Tag Archives: Raiders

Running back consistency

Thanks to the Cardinals’ uncooperative defense in Week 9, DeMarco Murray’s quest to be the first NFL back to rush for 100 yards in every game of a season has been quashed. That said, 100 yards — as nice and round a number as it is — is still just a number. Would it surprise you to learn that no back has rushed for even 75 yards in all of his team’s games? I mention this because the Cowboys’ Murray had 79 against Arizona, so the feat is still within reach.

Indeed, only two other backs have gotten as far as DeMarco has — 75-plus rushing yards in each of the first 10 games. They are: Terrell Davis with the 1997 Broncos and Edgerrin James with the 2005 Colts. (Jim Brown, O.J. Simpson and Eric Dickerson didn’t even do it the years they broke the single-season rushing record.)

Sure, 75 yards is as arbitrary as 100, but it might be considered, at the very least, a “quality start.” Gaining that many yards week in and week out shows a fairly high level of consistency, does it not? Here are the backs who’ve come closest to doing it in every game of a season:

MOST GAMES WITH 75 OR MORE RUSHING YARDS, SEASON

Year Running back, Team 75+ Low Game
2004 Corey Dillon, Patriots 15 79 vs. Bills
2011 Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars 15 63 vs. Texans
2012 Adrian Peterson, Vikings 15 60 vs. Colts
2008 Adrian Peterson, Vikings 15 32 vs. Saints
2003 Jamal Lewis, Ravens 14 68 vs. Jaguars
1985 Marcus Allen, Raiders 14 50 vs. Chiefs
2012 Alfred Morris, Redskins 14 47 vs. Vikings
2012 Marshawn Lynch, Seahawks 14 41 vs. Patriots
1984 Eric Dickerson, Rams 14 38 vs. 49ers
1983 Eric Dickerson, Rams 14 37 vs. Redskins
2009 Chris Johnson, Titans 14 34 vs. Colts
1992 Barry Foster, Steelers 14 25 vs. Bears
1997 Barry Sanders, Lions 14 20 vs. Bucs
1973 O.J. Simpson, Bills 13* 55 vs. Dolphins

*14- game season (so only once did he fall below the 75-yard threshold).

If you’re confused by Dillon’s line, let me explain: He missed a game that season. In the other 15, he rushed for 75 or more yards (gaining, on his worst day, 79 against Buffalo in Week 3. So he rushed for 75+ in every one of his games but not in every one of New England’s games.

Regardless, it’s an impressive accomplishment. Consider: The Patriots went 17-1 (postseason included) in the games Dillon played, capped by their Super Bowl win over the Eagles. And in the one they lost — 29-28 to the Dolphins — they blew an 11-point lead in the last three minutes. That’s how close he came to a perfect season. You’d have to think his utter reliability had something to do with it.

Source: pro-football-reference.com

Corey Dillon tries to sidestep the Jets' David Barrett.

Corey Dillon tries to sidestep the Jets’ David Barrett.

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Backup QBs to the rescue

In an eye blink Sunday, Cardinals fans went from dreaming about winning a Super Bowl on their home field to wondering whether there might be room for them on the Arizona State bandwagon. That’s the usual reaction, gloom and doom, when a starting quarterback goes down, especially the quarterback of an NFL-best 8-1 team.

The Cardinals weren’t a lock to take the title, but the way Carson Palmer was playing — he was 12-2 in his previous 14 starts before blowing out his knee against the Rams — they were definitely on the short list. Their defense, after all, has allowed more than 20 points only once (and all but won the last game by scoring two touchdowns). But now they have to look to Drew Stanton for salvation, the 30-year-old QB who has thrown 280 career passes.

Wonders never cease in these situations, though, and that’s not just a phrase. It’s truly amazing how often a backup quarterback has either led a team to the NFL title or kept his club in contention until the starter returned to finish the job (or at least come close). We’re not talking about a miracle here and a miracle there. We’re talking one, two, three . . . a slew of examples.

