When female football fans in the ’50s and ’60s said Frank Gifford was “smokin’,” they probably weren’t referring to this. Here’s Faultless Frank, as Howard Cosell loved to call him, extolling the virtues of Lucky Strike cigarettes — and bringing his Giants teammates along for the ride:
Tag Archives: Giants
The Top 10 in 2014 vs. the Top 10 in 1964
It’s always educational to go back in time and see where the NFL was, say, 50 years ago and how it compares to today. So I decided to find out who the career leaders were in various offensive categories at the start of the 1964 season, just for kicks. What did it take to make the all-time Top 10 back then? Which players had fallen through the cracks of history? I learned plenty, I must say. Why don’t we begin with the running backs (since they were so much bigger a deal in the ’60s)?
[table]
Most rushing yards at the start of the 1964 season,At the start of 2014
9\,322 Jim Brown,18\,355 Emmitt Smith
8\,378 Joe Perry,16\,726 Walter Payton
5\,860 Steve Van Buren,15\,269 Barry Sanders
5\,599 Jim Taylor,14\,101 Curtis Martin
5\,534 Rick Casares,13\,684 LaDainian Tomlinson
5\,518 John Henry Johnson,13\,662 Jerome Bettis
5\,233 Hugh McElhenny,13\,259 Eric Dickerson
4\,565 Ollie Matson,12\,739 Tony Dorsett
4\,428 Alex Webster,12\,312 Jim Brown
4\,315 J.D. Smith,12\,279 Marshall Faulk
[/table]
Think about it: To be one of the Top 10 rushers in NFL history half a century ago, all you needed was 4,315 yards. Adrian Peterson surpassed that by the end of his third season (4,484). Eric Dickerson nearly got there in his second (3,913). By current standards, it’s not that much yardage. (Consider: Among active backs, the Colts’ Ahmad Bradshaw is closest to Smith’s total with 4,418. That ranks him 160th all time.)
But it was a significant amount of yardage in 1964, the league’s 45th year. Careers were shorter. Seasons were shorter. Only the rare player (e.g. Brown) put up numbers that had much longevity.
Note, too: Three backs on the ’64 list — the Bears’ Casares, the Giants’ Webster and the 49ers’ Smith — aren’t in the Hall of Fame and never will be. Yet there’s a good chance every back on the ’14 list will make it. The only ones who haven’t been voted in, after all, are Bettis and Tomlinson. But LT is a lock once he’s eligible, and Bettis has been a finalist the last four years and figures to get his ticket punched eventually.
And understandably so, I suppose. The threshold for breaking into the Top 10 — in all offensive departments — is so much higher these days. You not only have to play longer, you usually have to be fairly productive in your 30s, which for a running back is far from guaranteed. Payton, hard as it is to believe, rushed for more yards after his 30th birthday (6,522) than Van Buren did in his entire career (5,860). And Steve was the all-time leader for nearly a decade.
Finally, three of the Top 7 rushers 50 years ago — Perry (2nd), Johnson (6th) and McElhenny (7th) –actually played together for three seasons in San Francisco (1954-56), though they often weren’t healthy at the same time. “The Million-Dollar Backfield,” they were called (the fourth Hall of Fame member being quarterback Y.A. Tittle). John Henry, ever the joker, liked to tell people: “I’m still lookin’ for the million.”
On to the receivers:
[table]
Most receiving yards at the start of the 1964 season,At the start of 2014
8\,459 Billy Howton,22\,895 Jerry Rice
7\,991 Don Hutson,15\,934 Terrell Owens
6\,920 Raymond Berry,15\,292 Randy Moss
6\,299 Crazylegs Hirsch,15\,208 Isaac Bruce
5\,902 Billy Wilson,15\,127 Tony Gonzalez
5\,619 Pete Pihos,14\,934 Tim Brown
5\,594 Del Shofner,14\,580 Marvin Harrison
5\,508 Ray Renfro,14\,004 James Lofton
5\,499 Tommy McDonald,13\,899 Cris Carter
5\,476 Max McGee,13\,777 Henry Ellard
[/table]
That’s right, McGee, Paul Hornung’s old drinking buddy on the Packers, was No. 10 in receiving yards as the ’64 season got underway. I wasn’t prepared for that (though I knew he was a pretty good wideout). Here is he is (fuzzily) scoring the first points in Super Bowl history by making a one-handed touchdown catch:
Amazingly, Howton, who tops the list — and was McGee’s teammate in Green Bay for a while — isn’t in the Hall. I’ve always thought he belongs, even though he played on a series of losing clubs. But that’s a subject for another post.
