Category Archives: 1950s

Ryan Fitzpatrick is no “Little General”

Came across an interesting passage in Bill Simmons’ longer-than-your-small-intestine column Friday for Grantland. Wrote Bill:

By the way, I think we should put a bow on Ryan Fitzpatrick’s career as a starting QB.

Record as a starter: 31-54-1
Number of NFL teams that started him: 5
Number of winning seasons: 0
Most wins in one season: 6
Career: 117 touchdown passes, 101 picks, 28 lost fumbles, 185 sacks, 78.4 rating

Here’s why I brought this up. . . . Has anyone started 85 NFL games and won less than Fitzpatrick? We know Joey Harrington finished 26-50 and David Carr finished 23-56 . . . but did anyone win a lower percentage of 85 or more games than Fitzpatrick’s minus-23?

Fortunately, Grantland has one of the best editorial assistants/competitive eaters in the world: the one and only Danny Chau. Here’s what Danny found out: Only one player in football since 1920 has won less than Fitzpatrick after starting at least 85 games, a 5-foot-9 quarterback named Eddie “The Little General” LeBaron, who had a 26-52-3 record from 1952 to 1963.

Actually, if you study the information provided by The Competitive Eater (courtesy of pro-football-reference.com), you’ll see this isn’t true. Two other quarterbacks besides LeBaron started “at least 85 games” and had “a lower winning percentage” than Fitzpatrick — and two more had percentages that were nearly as bad. The list should read like this:

Years Quarterback Teams W L T Pct
1971-84 Archie Manning Saints, Oilers, Vikings 35 101 3 .263
1952-63 Eddie LeBaron Redskins, Cowboys 26 52 3 .340
1961-76 Norm Snead Redskins, Eagles, Vikings, Giants, 49ers 52 99 7 .351
2005-14 Ryan Fitzpatrick Rams, Bengals, Bills, Titans, Texans 31 54 1 .366
1987-99 Chris Miller Falcons, Rams, Broncos 34 58 0 .370
1990-2001 Jeff George Colts, Falcons, Raiders, Vikings, Redskins 46 78 0 .371

Note: The data lists LeBaron as having 85 starts but credits him with only 81 decisions.

Another way of looking at it, of course, is:

George (1990) was the first pick in the draft.

Manning (1971) and Snead (1961) were the second.

Miller (1987) was the 13th.

And LeBaron (123rd, 1950) and Fitzpatrick (250th, 2005), the two outliers, have the least explaining to do.

And another way of looking at it is to say: For goodness sakes, whatever happened to context? Eddie “The Little General” LeBaron and Ryan Fitzpatrick have almost nothing in common except

Two Redskins lineman hoist Eddie LeBaron.

Two Redskins lineman hoist Eddie LeBaron.

their position. LeBaron was one of the better quarterbacks of his era, a four-time Pro Bowler who was a magician as a ball-faker and even did some punting (averaging 40.9 yards on 171 kicks). He just had the misfortune of spending his first seven seasons with the Redskins (whose bigoted owner, George Preston Marshall, wouldn’t sign black players) and his last four with the expansion Cowboys.

Pro-football-reference.com lists LeBaron at 5-foot-9, but the Cowboys media guide in 1963, his final season, puts him at 5-7. When he retired, he was 13th in NFL/AFL history in both passing yards (13,399) and touchdown passes (104). Those totals may not seem like much today, but the ’50s and early ’60s were a much different time.

Some of LeBaron’s individual seasons were outstanding. In 1957 (86.1) and ’58 (83.3) he finished second to Colts Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas in passer rating. In ’62 he led the league (95.4). That was the year he might have played his most amazing game. In a 42-27 win over the Steelers in Pittsburgh, he threw for five touchdowns in a mere 15 attempts while rotating at QB with Don Meredith. Repeat: He threw for five TDs despite playing only about half the game. Here’s Pat Livingston writing about it in The Pittsburgh Press:

Livingston's Press lead

Can you imagine anybody calling Ryan Fitzpatrick “a brilliant old pro who happens to be one of the most underrated performers in pro football”? So again, a little context, please. Fitzpatrick and LeBaron in the same sentence? They’re not even in the same universe. Going into this season, Fitzpatrick had never had a year when his passer rating was higher than the league average.

Yup, The Little General could play. And Fitzpatrick, the Harvard grad, will appreciate this: While Eddie was with the Redskins, he got his law degree at George Washington and practiced law in Dallas — that is, when he wasn’t busy throwing five touchdown passes in half a game.

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From one Hall of Famer to another

Would it surprise you to learn that not one of Dan Marino’s 420 touchdown passes — he held the career record for a while, you may recall — was caught by a fellow Hall of Famer? (Guess I never thought about it, but yeah, I wouldn’t have imagined.) What’s more, Marino isn’t the only QB in Canton who can say that. Today’s entertainment:

Fewest TD Passes by a Hall of Fame QB to Another Hall of Famer (Modern Era)

0  Dan Marino, Dolphins, 1983-99 — Career total: 420.* Hall of Fame receivers: none.

0  Len Dawson, Steelers/Browns/Texans/Chiefs, 1957-75 — Career total: 239. Hall of Fame receivers: none.

3  Fran Tarkenton, Vikings/Giants, 1961-78 — Career total: 342.* Receiver: Hugh McElhenny, Vikings, 3.

6  George Blanda, Bears/Colts/Oilers/Raiders, 1949-58, ’60-75 — Career total: 236. Receiver: Fred Biletnikoff, Raiders, 6.

7  Sid Luckman, Bears, 1939-50 — Career total: 137. Receiver: George McAfee, 7.

9  Sammy Baugh, Redskins, 1937-52 — Career total: 187.* Receivers: Wayne Millner, 7; Cliff Battles, 1; Bill Dudley, 1.

Compare that to this list:

Most TD Passes by a Hall of Fame QB to Another Hall of Famer (Modern Era)

139  Johnny Unitas, Colts/Chargers, 1956-73 — Career total: 290.* Receivers: Raymond Berry, Colts, 63; Lenny Moore, Colts, 43; John Mackey, Colts, 32; Joe Perry, Colts, 1.