Almost every decade has a story like this — beginning with 1934, the NFL’s third championship game, which was won by a backup quarterback wearing sneakers on the frozen turf. That would

Ed Danowski

Ed Danowski

be Ed Danowski, a rookie (and New York kid) who’d done more running than passing before the No. 1 QB, Harry Newman, got hurt with three games left in the season.

The Giants were so panicked by the loss of Newman that they arranged to borrow Warren Heller from Pittsburgh, which had completed its schedule. (Crazy, isn’t it? The Giants still had three games to play, and the Pirates, as they were called then, were already done.) But the league disallowed the transaction after some owners squawked, leaving the Giants’ fate in the hands of Danowski. He wound up leading them to a key win over the second-place Boston Redskins in his first start, and was one of the heroes of the victory over the Bears in the legendary Sneakers Game, throwing for one touchdown and running for another.

And that’s just one for-instance. Here are 11 others that come to mind:

● Tobin Rote, 1957 Lions — Rote had been splitting time with Bobby Layne when Layne broke his ankle in the next-to-last game. With Rote under center, Detroit caught fire in the postseason, overcoming a 20-point deficit to beat the 49ers and obliterating the Browns 59-14 in the championship game (the last of the Lions’ three titles in the ’50s).

● Earl Morrall, 1968 Colts — Ol’ Flattop stepped in for Johnny Unitas, who missed virtually all of the season with an elbow injury, and guided Baltimore to a 13-1 record and the NFL Morrall football cardchampionship, winning the MVP award in the process. Alas, the feel-good story had a horrible ending: a 16-7 loss to the AFL’s Jets in the Super Bowl, due in large measure to three interceptions thrown by Morrall.

● Mike Livingston, 1969 Chiefs — Livingston didn’t exactly tear it up after Len Dawson was sidelined with a partially torn ACL, but he did win all six of his starts to help Kansas City get in the playoffs. By this time Dawson was operational again, and he quarterbacked the Chiefs to victories over the Jets and Raiders to win the AFL crown and the NFL’s Vikings to capture the Super Bowl.

● Earl Morrall, 1972 Dolphins — Ol’ Flattop was four years older, 38, when he did for the ’72 Dolphins what he’d done for the ’68 Colts. He didn’t just hold the fort until Bob Griese recovered from a fractured leg, he won 10 straight starts, including the playoff opener over the Browns. Then Griese came off the bench in the AFC title game against the Steelers, rallied Miami to a 21-17 victory and remained the QB in the Super Bowl, which the Dolphins also won to cap their perfect 17-0 season. But without Morrall, it might never have happened.

● Mike Kruczek, 1976 Steelers — Kruczek was the Eddie Danowski of ’76, a rookie quarterback who was suddenly thrust into a starting role because of injuries to Terry Bradshaw. He didn’t need to shoulder that much of the load because Pittsburgh’s defense was nigh impenetrable that year, pitching five shutouts, and running backs Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier both topped 1,000 yards. Still, he went 6-0 during Bradshaw’s absence, putting the Steelers in position for a record-tying third consecutive championship. They might have won it, too, if Harris (bruised ribs) and Bleier (sprained toe) hadn’t been sidelined for the AFC title game.

● Vince Ferragamo, 1979 Rams — A third-year QB, Ferragamo got his big chance when Pat Haden broke his finger in Week 10. He responded by winning six of seven starts, leaning heavily on a staunch defense, as the Rams advanced to their first Super Bowl. They even led the heavily favored Steelers in the fourth quarter, 19-17, but then Bradshaw and John Stallworth burst their bubble with this famous play:

● Jim Plunkett, 1980 Raiders — The 32-year-old former No. 1 overall pick had fallen completely off the radar until Dan Pastorini broke his leg in the fifth game. But with a better supporting cast than he had in New England, Plunkett became the quarterback he was always supposed to be, leading Oakland to the championship that year (and again in ’83). Say this for the guy: He was a finisher. In the AFC title game and Super Bowl, he posted passer ratings of 155.8 and 145

