While not as famous as “65 toss power trap”, “tight right slot over left fake draw 89” was a key play in the Chiefs’ 1969 Super Bowl season.
In the 1969 AFL playoffs, the Kansas City Chiefs visited the New York Jets at a blustery Shea stadium, on December 20th. The Jets were reigning World Champions, while the Chiefs finished second in the AFL West. The winner of this game would go to the AFL Championship game and face the winner of the other AFL playoff game that weekend, between the Oakland Raiders and the Houston Oilers1spoiler alert: the Raiders beat the Oilers, 56-7. The championship game winner would represent the AFL in Super Bowl IV.
In the fourth quarter, the Jets had just scored to even the game at 6-6. On the sideline, wide receiver Otis Taylor went to quarterback Len Dawson and drew up a play; the next time the Chiefs had the ball, and it worked for a 61-yard completion. On the play after that Dawson hit Gloster Richardson for a 19-yard touchdown. This was the only TD of the game and it provided the margin of the Chiefs’ 13-6 victory.
The play involved ‘hiding’ Taylor in the backfield, between a guard and tackle, just a yard or so behind the line of scrimmage. He was able to sneak through the line and ended up open downfield. Interestingly, this was a variation of a similar play the Chiefs had used against the Jets five weeks earlier, a 34-16 Kansas City win on November 16th, also at Shea.
A New York Times article the day after the game provides the details:
Here’s video of both plays, highlighting Taylor’s positioning:
The next weekend the Chiefs went to Oakland knocked off the Raiders, 17-7, then defeated the Minnesota Vikings 23-7 to win the final Super Bowl contested between AFL and NFL teams. The next season, it would all be one big league.