The 1980s were chaotic for the NFL. Two player strikes, multiple franchise relocations and a brief challenge from a rival league, in the form of the USFL. On the field, however, the game was growing more exciting, as more teams took advantage of the 1978 changes to pass defence rules. In 1980, Dan Fouts became the first QB to throw for more than 4,500 yards in a season. Four years later, Dan Marino became the first to throw for 5,000.
It wasn’t an overnight shift – nobody threw for more than 5,000 yards in a season again until Drew Brees in 2008 – but it pointed the way the NFL was going. At the same time, the 1970s grit and toughness was still present too, and embodied by legends like Lawrence Taylor and Ronnie Lott. The result was an action-packed decade.
Magic and Mayhem is Tom Danyluk’s survey of the 1980s NFL (the subtitle says ‘pro football’ but the USFL gets only an occasional passing mention). Its 45 essays, some of which have previously been published online, don’t trace a detailed history of the decade but instead gather Danyluk’s “memories and impressions”. Nevertheless, pretty much all of the decade’s notable teams and big-name players are covered.
There are chapters on the ‘Epic in Miami’ 1982 playoff game between the Chargers and Dolphins, as well as the 1988 ‘Fog Bowl’ between the Bears and Eagles. You’ll also find chapters on Bill Walsh and Don Coryell, as well as Herschel Walker and Mark Gastineau. The book rounds off with memorable quotes and a ranking of the decade’s Super Bowl winners.
Title: Majesty and Mayhew
Author: Tom Danyluk
First published: Self published, 2022
Buy the Book: Amazon US | Amazon UK
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There’s also an essay in tribute to Paul ‘Dr Z’ Zimmerman, author of The Thinking Man’s Guide to Pro Football, who died in 2018. It’s a thoughtful tribute that includes two messages Zimmerman sent to Danyluk. Zimmerman was widely considered one of the game’s great analysts, though he had a reputation for irascibility and arrogance – both amply demonstrated in Danlyluk’s interview with Zimmerman in 2005’s The Super 70s.
Fans who grew up with the NFL in the 80s will find no shortage of material here to remind them of forgotten heroes or magical moments. Those who weren’t there and want to understand the spirit of the decade will find this to be an evocative time capsule.
THE AUTHOR
Tom Danyluk is a football historian and former Pro Football Weekly columnist who has written several books, including The Super 70s (2005), The Lost Super Bowls (2016), and None Yards! (2018). His book about football in the 1990s is due to be published in 2025.
EXCERPTS
“Officially it went into the books as a sterilised ‘tackle by Taylor’. But they don’t keep stats on chaos. By now he was 31-years-old, season No. 10 in the league. In all of the Akashic records, few ever sustained such intensity, such lust for destruction, over an entire career.”
“Sometimes it’s good old-fashioned revenge that triggers a massacre. In 1984, the Buccaneers took a big lead over the Jets then started booting onside kicks, trying to retrieve the ball for James Wilder, who was after some rushing record. The Jets fumed. A year later they exploded on Tampa, a 62-28 final. Across the Jet locker room there was denial of retaliation. Nobody believed it.”
“What can’t be overstated is the fact that Summerall himself was a former player – ten seasons with the Cards, Giants and Lions. Most play-by-play men aren’t. They have journalism or communication backgrounds, properly schooled for the job, including Glieber and Bender and Scully. Summerall came to CBS straight from the locker room. He’d been through the kind of battles Madden was talking about. He knew the smells of training camp, and the sound an injury makes when it’s a bad one. A blood-brother connection that really allowed their broadcasts to sparkle.”
REVIEWS
The best way to think of this book is as a collection of columns, though many of them were written specifically for the book. As such, it’s a very personal collection that goes where Danyluk’s interest takes him. His writing is brisk, engaging and readable, and it’s easy to breeze through two or three pieces before you realise it. With its mix of well-chosen action photos, Majesty and Mayhem is entertaining to flick through and pick out essays of interest, but it rewards a thorough reading too.
Shane Richmond, Pigskin Books
This book ranks up there with Danyluk’s book, The Super 70s – a comprehensive treatise on football in that decade as a collection of essays and photos that examines the 1980s but not as dry timeline fashion but an era’s top teams, players, and games.
John Turney, Pro Football Journal
