The
1974 Pro Bowl moved to
Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas
City. The coaches for the
game were Tom Landry of
Dallas for the NFC and John
Madden of Oakland. It was a
cold, rainy day and
attendance was 51,848. This
was a game of turnovers.
There were 15 fumbles and
four interceptions (all
thrown by Oakland’s Ken
Stabler). The weather was
very unusual in Kansas City,
described as cold, but
humid. Los Angeles
quarterback John Hadl and
NFC coach Landry attributed
the turnovers to the
weather. “Everyone was
complaining about the ball
being so slick.“ Landry
said.
Garo Yepremian of the
Dolphins staked the AFC to a
3-0 lead in the first
quarter on a 16 yard field
goal. In the second quarter,
Nick Mike-Mayer of the
Falcons tied it a 3 with a
27 yarder. Yepremian added a
37 yarder later in the
quarter. Then, Ken Houston
of the Redskins intercepted
a Stabler pass, setting up
Roman Gabriel of
Philadelphia to hit Lawrence
McCutcheon of the Rams on a
14 yard touchdown strike.
The score was 10-6 at the
half.
In the third quarter,
Yepremian kicked his third
field goal from 27 yards to
pull the AFC within one at
10-9, but Mel Renfro of the
Cowboys hit Yepremian on the
play, injuring the kicker’s
left knee. Yepremian was
limping for the rest of the
afternoon. In the fourth
quarter, Yepremian kicked a
41 yarder to give the AFC
the lead at 12-10. In the
final minutes of the fourth
quarter, O.J. Simpson of the
Bills fumbled when hit by
Lem Barney of Detroit. Jack
Youngblood of L.A. recovered
to set up a Mike-Meyer’s
second field goal, this time
from 21 yards. The score was
13-12 with less than two
minutes to play. At 1:41 to
play, Bob Griese of Miami
drove the AFC into position
for the winning score. With
:21 seconds remaining,
Yepremian split the uprights
with his record fifth field
goal of the afternoon. The
final score was AFC 15, NFC
13.
Yepremian’s five field goal
broke a record of four
shared by Bert Richichar of
Baltimore (1957) and Jan
Stenerud of Kansas City
(1972). Yepremian was named
the MVP of the game. In
regard to the 19 turnovers
in the contest, John Hadl
blamed chemistry for the
problems, “There’s a
substance on the ball that’s
usually sticky, but it was
hard today. It made the ball
a slick item to hold onto.”
The
1974 Pro Bowl moved to
Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas
City. The coaches for the
game were Tom Landry of
Dallas for the NFC and John
Madden of Oakland. It was a
cold, rainy day and
attendance was 51,848. This
was a game of turnovers.
There were 15 fumbles and
four interceptions (all
thrown by Oakland’s Ken
Stabler). The weather was
very unusual in Kansas City,
described as cold, but
humid. Los Angeles
quarterback John Hadl and
NFC coach Landry attributed
the turnovers to the
weather. “Everyone was
complaining about the ball
being so slick.“ Landry
said.
