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 The
1976 Pro Bowl was played on
a Monday night at the
Superdome in New Orleans, LA
before 32,108 fans. The NFC
was without many star
quarterbacks that year due
to injuries to such notables
as Archie Manning of New
Orleans, Steve Bartkowski of
Atlanta, Fran Tarkenton of
Minnesota and Roger Satubach
of Dallas. The coaches for
the game were John Madden of
Oakland and Chuck Knox of
Los Angeles.
There was no scoring in the
first period. In the second
period, the AFC took command
on two field goals of 25 and
30 yards by Jan Stenrud of
Kansas City. The first field
goal was set up when Billy
“Whiteshoes” Johnson of the
Oilers raced 55 yards with a
punt return. The second
field goal was set up by a
35 yard pass from Dan
Pastorini of the Oilers to
Cliff Branch of Oakland. The
NFC threatened on their next
possession when Jim Hart of
St. Louis hit Charlie
Sanders of Detroit with a 43
yard pass. But, Jack Lambert
of Pittsburgh picked off
Hart’s next toss on the AFC
23. Then, with :12 left in
the second quarter,
Pastorini hit Oiler teammate
Ken Burrough on a 65 yard
pass for a touchdown. The
score was 13-0 at the half.
Jim Bakken of St. Louis put
the NFC on the scoreboard
with a 42 yard field goal 7
minutes into the third
period. Still in the third
quarter, Chuck Foreman of
Minnesota pulled in a 4 yard
touchdown pass and Hart and
the NFC inched back into it
at 13-9. Midway through the
fourth period, the AFC
appeared to have snuffed the
NFC comeback when Johnson
returned another punt, this
time for 90 yards and a
touchdown. It was the
longest return in Pro Bowl
history. The score was 20-9.
With just minutes remaining
in the game, Mike Boryla, a
back-up to Roman Gabriel in
Philadelphia, relieved Jim
Hart. Boryla promptly hit
Terry Metcalf of the
Cardinals for a 14 yard
touchdown. The score was now
20-16. On the AFC’s next
possession, they were forced
to punt. The NFC’s Steve
Odom of Green Bay took the
punt and ran four yards, but lateralled the ball to Lem
Barney of the Lions. Barney
sped downfield to the AFC
39. After a five yard
penalty against the AFC,
Boryla hit Foreman for a 26
yard gain. From the AFC eight, Boryla found Mel Gray of the
Cardinals in the back of the
endzone for the go ahead
touchdown with 1:09 left in
the game. The final score
was 23-20.
It was the second year in a
row that a back-up
quarterback had engineered a
win with last quarter
heroics. Whiteshoes Johnson
was named the game's MVP.
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