1981 Los Angeles Rams Season
The 1981 Los Angeles Rams season was the team's 44th year with the National Football League (NFL) and the 36th season in Los Angeles. The Rams looked to improve on their 11-5 record from 1980. The team failed to improve upon their 11-5 record, and finished with a mediocre 6-10 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1972. This year's Rams squad also suffered the humiliation of being the first to be swept by NFC West rival New Orleans. For the season, the Rams converted from gray facemasks to blue facemasks. Offseason NFL Draft Undrafted free agents The Rams were touted as a possible Super Bowl contender prior to this season. However, Vince Ferragamo, who had previously led the Rams to Super Bowl XIV and set a Rams record the previous season with 30 touchdown passes, decided to bolt for the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes. Pat Haden was named the starter, but with most of the offensive weapons that Ferragamo had, notably WR's P ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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NFC West
The National Football Conference - Western Division or NFC West is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It currently has four members: the Arizona Cardinals, the Los Angeles Rams, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Seattle Seahawks. The division was formed in 1967 as the National Football League Coastal Division, keeping with the theme of having all of the league's divisions starting with the letter "C." The division was so named because its teams were fairly close to the coasts of the United States, although they were on opposite coasts, making for long travel between division rivals. The NFL Coastal Division had four members: Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Colts, Los Angeles Rams, and San Francisco 49ers. Los Angeles and San Francisco occupied the West Coast, while Baltimore maintained its dominance over the lesser teams that remained in the division. Atlanta was placed in the division instead o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dartmouth Big Green Football
The Dartmouth Big Green football team represents Dartmouth College in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) college football competition as a member of the Ivy League. The team possesses a storied tradition that includes a national championship, and holds a record 20 Ivy League Football Championships with 11 College Football Hall of Fame inductees. After Dartmouth formally entered the Ivy League in 1956, head coach Bob Blackman led the 1962 team to the program's first undefeated season since the 1925 national championship team. Blackman also had his first All-American player in Donald McKinnon, class of 1963, who anchored a strong defense that allowed only six points in its first five games. History The sport of football, in its embryonic form, was played on the campus as early as 1876. Goalposts were erected on the green where they stood for several months, before being removed for the 1877 commencement. The first intercollegiate game occurred on November 17, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dan Radakovich (American Football)
Dan Radakovich (November 26, 1935 – February 20, 2020) was an American football player and coach. He helped coach the Pittsburgh Steelers to multiple Super Bowl wins in the 1970s as the team's offensive line coach. He spent 48 years in collegiate and professional coaching before his retirement in 2008. Radakovich graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1957, and immediately began working on the coaching staff of the Nittany Lions, which he continued until 1969. He went to Cincinnati in 1970, and joined the Steelers in 1971. Described as "lean, and blond, a center in his playing days", Radakovich was "a Western Pennsylvania guy who had been on Noll's staff in 1971 but resigned to take a coaching job in college football". Radakovich subsequently returned to working with professional football, where he helped persuade Chuck Noll to draft Franco Harris out of Penn State. After a stint in Colorado, he coached the Steelers' linebackers from 1974 to 1977. In 1978, Radakovich ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hewritt Dixon
Hewritt Frederick Dixon, Jr. (January 8, 1940 – November 24, 1992) was an American professional football player who was a running back for seven seasons in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He played for the AFL's Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders, and one season for the Raiders in the NFL. He was an AFL All-Star in 1966, 1967, and 1968, and an NFL Pro Bowler in 1970. Dixon was born in LaCrosse, Florida and died in Los Angeles, California on November 24, 1992 of cancer. See also *List of American Football League players The following is a list of men who played for the American Football League (AFL, 1960–1969). Players A B C D Elbert Dubenion E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z Notes Player notes 1,398 ... References 1940 births 1992 deaths People from Alachua County, Florida Players of American football from Florida American football running backs Denver Br ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lionel Taylor
Lionel Thomas Taylor (born August 15, 1935) is a former American football wide receiver who led the American Football League (AFL) in receptions for five of the first six years of the league's existence. College football Taylor attended New Mexico Highlands University, where he had starred in basketball and track, earning all-conference wide receiver honors in 1956 and 1957. Professional football Taylor first played eight games as a linebacker with the Chicago Bears of the National Football League before moving to the Denver Broncos of the AFL for the 1960 season. With the Broncos, he switched positions and became a receiver. Third in all-time receptions (543) and receiving yards (6,872) for the Denver Broncos, Taylor was the Broncos' team MVP in 1963, 1964 and 1965, and an AFL All-Star in 1961, 1962 and 1965. An original Bronco, Taylor was part of the team's inaugural Ring of Fame class in 1984. Along with Lance Alworth, Charlie Hennigan and Sid Blanks, he shares the record ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jack Faulkner
