of Famer Sid Luckman in 1950, the Bears have lived through an absolute hell searching for another great quarterback. Johnny Lujack looked like a perfect fit but retired early. Ed Brown had some nice years in the 1950s, and Bill Wade led the ’63 team to the title. Jim McMahon sparked the ’85 Bears to a Super Bowl title but other defenses battered him badly. Jay Cutler had big numbers but poor body language. Divert your eyes from the rest of the list.

The Vermeil saga continues as the “Pigskin Pod Cats” pick up his story as the Eagles make the playoffs in Vermeil’s third year, race to Super Bowl XV the next year, where bad luck gave them no chance to beat the Oakland Raiders. Vermeil abruptly quit after the ’82 season citing “burnout,” and in so doing created a commonly used phrase. The coaching bug brought Vermeil back into the NFL 14 years later with the St. Louis Rams, where folk hero QB Kurt Warner came from nowhere to pilot the “Greatest Show on Turf” to victory in Super Bowl XXXIV. Vermeil retired again but returned with the Kansas City Chiefs. These days the coach enjoys returning to his birthplace in the Napa Valley where he helps run a vineyard.