● Jeff Hostetler, 1990 Giants — Phil Simms’ late-season foot injury opened the door for Hostetler, who was pushing 30 and had spent nearly six years as an understudy. He made the most of the opportunity, playing steady, interception-free ball in the last five games, all victories, including memorable postseason stare downs of the 49ers (15-13) and Bills (20-19 in the Super Bowl). His mobility (200 rushing yards, two touchdowns) brought a new dimension to the Giants offense.

● Erik Kramer, 1991 Lions — Undrafted coming out of North Carolina State, this one-time CFLer took over for Rodney Peete (torn Achilles) halfway through the season and guided Detroit to seven wins in a row, the last a 38-6 horse-collaring of the Cowboys in the second round of the playoffs. On that one he completed 29 of 38 for 341 yards and three TDs, with no picks. The NFC championship game against the Redskins didn’t go quite as well, but it was still a heck of a run. (And of course, the Lions haven’t gotten that far since.)

● Kurt Warner, 1999 Rams — We might never see another season like Warner’s. He was like Bill Murray in Caddyshack (except he really did win the Masters — or the Super Bowl, at least).

It still seems incredible, all these years later. Warner, a product of the Arena League and NFL Europe, was slated to play behind Trent Green that season. But then the Chargers’ Rodney Harrison bent Green’s knee the wrong way in a preseason game, and Kurt proceeded to toss 41 touchdown passes, win both the NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP awards and take his first steps toward Canton (I’m guessing).

● Tom Brady, 2001 Patriots — Brady, the 199th pick in the previous year’s draft, had hardly set foot on the field when Jets linebacker Mo Lewis knocked Drew Bledsoe out of the lineup in Week 2 with this crushing hit:

That was the last game Bledsoe started in New England. Brady took the job and ran with it, winning an improbable ring that year — thanks to a couple of last-second field goals by Adam Vinatieri — and two more in 2003 and ’04.

And now we have Stanton trying to add his name to the list. He doesn’t have the crunching ground game Kruczek had at his disposal, the offensive talent that glittered around Warner (and others) or a Hall of Fame coach running the show (as Livingston, Morrall, Kruczek, Hostetler and, almost certainly, Brady did). But as we’ve seen over the decades, from Danowski on down, there are more championship quarterbacks in the NFL than we think. All they need, some of them, is a break — of a leg, an ankle or some other part of their competition’s anatomy.

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Too much, too fast?

The stories said Aaron Rodgers threw six touchdown passes in the first half Sunday night to tie the NFL/AFL record. Actually, it was better than that — or worse, depending on your point of view.

If you want to be exact about it, Rodgers threw for six scores in 20 minutes, 59 seconds in the Packers’ 55-14 blowout of the Bears. That’s quite a bit less than a half. It went like this:

1. 6:13 left, first quarter: 1-yard TD to TE Brandon Bostick.

2. 3:53, first quarter: 4-yard TD to TE Andrew Quarless.

3. 14:48, second quarter: 73-yard TD to WR Jordy Nelson.

4. 12:09, second quarter: 40-yard TD to Nelson.

5. 4:48, second quarter: 56-yard TD to RB Eddie Lacy.

6. 0:14, second quarter: 18-yard TD to WR Randall Cobb.

Consider: The record for a game is seven, and it’s been done only seven times. But Rodgers threw six in barely a third of a game. I know the Bears played atrocious defense, but is this a really good thing? Is it good that the rules are now so pro-passer that a QB can toss six touchdown passes in a tick less than 21 minutes?

After all, earlier in the day, Peyton Manning had thrown five in just 16:43 in the Broncos’ 41-17 scrimmage against the Raiders. His timeline looked like this:

1. 2:44 left, second quarter: 51-yard TD to RB C.J. Anderson.

