Tag Archives: Redskins

Football in Cuba

The normalizing of relations between the U.S. and Cuba should be a boon to major-league baseball. That’s the sport that immediately comes to mind, of course, when thinking about That Island 90 Miles South of Florida — baseball, then track and field, then maybe boxing.

Believe it or not, though, Cuba also has a football history — a distant one, perhaps, but fascinating nonetheless. In fact, in 1944, when the NFL was suffering from an acute manpower shortage, the Redskins had a Cuban player in training camp. Here’s the story that ran in newspapers across the country:

A later story corrected the spelling of Monoz’s name — it was Munoz, apparently — and claimed that, according to the Redskins, he was “the first Cuban-born athlete to play professional football in the United States.” There’s no record, after all, of Rivero ever playing for the Bears, though he was a star back at Columbia. That’s him in the photo below carrying the ball against Union College in 1930:

Wish I had a photo of Munoz to show you, but he disappeared from the Washington training camp without a trace. (He couldn’t have been too terrific. NFL clubs were so desperate in that war year — the Redskins included — that they suited up kids fresh out of high school.)

The University of Havana did indeed field a football team in those days, though, and continued to until the late ’50s. Havana also was the occasional site of a college bowl game, called at various times the Bacardi Bowl, the Cigar Bowl or the Rhumba Bowl. Some of these games pitted the University of Havana against a visiting American team. Check out the college scoreboard from Dec. 9, 1939:

(Georgia Teachers College, by the way, is now Georgia Southern.)

A few years earlier, on New Year’s Day 1937, Auburn and Villanova battled to a 7-7 tie in the Bacardi Bowl, held at Tropical Stadium. This is from The New York Times:

Half-a-dozen players in this box score — at least — went on to play in the NFL. I’m talking about tackles Herb Roton, Jim Sivell and Bo Russell for Auburn and left tackle John Mellus, left guard Bill Rogers and center Stan Galazin for Villanova.

I wouldn’t count on the University of Havana restoring its football program any time soon, but it’s always a possibility down the road. Alberto Juantorena, I always thought, would have made a heckuva wideout.

Quarterbacks: To run or not to run?

It’s nice if an NFL quarterback can move around a bit, but being able to take off and run has never been a high priority. The position has always been, first and foremost, about throwing the ball.

The game evolves, though. And it’s reasonable to wonder, with the recent influx of several mobile quarterbacks, whether the definition of The Perfect QB will eventually change, too. A decade from now, will the paradigm be more of a hybrid player, a combination passer-runner who can throw darts and also operate the read-option?

The instant success of the Seahawks’ Russell Wilson, the 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick and the Redskins’ Robert Griffin III, all of whom made the playoffs in their first season as a starter, gave even more momentum to the 21^st Century Quarterback idea. And last year Cam Newton, another dual threat, guided the Panthers to a 12-4 record and the NFC South title.

But in 2014 only Wilson has escaped the barbs of critics and the wrath of his fan base. Defenses have gotten better at dealing with some of the college-y stuff these quarterbacks do, and now it’s up to the QBs (and their coordinators) to adjust. Adapt or die.

The jury is very much out on whether they can . . . or even — as far as some coaches are concerned — want to. One of the problems with having a quarterback with unusual talents is that if you build a special offense for him, what happens if he gets hurt? Do you have a second QB with unusual talents who can step in, or do you have to go back to a more conventional attack? And can a team be successful switching gears like that?

You might be interested to know that the five running-est quarterbacks in modern history — I’m going by rushing yards per game — are all active, as you can see in this chart:

MOST RUSHING YARDS PER GAME BY A QB (SINCE 1945)

Years	Quarterback	Team(s)	Yds	YPG
2001-14	Michael Vick	Falcons, Eagles, Jets	6,010	43.9
2011-14	Cam Newton	Panthers	2,457	41.0
2012-14	Robert Griffin III	Redskins	1,461	40.6
2012-14	Russell Wilson	Seahawks	1,782	38.7
2011-14	Colin Kaepernick	49ers	1,513	32.2
1985-01	Randall Cunningham	Eagles, Vikings, 2 others	4,928	30.6
1969-78	Bobby Douglass	Bears, Chargers, 2 others	2,654	29.2
1999-09	Daunte Culpepper	Vikings, Dolphins, 2 others	2,652	25.3
1985-99	Steve Young	Bucs, 49ers	4,239	25.1
2006-11	Vince Young	Titans, Eagles	1,459	24.3

(Minimum: 32 starts.)

