Tag Archives: Patriots

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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500 passing yards

Anybody who saw the Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger, horizontal stripes and all, tear up the Colts on Sunday witnessed one of the great passing exhibitions in NFL history — 522 yards, 81.6 percent completions, six touchdowns, no picks, 150.6 rating. Wow.

The yardage total is tied for fourth all time, and no 500-yard passer has had a better completion percentage. As for the TDs and rating, only Y.A. Tittle (seven and 151.4) tops Roethlisberger in those departments (again, among 500-yard passers).

That said, some of the thrill, and not a little of the novelty, has gone out of the 500-yard passing day. Big Ben’s, after all, was the ninth in the 2000s. There were just six before that — the first of which, amazingly enough, is still the record: Norm Van Brocklin’s 554-yard effort for the Rams against the New York Yanks in 1951. When somebody does anything nine times in 15 seasons, it loses a bit of its specialness.

I mean, the Cowboys’ Tony Romo threw for 500 yards just last year, and two quarterbacks did it in each of the previous two seasons (the Giants’ Eli Manning and the Texans’ Matt Schaub in 2012, and the Patriots’ Tom Brady and the Lions’ Matt Stafford in 2011). Clearly, it isn’t as remarkable a feat as it used to be, and I think we all know the reasons why.

In fact, the game Brady had Sunday against the Bears was — statistically, at least — more unusual. There have been only eight others like it since 1960. Here are the nine times a QB has completed 85 percent of his passes, thrown for five TDs and averaged 10 yards per attempt:

85% COMPLETIONS, 5 TDS AND 10 YARDS PER ATTEMPT IN A GAME (SINCE 1960)

Date Quarterback, Team Vs. Att Comp Pct Yds TD YPA Result
10-26-14 Tom Brady, Patriots Bears 35 30 85.7 354 5 10.1 W, 51-23
12-15-13 Alex Smith, Chiefs Raiders 20 17 85.0 287 5 14.4 W, 56-31
1-10-10 Kurt Warner, Cardinals Packers 33 29 87.9 379 5 11.5 W, 51-45
10-18-09 Tom Brady, Patriots Titans 34 29 85.3 380 6 11.2 W, 59-0
10-31-04 Drew Brees, Chargers Raiders 25 22 88.0 281 5 11.2 W, 42-14
10-10-99 Kurt Warner, Rams 49ers 23 20 87.0 323 5 14.0 W, 42-20
9-4-83 Lynn Dickey, Packers Oilers 31 27 87.1 333 5 10.7 W, 41-38
12-13-81 Lynn Dickey, Packers Saints 21 19 90.5 218 5 10.4 W, 35-7
12-12-64 Frank Ryan, Browns Giants 13 12 92.3 202 5 15.5 W, 52-20

To summarize: Brady, Warner and Dickey (how quickly we forget) did it twice. Brees did it once — but with the Chargers, not the Saints. Ryan did it in a mere 13 attempts. And Smith, Niners Nation’s favorite whipping boy, completes the list.

Maybe the biggest surprise, though, is that Peyton Manning, who does everything, isn’t in either of these two groups — the 500-yard passers or the 85/5/10 guys. Fortunately, he still has time.

Lynn Dickey: gone but not forgotten.

Lynn Dickey: gone but not forgotten.

Source: pro-football-reference.com

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The Patriots and 50-point games

Scoring 50 points in an NFL game isn’t as big a deal as it once was, not with all these offense-friendly rule changes, but it’s still notable. The Patriots’ 51-23 win over the Bears today, for instance, was the seventh time they’ve reached 50 in the 2000s (since 2007, really). No other club has done it more than three times.

The Pats also have scored 50 in a game three years running. Only two other teams have managed that since the 1970 merger (one of whom did it four straight years). The exclusive club:

TEAMS THAT HAVE SCORED 50 POINTS IN A GAME 3 YEARS IN A ROW (SINCE 1970)

Years   Team Quarterback(s) Opponents (Score)
1991-94   49ers Steve Young Bears (52-14), Falcons (56-17), Lions (55-17), Falcons (50-14)
2012-14   Patriots Tom Brady Bills (52-28), Colts (59-24), Steelers (55-31), Bears (51-23)
1984-86   Bengals Anderson/Esiason Bills (52-21), Cowboys (50-24), Jets (52-21)

As you can see, all three teams had an outstanding quarterback, not just one who got hot every now and then. Young is in the Hall of Fame, Brady is headed there, and Ken Anderson and Boomer Esiason were among the best of their eras.