Also excluded from Canton, besides McGee, are the 49ers’ Wilson, the Giants’ Shofner and the Browns’ Renfro. In other words, half of the Top 10 in receiving yards half a century ago haven’t been enshrined. Does that seem like a lot to you?
I doubt people will be saying that about the current Top 10 50 years from now. Rice and Lofton already have their gold jackets, and most of the others have strong arguments.
Speaking of Rice, that 22,895 figure never ceases to astound, does it? It’s almost as many as the Top 3 receivers combined on the ’64 list (23,370).
Something else that shouldn’t be overlooked: a tight end (Tony Gonzalez) has infiltrated the Top 10 (at No. 5) — and he won’t be the last. The position has become too important to the passing game.
Lastly — because I wanted to keep you in suspense — the quarterbacks:
[table]
Most passing yards at the start of the 1964 season,At the start of 2014
28\,339 Y.A. Tittle,71\,838 Brett Favre
26\,768 Bobby Layne,64\,964 Peyton Manning
23\,611 Norm Van Brocklin,61\,361 Dan Marino
21\,886 Sammy Baugh,51\,475 John Elway
21\,491 Johnny Unitas,51\,081 Drew Brees
19\,488 Charlie Conerly,49\,325 Warren Moon
17\,654 Tobin Rote,49\,149 Tom Brady
17\,492 George Blanda,47\,003 Fran Tarkenton
16\,303 Billy Wade,46\,233 Vinny Testaverde
14\,686 Sid Luckman,44\,611 Drew Bledsoe
[/table]
Both groups are well represented in the Hall. Seven from ’64 are in, including the Top 5, and the Top 8 from ’14 are destined to join them. And get this: The three ’64 guys who haven’t been ushered into Canton — Conerly (’56 Giants), Rote (’57 Lions, plus the ’63 Chargers in the AFL) and Wade (’63 Bears) — all quarterbacked teams to titles. Quite an accomplished bunch.
For those wondering where Otto Graham is, he did indeed rack up 23,584 passing yards, but 10,085 of them came in the rival All-America Conference. That left him 12th, for the NFL’s purposes, going into the ’64 season (with 13,499). It’s a bit unfair — and also affects some of his teammates (running back Marion Motley, receivers Dante Lavelli and Mac Speedie) — but what are ya gonna do?
At any rate, it takes a lot of yards to crack any of these Top 10s nowadays. You’d better pack a lunch — and maybe dinner and a midnight snack, too.
Source: pro-football-reference.com
You never want to beat yourself, unless . . .
Had Peyton Manning not sat out the last game of the 2004 season — except for the first three snaps, that is — he might have done something last year that hadn’t been done in two decades: break his own NFL season record.
Manning, you may recall, had 49 touchdown passes going into the ’04 finale at Denver. He’d topped Dan Marino’s mark of 48 the week before, so there was no compelling reason for him to run up the score, so to speak — especially since the Colts had already clinched their division and had no shot at a first-round bye. So after the first series against the Broncos, coach Tony Dungy played it safe and replaced him with Jim Sorgi.
Three years later, the Patriots’ Tom Brady threw for 50 TDs to edge past Manning. And last season Manning threw for 55 to take the record back. But had Peyton gone the distance in the ’04 closer, he might well have thrown for several scores. Indeed, the following week in the playoffs, in a rematch with Denver, he threw for four in a 49-24 blowout. Could Brady have gotten to 52 or 53 – or more? I wouldn’t count on it.
