Travis Williams of the 1967 Green Bay Packers
New! Improved! Analysis Below!
1967 NFL “Wideboy” Cards for Strat-O-Matic Pro Football,
Including Updated Special Teams, Penalties, and Extra Players. It is 115 new sides, about a quarter of the NFL season of new content. I figure if I’m going to replay these, you should be able to, as well. You should be able to print these off Landscape on A4 and while they are not an exact match, size wise, they’ll work for gameplay.
1967 NFL Players List (Drop Box Link) :
30 extra players, at least one for each team, with some teams having as many as four. The ‘67 Packers get four: Chuck Mercein, Travis Williams, Max McGee and Don Horn as a third QB. Consult this table for potential block ratings.
1967 NFL Extra Player Cards (Drop Box Link) :
67NFLExtraPlayers.pdf (32 Player’s Cards in PDF format)
Two extra “records” - Bobby Mitchell and Joe Morrison did not have running cards, and now they do. These are much needed as these men carried the ball quite a bit. If they are catching passes out of the backfield the * results are incomplete, similar to the Seventies “Greatest Teams” HB/ Receivers. It should be noted I’ve left some Year One only card quirks in, like the absence of QB double team completions, and certain results where defense right is greater than defense wrong for a few split numbers for runners on teams like Pittsburgh. I figure Hal might have wanted them that way.
The original method of carding Field Goals is, to me, unplayable. Towards the late Seventies the Game Co. started to “blend” results if there was a longer range with better percentages than a shorter range, which meant you didn’t have to take a knee to lose five yards to set up a longer kick at a better probability. I will say you can use the old kicking cards with the new plus minus five yard rule and they kick a lot better but these kickers I’ve made can adhere to the bylaws of the time. “Strict Rules of Golf, Goldfinger!”.
Note that the yardages reflect the 1-12, 13-22, 23-32, 33-42, 43-47 scrimmage lines of the time and you subtract 10 yards from these spots if playing another Wideboy team from 1974 on.
These cards include penalties, team carding for punts, and kick and punt coverages. I had to crack these for strength of schedule and it took a long time. They are also different than the cards in the updated PC game, as a different model was used there.
A lot of newsprint has been spilled on the 1967 NFL return set and in a sense I add to this. But my methods are at least consistent with my other seasons, and in the case of historically significant return men such as Gale Sayers and Travis Williams I preserve their personal impacts while maintaining the team results by making them number two backs. Williams only returned kicks in seven games because he was a bit fumble prone in pre- season, but if he had two or more returns against you he almost always hit you for 100 yards. Just ask Cleveland. In any case the returns match the coverages and so the overall season should replay pretty accurately.
NFL – In general, the 1967 NFL was The Gang That Could Not Kick Straight, as there are a lot of bad kickers in this League. But they could return kicks, with historic performances from Travis Williams and Gayle Sayers. 1967 Green Bay actually had two historic performances, Travis Williams and his 41 yards per kick return, and only allowing 22 yards in total punt returns, the Pro Football team-season record. Green Bay also has great kick return coverages, a good kicker (relatively speaking), and good punt returns.
1967 Atlanta Falcons
Special teams:
Billy Lothridge is a pretty good punter with no blocks, and Wade Traynham is a pretty average 1967 NFL kicker, 2-7 out to forty yards but only 2-5,11,12 in the 33-42 yd zone; perfect on extra points. Ron Smith can take a kickoff back for a TD in the 2 spot and KR #1 but he’s a below average punt returner and Mike Fitzgerald isn’t much better as KR #2. The coverages do not allow LGs but are nothing special, either.
Personnel:
Steve Sloan adds a low-attempt QB, Ron Rector adds 23 useful outside carries at HB, but it is Gary (U.S.) Barnes who adds 10 very useful catches as an extra wide receiver.
1967 New Orleans Saints
Special teams:
Tom McNeill is a good punter with no blocks, and with their punt coverages he should be among the league leaders in net punting. Charlie Durkee is another average NFL kicker, also 2-7 out to forty yards but only 2-5 in the 33-42 yd zone; perfect on extra points. Kick coverage is below average but neither coverage has a LG. Team is plus 3 on penalties. The punt returns are terrible, with both returners fair catch prone, the team only got 79 yards in 14 games. But both kick returners can generate a TD in the 2 spot.
Personnel:
Three functional players are added: Randy Schultz adds 32 useful carries and 14 catches as a FB/HB. Vern Burke is added as another TE with a block of 1, and John Gilliam adds in 22 catches and 264 yards as an extra wide receiver.