Jack Faulkner (April 4, 1926 – September 28, 2008) was an American football coach and administrator who most prominently served as head coach of the American Football League's Denver Broncos from 1962 to 1964. He also has been an integral part of the Los Angeles Rams organization, dating back to the team's first tenure in LA Early career Faulkner served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, then married Betty Lou Mackey in 1946. Playing the first of two seasons at linebacker for Miami University under head coach Sid Gillman proved to be a boon to Faulkner's future. When Gillman was hired as head coach at the University of Cincinnati in 1949, he brought Faulkner along and spent the next six seasons in that position with the Bearcats. In January 1955, Gillman moved into the professional ranks when he was hired as head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, with the mentor again asking Faulkner to join him. The pair spent five years trying to return the team to its early succ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wendell Tyler
Wendell Avery Tyler (born May 20, 1955) is a former professional American football player who was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the 3rd round of the 1977 NFL Draft. A 5'10", 198 lbs. running back from UCLA, Tyler played in 10 NFL seasons from 1977 to 1986 for the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers. In 1979, he helped lead the Rams to Super Bowl XIV, where they were defeated 31-19 by the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 1984, he rushed for a 49er team record 1,262 yards during the regular season, and also caught 28 passes for 230 yards, was selected to the Pro Bowl, and played in Super Bowl XIX in which the 49ers defeated the Miami Dolphins 38-16. Tyler was the first player ever to lead two teams in rushing in two Super Bowls. College career Tyler played running back at UCLA from 1973–1976 and is fifth in career rushing yards for the Bruins, with 3,240 yards. 1976 All-Conference and 3rd team All American, Tyler was on the 1975 UCLA team that won the Pacific-8 Conferenc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Billy Waddy
Billy Waddy (February 19, 1954 – January 21, 2022) was an American professional football player who played wide receiver for seven seasons for the Los Angeles Rams and the Minnesota Vikings. Waddy was a legitimate deep threat, who averaged 16.4 yards per catch over the course of his career. Relying on his speed and agility, Billy made big plays in one of the most significant games of his career—the Rams' shocking 21-19 upset of Dallas in the 1979 divisional playoffs, where he scored a game-winning 50-yard TD with less than two minutes to play. Several weeks later, in Super Bowl XIV against Pittsburgh, the threat of him getting open deep down the field was a constant concern to the Steelers' defensive coaches—and for good reason, as he caught three passes for 75 yards, including a 50-yard completion from quarterback Vince Ferragamo. Late in the fourth quarter, with the Rams trailing 24-19, Waddy was wide open, streaking down the left side of the field on a play where the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Preston Dennard
Preston Jackson Dennard (born November 28, 1955, in Cordele, Georgia) is a former professional American football wide receiver in the NFL for the Los Angeles Rams, Buffalo Bills and Green Bay Packers. He played college football at the University of New Mexico. College career A stellar three-sport athlete in high school in Tempe, Ariz., Dennard exploded onto the college scene at the University of New Mexico in 1974. He had been recruited out of Marcos de Niza high school. He became the first Lobo freshman to garner first team All-WAC honors. In 1975, he beat out a Freshman receiver from Arizona State named John Washington, who would later change his last name to his father's name. John Jefferson. Dennard finished third in the nation in receiving. He was first team all-league in 1976. By his senior year, Dennard held every receiving record at UNM. He caught 142 passes for 2,257 yards, numbers that still rank high in the Lobo record book. 1974 was the first year that Dennard saw ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pat Haden
Patrick Capper Haden (born January 23, 1953) is the former athletic director at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles from August 2010 to June 2016. He played quarterback for the USC Trojans before playing professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Rams from 1976 through 1981. He also played in the World Football League (WFL) for the Southern California Sun in 1975. Haden is a Rhodes Scholar, was a practicing attorney from 1982 to 1987, and was a partner at Riordan, Lewis & Haden, a private equity firm, from 1987 to 2010. He is also known for his work as a former sportscaster, beginning with CBS Sports in 1982, and ending his career in that field as a color commentator for NBC Sports' Notre Dame football coverage. Biography Early years Born in Westbury, New York, to working-class Irish American parents, Haden is the fourth of five children. He had a close relationship with his mother, Helen Haden, who told her children to "Liv ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian Football League East Division, East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and last won the Grey Cup championship in 98th Grey Cup, 2010. Their home field is Percival Molson Memorial Stadium for the regular season and as of 2014 also home of their playoff games. The original Alouettes team (1946 Montreal Alouettes season, 1946–1981 Montreal Alouettes season, 1981) won four Grey Cups and were particularly dominant in the 1970s. After their collapse in 1982, they were immediately reconstituted under new ownership as the Montreal Concordes. After playing for four years as the Concordes, they revived the Alouettes name for the 1986 season. A second folding in 1987 led to a nine-year hiatus of CFL football in the city. The current Al ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a city in Canada. They are divided into two divisions: four teams in the East Division and five teams in the West Division. As of 2022, it features a 21-week regular season in which each team plays 18 games with three bye weeks. This season traditionally runs from mid-June to early November. Following the regular season, six teams compete in the league's three-week playoffs, which culminate in the Grey Cup championship game in late November. The Grey Cup is one of Canada's largest annual sports and television events. The CFL was officially named on January 19, 1958, upon the merger between the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union or "Big Four" (founded in 1907) and the Western Interprovincial Football Union (founded in 1936). History Ear ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |