Legendary Football League

'76 Pittsburgh vs. '88 Cincinnati It was a brisk fall day at Three Rivers Stadium as the 1-2 Steelers looked to turn their season around against the 2-1 division rival Bengals. Only 46,000 were in attendance, but Pittsburgh would soon find they may more reasons to draw fans. After a few 3 & outs in the 1st quarter, Esiason would put together a great drive, with Wilson taking a 1 yard run for the first score. Pittsburgh would try to put together a drive, but settled for a 40 yarder from Gerela. The Bengals, still leading 7-3, would get Breech close enough to nail a 35 yarder and go up 10-3. Pittsburgh would need to start scoring to get in the game, and they found their opportunity. On the 1st play of the 2nd quarter, Bleier told his teammates not to worry about any FG's, as he took a handoff and ran 53 yards for the TD to put the Steelers back in the game. After stopping the Bengals again, the Steelers would put together a real drive this time, and as they reache...

Tennessee vs Atlanta The '98 Falcons have been on a roll since their first week loss to ___, and Chandler and company had no problems keeping the magic going against the '08 Titans. Chandler kept things safe with his passing game, but Jamal Anderson had a big game, coming through with an impressive 170 yards and a longest run of 52. But with Tennessee matching Atlanta's touchdowns, it was the 3 FGs from Andersen that made the difference for the Falcons. He was 100% on the day: 1 for 19, 1 for 28 and 1 for 39. Tennessee, on the other hand, couldn't get in FG range enough. Collins, who looked great on the day with 18/25 and 199 yards, just couldn't do it alone. Chris Johnson tried to help out with 20 carries, but the Atlanta D just wasn't letting him go anywhere, holding him to under 40 yards.  Falcons 23, Titans 14 New England vs Buffalo It appeared as though the  '07 Patriots may have met their match taking on the '90 Bills at New Era Field. Wi...

'62 Green Bay vs. '17 Philadelphia The fall weather at Lambeau field was great, as the Packers hosted the Eagles. The Packers were aiming to keep a strong win streak going, and the Eagles were looking to break their win streak. The Eagles started the game with a great kick return, taking them to almost the 50. From there, however, in what would telegraph most of the game's outcome, Wentz struggled to get anything but short passes in, and the Packers took over. From that point, both teams would make a good effort, but it would be Kramer of the Packers to get the first FG of the game to put Green Bay in a 3-0 lead. Two turnovers later, and the Packers finally capitalized with some FG's to lead Philadelphia 9-3. The Packers had plenty of shots it in the red zone, but ended up settling for a FG each time until coming up big just seconds before the half with a Jim Taylor run. Up 13-3 at the half, the momentum continued for the Packers from there, as they would cont...

The weather at Fed Ex field was great as the undefeated '85 Chicago Bears hit the road to face the '91 Redskins, who themselves are hot off a win against their division rival Dallas Cowboys. The opening drive saw the Bears just charge ahead with Payton and Suhey, but the Redskins wised up and held the Bears to a FG. Not much later, Rypien would hit Gary Clark twice for 2 big 30+ yard plays, on a vicious 80 yard drive, grabbing the first TD of the game with a 7-3 lead on the Bears. Not to be outdone, McMahon and company found a few holes in the Redskins passing game on their next drive. After making it the red zone, Payton came up big with his first TD. From there, McMahon had all the momentum he needed to open up his passing game some more, hitting McKinnon for a TD just before the half. With just 3 seconds on the clock, the Redskins were able to setup for a 44 yard FG from Lohmiller, to close in on the bears a but at the half. As the 2nd half opened, down by just 1...