1967 Baltimore Colts
Special teams:
The Colts far and away have the best penalty card in either 1967 set, plus five. The kick coverages are average, though, and they allow a LG on kick returns. David Lee is a good punter, but Lou Michaels is not a great kicker. He can kick for distance though, 2-5 from 43-47 yards. Alvin Haymond is a pretty good return man and Rick Volk has TD in the eleven spot as the #2 Punt Returner.
Personnel:
The original Colts did not have a real second TE on the roster, so Butch Wilson is added as a zero catch receiver with a block of 1. The injured Jimmy Orr gets a card, but will have to wait for 1968 for his true comeback.
1967 Cleveland Browns
Special teams:
The Browns allowed only 70 yards on Punt Returns for the season, and other than a 12 spot LG the kick returns are good, too. Gary Collins punts a bit short, and he has block, but Groza is not a very good kicker, 2-6,11,12 at 40 yards. Where the Cleveland special teams crew picks up is on returns, Ben Davis as PR #1 has a 2 spot TD and Carl Ward (KR #2) has a 2 spot TD. Both sets of return men are very good.
Personnel:
Ron Duncan is added as a zero catch TE with a block rating of 1.
1967 Chicago Bears
Special teams:
The Bears have great coverages and Bobby Joe Green can punt well with no blocks, but Mac Percival, normally a sound kicker for his career, had a tough rookie year. The Bears also have a lot of fair catches on punt returns, with Gayle Sayers a PR #2 with a TD on 11. But Sayers is a KR #2 with 6 TD chances out of 36. The choice to make him a number two return man is debatable, but it is the only way to make the Bears’ team returns work while maintaining his individual averages. Bears were minus four on penalties.
Personnel:
Rudy Bukich is a legit third QB, while Andy Livingston as FB adds 28 carries (at 1.4 average) and Bob Jones is an extra wide receiver with a few Long gains (26.8 ypc). The passes and runs fill in a few gaps for playability. At 37 years old, Bukich would have only 7 pass attempts after 1967.
1967 Detroit Lions
Special teams:
A mess. I'm likely to replay the Lions and I'm not looking forward to this card. Lem Barney punts short, and both coverages allow LGs. Wayne Walker is terrible even by 1967 kicking standards. They were plus three on penalties, and only miss extra points on 12. Punt returns are below average, but Tom Vaughn can return kicks reasonably well. The Lions have no returns for touchdowns.
Personnel:
Bobby Felts has a useful HB card, but only ten carries, and John Henderson is an extra WR with 14 catches. These are helpful fill-in cards.
1967 Green Bay
Packers
Special teams:
The Packers have the best all-around Special Teams in the NFL. While Donnie Anderson punts short and he has a block, he is backed by a historically great coverage team. The kick coverage is very good too, and Don Chandler is 2-8,11,12 out to 40 yards and perfect on extra points, which would be great for a kicker ten years later. The punt returns are a bit below average but the Kick Return card houses Travis Williams and his 41.1 yd/return (8 TDs) at the #2 KR spot. He is the best return man in NFL history. Williams is so good on kick returns that, in 1967, he turned in 1007 all-purpose yards on only 58 total touches.
Personnel:
Green Bay adds a good backup QB in Don Horn, and WR Max McGee as an extra wide receiver, but the real helpful extras are FB Chuck Mercein and RB Travis Williams, cards that are absolutely necessary for the West Conference Finals. Green Bay suffered through much the same type of 1967 season as the Jets did in the AFL, they lost their two top runners in the 8th game of the season and had to scramble to fill in carries for these positions:
In the simplest version of the Green Bay depth chart, you can use Mercein to back up Wilson and Williams to share time at HB with Anderson.
1967 Minnesota
Vikings
Special teams:
Bob Grim has an 81 yard return as a PR #1 and Clint Jones has a TD on #2 as a KR #1. Kick Coverage is very good, and punt coverage is very very good. Bobby Walden is an average punter for distance but has no blocks. Fred Cox is a solid kicker for the time, 100 percent on extra points and 2-7,12 out to 40 yards. Minnesota is probably second in 1967 NFL special teams, a big reason they won their division.
Personnel:
Only extra Viking is Jim Lindsey is a HB with 8 touches.
