Editor’s Note: The games for the Legends of the American Football League simulation are played on computer with Action! PC Football. The contests are played with the “coaching” by a human as well as computer simulation. One season per franchise was selected for league play with the 10 teams that merged with the National Football League competing for the championship. Stories from the action will appear on Press Room Pass each Sunday until the completion of the 14-week regular season and playoffs.
Boston’s chances for victory appeared to be bleak, but there’s always hope.
The Patriots learned that lesson with a come-from-behind 14-12 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
As a result of the win, the Patriots (6-3) are now tied with the Houston Oilers (6-3) for second place in the East Division behind the New York Jets (7-2).
After Jan Stenerud‘s 41-yard field goal gave the Chiefs a 12-0 advantage with 6:07 remaining, the Patriots found some offense with an 8-play, 69-yard drive that was capped by a 19-yard scoring strike from Babe Parilli to Gino Cappaletti.
With Kansas City’s lead cut to 12-7, the Cappelletti’s on-side kick was recovered by teammate Mike Dukes and Boston had its opportunity.
However, the Patriots were not able to sustain a drive and turned the ball over to Kansas City with 2:06 left in the game.
Unfortunately for Kansas City, the Chiefs couldn’t gain a yard as Boston used its timeouts to slow the clock down.
Jerrell Wilson’s punt for Kansas City went out of bounds at the 26-yard line and the Patriots had just 1:36 to get the job done.
Parilli went to work as he led the Patriots to the 4-yard line in six plays with 47 seconds to go.
The next play, Parilli’s pass was incomplete and the Patriots were also called for holding.
Now at the 14, Kansas City’s Bobby Bell was able to work through Boston’s line to sack Parilli at the 20-yard line.
Boston rallied the troops quickly and Parilli was able complete a 15-yard pass to Cappelletti with 29 second on the clock.
Facing a 4th-and-five, Parilli found Art Graham in the end zone and the Patriots celebrated the moment of victory.
Kansas City had one last gasp, but Mike Livingston threw a pair of desparation passes that fell incomplete.
Livingston had taken over for Len Dawson, who suffered a knee injury late in the second period when the Chiefs were up 6-0.
Stenerud had kicked field goals of 27 and 20 yards by that point. Livingston led Kansas City on a drive late in first half that led to a 26-yard field goal and a 9-0 lead at the intermission.
64 Boston 14, 69 Kansas City 12
Scoring Summary
1 8:01 69 Kansas City FG Stenerud 27 (10-68-6:45) 0-3
2 12:32 69 Kansas City FG Stenerud 20 (13-63-8:04) 0-6