112  Sonny Jurgensen, Eagles/Redskins, 1957-75 — Career total: 255. Receivers: Charley Taylor, Redskins, 53; Tommy McDonald, Eagles, 30; Bobby Mitchell, Redskins, 29.

106  Jim Kelly, Bills, 1986-96 — Career total: 237. Receivers: Andre Reed, 65; Thurman Thomas, 22; James Lofton, 19.

98  Terry Bradshaw, Steelers, 1970-83 – Career total: 212. Receivers: Lynn Swann, 49; John Stallworth, 44; Franco Harris, 5.

85  Steve Young, Bucs/49ers, 1985-99 — Career total: 232. Receiver: Jerry Rice, 49ers, 85.

84  Norm Van Brocklin, Rams/Eagles, 1949-60 — Career total: 173. Receivers: Crazylegs Hirsch, Rams, 32; Tommy McDonald, Eagles, 29; Tom Fears, 22, Rams; Andy Robustelli, Rams, 1.

75  Dan Fouts, Chargers, 1973-87 — Career total: 254. Receivers: Kellen Winslow, 41; Charlie Joiner, 34.

65  Otto Graham, Browns, 1946-55 — Career total: 174 (All-America Conference included). Receivers: Dante Lavelli, 57; Marion Motley, 7; Lou Groza, 1.

*Former record holder.

Amazing, isn’t it? Van Brocklin (48.6 percent), Unitas (47.9), Bradshaw (46.2), Kelly (44.7) and Jurgensen (43.9) threw almost half their touchdown passes to Hall of Famers. Now those must have been good times.

The two receivers who grab your attention are Robustelli and Groza. After all, Andy was a defensive end and Lou an offensive tackle/kicker. What were they doing grabbing TD passes?

Naturally, I had to find out the stories behind the stories. What I learned:

Robustelli’s score came in the Rams’ 1954 finale against the Packers. (That’s when teams often pulled stunts like this, in meaningless end-of-the-season games.) The Associated Press described the play thusly:

A surprise pass by Norm Van Brocklin was the key play of the game. The Rams were ahead 21-20 in the third period when Van Brocklin was faced with a fourth down and 25 yards to go. He dropped back – supposedly to punt. Instead he dropped a short pass to defensive end Andy Robustelli, who presumably was in the game to run down under the punt. The 220-pound Robustelli rolled most of the 49 yards for the touchdown.

● A 49-yard touchdown pass to a defensive end on fourth and 25. It doesn’t get much better than that, folks. Green Bay never seriously challenged again. Final score: Rams 35, Packers 27. Here’s the headline that ran in The Milwaukee Journal the next day:

12-13 Milwaukee Journal head on Robustelli

● As for Groza’s touchdown, it was semi-historic. How so, you ask? Well, first of all, he scored on a tackle-eligible play, which was still legal in 1950. Second, near as I can determine, it’s the last such play to go for a TD in the NFL (mostly because it took place, like Robustelli’s score, on the last Sunday of the season).

The next year this neat bit of chicanery was outlawed, and the rule book was amended to read: “A center, guard or tackle is not eligible to touch forward pass from scrimmage even when on end of line” (as was the case with Groza, who, being uncovered on the left side, became an eligible receiver).

Harold Sauerbrei’s recounting of Lou’s heroics in the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

“With the ball on the 23, Groza broke away from his [line] post and Graham laid a soft pass between two defenders into Groza’s arms, Lou running 13 yards for the score.”

The fourth-quarter touchdown increased the Browns’ lead over the Redskins to 17, and they went on to a 45-21 victory. Two weeks later, they won their first NFL title.

If you’re wondering how some current quarterbacks might fit into this, Peyton Manning threw 112 TD passes when he was with the Colts to Marvin Harrison and four to Marshall Faulk. Assuming Harrison makes it to Canton, that’s 116 right there, which would put Manning second behind Unitas. But he could add to that number and possibly pass Johnny U. if any of his Broncos receivers — Wes Welker (11), Demaryius Thomas (30) or Julius Thomas (22) — gets voted in. (The same goes for Edgerrin James, who caught 11 scoring passes from him in Indianapolis.)

The Patriots’ Tom Brady also could overtake Unitas. At the moment, his ledger reads: 39 touchdown passes to Randy Moss, 34 to Welker and 49 (and counting) to Rob Gronkowski. Total: 122 (again, if all three wind up in the Hall, which is hardly guaranteed). But the way Gronk is going, Brady could push that figure quite a bit higher.

Source: pro-football-reference.com

Hall of Famer Lou Groza, remembered mostly for his kicking, once caught a TD pass from Otto Graham.

Hall of Famer Lou Groza, remembered mostly for his kicking, once caught a TD pass from Otto Graham.

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Streak-struck

There are two kinds of streaks in sports: the real kind, which go on without interruption, and the regular-season kind, which are suspended for the playoffs and resume — the player hopes — the next year. In Sunday’s 43-21 loss to the Patriots, the Broncos’ Peyton Manning threw two touchdown passes for the 14th straight regular-season game to set an NFL record.

“Going into the game,” The Associated Press reported, “Manning had two 13-game streaks with at least two touchdown passes, and Tom Brady of the Patriots and Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers each had one.”

Of course, if postseason games were included, then that paragraph would have read differently. Brady (2010-11) and Rodgers (the same two seasons) have both had 14-game streaks counting the playoffs – and Manning’s current run of 14 games would only be eight games (since he threw for just one TD in the Super Bowl against the Broncos).

I’m not trying to bust anybody’s chops here. I totally get why the NFL separates the regular season from the postseason for record-keeping purposes. In the playoffs, after all, you’re going up against the best teams every week. They’re not Typical Games.