Ah, what might have been. The last time a player broke his own NFL season record, according to my research, was in 1993, when the Packers’ Sterling Sharpe caught 112 passes, surpassing his own mark of 108 set in ’92. (The next year, the Vikings’ Cris Carter topped Sharpe by hauling in 122. So it goes in the receiving game.)
I’m not talking about any old records, by the way. I’m talking about records that fans care about (at least a little). We seem to be at the point in pro football history where this sort of thing – self-erasure – is getting incredibly hard to do.
It wasn’t always thus. In the ’30s and ’40s, another Packers receiver – the iconic Don Hutson – upped his own record nine times in various categories (receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, points scored). Of course, the passing game was still in its infancy then, and Green Bay was one of the few teams that made effective use of it.
Nowadays, though, one record-breaking season appears to be all a player has in him. Take the Saints’ Drew Brees, for instance. Three years ago he threw for 5,476 yards to blow by Marino’s longstanding mark of 5,084. In 2012, however, despite a fabulous effort with a 7-9 team, he fell 299 yards short of his record. Now that he’s 35, he might never get that close again.
Maybe this is another way we can measure greatness: Was a guy good enough to break his own season mark? The list of players who’ve done it since — World War II — is fairly short:
● RB Steve Van Buren*, Eagles (rushing yards) — 1,008 in 1946 (old mark: 1,004), 1,146 in ’49.
● E Tom Fears*, Rams (receptions) — 77 in 1949 (old mark: 74), 84 in ’50.
● K Lou Groza*, Browns (field goals) — 13 in 1950 (old mark: 12 by drop-kicker Paddy Driscoll of the Bears in ’26), 19 in ’52, 23 in ’53. (Yes, he broke his own record twice.)
● RB Jim Brown*, Browns (rushing yards) — 1,527 in 1958 (old mark: 1,146), 1,863 in ’63.
● QB Y.A. Tittle*, Giants (touchdown passes) — 33 in ’62 (old mark: 32), 36 in ’63.
Note: George Blanda tossed 36 TD passes for the Houston Oilers in 1961. But I’m excluding the pre-merger (1960-66) AFL from this discussion, even though the NFL includes the league’s statistics in its record book. It just wasn’t as good a league in the early years (much as I enjoyed it).
● QB Dan Fouts*, Chargers (passing yards) — 4,082 in 1979 (old mark: 4,007), 4,715 in ’80, 4,802 in ’81.
Note: The record Fouts broke in ’79 was set by the Jets’ Joe Namath in a 14-game season. So he didn’t really break it, not if you go by per-game average (255.1 for Dan vs. 286.2 for Broadway Joe). But his ’80 (294.7) and ’81 (300.1) averages were better than Namath’s.
● WR Sterling Sharpe, Packers (receptions) — 108 in 1992 (old mark: 106), 112 in ’93.
* Hall of Fame
As you can see, the only one of the Select Seven who isn’t in the Hall is Sharpe, whose career was cut short by injury. He may yet make it as a Veterans Candidate, though. After all, he did put up some impressive numbers in just seven seasons (595 catches, 8,134 yards, 65 TDs, 5 Pro Bowls).
Anyway, it’s something for the Lions’ Calvin Johnson to think about as he attempts to climb Mount 2,000.
Sources: The ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia, pro-football-reference.com
R. C. Owens’ one-of-a-kind field goal block, revisited
History, as we all know, is a living thing. More information — better information — comes along, and the record gets revised. Earlier this week I published a post (and photo) about the Colts’ R. C. Owens blocking a field goal try in 1962 in a unique way: He stood back by the goal posts, jumped as high as he could and re-jected a kick attempted by the Redskins.
The newspaper accounts said it was an NFL first, and in all my research I’ve never come across another play like it. (I do remember seeing — on TV — a 1970 game between the Chiefs and Raiders in which Morris Stroud, the Chiefs’ 6-10 tight end, played “goalie” in the closing seconds and nearly blocked a 48-yarder by George Blanda (a boot that left the bitter rivals in a 17-17 deadlock). The Associated Press reported: “The ball barely made it over the crossbar and above the hands of . . . Stroud, who was stationed at the goal line.”