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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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Quarterback merry-go-rounds

All indications are that the Redskins will turn to Quarterback No. 3 this season – Colt McCoy – when they face the first-place Cowboys on Monday night in Dallas. Robert Griffin III is still working his way back from the dislocated ankle he suffered in Week 2, and backup Kirk Cousins has buried himself beneath a pile of interceptions and fumbles (11 in barely more than five games). Since Sonny Jurgensen can’t run the zone-read, McCoy is about the only option coach Jay Gruden has left.

Generally speaking, a team’s third quarterback is somebody who should be seen and not heard. And if the situation gets even worse and that team has to go to its fourth guy, well, it might want to consider punting on first down. When the Cardinals, for example, started four QBs in 2012 — John Skelton, Kevin Kolb, Ryan Lindley and Brian Hoyer — they finished last in the NFC West (5-11) and next-to-last in the league in scoring (15.6 points a game). Pretty typical.

Still, not every team that jumps on the Quarterback Merry-Go-Round bottoms out the way Arizona did (and the Redskins might ultimately do). Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present:

6 WINNING TEAMS THAT STARTED 4 MORE QBS IN A SEASON (SINCE 1970)

● 1984 Bears (10-6, lost NFC title game to the 49ers) — Coach: Mike Ditka. Starting QBs (5): Jim McMahon* (7-2), Steve Fuller (2-2), Greg Landry (1-0), Rusty Lisch (0-1), Bob Avellini (0-1).

● 1986 Bears (14-2, lost first playoff game to the Redskins) — Coach: Ditka. Starting QBs (4): Mike Tomczak (7-0), McMahon* (6-0), Fuller (0-2), Doug Flutie (1-0).

● 1988 Browns (10-6, lost first playoff game to the Houston Oilers) — Coach: Marty Schottenheimer. Starting QBs (4): Bernie Kosar* (6-3), Mike Pagel (2-2), Don Strock (2-0), Gary Danielson (0-1).

● 2003 Broncos (10-6, lost first playoff game to the Colts) — Coach: Mike Shanahan. Starting QBs (4): Jake Plummer* (9-2), Steve Beuerlein (1-1), Danny Kanell (0-2), Jarious Jackson (0-1).

● 1991 Eagles (10-6, missed playoffs) — Coach: Rich Kotite. Starting QBs (4) Jim McMahon (8-3), Jeff Kemp (1-1), Brad Goebel (0-2), Randall Cunningham* (1-0).

● 1988 Patriots (9-7, missed playoffs) — Coach: Raymond Berry. Starting QBs (4): Flutie (6-3), Steve Grogan* (1-3), Tony Eason (1-1), Tom Ramsey (1-0).

*started opener

Note: 1987 strike season (which featured replacement players) not included.

Ditka’s head-coaching career, quarterbacks-wise, was just amazing. Only once in his 14 seasons did one of his QBs start all 16 games — 1991, when Jim Harbaugh went the distance. The rest of the time, Iron Mike averaged 2.9 starting quarterbacks a year. Yet he continued to win, usually big, because he had such an outstanding defense. Could he get away with that today, with the game even more tilted toward passing? Hard to imagine.