But I do wish the league paid as much attention to Real Streaks as it does Regular-Season Streaks. I mean, what’s the harm? All it would cost is a few extra pages in the record book. And the benefit is obvious: You’d be acknowledging some performances that might otherwise be overlooked. Better still, you’d be letting the fans decide for themselves whether one streak is better than another.

My reason for bringing this up is that Johnny Unitas threw two touchdown passes or more in 13 consecutive games in 1959 — the Colts’ 12 regular-season games, plus the title game against the Giants. That’s as long as any Real Streak Manning has had. (Peyton had a 13-gamer to start 2004, when he tossed 49 TD passes.)

You know who else had a 13-gamer? Dandy Don Meredith with the Cowboys in 1965 (the last nine games) and ’66 (the first four). I’m still not sure why Meredith was left out of AP’s story. His was strictly a regular-season streak, unlike Johnny U.’s.

Here are the game-by-game breakdowns for Unitas’ and Meredith’s streaks. Given the times — and the less-passer-friendly rules — who’s to say their runs weren’t greater those of Manning, Brady and Rodgers?

UNITAS’ 13-GAME STREAK (1959)

Opponent TD
Lions 2
Bears 3
Lions 3
Bears 2
Packers 3
Browns 4
Redskins 2
Packers 3
49ers 2
Rams 2
49ers 3
Rams 3
Giants* 2
Total 34

*championship game

MEREDITH’S 13-GAME STREAK (1965-66)

Opponent TD
Browns 2
Steelers 2
49ers 2
Steelers 2
Browns 2
Redskins 2
Eagles 2
Cardinals 3
Giants 3
Giants 5
Vikings 2
Falcons 2
Eagles 5
Total 34

Note that each threw for exactly 34 scores during the streak. Unitas’ 32 TD passes in the regular season broke the NFL record of 28 set by the Bears’ Sid Luckman in 1943. Johnny U.’s Colts, by the way, won the title that year, and Meredith quarterbacked the Cowboys to the championship game in ’66.

There’s little chance the NFL and its record-keepers will ever come around on this issue, but that won’t stop me from bugging them about it from time to time. That said, something tells me Unitas, were he alive today, probably wouldn’t care much about such a record, being an old schooler and all. In fact, if you ever brought the matter up to him, he’d probably give you a look like this:

Johnny U football card

Source: pro-football-reference.com

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College vs. pro

Someday I’ll write a post about Things College Football Players Can Do That Pro Players Can’t (such as throw for 734 yards in a game — only 180 more than Norm Van Brocklin’s 63-year-old record).

The idea dawned on me yesterday while reading about Oklahoma’s 59-14 steamrolling of Iowa State. One of the Sooners’ more impressive stats was this: “Trevor Knight became the first FBS player this season to throw three TD passes and rush for three touchdowns in a game.”*

This got me wondering about whether any NFL quarterbacks had accomplished such a feat. Had Michael Vick ever had a day like that? Randall Cunningham? Bobby Douglass?

A quick trip to pro-football-reference.com brought me the answer: No. Since 1960, at least, no QB has done that. More than a few have come close — 14 have passed for three scores and rushed for two (last: the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers vs. the Broncos in 2011), and two have passed for two and rushed for three (last: the Raiders’ Daunte Culpepper vs. the Dolphins in ’07), but there have been no 3/3 Guys.

Undeterred, I began spot-checking some running quarterbacks from earlier years. Tobin Rote? No. Bobby Layne? No. Otto Graham? Ah-hah. And here’s the kicker: The Browns’ Hall of Famer Graham and Daddid it in the 1954 championship game against Layne’s Lions. Otto threw for TDs of 35, 8 and 31 yards and ran for scores of 1, 5 and 1 as Cleveland clobbered Detroit, 56-10.

This is from Chuck Heaton’s game story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. (Heaton, by the way, was the father of Patricia Heaton, who played Ray Romano’s wife on “Everybody Loves Raymond.”)

Graham, who expects to wind up his grid activity with the Hula and Pro Bowl games next month, re-established himself as the No. 1 man at his position with his passing and running. Otto, an insurance man and part owner of a commercial sales business in the off-season, ran with all the enthusiasm of his collegiate days at Northwestern on his three scoring bursts.

The 33-year-old T-master sneaked a foot for Cleveland’s third touchdown, went five yards around his own right end on a bootleg for the fourth. He opened the second-half scoring with another plunge from the one-foot line, which killed off any slight hope remaining for the sizable Detroit aggregation on hand to see the Lions bid for an unprecedented third straight pro title.

That’s the other thing. This was supposed to be Graham’s last game. He’d already announced his intention to retire. But he changed his mind the following summer and led the Browns to one last title. In that championship game, against the Rams, he only passed for three touchdowns and rushed for two.

Anyway, it’s comforting to know an NFL quarterback has matched Knight’s feat, even if it was 60 years ago.

*Amazingly, by the end of the day, Notre Dame’s Everett Golson had done the same thing against Navy.

Graham running for TD

Source: pro-football-reference.com

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The latest Clash of the Titans

Spent the morning digging up some statistical stuff on Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, who bump facemasks again Sunday in Foxborough. There sure is plenty of stuff to dig up. Combined, these guys have completed passes for 67 miles, 386 yards. Just as a frame of reference: A marathon is 26 miles, 385 yards.

You know how they say that if a couple is married long enough, they start to look alike? Well, in their 30s, Brady and Manning have become practically the same quarterback. Take a look at their numbers since turning the Big Three-O:

BRADY AND MANNING IN THEIR 30S (REGULAR SEASON ONLY)

Years Win% Att Comp Pct Yds TD Int Y/A Rating
Brady 2007-14 .800 3,803 2,463 64.8 29,644 230 58 7.79 102.3
Manning 2006-14 .782 4,371 2,937 67.2 33,909 269 92 7.76 102.1

Those, by the way, are the two highest ratings in NFL history for QBs in their thirties (minimum: 1000 attempts).