Reader/Facebook buddy/fellow blogger Jack Finarelli brought up another candidate in a comment: Erich Barnes, a six-time Pro Bowl cornerback with the Bears, Giants and Browns from 1958 to ’71. Wrote Jack: “I think I remember [him] doing this also in a game about 1961 or 1962. As I recall, it was considered a ‘blocked field goal’ and was open for recovery.”
So I did a little investigating. Turns out Barnes did do something like that — in 1969, when he was playing for Cleveland. (He may have done it as a Giant, too, but my search of The New York Times archive turned up nothing. It did, though, produce a photo of him blocking a field goal in the conventional fashion against the Rams in ’61.)
Here’s the link to the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s story on The Game in Question. The relevant passage is as follows:
The Eagles got on the board in the second quarter after a freak play. Erich Barnes, who also was injured late in the game and may have a cracked rib, leaped high to deflect Sam Baker’s field goal bid.
Erich was playing right in front of the goal posts. He touched the ball and it bounced back in the playing field, where it was recovered by [Philadelphia’s] Tim Rossovich.
So the Eagles had a first down on the Cleveland 2-yard line. They took it into the end zone on two smashes by Tom Woodeshick.
Maybe that’s why Barnes’ play has been forgotten: because, unlike Owens’, it didn’t prevent the opponent from scoring. In fact, it cost the Browns four points — the difference between a field goal and a touchdown.
There’s also uncertainty about whether Baker’s boot would have gone through the uprights. According to United Press International, he “was short on a 44-yard field goal attempt, and Barnes, leaping high at the goal post in a bid to deflect the ball, batted it back on the playing field.”
Which is why it was a live ball — and why the Eagles were able retain possession. Had the kick gone into the end zone, as it (presumably) did in Owens’ case, it would have been ruled a touchback.
What we don’t know — because we don’t have the game film handy — is what UPI meant by “short.” It could have just meant the ball would have barely made it over to the crossbar. Or . . . it could have meant Barnes’ block was superfluous.
I’d like to think this blog can do this kind of stuff often — that is, try to get the facts as straight as we can. The truth, after all, is in the details.
Sources: newspaperarchive.com, The New York Times archive, Cleveland Plain Dealer archive, pro-football-reference.com.
The shelf life of a multiple-championship coach
Hardly a day goes by that some Media Type doesn’t wonder — on radio, TV or in print — whether Tom Brady will win another Super Bowl. To which I reply: Never mind Brady. Will Bill Belichick win another Super Bowl? Coaches have an expiration date, too.
And the Man in the Grey Cotton Hoodie may have passed his. No coach, after all, has won the Lombardi Trophy later than his 18th season in an NFL head job (the Cowboys’ Tom Landry in 1977). Belichick is in his 20th — five with the Browns, 15 with the Patriots. So if he wins his fourth title, he’ll set a modern record for shelf life.
Yes, Tom Coughlin was 65 when his Giants took the championship in 2011, three years older than Belichick is now. And yes, that made him the oldest Super Bowl-winning coach. But it was “only” his 16th season as a head man. He’d have to capture a third title to top Landry.
And yes, Dick Vermeil was 63 when his Rams ran off with the Lombardi Trophy in 1999, a year older than Belichick is now. But because of a lengthy sabbatical, it was only his 10th season as a head coach. (Age, I’m convinced, is less important than the Number of Years in a Head Job — the pro football equivalent of dog years.)
Here’s a chart I put together of the coaches who’ve won multiple championships in the Super Bowl era. It’s followed by a second chart of those who won multiple championships before the Super Bowl. Weeb Ewbank straddles the two periods, but I included him in the first group because, well, when you’ve coached Joe Namath, you have to be considered a modern coach. How many quarterbacks have been more “mod” than Broadway Joe?
Anyway, these are Belichick’s true peers, more so than one-timers like Tony Dungy (’06 Colts), Bill Cowher (’05 Steelers) and Hank Stram (’69 Chiefs), among others.
