Last Sunday the Pittsburgh Steelers re-aired Super Bowl XIV on the team’s social media channels.
This weekend you can re-live Pittsburgh’s victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XIII, which took place on January 21, 1979, at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
‘Game Rewind’ coverage gets underway on May 31 at 4 p.m. ET on the Steelers’ YouTube channel and Facebook page. (Super Bowl XIII will also be re-aired on Monday June 1 at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN.)
‘Game Rewind’ Interviews with Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier
Adding to the allure of the ‘Game Rewind’ broadcast, the Steelers have announced that they will intersperse special features throughout the game, including interviews with running backs Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier. The special features figure to be much like those included with the Super Bowl XIV Game Rewind, when John Stallworth and Donnie Shell provided unique insights into what unfolded on the field at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
As for Super Bowl XIII, it was QB Terry Bradshaw who carried the Steelers to victory over the Cowboys, as he completed 17 of 30 passes for 318 yards and 4 touchdowns against 1 interception for a passer rating of 119.2. John Stallworth had two touchdown catches, including a 75-yard TD catch that tied the game in the second quarter.
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Jackie Smith’s Infamous Dropped Pass in the End Zone
Yet Pittsburgh had its share of good fortune that day. Best-remembered is tight end Jackie Smith’s dropped pass in the end zone, which would have helped the Cowboys to tie the score at 21-21 in the third quarter. Instead Dallas had to settle for a field goal to pull within 21-17, and never re-gained the lead.
It was Smith’s first appearance in the Super Bowl after 16 seasons in the league and five Pro Bowls. “Bless his heart, he’s got to be the sickest man in America,” said announcer Verne Lundquist after watching Smith slip and drop the ball.
Less well remembered is that the Cowboys were dominating the line of scrimmage early in the game, with running back Tony Dorsett—a product of the University of Pittsburgh—gashing the Steelers’ defense on running plays on the opening drive. Inexplicably, the Cowboys went away from what was working so well, and wide receiver Drew Pearson lost a fumble on a gadget play—a reverse—in Steelers’ territory. With the help of that turnover, the Steelers went on to score the game’s first touchdown.
Ultimately, the Steelers built up a 35-17 fourth-quarter lead, but a furious Cowboys comeback attempt fell short and the game ended, 35-31, with Pittsburgh winning its third Super Bowl title in five years.
“When Pete Rozelle presented the Vince Lombardi trophy, the Rooneys [Art and Dan] and [Chuck] Noll accepted it together,” note the authors of the book Rooney: A Sporting Life. “Art choked up while Chuck Noll observed, ‘I don’t think we have peaked yet. I’m looking forward to bigger and better things.'”
As it turns out, bigger and better things were just around the corner, as the Steelers defeated the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl XIV just a year later.
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Super Bowl XIII ‘Game Rewind’ on May 31