Anyway, we’re talking about a difference of 2/10 of a ratings point. Not even worth discussing. Manning turned 30 a year earlier, so that explains why some of his gross numbers are higher. (Yes, he missed the 2011 season with an injury, but Brady’s 2008 was a virtual washout, too.)

What sticks out most to me about these stats is that Manning has thrown 39 more touchdown passes and Brady 34 fewer interceptions. The kind of confirms what I’ve always thought about Tom: not only is he great at winning games, he’s great at not losing them. He’s like the football version of Cy Young — a ton of wins, not many walks.

Which makes Manning, who, Walter Johnson? Maybe. Johnson’s strikeout totals in an era of contact hitting were as awe inspiring as Manning’s numbers in an era of profuse passing. (And Walter, let’s not forget, won three World Series games — his only three Series victories — at the ages of 36 and 37. Translation: Like Peyton, he was good as a geezer.)

Perhaps the greatest blessing, though — for fans, at least — is that Brady and Manning have gone up against each other so many times. This is their sixtee– . . . on second thought, let me rephrase that. For a matchup this momentous, you have to wheel out the Roman numerals. It’s not their 16th meeting, it’s Brady-Manning XVI (followed by a clash of cymbals).

(Of course, they wheeled out the Roman numerals for Rocky V, too, but this is different. For one thing, nobody’s pulling any punches.)

Speaking of boxing, you think of Jake LaMotta’s old line when you think of Brady-Manning. “I fought Sugar Ray Robinson so often,” Jake liked to say, “I almost got diabetes.” For Tom and Peyton it’s been much the same. They were matching spirals when they were in their early 20s, and they’re still matching them in their late 30s.

In fact, it’s almost mathematically impossible that they’ve intersected this often. They were, after all, in the same division for only one season (2001). The rest of the time, they’ve tended cross paths because of the NFL’s scheduling philosophy of pitting division champions against division champions. Tom’s Patriots (almost) always win the AFC East, and Peyton’s Colts and Broncos have (almost) always been champs of the AFC South and West. This, happily, has put them on a collision course their entire careers.

And now we’re getting ready for Brady-Manning XVI. Do you realize how rare that is? I could find only five other instances of a pair of Hall of Fame quarterbacks meeting even 10 times. The

Jim Kelly

Jim Kelly

details:

● Dan Marino vs. Jim Kelly, 1986-96. Meetings: 21. Edge: Kelly, 14-7 (2-0 in the playoffs).

● Johnny Unitas vs. Bart Starr, 1957-70. Meetings: 17. Edge: Unitas, 9-8 (no playoff games). Funny thing is, they would have met in the ’65 Western Conference playoff, but Johnny was out with an injury and Bart got hurt early in the game.

● Brady vs. Manning, 2001-13. Meetings: 15. Edge: Brady, 10-5 (2-2 in playoffs).

● Sammy Baugh vs. Sid Luckman, 1940-50. Meetings: 11. Edge: Luckman, 7-4 (2-1 in playoffs).

● Joe Namath vs. Len Dawson, 1965-75. Meetings: 10. Edge: Dawson, 7-3 (1-0 in playoffs).

Len Dawson

Len Dawson

● Len Dawson vs. George Blanda, 1962-66. Meetings: 10. Edge: Dawson, 7-3 (no playoff games).

Caveat: There might have been a couple of others in the ’50s, when Bobby Layne (Lions), Norm Van Brocklin (Rams) and Y.A. Tittle (49ers) were in the same conference and played twice a year. Unfortunately, pro-football-reference.com’s database have individual game statistics for those seasons. (I finessed Baugh-Luckman — and the early years of Unitas-Starr — other ways.)

About the only shortcoming of the Brady-Manning rivalry — if you want to nitpick — is that they’ve always been in the AFC, so they’ve never squared off in a Super Bowl. Baugh and Luckman met three times in the NFL title game (1940, ’42 and ’43). So did Layne and the Browns’ Otto Graham (1952-54). Tom and Peyton have met three times for the conference championship, though (2003, ’06, ’13), and they might not be done.

Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning. It never gets old — mainly because, in defiance of medical science, they don’t.

Source: pro-football-reference.com, Baltimore Sun archives.

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Famous quarterbacks they have known

Since this is Brady-Manning Week — and since I live for obscure facts — I decided to find the answer to the following question: Which NFL player caught TD passes from the most Hall of Fame quarterbacks? A player who comes immediately to mind, of course, is the Broncos’ Wes Welker, who’s had the good fortune to run routes for the Patriots’ Tom Brady and the Broncos’ Peyton Manning. Granted, neither is in the Hall yet, but they’ll be having their mail forwarded there soon enough.

Anyway, unless Welker finishes his career with Drew Brees in New Orleans, Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay or maybe Andrew Luck in Indianapolis, he won’t hold the record in this category. There are actually players who’ve caught TD passes from three Hall of Fame QBs — six of them, in fact. If you can guess even one, I’ll be impressed.

The first was Ed Sprinkle, a two-way end for the Bears in the ’40s and ’50s. Ironically, Sprinkle is remembered more for his fists than his hands. He was an enforcer in the hockey tradition, a guy Sprinkle football cardwho, according to one writer, had a “Midas-like” talent: “Everything he touches turns to broken noses.” (Ed’s succinct defense: “To me, it wasn’t a game of pitty-pat.”)

When he wasn’t busy bludgeoning opponents, “The Claw,” as he was called, had 32 receptions in his 11 seasons, seven going for touchdowns. Those TD passes, though, were thrown by an interesting collection of quarterbacks. Three — Sid Luckman, Bobby Layne and George Blanda — went on to Canton (and another, Johnny Lujack, once held the record for passing yards in a game).

(Yeah, yeah, I know. Blanda is in the Hall as a quarterback-kicker. Remember, though: When he retired in 1975, his 236 touchdown passes were seventh most in NFL-AFL history.)

You’d think the players on this list would be ultra-productive types, your proverbial Household Names, but that’s not the case at all. None of the five guys who are tied with Sprinkle had more than 23 TD grabs in his career. Two, moreover, were running backs, and two others fit the tight-end profile.