SUPER BOWL ERA
[table]
Coach,Team(s),Years,Titles,1st Title,Last Title,Span (Seasons)
Tom Coughlin,Jaguars\, Giants,18,2,12th season,16th season,5 (2007-11)
Bill Belichick,Browns\, Patriots,20,3,7th season,10th season,4 (2001-04)
Mike Shanahan,Broncos\, 2 others,20,2,5th season,6th season,2 (1997-98)
George Seifert,49ers\, Panthers,11,2,1st season,6th season,6 (1989-94)
Jimmy Johnson,Cowboys\, Dolphins, 9,2,4th season,5th season,2 (1992-93)
Joe Gibbs,Redskins,16,3,2nd season,11th season,10 (1982-91)
Bill Parcells,Giants\, 3 others,19,2,4th season,8th season,5 (1986-90)
Bill Walsh,49ers,10,3,3rd season,10th season,8 (1981-88)
Tom Flores,Raiders\, Seahawks,12,2,2nd season,5th season,4 (1980-83)
Chuck Noll,Steelers,23,4,6th season,11th season,6 (1974-79)
Tom Landry,Cowboys,29,2,12th season,18th season,7 (1971-77)
Don Shula,Colts\, Dolphins,33,3,6th season,11th season,6 (1968-73)
Weeb Ewbank,Colts\, Jets,20,3,5th season,15th season,11 (1958-68)
Vince Lombardi,Packers\, Redskins,10,5,3rd season,9th season,7 (1961-67)
[/table]
One of the things that’s interesting about this chart is the span of seasons in which these coaches won titles. Belichick has one of the shorter ones — four (from 2001 through ’04). Only two guys have reached double digits: Ewbank (11, from the ’58 Colts to the ’68 Jets) and Gibbs (10, from the ’82 to the ’91 Redskins).
None of these 14 coaches, though, went a decade between championships. (Ewbank also won in ’59 with the Colts, and Joe also won in ’87 with the Redskins.) That’s what Belichick is trying to do — and if he succeeds, he’ll be the first in the Super Bowl era to pull it off.
It was different in the old days. The Bears’ George Halas, of course, owned the franchise, and other coaches, like Packers founder Curly Lambeau, practically had tenure. So in the next chart you see longer spans — 43 seasons for Halas (though he coached in “only” 35 of them), 20 for Jimmy Conzelman (though he coached in the NFL in only eight of them, leaving to take jobs in college ball and baseball) and 16 for Lambeau. (The thing about Conzelman is, he won titles with the single-wing Providence Steam Roller in 1928 and the T-formation Chicago Cardinals in ’47. That’s staying power. That’s adaptability.)
PRE-SUPER BOWL
[table]
Coach,Team(s),Years,Titles,1st Title,Last Title,Span (Seasons)
George Halas,Bears (Staleys),40,6,2nd season,36th season,43 (1921-63)
Paul Brown (+ AAC),Browns\, Bengals,25,7,1st season,10th season,10 (1946-55)
Paul Brown (NFL only),Browns\, Bengals,21,3,1st season,6th season,6 (1950-55)
Buddy Parker,Lions\, 2 others,15,2,3rd season,4th season,2 (1952-53)
Greasy Neale,Eagles,10,2,8th season,9th season,2 (1948-49)
Jimmy Conzelman,Cards\, 4 others,15,2,7th season,14th season,20 (1928-47)
Curly Lambeau,Packers\, 2 others,33,6,9th season,24th season,16 (1929-44)
Ray Flaherty,Redskins,7,2,2nd season,7th season,6 (1937-42)
Steve Owen,Giants,23,2,4th season,8th season,5 (1934-38)
Guy Chamberlin,Canton\, 2 others,6,4,1st season,5th season,5 (1922-26)
[/table]
But then, this is Bill Belichick we’re talking about, the winningest coach of his time. He’s returned twice to the Super Bowl in recent years and come up empty but, being Bill, may yet get another shot. The odds are against him, though, and sometimes those can be as hard to overcome as a miracle David Tyree catch in the final seconds.
Source: pro-football-reference.com
Tony Gonzalez’s exit
Well, it looks like Tony Gonzalez really is retired, so I guess it’s safe to run this post. I wanted to add his 2013 performance to my list of Best Final Seasons in NFL history, but there was always the chance the Patriots or some other tight end-needy contender would talk him into playing another year.