Granted, these averages usually decline as the quarterbacks get older, but they’re worth noting nonetheless.

Still, there’s no getting around the fact that 12 of the 14 Super Bowls in the 2000s have been won by QBs who weren’t much of a running threat at all. Only Wilson (2013) and the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers (2010) have had wheels worth worrying about (or as I like to refer to them, WWWAs).

RUSHING YARDS PER GAME BY SUPER BOWL-WINNING QBS (2000S)

Years	QB (Super Bowl Wins)	Team	Yds	YPG
1999-14	Peyton Manning (1)	Colts, Broncos	678	2.7
2004-14	Eli Manning (2)	Giants	465	2.8
2001-14	Drew Brees (1)	Chargers, Saints	684	3.4
2000-14	Tom Brady (3)	Patriots	804	3.9
1994-08	Brad Johnson (1)	Vikings, Redskins, 2 others	657	3.7
2008-14	Joe Flacco (1)	Ravens	625	5.7
1994-07	Trent Dilfer (1)	Bucs, Ravens, 3 others	853	6.6
2004-14	Ben Roethlisberger (2)	Steelers	1,163	7.4
2005-14	Aaron Rodgers (1)	Packers	1,817	16.8

Note: Figures don’t include today’s games.

When you scan down these charts, you can understand why some coaches look at Wilson and the other passer-runners and say, “Who needs ’em?” The ones who don’t, though, the more open-minded types like Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh, have a chance to take pro football in a new direction. This is a healthy thing, of course. Without it, offenses would still be running the single wing and punting on first down.

Source: pro-football-reference.com

The 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick leaves the Chargers behind en route to a 151-yard rushing night Saturday.

What to do about the Snyderskins

After another season with double-digit losses, their fifth in six years, the Redskins need more than just a rebuild. In a perfect world, there would be a knock on the door in Ashburn, Dan Snyder would look nervously through the peephole, and Harvey Keitel would be standing there, ready to Do What He Does. The scene would go something like this:

A cleaner! That’s what the Redskins could use. Because, let’s face it, much of this “organization” is beyond saving, beyond even donating. Better to just dissolve it in hydrochloric acid — or whatever Harvey’s chosen solvent is — and start over.

It’s all a pipe dream, of course. The Redskins never really start over. They just change the curtains on the Titanic and head off in search of another iceberg. Fire the coach? Bring in a genuine general manager? Turn over two-thirds of the roster? What difference does it make unless you can also find a way to lock the owner in a broom closet? The team, after all, is Snyder’s toy. If he wants to leave it out in the rain, there’s only so much anyone can do about it.

A better question is: How can an owner like this even exist? Snyder, you see, is only part of the problem. The other part is the league itself, an enterprise so profitable that even a stumblebum like Dan can make money — and see the value of his franchise go up and up.

In the real world, a business that has been run as cluelessly and soullessly as the Redskins would end up filing for Chapter XI — or else be absorbed by a less clueless, less soulless competitor. But here we are, 16 years later, and Snyder is still behind the wheel, just like Jim Backus in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World:

(Bruce Allen, meet Buddy Hackett.)

That’s Dan Snyder’s true genius. He sank his fortune into a venture that’s 100 percent Dan Snyder-proof! Well, maybe not 100 percent. The occasional miracle does happen in the NFL (as fans in the Music City can attest). That’s pretty much what it would take, though, for anyone other than Daniel M. Snyder to be signing the Redskins’ checks in the foreseeable future.

Which brings us back to Harvey Keitel. Are you with me on this?

RG3 and The Noise

Statistics are hardly all-telling, but they can help quiet some of the noise surrounding a player. By “noise,” I mean the chatter that’s based more on impressions, gut feelings and personal biases than anything factual.

These days, Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III is one of the league leaders in noise. Coach Jay Gruden practically held his nose the other day when he announced that Griffin would start Saturday’s game against the Eagles (after Colt McCoy had been put on injured reserve). Gruden has made no secret of his displeasure with just about everything Griffin does — from holding the ball too long in the pocket to being inattentive to the finer points of “his craft” to staying on the ground too long after a sack (which made the coach wonder whether his quarterback was too hurt to run a Real Play in the closing minutes).

Others have chimed in as well, such as Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton. One of the more curious things Scramblin’ Fran said was: “He is a terrible passer, has no accuracy.”