Mostly, they were in the right place at the right time. They either lucked upon a team blessed with multiple Canton-bound quarterbacks or, in their travels, were fortunate enough to cross paths with several legendary QBs. The details:

PLAYERS WHO CAUGHT TD PASSES FROM 3 HALL OF FAME QUARTERBACKS

● Ed Sprinkle, E, Bears, 1944-55 — TD passes from Sid Luckman (3), Bobby Layne (1) and George Blanda (1). Career totals: 32 receptions, 451 yards, 7 touchdowns.

● Dick Bielski, TE, Eagles/Cowboys/Colts, 1955-63 — TD passes from Sonny Jurgensen (2), Norm Van Brocklin (2) and Johnny Unitas (1). Career totals: 107-1,305-10.

● Preston Carpenter, WR-TE, Browns/Steelers/Redskins/Vikings/Dolphins, 1956-67 — TD passes from Layne (6), Jurgensen (3) and Fran Tarkenton (3). Career totals: 305-4,457-23. Note: Carpenter’s last season, in Miami, happened to be Bob Griese’s rookie year. Alas, he didn’t grab any of Griese’s 15 TD throws, otherwise he’d stand alone in this department. (Let’s face it, though, the man was a magnet for Hall of Fame quarterbacks.)

● Preston Pearson, RB, Colts/Steelers/Cowboys, 1967-80 — TD passes from Unitas (1), Terry Bradshaw (2) and Roger Staubach (7). Career totals: 254-3,095-17.

● Mike Sherrard, WR, Cowboys/49ers/Giants/Broncos, 1986. ’89-96 — TD passes from Joe Montana (2), Steve Young (1) and John Elway (1). Career totals: 257-3,931-22.

● Amp Lee, RB, 49ers/Vikings/Rams/Eagles, 1992-2000 — TD passes from Young (3), Montana (1) and Warren Moon (3). Career totals: 335-3,099-15. Note: The last of Lee’s scoring receptions was Amp Lee running to lefttossed by Kurt Warner. So if Warner goes in the Hall — and I think he belongs — Amp will become the sole No. 1. Unbelievable.

These six players, by the way, made exactly six Pro Bowls (Sprinkle four, Bielski and Carpenter one each) — and Ed, I’ll just point out, was voted in for his defensive prowess. Pearson, a useful all-around back, was like Forrest Gump; besides being around great quarterbacks, he went to the Super Bowl with all three of his clubs and won rings with the Steelers and Cowboys.

Obviously, it was easier to make this list if you played for the 49ers when Montana and Young were there (1987-92), the Eagles when Van Brocklin and Jurgensen were there (1957-60) or the Bears when Luckman, Layne and/or Blanda were there (at least two were on the roster from 1948 to ’50). It also helps, apparently, if your first name is Preston.

But let me backtrack a bit to the Luckman-Layne-Blanda/Van Brocklin-Jurgensen years. In the ’40s and ’50s, you see, when there were just 12 franchises, NFL teams literally had more players — and quarterbacks — than they knew what to do with. It’s astonishing, really, how concentrated the talent was compared to the watered-down rosters today.

Consider the quarterbacks who were the property of the Rams in the ’50s:

● Bob Waterfield — Hall of Famer.

● Van Brocklin — Hall of Famer.

● Billy Wade — Two Pro Bowls (1958, ’63). Quarterbacked the Bears to the ’63 title.

● Frank Ryan — Three Pro Bowls (1964-66). Led the Browns to the ’64 title. Threw more TD passes from 1963 to ’67 than anybody in the NFL (117). In fact, only Jurgensen (109), Unitas (104) and Tarkenton (102) were within 25 of him.

● Bobby Thomason — Three Pro Bowls (1953, ’55-56). Led the NFL in TD passes in 1953 with the Eagles. The Rams, having no room for him, loaned him to the Packers in 1951, then traded him to Philadelphia.

● Rudy Bukich — Hardly first rate, but he was third in the league in passer rating in 1965 with the Bears.

And that’s just one club. The NFL was probably never stronger (read: more competitive) than it was in the ’50s. There were third-stringers back then who would be starters now.

Finally, there’s one guy who caught a touchdown pass from four Hall of Famers, but there’s a caveat: They weren’t all quarterbacks. Two were running backs possessed of some throwing ability.

Renfro outbattles a Steeler.

Renfro outbattles a Steeler.

I’m talking about Ray Renfro (father of Mike, the receiver for the Oilers and Cowboys in the ’70s and ’80s). Ray, a standout with the Browns (1952-63), was on the receiving end of scoring tosses from Graham (11), Len Dawson (1), and running backs Jim Brown (1) and Bobby Mitchell (1).

One last aside: Does the name Charles Jordan ring any bells? Don’t beat yourself up if it doesn’t. Jordan had a relatively uneventful career as kick returner-wideout for the Packers, Dolphins and Seahawks from 1994 to ’99, totaling five touchdown receptions. But here’s the thing: The first two TDs were from Brett Favre and the last three from Dan Marino. If you’re going to catch five scoring passes in your NFL career, that’s a pretty good way to do it.

Source: pro-football-reference.com

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Downtown DeSean Jackson

Yards-per-catch averages in the NFL have been going down, down, down for decades — from 14.5 yards in 1950 to 13.2 in 1970 to 12.5 in 1990 to 11.6 this season. You can blame it on everything from zone defenses to the West Coast offense to the rise of the tight end. So when a receiver averages 20 yards a reception, as the Redskins’ DeSean Jackson has done in the first eight games, it’s worthy of mention.