Gonzalez wanted badly last season to close out his career the way Ray Lewis, Michael Strahan and Jerome Bettis had in recent years — by winning the Super Bowl. (In his case, his first.) Alas, the Falcons were one of the league’s biggest flops, going 4-12 after reaching the NFC title game the season before, and Tony’s typically sterling efforts (83 catches, 859 yards, 8 touchdowns and his 14th Pro Bowl) went for naught.
Still, at least he retired at or near the top of his game. The same can’t be said for Lewis, Strahan and Bettis, despite their fairytale endings. Ray missed 10 games in 2012 with a torn triceps and failed to make the Pro Bowl. Strahan ranked third on the Giants in ’07 with nine sacks (to Osi Umenyiora’s 13 and Justin Tuck’s 10). And Bettis rushed for a career-low 368 yards in ’05 (though his nine rushing touchdowns were tops on the team).
Other players have hung ’em up after having much better seasons — and a handful have even done it while winning a ring (or whatever bauble owners handed out in those days). The lineup of Fabulous Finishers:
BEST FINAL SEASONS IN NFL HISTORY
● 2013 – Tony Gonzalez, TE, Falcons (age: 37): I’ve already hit you with his numbers. You’ll appreciate them even more when I tell you he had 80 receptions (or better) at ages 31, 32, 33, 35 and 36, too. No other tight end has been older than 30 when he caught that many balls.
● 2006 – Tiki Barber, RB, Giants (age: 31): Had 1,662 rushing yards, 2,127 yards from scrimmage and made the Pro Bowl with an 8-8 club that somehow stumbled into a playoff berth. Contemplated making a comeback several years later, after his TV career went south, but couldn’t find a taker.
● 1999 – Kevin Greene, LB, Panthers (37): Racked up the last 12 of his 160 sacks (No. 3 all time) for 8-8 Carolina.
● 1998 – John Elway*, QB, Broncos (38): Posted a passer rating of 93, earned a Pro Bowl berth, won the Super Bowl and was voted the game’s MVP (after throwing for 336 yards). Endings don’t get any sweeter than that.
● 1998 – Barry Sanders*, RB, Lions (30): Hard to believe the NFL lost two Hall ofFamers – who were still playing at a high level – to retirement in the same year. Sanders’ ’98 numbers (coming on the heels of his 2,053-yard rushing season): 343 carries, 1,491 yards, 4 touchdowns. Alas, Detroit went 5-11 in his Pro Bowl swan song.
● 1996 – Keith Jackson, TE, Packers (31): Caught a career-high 10 TD passes and played in the last of his five Pro Bowls as Green Bay won its first championship since the Lombardi years.
● 1983 – Ken Riley, CB, Bengals (36): Exited after a season in which had eight interceptions (second in the league), ran back two for scores (one a game-winner) and was elected to his first Pro Bowl. The Bengals weren’t nearly as good as he was, finishing 7-9.
● 1979 – Roger Staubach*, QB, Cowboys (37): Won his fourth NFL passing crown (rating: 92.3) and appeared in his sixth Pro Bowl for division champion Dallas.
● 1965 – Jim Brown*, RB, Browns (29): Before going off to make movies (e.g. “The Dirty Dozen”), Brown had a typically terrific season, leading the league in rushing (1,544), rushing touchdowns (17) and yards from scrimmage (1,872). His final game, though, with the title at stake, was less satisfying: a muddy 23-12 loss to the Packers.
● 1960 – Norm Van Brocklin*, QB, Eagles (34): The Dutchman was the NFL MVP, tossing 24 TD passes (and, on the side, averaging 43.1 yards a punt) in quarterbacking the franchise to its last championship. Retired to become coach of the expansion Vikings, making him the last player to call it quits and step directly into a head-coaching job.
● 1955 – Otto Graham*, QB, Browns (34): Led the league with a 94 passer rating and went to the Pro Bowl as Cleveland won its second straight title (and seventh in a decade, counting its time in the All-America Conference).