2 0:20 69 Kansas City FG Stenerud 26 (7-47-1:09) 0-9
4 6:07 69 Kansas City FG Stenerud 41 (11-48-5:07) 0-12
4 3:18 64 Boston TD Parilli 19 pass to Cappelletti(Cappelletti)(8-69-2:38) 7-12
4 0:21 64 Boston TD Parilli 5 pass to Graham (Cappelletti) (11-74-1:15) 14-12
Passing
Bos: Parilli 34/14 174 Yds 2 TDs Int
KC: Livingston 14/6 82 Yds, Dawson 6/2 14 Yds
Rushing
Bos: Burton 9/34, Garron 16/28, Parilli 1/11
KC: McVea 20/79, Garrett 9/78, Hayes 7/14, Holmes 4/12
Receiving
Bos: Cappelletti 5/72 TD, Garron 4/48, Graham 3/33 TD, Burton 2/21
KC: Taylor 2/54, Hayes 2/15, McVea 2/15, Holmes 1/5, Pitts 1/7
Defense
Bos: Addison Sk FF 3-Tk, Antwine Sk FF 2-Tk, Buoniconti 9-Tk, Dee 9-Tk
KC: Bell 2-Sks FF 8-Tk, Thomas Int 7-Tk, Lanier 8-Tk
Here’s a look at the rest of the week nine box scores
62 Denver 24, 68 Miami 21
Scoring Summary
1 10:51 62 Denver TD Tripucka 33 pass to Prebola (Fraser) (6-63-3:56) 7-0
2 11:40 68 Miami TD Griese 21 pass to Twilley (Keyes) (12-96-8:00) 7-7
2 5:59 62 Denver FG Fraser 24 (9-55-5:17) 10-7
2 0:46 62 Denver TD Tripucka 41 pass to Scarpitto (Fraser) (6-68-1:52) 17-7
4 12:31 68 Miami TD Kiick 1 run (Keyes) (13-80-8:01) 17-14
4 6:58 62 Denver TD Tripucka 20 pass to Taylor (Fraser) (11-64-5:19) 24-14
4 4:57 68 Miami TD Griese 10 pass to Noonan (Keyes) (6-65-1:49) 24-21
Passing
Den: Tripucka 23/18 273 Yds 3 TDs
Mia: Griese 20/15 188 Yds 2 TDs
Rushing
Den: Mingo 14/77, Dickinson 15/31, Stone 4/3
Mia: Csonka 13/83, Kiick 11/31 TD, Griese 4/15
Receiving
Den: Taylor 6/74 TD, Prebola 6/96 TD, Scarpitto 4/88 TD, Dickinson 2/15
Mia: Twilley 6/95 TD, Noonan 4/39 TD, Kiick 3/24, Csonka 1/6, Moreau 1/24
Defense
Den: McMillin 13-Tk
Mia: Lamb 10-Tk, Warren FF 7-Tk, Emanuel 8-Tk
67 Oakland 24, 64 Buffalo 21
Scoring Summary
2 6:50 67 Oakland TD Lamonica 20 pass to Miller (Blanda) (5-47-2:38) 7-0
2 0:39 67 Oakland TD Lamonica 15 pass to Biletnikoff (Blanda) (11-60-4:16) 14-0
3 10:30 67 Oakland FG Blanda 26 (10-50-4:12) 17-0
3 0:00 67 Oakland TD Lamonica 56 pass to Cannon (Blanda) (2-58-0:54) 24-0
4 12:26 64 Buffalo TD Kemp 10 pass to Dubenion (Gogolak) (2-34-0:58) 24-7
4 9:52 64 Buffalo TD Kemp 13 pass to Smith (Gogolak) (4-69-0:35) 24-14
4 1:47 64 Buffalo TD Kemp 50 pass to Dubenion (Gogolak) (3-66-0:43) 24-21
Passing
Oak: Lamonica 26/15 234 Yds 3 TDs Int
Buf: Kemp 23/10 253 Yds 3 TDs 3 Int
Rushing
Oak: Dixon 19/66, Banaszak 19/61, Daniels 2/24, Lamonica 1/13
Buf: Smith 6/26, Gilchrist 8/23, Auer 2/6, Kemp 1/3
Receiving
Oak: Dixon 6/53, Biletnikoff 3/57 TD, Miller 2/42 TD, Cannon 2/67 TD, Banaszak 2/15
Buf: Gilchrist 3/67, Auer 2/52, Dubenion 2/60 2 TDs, Warlick 2/61, Smith 1/13 TD
Defense
Oak: Conners Int 5-Tk, Brown Int 3-Tk, McCloughan Int 3-Tk, Grayson FF 5-Tk
