Strat-O-Matic to Offer 1995, 1966 Pro Football Seasons

Strat-O-Matic to Offer 1995, 1966 Pro Football Seasons

By Glenn Guzzo

            Strat-O-Matic closes in on completing its library of post-1955 National Football League seasons in modern format with this summer’s release of the 1995 season. And there’s a bonus for board-gamers: A six-team card set for the 1966 NFL and AFL, previously available only for SOM’s Windows game.

1995:

            As usual with its historic pro football seasons, Strat-O-Matic offers all the teams in its Windows roster and the top six teams in card format.

            The six-team card set showcases Super Bowl champion Dallas (12-4) and AFC champ Pittsburgh (11-5), the team with the best record in the NFL, Kansas City (13-3), the team with the best point differential, San Francisco (11-5, +199), the team with the league MVP, Green Bay (11-5, QB Brett Favre) and the team that gained the most yards, Detroit (10-6).

            The Cowboys scored the second most points and yielded the second fewest. Emmitt Smith led the NFL by running for 1,773 yards and 25 touchdowns. Troy Aikman completed 64.8% of his passes, while throwing for a league-low 1.6% of interceptions. They had little trouble with the Eagles, Packers and Steelers in the post-season.

            San Francisco scored more points and allowed fewer than Dallas, scoring more than 36 points per game in a late-season six-game winning streak fashioned by QB Steve Young (league-best 66.9% completions) and WR Jerry Rice (122-1,848-15). Green Bay QB Brett Favre topped Aikman and Young by throwing for 38 TD passes and 4,413 yards, both league bests – an MVP performance.

            Pittsburgh scored the most points in the AFC (407). The Steelers spread the ball around, but WR Yancey Thigpen had 85 catches for 1,307 yards and QB Neil O’Donnell had a 1.7% interception rate … Kansas City allowed the fewest points in the NFL (241) thanks in part to Neil Smith’s 12 sacks.

            Detroit’s offense outgained all these teams. Barry Sanders ran for 1,500 yards. WR Herman Moore led the NFL with 123 catches. He (1,686 yards) and Brett Perriman (1,488) combined for more than 3,100 of Scott Mitchell’s 4,338 yards passing.

1966:

            This six-team card set showcases the first Super Bowl foes, Green Bay (12-2) and Kansas City (11-2-1), the teams they beat to get there, Dallas (10-3-1) and Buffalo (9-4-1) and two other NFL contenders, Baltimore and Cleveland (both 9-5).

            In the NFL title game won by Green Bay 34-27, the league’s top defense (just 163 points allowed) and defending champions had all they could handle with the league’s top offense (445 points) featuring such young stars as QB Don Meredith, WR Bob Hayes (1,232 receiving yards, 13 TD catches) and RB Dan Reeves (1,314 yards of total offense, 16 TDs), but prevailed on a final-stage end-zone interception.

            Kansas City, the class of the AFL, had the league’s No. 1 passer in Len Dawson, rookie RB Mike Garrett (5.5 average) and explosive young WR Otis Taylor (1,297 receiving yards for a 22-yard average). The title game was the reverse of the NFL’s, with the league’s No. 1 offense (KC, 448 points) dominating the defending champs who had the league’s stingiest defense (Buffalo, 225 points), 31-7.

            Baltimore’s title chances were doomed when the Colts lost twice to the Packers, despite a formidable passing attack with QB John Unitas, WR Raymond Berry and TE John Mackey. Leroy Kelly replaced the retired Jim Brown in Cleveland’s backfield and ran for 1,141 yards and 15 TDs, helping the balanced Browns to a +144-point differential.