MIKE DITKA’S STARTING QUARTERBACKS, YEAR BY YEAR

Year Team (W-L) QB Starters
1982 Bears (3-6) 2 Jim McMahon, Bob Avellini
1983 Bears (8-8) 2 McMahon, Vince Evans
1984 Bears (10-6) 4 McMahon, Steve Fuller, Greg Landry, Rusty Lisch, Avellini
1985 Bears (15-1) 2 McMahon, Fuller
1986 Bears (14-2) 4 Mike Tomczak, McMahon, Fuller, Doug Flutie
1987 Bears** (11-4) 2 McMahon, Tomczak
1988 Bears (12-4) 3 McMahon, Tomczak, Jim Harbaugh
1989 Bears (6-10) 2 Tomczak, Harbaugh
1990 Bears (11-5) 2 Harbaugh, Tomczak
1991 Bears (11-5) 1 Harbaugh
1992 Bears (5-11) 3 Harbaugh, Peter Tom Willis, Will Furrer
1997 Saints (6-10) 4 Heath Shuler, Billy Joe Hobert, Danny Wuerffel, Doug Nussmeier
1998 Saints (6-10) 4 Kerry Collins, Wuerffel, Billy Joe Tolliver, Hobert
1999 Saints (3-13) 3 Tolliver, Hobert, Jake Delhomme

**Replacement quarterbacks excluded.

Makes your head spin, doesn’t it? During his time with the Bears, of course, Ditka was competing for NFC supremacy against Bill Walsh (49ers, 1979-88), Joe Gibbs (Redskins, 1981-92) and Bill Parcells (Giants, 1983-90), all of whom won multiple Super Bowls. Just to compare: Walsh had six starting QBs in his decade in San Francisco, Gibbs six in his dozen years in Washington (the first time around) and Parcells four in his eight years in New York. Ditka, meanwhile, had 11 in his 11 seasons in Chicago, more than Walsh and Parcells (or Gibbs and Parcells) combined.

Say what you will about Iron Mike as a coach, his career was certainly unique. He won 121 regular-season games, one Super Bowl and went to three NFC championship games despite a virtual revolving door at the most important position on the field (thanks to Mike Singletary, Dan Hampton and the gang). It may never happen again.

Mike Ditka and Jim Harbaugh, the only quarterback who started an entire season for him.

Mike Ditka and Jim Harbaugh, the only quarterback who started an entire season for him.

Source: pro-football-reference.com

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Colts-Bengals . . . and other tail-kickings

In Sunday’s 27-0 blanking of the Bengals, the Colts had a 506-135 edge in yards — a difference of 371. Which raises the question: Is this at all close to the NFL record?

Answer: Not nearly. In fact, it’s not even within 200 (as you can see in the following chart).

BIGGEST YARDAGE DIFFERENTIAL IN A GAME SINCE 1940

Date Winner, Yards Loser, Yards Margin
9-28-51 Rams, 722 Yanks, 111 611
11-11-62 Packers, 628 Eagles, 54 574
11-14-43 Bears, 682 Giants, 157 525
12-4-76 Rams, 569 Falcons, 81 488
11-4-79 Rams, 475 Seahawks, -7 482
11-13-66 Rams, 572 Giants, 103 469
11-6-88 Vikings, 553 Lions, 89 464
9-9-79 Patriots, 597 Jets, 134 463
12-14-47 Redskins, 574 Yanks, 112 462
12-13-53 49ers, 597 Colts, 136 461

How are those for one-sided contests?

I actually covered one of them: the Patriots’ annihilation of the Jets in 1979. Final score: 56-3. (It looked like a touch football game, with the Jets secondary hopelessly chasing around Harold Jackson and Stanley Morgan.) Amazingly, the Jets won the rematch later in the season at Shea Stadium.

Several of these games are notable for other historical reasons. Namely:

● 1951 Rams-Yanks: The Rams’ Norm Van Brocklin threw for 554 yards. It’s still the single-game record.

● 1943 Bears-Giants: The Bears’ Sid Luckman became the first NFL quarterback to toss seven touchdown passes.

● 1979 Rams-Seahawks: The Seahawks’ yardage total of minus-7 is the lowest in NFL history. (Their one first down, meanwhile, is one shy of the mark).

Note that, in five instances, Hall of Fame quarterbacks were involved: Van Brocklin, Luckman, Bart Starr (1962 Packers-Eagles), Sammy Baugh (1947 Redskins-Yanks) and Y.A. Tittle (1953 49ers-Colts). A Hall of Fame QB was even involved on the losing end (Sonny Jurgensen in the Packers’ wipeout of the Eagles). Pat Haden, meanwhile, was the winning QB in two of the games (1976 Rams-Falcons, 1979 Rams-Seahawks).