Buf: Jacobs Sk 10-Tk, Sestak Sk 9-Tk, McDole Sk FF 4-Tk, Stratton Sk 5-Tk, Tracey
68 New York 42, 69 Cincinnati 10
Scoring Summary
1 12:38 68 New York TD Namath 56 pass to Maynard (Turner,J) (2-58-0:56) 0-7
1 6:55 69 Cincinnati FG Muhlmann 35 (12-57-5:31) 3-7
1 1:56 68 New York TD Namath 7 pass to Maynard (Turner,J) (8-68-4:52) 3-14
2 6:42 68 New York TD Snell 7 run (Turner,J) (1-7-0:11) 3-21
3 4:24 68 New York TD Boozer 1 run (Turner,J) (7-76-3:42) 3-28
4 14:02 68 New York TD Snell 5 run (Turner,J) (7-63-3:18) 3-35
4 8:42 69 Cincinnati TD Bergey 83 yd fumble recovery (Muhlmann) 10-35
4 4:42 68 New York TD Namath 14 pass to Maynard (Turner,J) (9-65-3:51) 10-42
Passing
Cin: Wyche 29/13 186 Yds Int
NYA: Namath 26/19 373 Yds 3 TDs
Rushing
Cin: Phillips 11/45, Wyche 2/10, Robinson 7/9
NYA: Snell 15/71 2 TDs, Boozer 7/12 TD, Joe 3/11, Namath 3/8
Receiving
Cin: Trumpy 6/95, Crabtree 5/64, Robinson 1/6, Thomas 1/21
NYA: Maynard 10/233 3 TDs, Sauer 7/110, Boozer 1/11, Lammons 1/19
Defense
Cin: Bergey Sk FF 10-Tk, Peterson Sk 5-Tk, Smith 8-Tk
NYA: Philbin 2-Sks 5-Tk, Grantham Sk FF 6-Tk, Baird Int 8-Tk, Biggs 2-Sks 2-Tk
63 San Diego 26, 60 Houston 17
Scoring Summary
1 6:16 60 Houston TD Blanda 30 pass to Hennigan (Blanda) (8-62-3:17) 7-0
1 4:22 63 San Diego TD Rote 70 pass to Alworth (Blair) (4-80-1:54) 7-7
2 13:10 60 Houston FG Blanda 34 (15-62-5:55) 10-7
2 5:46 63 San Diego TD Lowe 15 run (Blair) (11-81-7:16) 10-14
2 2:48 60 Houston TD Smith 1 run (Blanda) (7-66-2:51) 17-14
2 0:14 63 San Diego FG Blair 39 (6-36-1:13) 17-17
3 4:19 63 San Diego TD Rote 5 run (no good) (8-52-4:36) 17-23
4 7:09 63 San Diego FG Blair 21 (7-39-4:31) 17-26
Passing
Hou: Blanda 46/16 248 Yds TD 2 Int
SD: Rote 19/15 276 Yds TD Int
Rushing
Hou: Smith 9/38 TD, Cannon 8/33, Blanda 2/4
SD: Lowe 27/100 TD, Lincoln 10/38, Rote 5/9 TD, McDougall 2/4
Receiving
Hou: Groman 6/101, Hennigan 6/102 TD, Smith 2/21, Cannon 1/11, Carson 1/13
SD: Alworth 5/128 TD, Kocourek 4/79, Lowe 4/36, MacKinnon 2/33
Defense
Hou: Morris Int 13-Tk, Dukes FF 7-Tk, Johnston 9-Tk, Brown FF 6-Tk
SD: Harris Int 9-Tk, Westmoreland 9-Tk
Legends of the AFL Standings
East Division
1968 New York Jets (7-2)
1960 Houston Oilers (6-3)
1964 Boston Patriots (6-3)
1964 Buffalo Bills (5-4)
1968 Miami Dolphins (1-8)
West Division
1963 San Diego Chargers (9-0)
1969 Kansas City Chiefs (5-4)
1967 Oakland Raiders (4-5)
1962 Denver Broncos (2-7)
1969 Cincinnati Bengals (0-9)
Week 10 Schedule
64 Boston @ 68 New York
60 Houston @ 68 Miami
62 Denver @ 63 San Diego
69 Kansas City @ 67 Oakland
64 Buffalo, 69 Cincinnati, bye week
Week Nine Results
63 San Diego 26, 60 Houston 17
68 New York 42, 69 Cincinnati 10
67 Oakland 24, 64 Buffalo 21
62 Denver 24, 68 Miami 21
64 Boston 14, 69 Kansas City 12