The Cincinnati Bengals , hot off 2 major victories in a row, travelled to upstate NY to take on the Buffalo Bills at New Era Field. With 82 thousand in attendance, the Bills were fresh off 2 straight losses and ready for a turn of fortune. With Jim Kelly doozed after a major hit early on, Frank Reich lobbed a 72-yarder to Lofton to give the Bills just the hope they needed. The Bengals bounced back in the 2nd quarter as Breeech put some FG's on the board. But Esiason struggled to score. Buffalo opened up their rushing game in the 2nd half as The Thurminator grabbed 2 TD's with over 140 yards. Buffalo 23, Cincinnati 6 The '98 Falcons took on a struggling '68 Colts team on the road, and scored early in the game on a 20 yard pass to Mathis. From there, both teams held each at bay with Altanta up 7-3 by the 3rd quarter. And that's when the game started exploding. Morrall opened up his passing game, throwing for 4 TD's, with over 450 yards total. He hit Pearson for ...

'99 Jacksonville vs. '08 Tennessee This week saw the Jacksonville Jaguars host the Tennessee Titans, as the highest scoring offense in the AFC (Jaguars) took on the lowest scoring defense (Titans). And with both teams being so far undefeated, someone was bound to be upset by the end of the night. As expected, Jacksonville came out with force. Hollis hit a FG from 38 yards out halfway through the 1st quarter, and later Brunell would find Jimmy Smith in the end zone on a 15-yarder. Tennessee tried a comeback in the 2nd quarter, but only managed a field goal. Jacksonville went up at halftime 17-3. What would really give Tennessee some momentum was Chris Carr taking the opening kick-off return 85 yards for a score. From there, both teams struggled in the 3rd quarter to make progress, but eventually Collins got the Titans in the end zone to tie the game on a run by LenDale White. As strong as Tennessee's defense was, unfortunately it wouldn't hold up enough to ...

'69 Jets vs. '69 Browns The NY Jets welcomed the Cleveland Browns to Shea Stadium in their 2nd home game of the year. The weather was good and the wind stayed at bay, making it a great day for an offensive shootout. The Jets and Cleveland traded big plays back and forth all day. The Browns easily scored on their first drive, with Nelsen find Glass for 51 yards. But the Jets were right back in the game after a 69 yard run by Snell put them near the goal line. But just as Namath picked up momentum with another score, Morrison came through for Cleveland with a 33 yard receiving TD. The game was tied at the half but wouldn't remain so for long. The Jets received the ball in the 2nd half, giving Namath a chance to score on his first drive with a 45 yard pass and put the Jets in the lead. From there things just went south for Cleveland after some poor ball position gave Boozer a chance this time to run 28 yards for another score. Cleveland did eventually get back to the r...

The '79 Chargers traveled to the Pontiac Silverdome to take on a Detroit team desperate to prove itself after last week's embarrassment. And Detroit showed up strong Sanders had an impressive 151 yards, but more importantly Erik Kramer was able to find Robert Clark for some big plays, throwing for 250 yards.Detroit led 14-13 at the half. But as the 4th quarter came around, Detroit, who was still in charge, found it harder to stop Dan Fouts. The Chargers came up big on all offensive fronts, scoring 20 points to win, 33-27 The Colts and Titans both found themselves coming up with a 2-point Safety at Nissan Stadium, but Baltimore failed to capitalize on the effort, or make any more scores. Their defense successfully kept Collins from throwing any TD's, but they couldn't stop Bironas from hitting 3 of 4 field goals. Each team came up with just around 200 yards offense, but Tennessee took home the W with a score of 11-2 . The Cowboys traveled to DC to take on a Redskins ...

'00 Tampa Bay vs. '15 Carolina The weather was nice and cool at Bank of America Stadium as the Buccaneers traveled to Carolina this time to try and stop Newton and the Panthers.  Over 73,730 people were in attendance. Hot off a win against Montana's 49ers, the Buccaneers found themselves quickly working a bit harder to keep their momentum up against the Panthers. On their first drive, the Panthers picked off Brad Johnson, promptly turning the opportunity into the first score of the game. From there, Newton took charge in the first half, coming up with 2 TD's. Though making it look easy, he also had great ball position each time, at one point benefiting from a 48 yard punt return by Ted Ginn Jr. Tampa Bay tried lots of attacks to get past Carolina, but the Buccs just couldn't turn their gains into first downs. Struggling to make progress, the Panthers went up at halftime 24-7 . In the 3rd quarter, Tampa Bay's defense put extra pressure on Newton, and he...