Thanks to a league-leading seven catches of 40 yards or more, Jackson is averaging 20.8 yards on 32 grabs. If he sustains that pace the rest of the way — 64 catches (a nice, round four a game), 20-plus yards a reception — he’ll be just the 10th receiver in NFL-AFL history to reach those levels. Here are the first nine, many of whom should be familiar to you:

RECEIVERS WITH 64 CATCHES, 20-YARDS-PER-CATCH AVERAGE IN A SEASON

Year    Receiver, Team Rec Yds Avg
1998    Eric Moulds, Bills 67 1,368 20.4
1988    Jerry Rice*, 49ers 64 1,306 20.4
1983    Mike Quick, Eagles 69 1,409 20.4
1967    Don Maynard*, Jets 71 1,434 20.2
1965    Lance Alworth*, Chargers 69 1,602 23.2
1963    Bobby Mitchell*, Redskins 69 1,436 20.8
1961    Charley Hennigan, Oilers 82 1,746 21.3
1960    Bill Groman, Oilers 72 1,473 20.5
1951    Crazylegs Hirsch*, Rams 66 1,495 22.7

*Hall of Famer

Five of the nine are in Canton, so it’s not just anybody who has accomplished this feat. Note, too that Groman and Hennigan did it in the first two years of the AFL, when the league wasn’t nearly as strong as it would be later. If you eliminate them, you’re down to seven receivers — an awfully small group. And Jackson might join them.

(FYI: If you want to lower the bar to 60 receptions, you get four more names, including James Lofton.)

It’s hard for a high-volume receiver to average 20 yards a catch. He simply runs too many underneath routes. The most a 100-reception guy has averaged is 16.1 (the Lions’ Calvin Johnson on 122 grabs in 2012). The most a 75-reception guy has averaged ––since Hennigan, at least — is 19.9 (the Rams’ Torry Holt in 2000 and Cardinals’ Roy Green in 1984). Jackson, though, has only once caught more than 62 balls in a season, so a 20-yard average is more conceivable for him. Indeed, he averaged 22.5 in 2010 (but on 47 receptions).

Yards per catch certainly isn’t the most celebrated statistic, but it reflects an ability to make big plays. Every offense needs a receiver like that, one who can stretch the defense and create space for his teammates.

Jackson, by the way, has four 100-yard games through Week 8. Only one receiver in Redskins history has had more: Mitchell, who had five in 1962, the year he helped integrate the franchise. The others, besides DeSean, with four: Santana Moss in 2005, Henry Ellard in 1994 and Mitchell again in ’63. Interesting: Mitchell (’62), Moss and Ellard were, like D-Jax, in their first year with the club.

Source: pro-football-reference.com

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Memorable midseason trades

Wish there were more trades like the one that sent Percy Harvin from the Seahawks to the Jets, if only to liven things up during non-game days. The NFL, unfortunately, is different from other sports. Baseball, basketball and hockey are veritable swap meets at times, but rarely is there a deal during the pro football season that attracts much attention — or has much impact, really.

Part of it is that the deadline falls so early (though it’s been pushed back to the Tuesday of Week 9 — October 28 this year). Another part is that the salary cap limits clubs’ ability to add and subtract players. Then, too, there’s a playbook to be learned. You can’t plug a quarterback into your lineup as easily as you can a right fielder.

The early deadline is an anachronism dating to the days when weaker teams would unload salaries late in the season to cut their losses (thus becoming even weaker teams, which did nothing for the young league’s image). The latter is no longer an issue, of course — it’s hard to lose money in the NFL — and the former, as I said, is problematical because of the cap. So why not extend the deadline to, say, December 1? It would enable contending clubs to address weaknesses created by injuries and help the also-rans stockpile draft picks for rebuilding. Win-win.

The only thing teams would have to do to create a more lively in-season trade market is hold some money back — that is, not spend to the cap. But I doubt there’ll ever be much support for a later deadline because, well, owners don’t think like you and I do.

The Harvin deal motivated me to compile a list of 10 notable midseason trades. I’m not going to suggest these are the 10 biggest midseason trades; I might have overlooked (or underestimated) a few. And if I have, please submit your own nominations. What’s interesting is that none of them took place later than 1990. Since the institution of free agency in 1993, clubs have essentially adopted the attitude of: Why pay for something today that you might be able to get for nothing (except, perhaps, millions of dollars) tomorrow?

10 NOTABLE IN-SEASON TRADES IN NFL HISTORY

● 1938 — TB/QB Frank Filchock from the Pirates (Steelers) to the Redskins for an undisclosed amount of money (and possibly a draft pick).

This was one of those Salary Dumps I referred to earlier. Pittsburgh owner Art Rooney had signed running back Whizzer White to a huge contract, and the team wasn’t winning. So in mid-Screen Shot 2014-10-25 at 5.56.41 PMOctober he got rid of several players, including Filchock, a promising single-wing tailback who had been the 14th pick in that year’s draft. Frankie had some fine years in Washington as Sammy Baugh’s alternate, then moved to the Giants in 1946 and led them to the championship game. (He’s also remembered for getting caught up in the attempt to fix that game, which caused him to be banned from the league for three seasons.)

● 1958 — QB Bobby Layne from the Lions to the Steelers for QB Earl Morrall, a 1959 No. 2 (OG Mike Rabold) and ’60 No. 4 (DT Roger Brown).

The deal reunited Layne with his old Lions coach, Buddy Parker, who had quit and taken the Pittsburgh job. Bobby played some of his best ball in the second half of that season, as the Steelers finished on a 6-0-1 tear to wind up third in the Eastern Conference. He also gave the perennially losing franchise some much-needed credibility in the late ’50s and early ’60s. His only failure was that he never got Pittsburgh to the title game. Brown, by the way, turned out to be a stud defensive tackle for the Lions, a 300-pounder who went to six Pro Bowls. And Morrall had some great moments with the ’68 Colts and undefeated ’72 Dolphins.

● 1974 — QB John Hadl from the Rams to the Packers for two No. 1s (both Top 10), two No. 2s and a No. 3 in the next two drafts.