Finally, the first three teams on the list — the ’51 Rams, ’43 Bears and ’62 Packers — went on to win the championship.

Interesting that the most recent of these games was played 26 years ago (1988 Vikings-Lions). What do you suppose the reason is? Parity? More merciful coaches? Or is it just easier to gain yards now, especially passing yards, whether you’re scoring points or not? (I vote for No. 3.)

Source: pro-football-reference.com

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Boston Patriots 43, Oakland Raiders 43

It was nice of the Bengals and Panthers to battle to a 37-37 tie Sunday — the highest-scoring draw in the overtime era (1974-). It makes it easier to segue into this next post — about the highest-scoring tie in all of NFL/AFL history.

It took place 50 years ago today at Fenway Park, where the Patriots, then known as the Boston Patriots, played their home games from 1963 to ’68. The final score was Pats 43, Raiders, 43, 43-43 Scoring Sumand unlike today, when indifference, if not disappointment, tends to accompany these games, The Boston Globe called it “the most exciting pro football game in Boston history.” (Of course, there hadn’t been that many pro football games in Boston history at that point, but it’s the thought that counts.)

Part of the reason the paper felt this way was that the Patriots rallied from a 34-14 deficit midway through the third quarter to take the lead, 43-40, with 47 seconds left. The go-ahead score was set up by a play that went like this (according to the Globe’s John Ahern):

[Patriots quarterback Babe] Parilli was back on the Boston 8, and he threw to Jimmy Colclough at midfield. Colclough ran about eight yards with the ball before lateralling off to Gino Cappelletti, who went about five. Just as he was stopped he tossed it to Ron Burton, who got down to the Raiders 31.

That bit of razzle-dazzle led to an 11-yard TD pass from Parilli to running back Larry Garron that put the Patriots up by three. But in the final seconds — there was no OT, remember — the Raiders, aided by a pass-interference penalty at the Boston 30, moved close enough for Mike Mercer to kick the 38-yard field goal that tied it.

It was, as Ahearn wrote, “the dizziest game this old town has seen in years.” Parilli finished with 422 passing yards, which stood as the franchise record for 30 years (until Drew Bledsoe broke it with 426 in 1994). He and Cotton Davidson, the Raiders QB, each threw for four TDs. Also, it was only the fifth time in NFL/AFL history that both teams had scored in the 40s.

What’s particularly amusing is that three years earlier, on the very same field, the baseball All-Star Game had been called because of rain after nine innings with the score tied 1-1. So for a long time — until the 2002 debacle, when the American and National leagues ran out of pitchers — Fenway Park was the site of the highest scoring tie in pro football history and the only tie in All-Star Game history.

Ahern’s only misgiving about the game was that the Patriots had to “settle for a tie instead of a victory. Twice — in 1961 and 1962 — ties have cost the team the Eastern championship. And last year a tie caused a tie [in the standings] at season’s end [requiring a playoff with the Bills that the Pats won, 26-8].”

Fortunately for the Patriots, this tie didn’t end up costing them. In the final week, they still had a chance to go to the AFL title game. Alas, they lost at home to the Bills (who did go — and beat the Chargers). Half a century later, about all that’s remembered of that 10-3-1 Patriots season is their dizzy 43-43 tie with the Raiders, played under the lights at Fenway on a Friday night.

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Instant-impact receivers

Free agency can be such a monumental crapshoot. So I’m pleased to report that, through Week 6, four of the NFL’s Top 10 in receiving yards are wideouts who changed jerseys during the offseason. They are:

Rank Receiver, Team Old Team Yards
5th Steve Smith, Ravens Panthers 573
T6th Golden Tate, Lions Seahawks 495
9th DeSean Jackson, Redskins Eagles 479
10th Emmanuel Sanders, Broncos Steelers 473

Granted, there’s plenty of football to be played, but these guys have made a terrific first impression with their new clubs. Smith’s yardage total projects to 1,528 over 16 games. Sanders’ projects to 1514 (because Denver has played only five games). Tate (1,320) and Jackson (1,277) also are on pace for big years. So far, these free-agent dollars have been well spent – and hurray for that.  Too often they aren’t.