Griffin may not have textbook mechanics, but he somehow — miraculously — gets the ball to his target. See for yourself:

TOP 5 UNDER-25 QBS FOR COMPLETION % (MINIMUM: 750 ATTEMPTS)

Years	Quarterback, Team	Pct
2012-14	Robert Griffin, Redskins	63.66
1999-01	Daunte Culpepper, Vikings	63.33
2004-06	Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers	62.40
1991-94	Brett Favre, Packers*	61.86
2008-09	Joe Flacco, Ravens	61.70

*Also threw four passes with the Falcons as a rookie.

Maybe we just misunderstood Tarkenton. Maybe what he meant was: RG3 isn’t as incredible(!) as Tiger Woods was at the age of 5. (I think we can all agree with that.)

By the way, before anybody scoffs at Griffin’s completion percentage and says, “All he does is dink and dunk,” take a look at this:

ADJUSTED YARDS PER ATTEMPT FOR UNDER-25 QBS (MINIMUM: 750 ATTEMPTS)

Years	Quarterback, Team	AYPA
1983-86	Dan Marino, Dolphins	8.04
2012-14	Robert Griffin III, Redskins	7.43
2004-06	Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers	7.39
1999-01	Daunte Culpepper, Vikings	7.36
2011-13	Cam Newton, Panthers	7.25

So regardless of how long the ball is in the air, Griffin is getting good yardage out of his throws — more than any quarterback except Marino. (Note: I’m looking only at QBs since 1960. And yes, I realize that, with all the passer-friendly rule changes, these rankings are going to be tilted toward the present.) In terms of unadjusted yards per attempt, in case you’re wondering, he’s seventh at 7.55 (three spots behind Our Friend Fran, who comes in at 7.76.)

Two more things. RG3 is the least interception-prone under-25 passer ever. Doesn’t that count for something? Isn’t ball security part of being a good QB?

LOWEST INTERCEPTION % BY AN UNDER-25 QB (MINIMUM: 750 ATTEMPTS)

Years	Quarterback, Team	Att	Int	Pct
2012-14	Robert Griffin III, Redskins	999	20	2.00
2012-14	Andrew Luck, Colts	1,250	29	2.32
1999-01	Donovan McNabb, Eagles	1,074	25	2.33
2010-12	Sam Bradford, Rams	1,196	28	2.34
1985-88	Bernie Kosar, Browns	1,334	32	2.40

Last chart. File this one under: It Takes a Village. You can grouse about Griffin’s play all you want, but one of the biggest reasons he hasn’t won more is that his defense hasn’t exactly been the Steel Curtain.

FEWEST POINTS ALLOWED SINCE 2012

Rank	Team	Pts
1.	Russell Wilson’s Seahawks	718
2.	Colin Kaepernick’s 49ers	830
29.	Robert Griffin’s Redskins	1,236

OK, I’ve made my case – not for RG3’s impending greatness but for not giving up on him like Gruden (and others) seem inclined to do. “He will never make it,” Tarkenton said. “He will be out of football. He will be in the same graveyard as JaMarcus Russell and Vince Young.”

“He” is still 24. Aren’t we being a bit hasty?

Or to put it another way: In a decade, Griffin will be four years younger than Peyton Manning is now.

Source; pro-football-reference.com

Last-minute gift ideas

With the holiday season upon us — and Festivus just a week away — I thought I’d throw out a few gift suggestions for That Special Someone (who also happens to be a pro football fanatic). Some of these items might be hard to come by but, trust me, it would be well worth the effort.

● A pair of Frenchy Fuqua’s fiberglass clogs with three-inch heels — complete with goldfish in the heels (air pump included).

Fuqua, a running back with the Giants and Steelers and the ’60s and ’70s, is remembered less for his ball carrying than for his cutting-edge fashion. His bright-red “caveman outfit” was a real head-turner. How he described it to the Pittsburgh Press in 1976: “It had a strap over one shoulder, and one leg was a bell bottom and the other had fringes on it. But the greatest thing about it was the purse. It was a white fur purse that was shaped like a club.”

Frenchy’s signature accessory, though, was the aforementioned shoes. They looked something like this:

Problem was, the fish lasted only a couple of hours before suffocating. “I was getting’ so much pub because of the goldfish, I hated to stop wearing the shoes,” he said. “But I’ll tell you, you kick up some dead goldfish at a banquet, and pretty soon you get a real foul odor. You start feeling terrible about it, too. When some people found out they were dyin’, they got on me about bein’ cruel to animals. I thought about running a tube down my leg with an air pump that would supply constant fresh water to the fish.”