2. 0:28, second quarter: 32-yard TD to WR Emmanuel Sanders.

3. 12:43, third quarter: 10-yard TD to TE Julius Thomas.

4. 6:52, third quarter: 32-yard TD to Thomas.

5. 1:01, third quarter: 15-yard TD to Sanders.

Granted, the Raiders, like the Bears, have one of the worst defenses in the league, but this is still a bit much. The game has gotten out of whack, if you ask me. And the way things are going, it’s only going to get out-of-whacker.

My favorite stat might be this: Together, Rodgers and Manning threw for 11 scores in 37:42. Now that’s what I’m looking forward to — the 11-TD game.

The only other quarterback to toss six touchdown passes in a half is the Raiders’ Daryle “The Mad Bomber” Lamonica in this battering of the Bills in 1969, the last year of the AFL. According to the Oakland Tribune, four of Lamonica’s TDs came in just six offensive plays during an eight-minute stretch of the second quarter.

“The [Buffalo] turnovers were coming so rapidly that [wide receiver] Warren Wells dashed onto the field without his helmet, so anxious was he to get in on the fun,” the Tribune said. “He was stopped by an official, more than Buffalo could do to him.”

Lamonica’s first half numbers: 24 attempts, 17 completions, 275 yards, 6 touchdowns. That’s awfully close to Rodgers’ 24-18-315-6 line.

The timeline of The Mad Bomber’s scoring tosses:

1. 12:53 left, first quarter: 53-yard TD to TE Billy Cannon.

2. 0:46, first quarter: 10-yard TD to RB Pete Banaszak.

3. 12:54, second quarter: 1-yard TD to Banaszak.

4. 12:17, second quarter: 13-yard TD to Wells.

5. 9:04, second quarter: 16-yard TD to WR Fred Biletnikoff.

6. 4:33, second quarter: 23-yard TD to Biletnikoff.

For those of you scoring at home, that’s six touchdown passes in 23:20 (to Rodgers’ 20:59).

But get this: Lamonica came close to throwing seven in the first half. The Tribune said he “fell six yards short of equaling the pro record of seven in a game when [wide receiver] Drew Buie was carried out of bounds short of the end zone on a 37-yard completion on the last play before the half.”

There was a funny sidelight to The Mad Bomber’s big day, by the way. The backstory: The year before, a crucial game between the Raiders and Jets had run long, and NBC made the infamous decision to cut away from it in the final minutes so it could begin airing the children’s movie Heidi on time. It was a public relations disaster for the network, even though it returned to the game before it was over (after being swamped with phone calls from irate fans).

Anyway, NBC had planned to follow the Raiders-Bills game with Heidi again, but there was no way it was going to make the same mistake twice. When the game spilled over into the next time slot — by eight minutes — the network stuck with it until the end. Only then was Heidi allowed to prance across the television screen.

Heidi 1Heidi 2Source: pro-football-reference.com

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The Seahawks’ 1-in-a-1,000 game

The Seahawks’ 38-17 win over The Giants in Week 10 was a statistical feast. Russell Wilson’s third 100-yard rushing game of the season — discussed in an earlier post — was just one aspect of the game that was out of the ordinary.

Seattle also won the rushing battle by 296 yards — 350-54. There have been only five bigger rushing margins since the 1970 merger.

    BIGGEST RUSHING MARGINS IN AN NFL GAME SINCE 1970

Date Winner, Yards Loser, Yards Edge
12-10-06 Jaguars, 375 Colts, 34 341
11-4-7 Vikings, 378 Chargers, 42 336
11-30-87 Raiders, 356 Seahawks, 37 319
10-5-80 Cardinals, 330 Saints, 15 315
11-11-01 Rams, 337 Panthers, 31 306
11-9-14 Seahawks, 350 Giants, 54 296
11-7-76 Steelers, 330 Rams, 34 296

The first three games are also notable for these reasons:

● The 2006 Colts went on to win the Super Bowl – overcoming their league-worst rushing defense in the process. Quite a trick.