Smith, in fact, has a chance to become the first receiver in NFL history to have a 1,500-yard season with two different teams. Only a handful of wideouts have had even a 1,200-yard season with different two teams. The list:

RECEIVERS WHO’VE HAD A 1,200-YARD SEASON WITH TWO DIFFERENT CLUBS
Randy Moss 1,632, ’03 Vikings 1,493 ’07 Patriots
Henry Ellard 1,414, ’88 Rams 1,397, ’94 Redskins
Terrell Owens* 1,451, ’00 49ers 1,355, ’07 Cowboys
Brandon Marshall 1,508, ’12 Bears 1,325, ’07 Broncos
Irving Fryar 1,316, ’97 Eagles 1,270, ’94 Dolphins
Jerry Rice 1,848, ’95 49ers 1,211, ’02 Raiders
Laveranues Coles 1,264, ’02 Jets 1,204, ’03 Redskins

*Also had a 1,200-yard season with the Eagles in 2004.

(Note: If a receiver had multiple 1,200-yard seasons with a team, I listed his best season. Also, as you can see, Coles is the only one to do it in consecutive years. That’s what Jackson is trying to do this year. He had 1,332 receiving yards with the Eagles in 2013.)

Just missed:
Anquan Boldin 1,402, ’05 Cardinals 1,179, ’13 49ers
Keenan McCardell 1,207, ’00 Jaguars 1,174, ’03 Bucs
Keyshawn Johnson 1,266, ’01 Bucs 1,170, ’99 Jets

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The best and worst of kicking

On one side Sunday, you had the Bills’ Dan Carpenter booming a 58-yard field goal with four seconds left to give his team a come-from-behind 17-14 victory. On the other, you had the Lions’ Alex Henery missing all three of his boots — none shorter than 44 yards — and losing his job because of it.

That, friends, is all you need to know about the kicking profession in the 2000s. The NFL has kickers these days capable of knocking through a game-winner from 58 yards or longer, if need be. But the bar for them has been raised so high that missing more than a handful of boots a season — never mind three in an afternoon — is likely to put them on the unemployment line. They’re the victims of their own near-perfection.

Granted, Henery has had a rough go of it this year. In his two games for Detroit, he was 1 for 5 on field goal tries, a success rate that might have raised eyebrows even in the ’50s. But he also has a track record, and it’s pretty good. In his three previous NFL seasons, all with the Eagles, he converted 86 percent of his attempts. But now he’s gone because, well, that’s just the way it is in pro football.

As Lions coach Jim Caldwell put it: “There’s somebody out there for us that’ll do the job for us. We just got to see if we can track him down quickly.”

Translation: No biggie. We’ll just hold a tryout, open up another box of 86-percent kickers and see who performs best. (It turned out to be Matt Prater, the former Bronco.)

NFL soccer-stylers have become so accurate, even from great distances, that last year they were successful on 86.5 percent of their field goal tries (which made Henery, at 82.1, below average). There even have been kickers, two of them, who have gone through an entire season without missing. And, of course, Tom Dempsey’s 63-yarder, which had stood as the record since 1970, was finally topped  by Prater, who booted a 64-yarder in Denver’s thin air last December.

The field goal is becoming almost as automatic as the extra point. So it’s easy to forget, with all these footballs tumbling through the uprights, that, at late as the ’60s, it was a very hit-or-miss proposition. And earlier than that, it was more miss than hit.

Let’s pay a visit to 1939 for a moment, to a game between the Redskins and Pittsburgh Pirates (they weren’t the Steelers yet). The Redskins won easily, 44-14, but they also missed five PATs. The Associated Press’ account read like this:

“Jim German ran off right tackle to a touchdown. Washington missed the kick. . . . [Andy] Farkas knifed through for the score. His kick was blocked by Sam Boyd. . . . Frank Filchock stood in the end zone, passed to Farkas on the 4-yard stripe, and Andy galloped 96 yards for a touchdown — a total gain of 99 yards. Turk Edwards’ kick was not good. . . . [Dick] Todd . . . raced 60 yards for another touchdown. Bob Masterson’s kick was not good. . . . Ed Justice went around left end . . . for the final Redskin[s] touchdown. [Bo] Russell missed the kick.”