The shoes also were potentially hazardous to the wearer’s health. As he once told The New York Times, they “were a little slippery to walk in, being glass, so you’d have to hold on to a rail when you went down stairs.”

● The Joe Namath Butter-Up Corn Popper. Namath hawked everything from shaving cream to pantyhose to this, which was popular in college dorms in the ’70s:

● A VHS tape of Sammy Baugh’s 12-part serial, “King of the Texas Rangers.” Slingin’ Sam could do more than just throw touchdown passes. Being a Texan, he also could ride horses, shoot guns and beat up bad guys.

● Rosey Grier’s “Committed” album (1986).

Grier, one of the tackles on the Rams’ legendary Fearsome Foursome defensive front in the ’60s, could sing a little. In 1965 he and the rest of the Foursome appeared on the TV show Shindig! (with the other three, as you’ll see, doing little more calisthenics behind him):

A year earlier, Rosey had sung solo on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. Here’s that clip:

(I ask you: How did we get from that great musical moment to Redskins owner Dan Snyder buying Dick Clark Productions?)

● A Bronko Nagurski, Jr. football. (You’ve gotta like the 1937 price.)

● And finally, if you’re looking a stocking stuffer, there’s always the Red Grange candy bar.

Title games in December

Before 16-game seasons and 12-team playoff fields, the NFL played its championship game in the second or third week of December. Not much survives from those battles in the ’30s and ’40s, but there are a few clips available on YouTube. Here’s what I’ve found — from 1934, ’36, ’39 and ’41.

DEC. 9, 1934: GIANTS 30, BEARS 13

This was the celebrated Sneakers Game, so named because the Giants switched to “basketball shoes” (as they were called) in the second half to get better traction on an icy field. They then exploded for 27 points in the fourth quarter to ruin the Bears’ perfect season and keep them from winning a record-tying third straight title.

(It’s still the most points ever scored by a team in the fourth quarter of a playoff game. The ’92 Eagles are next with 26 vs. the Saints in this 36-20 win.)

We begin our film festival with back-to-back runs by the great Bronko Nagurski. Note the Bears are lined up in the T formation, with the quarterback taking the snap directly from center. They were only NFL club using the T in 1934. Everybody else opted for some variation of the single wing. Note also, on the first play, the man-in-motion flashing across the screen. That had been incorporated into the offense, too.

One more tackle-busting Nagurski run. What’s interesting about this play is that the Bears are in the single wing. They mixed it up, in other words — which must have been a nightmare for opposing defenses. Watch for the official slipping and falling at the end of the clip. The field was treacherous in spots.

Here’s a photo of Giants quarterback Ed Danowski (22) getting ready to crack the line. As you can see, he and his blockers are wearing sneakers, which were borrowed from nearby Manhattan College and rushed to the Polo Grounds by locker-room attendant Abe Cohen:

After the footwear change, it was all over for Chicago. The sneaks didn’t just give the Giants better footing, they enabled them to cut more sharply than the Bears could. Hall of Fame fullback Ken Strong scored the final two New York touchdowns — the first over the right side, the second up the middle. In the last part of the clip, he touches the ball down in the end zone, just like in the old days. (Thus the term “touchdown.”)

“Strong had been removed from the game in the first half with his left leg twisted,” Arthur Daley of The New York Times wrote. “He appeared out of it. But he came back in the second, apparently none the worse for wear.”

DEC. 13, 1936: PACKERS 21, REDSKINS 6

The ’36 title game should have been played in Boston, home of the Eastern champion Redskins. But the team didn’t draw well, so owner George Preston Marshall moved the game to New York’s Polo Grounds. (The next season, the franchise was in Washington.)

You’ll love the opening kickoff. According to the Milwaukee Sentinel, the Green Bay returner being picked up, carried back and slammed down is George Sauer (whose son, George Jr., starred for the Jets in Super Bowl III with eight catches for 133 yards, both game highs). Today, no doubt, Boston would have been hit with a personal-foul penalty.

The Packers led 7-6 at halftime thanks to this Hall of Famer-to-Hall of Famer heave from Arnie Herber to Don Hutson, good for a 48-yard touchdown:

Early in the second half Green Bay began to break it open. From the Sentinel: “Herber sent a long aerial down the field which Johnny Blood [another Hall of Famer] caught for a 51-yard gain, Don Irwin nailing him on the 9-yard line. After being halted three straight times on running plays, Herber found [end Milt] Gantenbein alone over the goal line and pegged one right in his arms for a touchdown.”

