Football: Standing Up to Big Brother

For eight seasons the A.F.L. has been cast in the embarrassing role of Sunday’s stepchild. Truth be told, the league deserved its billing. Compared with the precision and poise of the N.F.L., A.F.L. teams have looked slipshod and sophomoric. Their subservience was under scored in the first two Super Bowl games when the Green Bay Packers handily dispatched the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 and the Oakland Raiders 33-14. Last year N.F.L. teams trounced the A.F.L. in the first round of interleague exhibition play, winning 13 of 16 games.

Times have changed. Last month A.F.L. teams whipped their N.F.L. big brothers in ten of the first 16 interleague contests. The Miami Dolphins, for two seasons the doormats of the A.F.L., rolled over the Philadelphia Eagles 23-7, as Rookie Fullback Larry Csonka ground out 90 yds. and two touchdowns. The Buffalo Bills used rookies liberally as they defeated the Detroit Lions 13-9, while the Houston Oilers stopped the Washington Redskins 9-3. Kansas City beat both the St. Louis Cardinals and the resurgent Minnesota Vikings by scores of 13-10. Even the Cincinnati Bengals, a first-year expansion team of castoffs and rookies, held the Pittsburgh Steelers to 29 yds. rushing and 115 yds. passing, gained a total of 318 yds. on the way to a 19-3 triumph.

The biggest shocker was provided by the San Diego Chargers, who ran right over the Los Angeles Rams, co-favorites with the Packers for this year’s N.F.L. crown, to avenge last year’s 50-7 thumping. While the Charger offensive line took care of the Rams’ vaunted pass rush, Quarterback John Hadl riddled the Los Angelenos’ defense for 14 completions and 302 yds., including a 68-yd. touchdown toss to his brilliant flanker, Lance Alworth. Final score: San Diego 35, Los Angeles 13.

Coaches and players alike are careful not to make too much of preseason scores. Exhibition games are still a time of testing, tuning and pruning; they offer far from reliable samples of relative ability. Still, an improvement in the caliber of A.F.L. play has long been expected. And those A.F.L. victories can only breed confidence. Says San Diego’s Alworth: “The N.F.L. teams did such a terrific job of selling the idea that they were so superior to us that we were scared to death of playing them. Now we are convinced that we are just as mean as they are.”