This is obviously an extreme example of what I’m talking about. The Redskins were so far ahead that day that they started goofing around and letting everybody kick. (Russell and Masterson were their main guys.) But it just shows how casual teams could be about kicking and how inexact a science it was — even though PATs were 10 yards shorter because the goal posts were on the goal line.

Pittsburgh’s kicker, Armand Niccolai, was one of the better ones in the league — so good that, after he retired following the 1941 season, the team talked him into coming back for one more year. Since he’d already taken a coaching and teaching job at a local high school and couldn’t attend the Steelers’ practices, he just showed up for the games.

“He will not even don pads,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported, “but will be used exclusively as a placekicker.”

No practices and no pads! What a sweet deal. Alas, he made just 2 of 14 field-goal attempts that year and decided, wisely, to retire for good.

Niccolai’s final season is one of the worst of all time by a kicker. His competition:

WORST SEASONS BY KICKERS (10 OR MORE FGA)

Year Kicker, Team Made Att %
1965 Bob Timberlake, Giants      1 15 6.7
1955 Art Michalik, Steelers      1 12 8.3
1939 Clarke Hinkle, Packers      1 10 10
1963 Bob Jencks, Bears      1 10 10
1952 Joe Geri, Cardinals      2 18 11.1
1942 Armand Niccolai, Steelers      2 14 14.3
1963 Jack  Spikes, Chiefs      2 13 15.4
1950 Ted Fritsch, Packers      3 17 17.6

All of them, by the way, kicked in the Old Style, with their toes rather than their instep. By the ’70s, though, almost every club had a soccer-styler, and success rates started going up . . . and up . . . and up. It’s just a more reliable way to boot the ball.

Still, while you’re snickering at these percentages, keep in mind: Many of these guys played another position — back when rosters were smaller — in addition to handling the kicking. That certainly raised the margin for error. (Sonny Jurgensen once told me he never had receiver Bobby Walston run a deep route on third down when the Eagles were in field goal position because he didn’t want Walston to be tired if he was needed to kick.)

Just out of curiosity, I thought I’d find out which kickers have missed the most kicks — field goals or extra points — in a season. There are some interesting names on it, including two Hall of Famers.

MOST MISSED KICKS IN A SEASON (FG AND PAT)

Year Kicker, Team FG PAT Total
1964 Paul Hornung*, Packers 12-38 41-43 28
1961 John Aveni, Redskins 5-28 21-23 25
1976 Jan Stenerud*, Chiefs 21-38 27-33 23
1963 Lou Michaels, Steelers 21-41 32-35 23
1967 Bruce Gossett, Rams 20-43 48-48 23
1969 Tom Dempsey, Saints 22-41 33-35 21
1969 Roy Gerela, Oilers (AFL) 19-40 29-29 21
1969 Gino Cappelletti, Patriots (AFL) 14-34 26-27 21
1966 Bruce Gossett, Rams 28-49 29-29 21
1963 Jerry Kramer, Packers 16-34 43-46 21
1963 Tommy Davis,49ers 10-31 24-24 21
1960 Larry Barnes, Raiders (AFL) 6-25 37-39 21

*Hall of Famer

If you’ve ever wondered why Vince Lombardi’s Packers didn’t win the title in 1963 and ’64 — after going back to back in ’61 and ’62 (and winning three more from 1965 to ’67) — you can start with kicking. Kramer and Hornung missed 44 field goal tries in those seasons, and the Golden Boy’s 26 misses in ’64 are an NFL record that probably will last forever. After serving a one-year suspension in ’63 for betting on games, Paul simply lost it as a kicker.

It’s also worth noting that the kicker who has missed the most field goal attempts in a game since 1960 — the Cardinals’ Jim Bakken, six, vs. the Falcons in ’66 — turned around the next season and booted seven in a game, a mark that wasn’t broken for 40 years.

That’s what was so ironic about the Bills-Lions game. Henery got fired for going 0 for 3, right? Guess who the last kicker to have an 0-for-4 day was.