● 1955 – Pete Pihos*, E, Eagles (32): Was still a Pro Bowler – and catching more passes (62) for more yards (864) than anybody in the NFL – when he decided he’d had enough. Philly’s 4-7-1 record undoubtedly made it easier.
● 1950 – Spec Sanders, S, New York Yanks (32): Picked off a league-best 13 passes in his one NFL season (after coming over from the All-America Conference). Only one player in history has had more: the Rams’ Night Train Lane (14 in ’52).
● 1945 – Don Hutson*, WR, Packers (32): Capped an incredible career with 47 receptions, tops in the league, for 834 yards and 9 TDs. (And the season, mind you, was just 10 games. His stats would project to 75-1,334-14 over a 16-game schedule.) Green Bay had won the championship the year before, but finished third in the West in ’45 with a 6-4 mark.
● 1937 – Cliff Battles*, RB, Redskins (27): Took his second NFL rushing crown with 874 yards, helping the Redskins, in their first season in Washington, win their first title. A contract dispute with owner George Preston Marshall caused him to retire and turn to college coaching.
* Hall of Famer
Another familiar name that should be on this list is Reggie White. The legendary defensive end initially retired after the 1998 season, when he had 16 sacks for the Packers and was the league’s defensive player of the year. But he reconsidered two seasons later and gave it one last go with a 7-9 Panthers team, adding 5 ½ (needless) sacks to his resumé. All it did was delay his entry into the Hall of Fame.
Source: pro-football-reference.com
Sports medicine in the ’30s
The Giants’ first general manager, Dr. Harry A. March, was an actual medical doctor (and formerly the medical examiner in Canton, Ohio). Naturally, he had more than a passing concern for the players’ health. He even endorsed a miracle product he claimed was “excellent for football bruises and cuts” and — as if that weren’t enough — the best remedy for athlete’s foot. The newspaper ad:
The rich getting richer (usually, at least)
One of the neater tricks in pro football is to win the championship (hard enough), then double your pleasure by selecting a Hall of Famer in the next draft (harder still, especially if you’re picking last).
It’s happened just 10 times in NFL history, most recently in 1993-94. (The player involved was admitted to Canton last year. I’ll let you guess who.)
As you’ll see, seven of the 10 teams won another title within five years. The other three messed up — royally. One cut its future Hall of Famer (who went on to win a Super Bowl with the Jets), another traded him (after which he won five championships with the Packers) and the third failed to sign him (whereupon he won an AFL crown with the Chargers).
Don’t hold your breath waiting for a club to pull this off again. It could be another decade or two, considering the paucity of candidates.
Note: I’m not including the ’49 Eagles or the ’50 Browns. Yes, they both came away from the next draft with a Hall of Famer, but it was a coach (Bud Grant for Philadelphia and Don Shula for Cleveland).
NFL CHAMPIONS WHO SELECTED A HALL OF FAMER IN THE NEXT DRAFT
[table]
Year,Champs,Hall of Fame Pick (Round),Result
1948,Eagles,LB Chuck Bednarik (1),Won titles in ’49 and ’60
1952,Lions,LB Joe Schmidt (7),Won title games in ’53 and ’57\, lost in ’54
1955,Browns,DE Willie Davis (15),DNP until ’58\, traded to Packers in ’60
1956,Giants,WR Don Maynard (9),Lost title game in ’58\, went to AFL’s Jets
1959,Colts,OT Ron Mix (1),Signed with AFL’s Chargers
1962,Packers,LB Dave Robinson (1),Won titles in ’65\, ’66 and ’67
1980,Raiders,DE Howie Long (2),Won Super Bowl in ’83
1982,Redskins,CB Darrell Green (1),Won Super Bowls in ’87 and ’91\, lost in ’83
1984,49ers,WR Jerry Rice (1),Won Super Bowls in ’88\, ’89 and ’94
1993,Cowboys,OG Larry Allen (2),Won Super Bowl in ’95
[/table]
There were also three league champions — two from the AFL, one from the NFL — who lost the Super Bowl and added a Hall of Famer in the next draft (kind of as a consolation prize). These were:
[table]
Year,Champs,Hall of Fame Pick (Round),Result
1966,Chiefs,LB Willie Lanier (2),Won Super Bowl in ’69
1967,Raiders,OT Art Shell (3),Won Super Bowls in ’76 and ’80
1968,Colts,LB Ted Hendricks (2),Won Super Bowl in ’70
[/table]
Finally, here are some Super Bowl champions of more recent vintage who may eventually join this list. (Note the word “may.”)
