Dueling Quarterback Duels: Flynn vs. Stafford or Dickey vs. Theismann?

by Brandon on Jan 3, 2012 2:00 PM CST in Green Bay Packers History

The Green Bay Packers win over the Lions was not only one of the longest games I've watched in a while (around 3 hours and 45 minutes) but it broke so many records that I'm having trouble keeping up with them all. The one for most passing yards in NFL history, and the other one for quarterback yards and touchdowns, are notable, and they've put Matt Flynn and Matthew Stafford in the record books.

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Audibles at the Line: Week 17. While watching this battle between Flynn and Stafford, Danny Tuccitto remarked that one of the NFL network's top 10 quarterback duels was the Monday night game in 1983 featuring the Packers and the Redskins. The battle between Lynn Dickey and Joe Theismann. The stats weren't as gaudy for those quarterbacks, but they still lead their teams in a higher scoring game.

Throughout the 1980s, the Packers were an also-ran franchise. They never had more than 8 wins in a season, and with the exception of the goofy 1981 strike year, they were never a playoff team. They weren't on the same level as a team like the Redskins. But for that one game, on national TV (back when that was a big deal), the Packers went toe-to-toe with a team that would usually blow them out. That was probably the highlight of the decade for the Packers.

So I'm a little disappointed that a meaningless week 17 game against the Lions, before which they held out three of their best players because they weren't needed, in some way surpassed that seemingly epic 1983 game. On the other hand, it shows how the Packers are that team to which others aspire.

Poll

Which quarterback duel was more legendary?

Lynn Dickey and Joe Theismann

300 votes

Matt Flynn and Matthew Stafford

304 votes

604 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 28 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

Redskins. The battle between Lynn Dickey and Joe Theismann.

I remember that game. The highest scoring game on MNF. Dickey and Theismann were fun to watch back in them days

I spent 8 years trying to reach him...and then another 7 trying to keep him locked up because I realized what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply...Evil.

Dr. Sam Loomis Aka (Donald Pleasence)

by Jricky70 on Jan 3, 2012 2:24 PM CST reply actions

I can't really vote on this . . .

because it’s hard to say what this game means. It doesn’t seem likely, but the Lions could knock off the Saints. It also marks the beginning of Matt Flynn’s career as a starting QB.

I was in Virginia at a bar watching the Packers beat Washington, and it was a thrilling game. Certainly, it showcased one of the great Packer WR tandems, along with Dickey. It would be more meaningful, though, for Packer fans had not Lofton had to leave the way he did.

And . . . though like you I was ready to take any Packers victory, we did win it on Moseley’s missed kick. I think what what you’re saying is that we are spoiled. Frankly, I’m happy to be spoiled.

by vermontaigne on Jan 3, 2012 2:33 PM CST reply actions

It's his 2nd start, not his 1st

and Moseley missed the kick one year removed from winning the MVP

13.

Build Lasers And Stuff For More Ownage, Dude!

by Wiedmann on Jan 3, 2012 4:17 PM CST up reply actions

Yes, I know it's his second start . . .

but it still marks the beginning of his career as a starting QB.

by vermontaigne on Jan 3, 2012 8:01 PM CST up reply actions

I understood what you meant

And I love your avatar!

Happy Virginian, Sconnie for life.

by wibrownguy on Jan 3, 2012 11:21 PM CST up reply actions

Aw, thanks . . .

wibrownguy :-)

by vermontaigne on Jan 3, 2012 11:47 PM CST up reply actions

I believe the appropriate response to that was....

“Honey Badger don’t give a shit!”

In Every Climb and Place....

by PhoenicianPakFan on Jan 4, 2012 12:02 AM CST up reply actions 3 recs

That's true . . .

but mostly he doesn’t give a shit about birds and hyaenas calling him stupid.

by vermontaigne on Jan 4, 2012 12:30 PM CST up reply actions

Or Cobras...

look at that sleepy fuck.

In Every Climb and Place....

by PhoenicianPakFan on Jan 4, 2012 4:15 PM CST up reply actions

And Mosely was considered to be one of the most reliable kickers of his time.

"Perfection is not attainable,
but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."

"We're nobody's underdog!"

"We don't play scared!"

After further review,
the Munsters of the Midway still suck!

by NorthStarr on Jan 4, 2012 12:07 AM CST up reply actions

My vote wouldn't be fair because I wasn't alive or the first one

Not that I don’t get an opinion on anything before I was born or that I dont understand the importance of national tv broadcast from when I was younger, just that I would understand how the Dickey-Theisman game would have felt and that seems to be about what we are voting on, which one seemed more epic?

"IF CARDS CAN SIGN SUPPAN THEY CAN GIVE ME A HOME"

by Buddhasillegitimatechild38 on Jan 3, 2012 2:37 PM CST via mobile reply actions

Wouldn't understand*

"IF CARDS CAN SIGN SUPPAN THEY CAN GIVE ME A HOME"

by Buddhasillegitimatechild38 on Jan 3, 2012 2:38 PM CST via mobile up reply actions

Same here.

Wasn’t alive for it.

by mike_o on Jan 3, 2012 2:45 PM CST up reply actions

If you’ve got Netflix, you can get that 1983 MNF game on dics. It’s part of the Packers’ Greatest Games collection. It’s also the only one that’s not from the Favre era.