● 296 of the Vikings’ yards were the work of rookie Adrian Peterson, who set a single-game record that still stands.

● Finally, the Raiders got 221 yards from Bo Jackson, who had joined them after the Kansas City Royals’ baseball season was over and was playing in just his fifth NFL game.

The game is mostly remembered, though, for this 91-yard run of Bo’s:

One of the all-timers.

One other thing struck me as I was looking over the Seahawks’ stats Sunday night. Wilson threw two interceptions and no touchdown passes, yet Seattle still won by 21. Bet that hasn’t happened too often, I thought. When I researched it at pro-football-reference.com, I found only three other games like it in the past 16 seasons. In other words, it’s a once-every-1,000-games (or so) occurrence. Pretty rare.

And obviously, that makes sense. In this day and age, with quarterbacks passing so proficiently, you wouldn’t expect a club to win so easily when its QB has a 53.7 rating, as Wilson did (largely because of his two picks and zero TD passes).

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Runnin’ Russell Wilson

For a while Sunday, as the fourth quarter wound down, the Seahawks’ Russell Wilson was sitting with 100 rushing yards in 10 carries. And I’m thinking: Oh, great. He’s going to kneel down on the last play or two and lose his 100-yard game.

You have to understand: This wasn’t just any 100-yard rushing game. It was his third 100-yard rushing game of the season, which is as many as any NFL quarterback has ever had in one year.

My fears, as it turned out were unfounded. Wilson kept going (mostly) forward and finished with 107 in 14 attempts in Seattle’s 38-17 win. This enabled him to join Michael Vick atop the following list:

MOST 100-YARD RUSHING GAMES BY A QUARTERBACK IN A SEASON

Year Quarterback, Team Rushing Yards (Opponent) No.
2014 Russell Wilson, Seahawks 122 (Redskins), 106 (Rams), 107 (Giants) 3
2006 Michael Vick, Falcons 127 (Bucs), 101 (Cardinals), 166 (Saints) 3
2004 Michael Vick, Falcons 109 (Rams), 115 (Broncos), 104 (Giants) 3
2013 Terrelle Pryor, Raiders 112 (Colts), 106 (Steelers) 2
2010 Michael Vick, Eagles 103 (Packers), 130 (Giants) 2
2002 Donovan McNabb, Eagles 100 (Jaguars), 107 (Giants) 2
1972 Bobby Douglass, Bears 117 (Browns), 127 (Raiders) 2
1951 Tobin Rote, Packers 150 (Bears), 131 (Lions) 2

And, of course, Wilson still has seven games left, so he’s got a real shot at the record.

Only one of these quarterbacks, by the way, had back-to-back 100-yard rushing games. Any guesses? Answer: Rote. He did it, moreover, in the space of five days — against the Bears on Sunday and against the Lions on Thanksgiving. (Don’t count on another quarterback rushing for 281 yards in five days again. It’s one of those quirky marks that just might last forever.)

According to reports, Packers coach Gene Ronzani had Rote run out of a spread offense that was probably similar to what teams use today. An excerpt from the Milwaukee Journal story on the Bears game:

Rote vs. Bears Milw Journal 11-19

Rote had an even better game on Turkey Day. This is from the Journal again:

Rote's stats vs. LionsSo Rote rushed for 131 yards against Detroit and threw for three touchdowns. Only two other quarterbacks have done that in the 63 years since: Vick in this game and the Eagles’ Randall

Tobin Rote demonstrates the stiff arm.

Tobin Rote demonstrates the stiff arm.

Cunningham in this game.