1967 Los Angeles Rams
Special teams:
Bruce Gossett did not have a great year, dropping to 2-5,12 from the 23-32 yard line, although he makes all of his extra points. Jon Kilgore has good punt yards, but he does have a block. Punt coverage is average, but the Kick coverage is better than average, even with a LG. Both punt returners and kick returners are above average. The Rams were plus four on penalties. For 1967, this is a decent card, top four.
Personnel:
Only extra Ram is Jim Stiger, a HB with 3 touches.
1967 San Francisco
49ers
Special teams:
Tommy Davis can hit 50-yard FGs but on the whole his 1967 kicking effort is not up to his usual efforts. Their punt return coverage is above average, but the kick coverage isn’t, and both types of coverages allow LGs. Steve Spurrier punts short and has a punt block. Flip the card over and Doug Cunningham is a good punt returner and kick returner, and Bill Tucker as a KR #2 is also solid.
Personnel:
The Niners add a third QB with 50 attempts in Steve Spurrier, and a 1 rate blocking TE in Dave Olerich.
1967 New York Giants
Special teams:
Ernie Koy punts shorter, and he has a block, and the opponent punt returns are poor, making the Giants among the poorest net punters. The kickoff coverage is a little better, but still has a LG. Pete Gogolak is a pretty average place kicker, 2-7, 12 out to 40 yards but only 2-10 on extra points. The Giants get a lot of Fair Catches in their punt returns, and the kick returners are below average.
Personnel:
New York’s Joe Morrison was a phenomenal all-around player, and to his existing receiving card this set adds 36 helpful carries as a HB. (He was carded only as a receiver on the original cards, and similar to the Greatest Teams set from the mid Seventies his receiving card has catches that are qualified based on whether he is a RB or WR). As a WR he has a block rating of 1. Allen Jacobs adds 11 carries as a sub FB.
1967 Washington
Redskins
Special teams:
Gene Mingo is quite possibly the worst kicker in the NFL, 2-10 on extra points and only 2-5, 12 in the 13-22 yd range. Punt return coverage is average while kickoff coverage is below average with a Long Gain. Pat Richer is average on punts but with no block. Their punt returns are below average, and kickoff returns are pretty average, with John Love at KR #2 having a TD on #2.
Personnel:
Washington adds two running backs, Joe Don Looney (FB/HB, 12 touches) and Steve Thurlow (FB, 23 touches), and John Burrell (WR, 9 catches). But the most helpful card is a running card for WR Bobby Mitchell (He was carded only as a receiver on the original cards, and similar to the Greatest Teams set from the mid Seventies his receiving card has catches that are qualified based on whether he is a RB or WR). Mitchell adds a full 61 carries to the Washington slate.
1967 Philadelphia Eagles
Special teams:
Sam Baker is the punter and kicker for the Eagles, and as a kicker he was 2-8,12 inside 40 yards (75%) which is pretty good even for the mid Seventies. He punts a bit short and he has a block, but the punt Eagles coverages are very, very good. Kickoff coverage is very poor, with high yardages and a LG. The Eagles returns are below average. Baker makes this a card you can live with.
Personnel:
Ron Goodwin (WR) has a decent extra WR card.
1967 Dallas Cowboys
Special teams:
Bob Hayes has a punt return TD and Craig Baynham is a very good KR #2, but the Cowboys are a very good team with sub-par special teams. They don’t give up a LG on coverages but their yardages are below average, and Danny Villanueva is an average punter and below average place kicker.
Personnel:
3rd QB Jerry Rhome added with 18 reasonable attempts.
1967 St. Louis
Cardinals
Special teams:
Jim Bakken is very good in close and makes all of his extra points. Chuck Latourette is an average punter with no blocks. Their punt returners and kick returners are nothing special. The coverages are actually pretty good in spite of LGs on both PR and KR. The Cardinals are probably third in special teams, buoyed by Bakken in close.
Personnel:
Ted Wheeler added as a 1 blocking TE.
1967 Pittsburgh
Steelers
Special teams:
Mike Clark is a bit erratic but he is 2-6, 12 out to 49 yards and he makes all his extra points. Like the Cardinals the Steelers have decent coverages, but also give up 12 spot LGs both ways. Jim Elliott punts a bit short and has a block. Both kick and punt coverages are pretty good, though, and so are the returns.
Personnel:
Pittsburgh adds Dick Hoak, a 52 carry HB albeit at a 2.7 yard/pc average. Hoak also had 17 catches.
Fred J. Bobberts
Original Date of Publication: December 16, 2023
Gold! Thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteThanks Fred!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant work!
ReplyDelete