"This is a football." "Slow down, coach! You're goin' too fast!"

by Cool Hand on Jan 3, 2012 2:42 PM CST reply actions

If you were not alive,

and did not see the game, you cannot vote.
In an era bad Packers football, Dickey was fun to watch. That was the best game of that era.
We were loyal fans in that day.
Dickey/Theismann, Rodgers/Warner, Flynn/Stafford are all in the top dueling games of all time.

by docg on Jan 3, 2012 3:57 PM CST reply actions

Did you forget about Rodgers/Roethlisberger?

This game. A painful ending, but hard-fought, and one of the first indications that Rodgers was something really special.

by DaveInTucson on Jan 3, 2012 6:19 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs

that game was unreal

football does not build character, it reveals character.

by sheehan on Jan 3, 2012 7:52 PM CST up reply actions

Strike year was '82, not '81

13.

Build Lasers And Stuff For More Ownage, Dude!

by Wiedmann on Jan 3, 2012 4:10 PM CST reply actions

I saw on NFL Network last night...

that Dickey/Theismann was like their 4th best QB duel ever. I just thought that was ironic given what we saw on Sunday.

Packers' Magic Numbers:
Clinch Division = DONE!!!
Clinch 1st Rd Bye = DONE!!!
Clinch Homefield = DONE!!!

by Bezerkers on Jan 3, 2012 4:55 PM CST reply actions

2004 had a fairly epic duel between Peyton Manning and QB4

in which they combined for 751 passing yards and 9 TDs.

Author at Acme Packing Company, a Green Bay Packers blog, and Editor at BT Powerhouse, a Big Ten Basketball blog
Whatever holds the image of an angel IS an angel. The eyes are not the windows of the soul, they are the doors.
Yes, I am on twitter.

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Jan 3, 2012 6:26 PM CST reply actions

The biggest manning game was the rediculous one he lost to Marino

"IF CARDS CAN SIGN SUPPAN THEY CAN GIVE ME A HOME"

by Buddhasillegitimatechild38 on Jan 4, 2012 9:40 AM CST via mobile up reply actions

Looking at the poll, my guess

Under age 35 = flynn, stafford

Over 35 = Dickey, Theismann

Never forget that game. Paul Coffman, John Jefferson, James Lofton…screen passes to Eddie Lee Ivory coming out of the backfield. The innocent days when we weren’t spoiled by greatness!

Beating the Redskins was like winning the superbowl for us…that’s how excited I felt. Just a kid then.

Anyone remember another Reskins game we played in 1988 or 1989 (the Redskins were defending champs again) and we lost because we missed a CHIP SHOT FIELD GOAL from like the 19 yard line!! Egad!

Irony: that Packer team of 1983 also finished dead last in yards allowed (28 out of 28th) just like our team this year.

Oh the pain of being a pack fan in the 1980s! You youngsters just don’t know!!

Looking forward to the Packers three-peating and visiting President Ron Paul at the White House in 2013

by PackFaninFL on Jan 3, 2012 8:52 PM CST reply actions

I agree with the breakdown by age....

Part of what made the Dickey/ Theismann duel so epic was the fact that we were a significant underdog. I remember thinking it would take the perfect game to beat the skins at the time. I was just a kid too.

I can also see the argument that the Flynn/Stafford shootout should have never happened with a backup QB making his 2nd start. Unreal, the more you think about it.

by Icebowler on Jan 4, 2012 11:54 PM CST up reply actions

I totally agree with your guess

I seriously doubt anybody, especially any Packer fan, who watched that game in 83 will ever forget that night. There is no question that what Matt Flynn did against Detroit was something very special.

However, given the perspective of what has been going on in the packer games in recent years or even back to the Farve era – we’ve been blessed with a lot of spectacular performances and this becomes one of many. And the Detroit Lions are the Washington Redskins of ’83. Back then the only thing to compare that Monday night game with was the defeat of the Cowboys in 1975

by TokyoBay on Jan 5, 2012 3:55 PM CST up reply actions

I MUST disagree!

And the Detroit Lions are the Washington Redskins of ’83.

The Redskins of ’83 were the defending Super Bowl champions.

"Perfection is not attainable,
but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."

"We're nobody's underdog!"

"We don't play scared!"

After further review,
the Munsters of the Midway still suck!

by NorthStarr on Jan 6, 2012 1:10 AM CST up reply actions

That '83 game

In the mid-’90s, ABC/ESPN did a MNF 25th anniversary poll for the best MNF game in the first 25 years.

That Packers-Redskins game was not even one of the options, despite being the highest scoring game in MNF history AND being decided by a single point, when one of the most reliable kickers in the game at the time missed a potential game winner as time expired.

"Perfection is not attainable,
but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."

"We're nobody's underdog!"

"We don't play scared!"

After further review,
the Munsters of the Midway still suck!

by NorthStarr on Jan 4, 2012 12:16 AM CST reply actions

The 1983 Packers were a lot like this 2011 Packers team. They had a amazing offense and a horrible defense. The 83 team did not get the turnovers the 2011 team does though. That 1983 game has been on many lists for one of the best, most exciting games ever! The Packers had James Loften, Paul Coffman at Tight End and had pick up JJ John Jefferson in a trade. All 3 Packers receivers went to the Pro Bowl that year when they actually played a game of football in the Pro Bowl. The game itself was a amazing game, that went back and forth. The Packers had the ball last and won the game. It’s always been a game that I’ve called one of the most exciting I’ve ever watched.

by sonny113006 on Jan 4, 2012 6:48 AM CST reply actions