Rote might not have been a great quarterback, but he’s a fascinating one. In 1956, for instance, his first Pro Bowl season, he threw for 18 touchdowns (most in the league by six) and ran for 11 (second only to Bears fullback Rick Casares, who had 12). In all, he accounted for 29 of Green Bay’s 34 offensive TDs. That’s outrageous.

So what did the Packers do? They traded him to the Lions, one of their conference rivals, for three offensive linemen and a running back. “He is a great competitor — a great football player,” coach Lisle Blackbourn said, “but we need linemen if we are to have a chance.”

When Bobby Layne broke his ankle in the next-to-last game of ’57, Rote, who had been sharing the position with him, took over and led the Lions to an improbable NFL title. Six years later, he quarterbacked the Chargers to the AFL championship. Total points scored by his team in those two games: 110 (59 vs. the Browns and 51 vs. the Patriots).

Anyway, that’s the ghost Russell Wilson is chasing as he tries to become the second quarterback to rush for 100 yards in consecutive games in a season. The other QB in his sites, Vick, is — at last report — still up and running with the Jets.

Source: pro-football-reference.com

Photo of Rote vs. Bears Milw Journal 11-19

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When Bill Veeck “bought” the Raiders

The Raiders’ talks with San Antonio officials are one of the great dog-bites-man stories of the season. This is the franchise, after all, that divorced Oakland in 1982, shacked up with Los Angeles for 13 years, Lost That Lovin’ Feeling and remarried Oakland. And now, of course, the Raiders want a nice, new stadium, just like the 49ers have, and are hoping for a Public Handout to accomplish this objective. The San Antonio flirtation is supposed to expedite things, but we’ll see how badly the city wants to keep this shipwreck of a football team.

Forgotten fact: In January 1961, after their very first season in the AFL, the Chicago Tribune reported that the Raiders had been sold to a group headed by White Sox owner Bill Veeck, who planned to have them play at Comiskey Park. The stadium had lost its football tenant when the Cardinals moved to St. Louis the year before, and Veeck and his partners were looking for another renter.

On Jan. 14, this headline topped the front page of the Chicago Tribune sports section:

Tribune Veeck headline

Here’s the gist of the story:

Tribune Veeck story

The story made sense on many levels, not the least being that the Raiders had lost an estimated $270,000 in their inaugural season and had major stadium issues. They’d played their first four home games at Kezar Stadium, home of the NFL’s 49ers, and their last three at Candlestick Park, home of the baseball Giants.

A day later, everybody was denying everything. Raiders owner Wayne Valley said, “It’s the first I’ve heard of it, and it’s completely untrue. It’s a shot in the dark.” And Veeck said, “We would like to have a tenant for Comiskey Park in the offseason, but I wouldn’t go as far as buying Oakland to get one.”

The Oakland Tribune began its story thusly:

Making one of the quickest trips on record, the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League today moved to Chicago and within a couple of hours were back in Oakland.

How did the Chicago paper get it wrong? Well, the reporter either jumped the gun, had unreliable sources or . . . there was one other possible scenario, suggested by United Press International: When AFL owners, meeting in Houston, first heard the report, “a spokesman said they ‘appeared to be amused by it — especially its origin in Chicago on the same day the Chicago Bears lost one of their key players to the AFL,’” the wire service reported. (Translation: George Halas, or one of his operatives, planted the story to rile the rival league.)

The player was receiver Willard Dewveall, who had played out his option with the Bears and signed with the AFL’s Oilers. Dewveall wasn’t a superstar, but he’d totaled 804 receiving yards in 1960, seventh best in the league, and was the first recognizable NFL player to jump to the AFL.

It would have been fun to see what would have happened if Veeck had gotten hold of the franchise. This was the iconoclast, after all, who once sent a midget up to bat for the St. Louis Browns, the guy who gave us the exploding scoreboard. But the Raiders managed all right under Valley and Al Davis in Oakland, even if they have always had an eye out for greener pastures.