Nowadays, three of the picks would be in the first round (8, 9, 28) and the other two in the second (39, 61). This was your basic desperate-for-a-quarterback move by Green Bay. Problem was, Hadl, who’d been a first-team all-pro the season before, was 34, and his best football was behind him. Two years later, the Packers dealt him to Houston for QB Lynn Dickey. Who the Rams drafted with the Hadl picks: DT Mike Fanning, CB Monte Jackson, C Geoff Reece, CB Pat Thomas, C Geoff Reece. Jackson and Thomas went to multiple Pro Bowls. The fifth pick from the deal, a ’76 No. 1, was sent to the Lions as compensation for signing free agent WR Ron Jessie, a Pro Bowler in his first season with L.A.

● 1980 — RB Chuck Muncie from the Saints to the Chargers for a 1982 No. 2.

Muncie was tremendously talented and equally troubled (read: drugs, alcohol), which is why his price was so reasonable. But Chargers coach Don Coryell was assembling a Super Offense

Chuck Muncie

Chuck Muncie

around Hall of Fame QB Dan Fouts and decided to take a chance on Chuck, who had already been to one Pro Bowl (and would go to two others). San Diego made it to the AFC title game in Muncie’s first two seasons, losing to the Raiders and Bengals, but then his demons undid him again and he was packed off to the Dolphins. Who the Saints drafted with the Chargers pick: LB Rickey Jackson, who’s now in Canton.

● 1981 — WR Wes Chandler from the Saints to the Chargers for Nos. 1 and 3 picks in 1982. Chandler was another of Coryell’s offensive additions (along with Muncie and TE Kellen Winslow, San Diego’s first-rounder in ’79). He went to three Pro Bowls with the Chargers, and in the nine-game ’82 strike season averaged 129 receiving yards a game, a record. Who the Saints drafted with the San Diego picks: WR Lindsay Scott (69 career receptions) and DB John Krimm (nine NFL games). In other words, not much.

● 1981 — DE Fred Dean from the Chargers to the 49ers for a 1982 No. 2 and the option to switch No. 1s in ’83.

For instant impact, you won’t find many better deals than this one. Strengthened by Dean’s Hall of Fame pass-rushing abilities, San Francisco went on to win the Super Bowl that season and again in ’84. What’s truly amazing, though, is what happened after San Diego chose to swap first-rounders in ’85 (moving up from 22 to 5 to take LB Billy Ray Smith). The Niners then traded the 22nd selection back to them for two No. 2s (36, 49) and turned them into Pro Bowl RBs Wendell Tyler (via a trade with the Rams) and Roger Craig (via the draft). To recap: Dynasty-bound San Francisco got Dean, Tyler and Craig, and the Chargers got Smith and CB Gil Byrd (the 22nd pick). Nice.

● 1983 — CB Mike Haynes from the Patriots to the Raiders for a 1984 No. 1 and ’85 No. 2.

Haynes, a holdout, didn’t want to re-sign with New England. And when Al Davis finally worked out a trade for him — a tad after the deadline — the league tried to disallow it. But Davis

Mike Haynes

Mike Haynes

ultimately prevailed, and the cornerback combination of Hall of Famer Haynes and Pro Bowler Lester Hayes turned the Raiders defense into a total monster, one that destroyed the Redskins, one of the highest-scoring teams in NFL history, in the Super Bowl later that season. Who the Patriots drafted with the Raiders picks: New England packaged the ’84 No. 1 (28th) with their own (16th) to get the first overall pick and selected WR Irving Fryar, who had a very good 17-year career (most of it with other clubs). The No. 2 brought DB Jim Bowman. Remember, though: The Pats went to the Super Bowl themselves in ’85 — and beat the Raiders in the playoffs to get there.

● 1987 — RB Eric Dickerson from the Rams to the Colts for three No. 1s and three No. 2s spread over the next two drafts, plus RBs Greg Bell and Owen Gill. The trade also involved the Bills, who came away with LB Cornelius Bennett, Indianapolis’ unsigned No. 1 pick that year (and the second overall selection).

What a blockbuster. Dickerson was one of the biggest names in game, a Hall of Famer whose 2,105-yard rushing season in 1984 is still the record. So why did the Rams deal him? Contract issues. In Indianapolis he rejoined his coach at SMU, Ron Meyer, who showcased him the way John Robinson had in Los Angeles. (In other words, this was the running back version of the Layne trade.) Backs tend to have shorter primes, though, and Eric rushed for more yards with the Rams (7,245) than with the Colts (5,194). Still, Indy made the playoffs in ’87 — for the first time since moving from Baltimore – so it’s not like Jim Irsay didn’t get anything out of the trade.

As for the Rams, Gill didn’t gain a single yard for them, but Bell was their leading rusher in 1988 and ’89, when they reached the postseason. Who they drafted with Colts’ and Bills’ picks: RB Gaston Green, WR Aaron Cox, RB Cleveland Gary, LB Fred Strickland, LB Frank Stams and CB Darryl Henley. Only Green ever made the Pro Bowl (once), and Henley wound up in prison for cocaine trafficking and other felonious activities.

● 1989 — RB Herschel Walker from the Cowboys to the Vikings for the kitchen sink.

There were enough picks and players involved in this trade – 18 in all, including three No. 1s and three No. 2s – to give you a headache. Dallas’ major acquisitions, through the draft, were RB Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, and five-time Pro Bowl SS Darren Woodson. (The rest were pretty much role players.) As for Walker, he was a disappointment in Minnesota, though the Vikings also got a third-round selection in the deal that they turned into WR Jake Reed, who had four 1,000-yard seasons. With Smith, the Triplets (Troy Aikman-Michael Irvin-Emmitt) were complete, and the Cowboys became the team of the ’90s, winning three Super Bowls in four years.

● 1990 — QB Steve Walsh from the Cowboys to the Saints for Nos. 1 and 3 picks in 1991 and a No. 2 in ’92.

