The 1968 Patriots Lost the Easiest Game Possible

[@OfficialJaguarGator9]

So for some reason, the graph that was supposed to be in the video at 6:51 did not make it in. Apologies for that; however, if you want to know the opposing yards per carry stats in 1968 in the AFL, here's the text data of those 10 teams: MIAMI: 4.9 YPC allowed CINCINNATI: 4.4 YPC allowed OAKLAND: 4.1 YPC allowed DENVER: 4.1 YPC allowed BUFFALO: 4 YPC allowed BOSTON: 3.8 YPC allowed HOUSTON: 3.7 YPC allowed SAN DIEGO: 3.7 YPC allowed KANSAS CITY: 3.5 YPC allowed NEW YORK: 3.2 YPC allowed

[@DolFan316]

I was so disappointed, depressed and devastated that I almost unsubbed. j/k I'll let it slide. This time 😉😋

[@williambryant6175]

Ok, glad to know I wasn’t nuts and just didn’t see it.

[@cornucopiaofcool2144]

Well now I understand the glory of the unbeaten season (17-0) just a few years later. Earn several generations of fans with that turnaround.

[@anthony_rivera4735]

And to think by 1970, the LOLphins became one of the top teams in the nfl.

[@andrewpadaetz5549]

Mainly because Joe Robbie had enough of Wilson and got Don Shula as stated early in the video. Playoffs in ‘70, Super Bowl in ‘71, undefeated season in ‘72 and a repeat title in ‘73. Sure they didn’t win another title after but the Fins didn’t need another coach until the mid 90s.

[@brando7266]

​@@andrewpadaetz5549but if Robbie wasn't so cheap ( letting csonka,kick, Warfield), they would have probably won 3 straight sbs,

[@wewin03]

You could argue the 2023 Cardinals run defense would be worse than the 68 Dolphins. Because if the difference is 12 yards per game, and the fact that in the 60s they ran a lot more than passed and the inverse today, 12 yards isn’t a big difference.

[@DolFan316]

Yards per carry is what you should really be looking at. The '68 Dolphins allowed 4.9, a franchise worst to this day, and the '23 Cards gave up 4.7. Based on that, even with the same number of opponents' attempts, the '23 Cards would be slightly...less awful.

[@wewin03]

@@DolFan316 JG just made it sound like the 68 Dolphins were historically colossally bad against the run when in fact they were just average bad.

[@DolFan316]

TBH this seems like the exact game plan my team sometimes uses now--refuse to run no matter how well it's working and lose.

[@marcus813]

No wonder the Patriots changed head coaches after that season. Everyone in the AFL knew that the Dolphins' rush D was trash and the Patriots' offensive staff and head coach still didn't have the right game plan. That takes some doing.

[@davidalexander8996]

History could have repeated itself, albeit by accident, in 1996. A script of the first 16 plays courtesy of then 49ers GM Bill Walsh reached the Packers before their Monday Night Football game, but then Packers coach Mike Holmgren, a former assistant coach under Walsh, was classy enough not to "cheat" with the unintended information. Fortunately for the Lambeau faithful, the Packers won the game in overtime, then beat the Niners again in a muddy playoff game on their way to a Super Bowl title.

[@ChristopherRalstin]

Hello how you said that stuff at the beginning of the video that is so true and awesome

[@Jason_Maier]

Those early Dolphins teams really sucked!

[@cuseyeti_one8three]

Yeah, but they got really good really quickly thereafter.

[@DolFan316]

I went over this in the last video. They were as good as any other expansion team up until the mid '90s, and better than some (coughBucscough). All they needed was a good coach, as opposed to George Wilson who was phoning it in at this point and never was hired in any coaching capacity at any level again despite having just turned 56 when he was fired.

[@wewin03]

It gives you an idea just how incompetent George Wilson was seeing as how a lot of key players from the great Shula teams were already on the Dolphins and had played for Wilson.

[@barbaracaroll]

Patriots and dolphins were garbage 🗑️ in 1968 lol

[@randytracy1742]

Well,George Wilson sucked as the dolphins’ coach in the four seasons before they fired him after the 1969 season! 😊😊😊😊

[@CTubeMan]

A 9-year old Jim Nantz running on the Dolphins? I gotta throw up the Stop sign on that thought!

[@_thatscrazy]

Jim Nance, not Nantz. Won AFL MVP in 1966.

[@CTubeMan]

@@_thatscrazy Congratulations, you know the difference between Jim Nance and Jim Nantz. This puts you in select company with, oh, the nearly 60k subscribers to this channel. That includes yours truly.

[@_thatscrazy]

@@CTubeMan Oh yeah! I follow the AFL so. much. He was a beast and saved the Patriots in the mid-late 60s.

[@JayTemple]

If my opponents' coach was telling me what I needed to do to beat him, I'd think he was setting a trap.

[@MrTim2031]

I’m not sure it was a “secret” way to beat the dolphins. From what you said about Miami’s defensive trends over the course of the season, it was pretty well known. My guess is that the Miami coach was trying to light a fire under his defense.

[@Tubewings]

I don't know who's the bigger idiot--the coach who basically gave his opponent the tips needed to beat them or the coach who didn't take advantage of what he was given to win.

[@rngfootball759]

The Pats were so bad in the late 60s. They don't even have a permanent home field until 1971. Heck even one game they had to play in Birmingham in 1968. Fenway is not built for football, Alumni to this day is among the botton tier P4 stadiums that is due for renovations, and Harvard Stadium except for Harvard Yale is usually empty. You really need to bring seat cushions just to sit on those seats.

[@Jason_Maier]

The reason that game was moved to Birmingham was that the Red Sox declined to let the Pariots use Fenway Park that day.

[@rngfootball759]

@@Jason_Maier which is weird as the Red Sox in 1968 were not in the pennant race as that was the last year of league winners just going to the world series before it splits to east / west divisions. Probably Yawkey didn't want the field to be messed up from football.

[@anthony_rivera4735]

The patriots wanted to relocate to Birmingham, Alabama?

[@mgb4692]

@@Jason_Maier I always thought that was done as a one-off for Namath, which is why it was scheduled as a Pats home game. So that would have been a given after the Sox being in the Series the previous year delayed their first game at Fenway until October 22.

[@shawngreene1225]

And we still lost

[@warhawkrambo1942]

Talk about tanking

[@SummerCarsonfinsmarlins]

Lmao we’ve always owned the Patriots!

[@markphelt6395]

Wait wut. That’s not the same Jim Nance. The inventor of the garlic knance.

[@Cityofstroud]

Dolphins were bad lol