Better Gaedel

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More from Tom Flores, the first MMQB

My post on Tom Flores’ stint as the Oakland Tribune’s Monday Morning Quarterback in 1962 got some nice attention. Sports Illustrated’s Monday Morning Quarterback, Peter King, tweeted out a link to it, and the result, naturally, was a flock of new visitors to the site.

Peter King Twitter shoutout

So I thought I’d follow up with a bit more from the Flores/MMQB file — more X’s and O’s, in particular.

Let’s start with his Sept. 10 column, after the Raiders dropped their opener to the New York Titans, 28-17. Flores:

New York’s secret was no secret — just the long pass. They scored all their points from outside our 20 and all through the air. Powell, New York’s spread end, made his touchdowns on a sideline-and-up and on a post pattern.

From where I sat it looked like his post pattern was not called in the huddle, and he confirmed this to the writers later. As he was running some other pattern downfield, our deep backs switched off to what was supposed to be a zone or switch-off between safety man and corner man. But our backs got confused and Powell adjusted his pattern into a post, hoping that [quarterback Lee] Grosscup would have enough time to spot the change. Lee did . . . and hit Art with a beautiful throw which put New York out in front 28 to 10.

The accompanying diagram:

9-10-62 TD Pass 2

On Sept. 15, with the Raiders off that week, Flores weighed in on the 49ers. One thing he touched on was the halfback option play:

Now that Bill Kilmer has been moved to running back [from quarterback], a new weapon will be introduced: the run-or-pass option. This play, with the right person running it, can be one of the most dangerous in football. [Frank] Gifford of the Giants and [Paul] Hornung of the Packers are perfectionists of this play.

It starts out like an end sweep, except the flanker, instead of blocking, fakes in as if he were going to block and then runs a corner pattern. The halfback runs it like he would any normal end sweep, only he has his eye on his flanker and the deep defensive back on that sideline. If the defensive back reads “run” and shoots up . . ., the halfback slows up and throws a nice soft pass so the flanker can run under it as he cuts to the corner.

Should the deep back read “pass” and stay with the flanker, all the halfback has to do is yell “go” and his guards will turn upfield as they would on an end sweep.

9-15-62 49ers option run:pass9-17-62 MMQB headline

Two days later, following the Niners’ 30-14 loss to the Bears, Flores wrote about Chicago’s pass rush, which registered seven sacks for 64 yards and was essentially the story of the game:

[The Bears] had linebackers running in and out of spots in the line all day long, and most of the time they ended their assignments in [QB] John Brodie’s lap. Bill George, the great middle linebacker, and Joe Fortunato, outside linebacker, kept the 49er[s] offense confused. From a regular pro-type defense with four big men up on the line of scrimmage, they would jitterbug back and forth from various spots along the line and on the snap of the ball go shooting through on either side of the defensive tackles or ends. . . . On 90 percent, or so it seemed, of their defensive plays they shot at least one backer but more often two or three.

They used several types of defensive setups. One in particular seemed to really give the 49ers a rough time. On this defense George would get into the line in a regular lineman’s stance, and the rest of the linemen on the split end side would move out a couple of feet.

This left giant end Doug Atkins (6-8) outside the offensive tackle, and man did he come hard. He and Brodie got to know each other pretty well on a not-so-friendly basis.

9-17-61 2 Bear defenses vs. 49ers

On Oct. 1, Flores analyzed a 91-yard pick-six by cornerback Fred Williamson that had given the Raiders a 14-7 lead over the Chargers (in a game they ultimately lost, 42-33):

Fred actually intercepted a pass thrown for another man’s receiver. It went like this. San Diego lined up in a slot-right formation with [Don] Norton spread far out and [Lance] Alworth flanked inside, between Norton and the tackle. As the ball was centered, the outside man, Norton, ran up the field and curled in toward the middle, ending up in a deep hook pattern, at about 15 yards. Williamson went with him and had him covered.