Once Jimmy Johnson decided on Aikman as his quarterback, he auctioned off Walsh, his former University of Miami QB, who he’d taken in the ’89 supplemental draft. The New Orleans first-rounder, which Johnson traded to the Lions, didn’t bring much in return, but the third-rounder, OT Erik Williams, was voted to four Pro Bowls. The second-rounder is the great What Might Have Been. Jimmy used it to move up and draft WR Jimmy Smith, who washed out in Dallas but had 11 tremendous seasons with the Jaguars, catching 862 passes and going to five Pro Bowls. Walsh quarterbacked Saints to the playoffs in ’90, going 6-5 as a starter, but didn’t have many more career highlights.

Sources: pro-football-reference.com, prosportstransactions.com, various Sporting News Football Registers.

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Friday Night Fights VIII: Charley Powell vs. Charlie Norkus, 1954

When Charley Powell died last month at 82, he was an all but forgotten sports figure — outside, that is, his hometown of San Diego, where his feats in football, baseball, basketball, track and boxing are legend. Jim Murray, the Los Angeles Times columnist, once wrote: “When the conversation veers around to all-around athletes, it gets to Charlie Powell in a hurry. There’s Jim Thorpe, Jackie Robinson, and, well, how about Charlie Powell?”

As a 20-year-old in 1952 — he passed up college in favor of a minor-league baseball fling — Powell was man enough to play defensive end for a 49ers club stacked with four Hall of Famers: quarterback Y.A. Tittle, running backs Joe Perry and Hugh McElhenny and tackle Leo Nomellini. A chiseled 6-foot-3, 226 pounds, he might have been one of the greats if he hadn’t gone into boxing, which paid better.

As he told Gay Talese of The New York Times late in his career: “Trouble was I’d have to take weight off in the summertime [for boxing] and put it back on in the wintertime for football. It

An ad in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

An ad in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

was off and on, off and on, and I couldn’t concentrate on either sport.”

Powell did have his moments in the squared circle, though. The biggest came in March 1959, when, as a 4-to-1 underdog, he TKO’d Nino Valdes, the No. 2-ranked heavyweight. The win moved Charley up to ninth in Ring Magazine’s ratings, as high as he ever got. From The Associated Press account:

“Valdes had gone down twice before in the [eighth] round [before referee Cy Gottfried stopped it], once following a left and a right to the jaw, . . . and once when the ex-pro football player draped him over the middle strand of the ring ropes. . . .

“[Valdes] suffered a gash over his right eye in the third [round] and thereafter presented a gory picture after he tried to ward off the aggressive Californian, who crowded in and refused to allow his bigger opponent to unlimber his heavy guns.”

After getting off to a 20-3-2 start, Powell settled for a final record of 25-11-3 with 17 knockouts. A succession of broken hands — along with a chin, I’m told, that may not have been made of granite — undermined his early promise. Toward the end, he served as a tuneup for a young Cassius Clay (soon to be known as Muhammad Ali) in 1963 and a dethroned Floyd Patterson in ’64. He was knocked out both times, but give the guy his due: He traded blows with two heavyweight champs.

The following is a clip from Powell’s 1954 bout against journeyman Charlie Norkus at San Francisco Civic Auditorium. You can watch all seven rounds if you want; I’m just focusing on the first one, when he . . .

Now that’s punching power.

Powell mixing it up with Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali).

Powell mixing it up with Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali).

 

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Matt Stafford erases a bit more of Bobby Layne

With his next touchdown pass, the Lions’ Matt Stafford will consign yet another of Bobby Layne’s franchise records to the dustbin of history. They’re both tied at 118, but that’s not why I’ve raised the subject. I’ve raised the subject because Layne last took a snap for Detroit in 1958. That’s how lacking the club’s quarterbacking has been the past 56 years.

When you think of all the rule changes over the decades that have aided the offense, it’s somewhat miraculous any career passing record from that era — even a team record — is still on the books. After all, there are seven active QBs (the Falcons’ Matt Ryan, the Ravens’ Joe Flacco, the Cowboys’ Tony Romo, the Patriots’ Tom Brady, the Saints’ Drew Brees, the Giants’ Eli Manning and the Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger) who are their franchise’s all-time leader in touchdown passes, and an eighth (the Broncos’ Peyton Manning) who is another franchise’s all -time leader (the Colts). Let’s face it, no record is more made to be broken than a passing record.

Surprisingly, though, three other clubs’ records for TD passes have been standing even longer than the Lions’, and three more predate ’78 (when the one-bump rule was instituted, holding was all but legalized and the game began turning into the passfest we have today). The details:

LONGEST-STANDING TEAM RECORDS FOR CAREER TD PASSES

Since Held By, Team TD Next
1950 Sid Luckman*, Bears 137 Jay Cutler,115
1952 Sammy Baugh*, Redskins 187 Sonny Jurgensen, 179
1955 Otto Graham*, Browns 174 Brian Sipe, 154
1958 Bobby Layne*, Lions 118 Matt Stafford, 118
1972 Roman Gabriel, Rams 154 Jim Everett, 142
1975 Len Dawson*, Chiefs 237 Trent Green, 118
1976 Joe Namath*, Jets 170 Ken O’Brien, 124
1978 Fran Tarkenton*, Vikings 239 Tommy Kramer, 159
1979 Ken Stabler, Raiders 150 Daryle Lamonica, 148

*Hall of Famer

Note: Graham’s total includes the 86 touchdown passes he threw in the All-America Conference (1946-49) before the Browns joined the NFL.

As you can see, seven of these team records are held by Hall of Famers, but many of them didn’t set the bar very high by today’s standards. Layne’s mark (118) is by far the lowest. In fact, it’s barely more than the number of TDs passes Peyton Manning has tossed in 3½ seasons with the Broncos (111).

In the last few years, Stafford has broken Layne’s franchise records for attempts, completions and yards. Soon enough, all that will be left is Layne’s mark for interceptions (142 – which Stafford, at 79 and counting, also has a shot at). Of course, Bobby was the quarterback on two Lions championship teams (1952-53). Matt has a ways to go before he tops that.

Source: pro-football-reference.com

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