NFL Game of the Week

Going into Sept. 23, 1984, some Buffalo fans were waving the white flag of distress. The Jets, who had beaten Indianapolis to start the season, thought the winless Bills would be pushovers. But New York had to fight for this 28-26 win.

Dan Marino took his air show to Busch Stadium Sept. 30, 1984 to do battle with the Cards. Rather than fold up before Miami's record-setting aerial attack, St. Louis made a game of it before falling 36-28.

What proved to be the final game in Miami's 11-0 start was bolstered when Paul Lankford intercepted Philadelphia QB Ron Jaworski. The real difference was Miami's Doug Betters, who blocked the Eagles' extra-point attempt to keep the Dolphins unbeaten, 24-23.

In their first year under Alex Spanos's ownership, the Chargers didn't amount to too much. They won only five of their first eleven games and hopelessly out of the AFC West race. Now, on November 18, they met the heretofore perfect Dolphins of Dan Marino. But this day, the Chargers capitalized on Miami mistakes to keep it all close. Miami had a chance to tie the Bears' record for most consecutive regular-season wins, but a missed field goal ended that. San Diego took control in overtime for a satisfying 34-28 upset.

The Giants were emerging into something special by November 25, 1984. Bill Parcells coached his team well, and they were in the thick of the NFC East race. Kansas City seemed to have their encounter at Giants Stadium in hand, but Big Blue fought back to a 28-27 win.

Sam Wyche had come to Cincinnati as head coach prepared to shock a few people. By December 2, 1984, the Bengals were on the brink of shocking the nation. Their challenge for the AFC Central crown was augmented in this showdown at Cleveland Stadium. Their overtime period was forced when Boomer Esiason passed a last-minute TD to tackle Anthony Muñoz. It offset the longest field goal in Browns history and set the stage for Cincinnati's 20-17 win.

For the first time in history, Washington completed a regular-season sweep of Dallas. It certainly didn't look that way in the first half of this December 9 game. Dallas seemed in command, but the Redskins marched back in the second half for a tense 30-28 win.