The flanker, meanwhile, ran downfield and cut toward the sideline behind Norton at about 10 yards. This was [safety Vern] Valdez’s man, and he was right behind him ready to go for the ball. On the release of the ball, Fred left his man and went for the interception, cutting in front of Alworth. Somehow, Fred made a leaping catch that almost sent him to the turf, maintained his balance while he struggled to stay inbounds and then turned on his fine speed and outran the remaining Chargers who were coming over to lend a helping hand.

10-1-62 Williamson pick six

I could go on, but I’ll wrap it up with Flores’ Dec. 10 column. The 49ers had played Vince Lombardi’s Packers tough in a 31-21 defeat — they were up 21-10 at the half — and Tom was impressed with an offensive wrinkle they came up with for Green Bay, one that enabled Brodie to complete 13 of 15 passes in the first half (against a defense, I’ll just remind you, with five Hall of Famers):

The Niners came out with a new type of spread formation that gave the Packers fits the entire first half. With both ends tight, the flanker would spread to either side. On that side the tight end would spread out just about five yards and the halfback would slot in between the end and the tackle. This left only the fullback in the backfield in his regular position behind the quarterback.

From this formation the 49ers did several things. They would send the fullback in motion away from the strength, quick-toss to the fullback to the strength, fake a reverse to the halfback and throw a pass or give to the halfback on the reverse.

49er spread vs. Packers

Clearly, Flores’ talents went beyond quarterbacking and coaching. His analysis in his Monday Morning Quarterback column was far ahead of its time — good enough to pass muster today. Even the Tribune’s diagrams, though primitive, painted a decent picture of pro football in the early ’60s.

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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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Tashaun Gipson’s six picks

How often are interceptions — the defensive kind — a topic of discussion in the NFL? Oh, every once in a while a DB will go wild, pick off three or four passes in a game, and you’ll think: How’d that happen? Did the Hot Tub Time Machine transport DeAngelo Hall back to 1962? Anything less than that, though, and . . .

So allow me to point out that, eight games into the season, Browns free safety Tashaun Gipson has six INTs. And while you’re stifling a yawn, let me also point out that six is halfway to 12, and nobody has had that many since Lester Hayes had 13 for the Super Bowl-winning Raiders in 1980. In fact, since ’81, when Everson Walls had 11 as an undrafted Cowboys rookie, nobody has had more than 10.

Here are the seven sneak thieves who’ve reached that total in the last two decades:

DBS WITH THE MOST INTERCEPTIONS IN A SEASON (LAST 20 YEARS)

Year Defensive back, Team Int Yds TD
2007 Antonio Cromartie, Chargers 10 144 1
2006 Champ Bailey, Broncos 10 162 1
2006 Asante Samuel, Patriots 10 120 0
2005 Ty Law, Jets 10 195 1
2005 Deltha O’Neal, Bengals 10 103 0
2001 Ronde Barber, Bucs 10    86 1
2001 Anthony Henry, Browns 10 177 1

For those of you scoring at home, there are 31 Pro Bowls in that group – Bailey 12, Law and Barber 5, Samuel 4, Cromartie 3 and O’Neal 2. Three of them, moreover, had more than 50 career picks (Law 53, Bailey 52, Samuel 51) and another had 47 (Barber). That puts them in the Top 20 since 1978, the year the league started legislating against defense. So if Gipson reaches double digits, he’ll be in good company.

Hey, just trying to work up some enthusiasm for The Other Side of the Ball. It ain’t easy these days. After all, Night Train Lane’s record of 14 interceptions in a season has stood since 1952, when they played only 12 games, and hasn’t been seriously challenged in ages. Look at it this way: Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger have thrown a combined six picks this year. That’s how many Gipson has. Impressed yet?

Source: pro-football-reference.com

Gipson at the start of his 62-yard pick-six vs. Drew Brees and the Saints.

Gipson at the start of his 62-yard pick-six vs. Drew Brees and the Saints.

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