'12 Texans vs. '08 New Orleans The 2012 Houston Texans showed up to New Orleans to give Drew Brees a challenge, and they succeeded big time. Schaub came up short on some bigger pass attempts, but was able to mix some shorter plays with a ground attack from Arian Foster, who came up big. Foster, who only rushed for 112 yards, grabbed every Houston TD, including a 34-yarder in the 2nd quarter. Brees evaded the Houston defense okay, but just had trouble finding receivers to come up with the big plays needed. Neither QB had a great game, but the Texans D held strong, giving them the win over the Saints 35-10. '97 Broncos vs. '74 Raiders The '97 Broncos took on the '74 Raiders in what appeared to be a defensive standout for several quarters. Both teams found some wiggle room with the ball, balancing the rush and pass efforts. But both teams ended up punting until late in the 2nd quarter, when Elway's Broncos started loosening up the Raiders, heading to ...

What an amazing opening week for the LFL!. Lots of close games, a couple comebacks and a few upsets, showing that the LFL intends to live up to my hopes of putting the best to the test. AFC Despite a tough time passing, the ‘08 Titans beat the ‘69 Browns 20-13 . Cleveland’s Cockroft only made 2 of an alarmingly  5 field goal attempts, as Tennessee’s defense had a great performance. Cleveland’s Nelsen threw for 278 yards, but just couldn’t close the deal. ‘99 Jaguars won a close one over the ‘69 Chiefs with a late 4th Quarter TD, 33-31 . The Chiefs kept the lead most of the game, but Brunell staged a 4th quarter comeback of 20 points, throwing for 223 yards and 3 TDs. Jimmy Smith came up with 11 of those catches for 134 yards and 2 TDs,. ‘68 Jets didn’t let up at all against the ‘90 Bills, holding the Thurminator to under 60 yards and keeping Jim Kelly’s no huddle at bay. The Jets came on top 27-9 , as Snell snuck in 2 running TD’s and Turner put up 3 field go...

'85 Chicago vs. '62 Green Bay It was a cool fall night in Chicago, with almost 70,000 in attendance. The '85 Bears got off to an electrifying start, wasting no time scoring on their first possession, after a long pass brought them to the 1 yard line. The '62 Packers retaliated, slowly making progress and moving the ball near the red zone multiple times, but were only able to score once on a 78 yard Taylor TD run. Ultimately, the Bears D proved too oppressive, picking off 3 passes from Starr in the 2nd quarter alone, giving McMahon plenty of chances to score. And with a great blend of rush and pass plays, score he did. The Bears were up 21-7 at the half.  In the 2nd half, the Pack continued getting close to scoring range, as Starr put up over 200 yards. But turnovers continued to haunt the Packers after Perry picked up fumbles on 2 separate drives. The Packers D increased the pressure on the Bears in the 2nd half, but it just wasn't enough to st...

What is the LFL (Legendary Football League)? The LFL is a unique approach to try and determine the greatest NFL football of all time, using Lance Haffner's 3-in-1 Football simulator. In place of a tournament style approach, or single head-to-head matchups, the LFL is a full 32-team league, which each spot being occupied by the top "team" in history, for that franchise. We will be playing a full 17-week regular NFL season, mirroring the ongoing 2019 season. Many teams like Oakland, San Francisco, Dallas and New England etc. have a long and rich history of successful franchises, so I tried to use some of the following criteria to narrow down choices: Modern teams (late 60's+) should be used where possible. There are some dominant teams from the early decades of NFL/AFL, but this a much lesser known era to the general population. In addition, these were smaller leagues with less competition, so their "achievements" would be harder to measure against th...

Just 1 day away from the NFL opener, which means the first game of the LFL will be taking place as well. The 62' Packers are travelling to Chicago to see if they can stop Sweetness and get Jim Taylor past Buddy Ryan’s monster defense (Singletary, Perry, Dent, McMichael, Deurson) . In 1985, the Packers ended up 2nd in Chicago’s division - will they end up 2nd in this matchup?