[table]
Year,Champs,Possible HOF-er in next draft (Round),Result
1996,Packers,FS Darren Sharper (2),Lost Super Bowl in ’97
2003,Patriots,NT Vince Wilfork (1),Won Super Bowl in ’04\, lost in ’07 and ’11
2004,Patriots,OG Logan Mankins (1),Lost Super Bowls in ’07 and ’11
2009,Saints,TE Jimmy Graham (3),?????
[/table]
Source: pro-football-reference.com
80 years ago: Marty Glickman vs. Sid Luckman
This doesn’t have anything to do with pro football, per se, but it’s kinda cool nonetheless. Here’s the headline that ran across Page 9 of the Brooklyn Eagle on Oct. 13, 1934:
Yes, that’s Marty Glickman, the future sportscaster, who helped Madison High hand mighty Erasmus Hall a 25-0 loss, its first in the regular season in four years. But that’s not why I’m posting about it. I’m posting about it because in the second quarter, Glickman intercepted a pass and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown. The passer? Sid Luckman, Erasmus’ single-wing tailback, who would go on to quarterback the Bears to four NFL titles. For more details, read the story by the Eagle’s Harold Parrott.
Glickman reminisced about the game in the autobiography he wrote with Stan Isaacs, The Fastest Kid on the Block:
Two plays stand out from that game. I was the tailback and signal caller in the single wing, and early in the game I quick-kicked on third down. I kicked it over Luckman’s head — he was the safety — and the ball rolled dead at about the 8-yard line. It must have gone about 65 yards. It completely surprised them. We held, Luckman punted out, I caught the ball at midfield and ran it back to the 35-yard line. We scored a couple of plays later. . . .
Later, Luckman threw a pass diagonally downfield that I intercepted at our 25-yard line. Both Sid and I were off to the side, and he was the only one who had a shot at me. He tried to race over and tackle me, but there was no way he could catch me. Whoosh, I went 75 yards for the touchdown, and we won the game. We later beat Roosevelt, 12-0, for the city championship.
Luckman had another memory of his rival in his autobiography, Luckman at Quarterback:
We fought each other tooth and nail in every game we played, with the result that we became chums off the field, almost inseparable each summer, though all we had in common was a charley-horse I handed Marty on one play, and a bruised ear he gave me on a hard tackle. How did we become friends? I guess Ma Luckman was responsible for that. Ma never did like “feuds” of any sort, and especially failed to understand how the papers could dare write that Luckman and Glickman were ready to “tear into each other again next Saturday.” Her little boy, she sincerely felt, had no such malice in his heart.
So she called up Marty’s folks and invited them over for supper, figuring on patching up the “feud.” The next day Marty and I took in a pro game at the Polo Grounds and watched someone else fight it out for a change.
Actually, Glickman was more celebrated for his track exploits than his football prowess. (Note that Parrott refers to him as “the city’s 100-yard champion sprinter.”) Two years later, at Hitler’s Olympics in Berlin, he was in line to run in the 4-by-100-meter relay, but he and another Jewish member of the U.S. team, Sam Stoller, were replaced at the last minute. Guess why.
If you wanted to do an American version of Chariots of Fire, Glickman and Luckman would be the perfect athletes to build it around. Sid, of course, had his own burdens to bear. His father was convicted of murder in 1936 and spent the rest of his life in Sing Sing prison. One of these days, maybe I’ll get around to writing a screenplay.
Finally, in case you missed it: The Madison-Erasmus game was played at Ebbets Field, home of the baseball and football Dodgers, before a crowd of 20,000. That was more than the football Dodgers drew, on average, that season (less than 12,000, if Total Football‘s figures are accurate). Football in the ’30s: a different world.