Carpenter, Buffalo’s hero, in 2010.

So maybe this isn’t the last we’ve heard of Alex Henery.

Armand Niccolai clothing ad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: pro-football-reference.com

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Passing for a pile of yards — and winning!

Whoever coined the phrase “statistics are for losers” might have had the 400-yard passing game in mind. At first glance, it seems like a significant achievement, one of those My Greatest Day in Football deals. That was certainly the case in the more defense-oriented ’70s, when there were only five 400-yard performances in the entire decade.

But on closer inspection you realize that, hey, a lot of these quarterbacks lost the game. (Exhibit A: the Cowboys’ Tony Romo, who went for 506 last October against the Broncos in a 51-48 defeat.) Indeed, from 1970 — the year the NFL and AFL merged — through 2012, most of these 400-yard passers lost the game. Their record was 115-118-2 (playoffs included). Here’s the breakdown:

RECORD OF QUARTERBACKS WHO THREW FOR 400 YARDS IN A GAME

Years W L T Pct
1970s 3 2 0 .600
1980s 37 32 1 .536
1990s 28 17 0 .622
2000s 33 34 1 .493
’10-12 14 33 0 .298
Totals 115 118 2 .494

The line for the 2010-to-’12 period, with its woeful winning percentage (.298), really stands out. It suggests there are more “empty” passing yards these days — that is, yards that don’t necessarily lead to victories — than ever before. And that makes sense, given all the rule changes favoring the quarterback, his receivers and even his blockers. Let’s face it, if it were this easy to throw the ball in the ’30s and ’40s, Sammy Baugh’s name would come up in conversation much more regularly.

But something interesting has happened the past two years: Quarterbacks who have passed for 400-plus yards have started winning more. When Peyton Manning racked up 479 yards Sunday in the Broncos’ 41-20 battering of the previously perfect Cardinals, it raised the record of 400-yard QBs since the start of 2013 to 18-11 (.621).

Suddenly, a 400-yard game isn’t, as often as not, just a nice consolation prize. Suddenly it isn’t merely the result of a quarterback having to take to the air because his team was desperately behind. Teams are getting ahead by passing, staying ahead by passing and closing out games by passing — as Manning did in Week 5.

Consider: Leading by 21 with 3:58 left — and with Arizona down to its No. 3 QB because of injuries — Peyton began a series from the Denver 32 with . . . a 13-yard completion to Demaryius Thomas. (Granted, he wanted Thomas to break Shannon Sharpe’s club record of 214 receiving yards in a game — and that catch put Demaryius over the top with 226 — but still . . . . Times sure have changed.)

Then, too, perhaps quarterbacks are winning more of these 400-yard passing games because they’re getting more practice at it. As you may have noticed in the above chart, the number of them has increased dramatically in this decade. There were 12 400-yard games in 2010, 20 in 2011, 15 in 2012 and 26 last season. Those are four of the six highest totals in league history. We’re not even halfway through the ’10s, and already there have been 76 400-yard passing games. That’s more than the ’70s and ’80s combined (75) — and six more than any other decade, for that matter (next most: the ’80s with 70).

Of course, there’s always the possibility the pendulum will swing back again — as it’s been known to do. In the first five years of the 2000s, for instance, 400-yard passers were 23-15-1; in the next eight seasons they were 24-52. This latest blip just happened to catch my attention. When 400-yard passers win 16 games in 2013 alone, twice as many as in any previous year, you might call it Statistically Noteworthy.

Finally, in case you’re curious:

HOW ACTIVE QUARTERBACKS HAVE FARED WHEN THROWING FOR 400 YARDS

Quarterback, Team(s) W-L Pct
Tom Brady, Patriots 5-1 .833
Peyton Manning, Colts/Broncos 13-3 .813
Aaron Rodgers, Packers 3-1 .750
Drew Brees, Saints 6-7 .462
Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers 2-3 .400
Eli Manning, Giants 2-3 .400
Philip Rivers, Chargers 2-4 .333
Tony Romo, Cowboys 0-5 .000

Source: pro-football-reference.com

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