As the clip shows, Herber dropped back quite a ways before throwing the ball to Blood — 10 or 11 yards by my count. This was to give Johnny time to get downfield, but it’s also an indication of how unreliable pass protection was in that era. Linemen couldn’t use their hands yet, remember, and the concept of the pocket was still years off. (Plus, it was two years before there was a penalty for roughing the passer. Once the ball was released, the defense could pretty much whatever it wanted to the quarterback until the play was whistled dead.)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t insert this last screen shot. It’s of the Packers’ Lou Gordon — No. 53 — running around without a helmet. In 1936 headgear was still optional.

I’d also be shirking my responsibility if I didn’t include the lead paragraph of the game story that ran in the Boston Globe. It was written by John Lardner — Ring’s son — then 24 and working for the New York Herald Tribune. Can you believe it? The Globe didn’t even staff the game (probably because Redskins were abandoning the city). Imagine the Los Angeles Times not covering Super Bowls XXXIV and XXXVI because the Rams had forsaken L.A.

“. . . championship of the universe, and points south.” Classic.

DEC. 10, 1939: PACKERS 27, GIANTS 0

Steve Owen, the Giants’ Hall of Fame coach, missed the game because of his mother’s death. That left the team in the hands of assistant Bo Molenda, a former Packer. The site was switched from Green Bay’s City Stadium to Milwaukee’s larger State Fair Park because this was, after all, the Depression. If a few more tickets could be sold . . . . And indeed, the crowd of 32,279 produced a gate of over $80,000, a record for an NFL title game. The winning Packers reportedly earned $703.97 each, the losing Giants $455.57.

Green Bay turned it into a rout in the third quarter after Gantenbein (yes, him again) picked off a pass and ran it back to the New York 33. A touchdown — one that made it 17-0 — soon followed. The Sentinel again: “[Quarterback Cecil] Isbell, faking and veering the ball nicely, slipped back, wheeled and passed downfield to [back] Joe Laws, who was all alone to take the ball on the 6 and romp over without a man getting within yards of him.”

Aren’t those goalposts the greatest? They were the new, improved version that moved the posts off the goal line, where they could be an obstruction on running plays. (The goal posts weren’t moved to the back of the end zone until 1974.) The post-TD “celebration,” by the way, is just beautiful. A teammate comes up and . . . shakes Law’s hand.

In the fourth quarter, Packers linebacker Bud Svendsen intercepted another Giants pass and returned it to the New York 15. This time Green Bay turned to trickery. “A double reverse, with [Harry] Jacunski carrying on an end-around, brought the ball to the 1 yards,” the Sentinel reported, “and [fullback Ed] Jankowski pounded over the New York right guard for the score.”

Here’s that sequence – interception/double reverse/short touchdown plunge — that gave the Packers their final points:

DEC. 21, 1941: BEARS 37, GIANTS 9

Once again, the Giants took a licking. Of course, this Bears club — just a year removed from the 73-0 evisceration of the Redskins in the title game — was nigh unbeatable. The game was played two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, which might have had something to do with the disappointing attendance: 13,341.

Behind by four touchdowns in the final quarter, New York ran a gadget play in hopes of getting in a parting shot, but the Bears blew it up. The New York Times’ account:

Just before the end, 9 seconds away, [Steve] Owen inserted Andy Marefos into his lineup. The next play was the one that had worked against the Redskins in their first game with the Giants. Hank Soar rifled a lateral [pass] to Marefos, who was supposed to heave a long one down the field.

Before he could get rid of the ball, the entire Bear team hit him at once. The pigskin popped out of his hand and [end] Ken Kavanaugh picked it up and trotted 42 yards to the end zone.

And then America — and many of these players — went off to war.

Source: pro-football-reference.com

Football fights

This Redskins season has become so utterly devoid of meaning that a practice-field slapfest between an offensive guy and a defensive guy got turned into The Thrilla in Ashburn this week. I won’t even bother you with the video. (Put it this way: I’ve seen disputes over parking spaces that were more spirited.)

Most Fridays, just for fun, I post a boxing or wrestling match featuring a former NFL player. But today I’m going to talk about some real football fights that took place in Actual Games, just to put Bashaud Breeland-Andre Roberts I in perspective.

Granted, there were some blows landed in the Breeland-Roberts bout, but did either of them pick up a goal-line marker and hit the other over the head with it? That’s what the Steelers’ John Henry Johnson did to the Rams’ Bill Jobko during their late-game square-off in 1961.

Pittsburgh, down 24-17, was trying to salvage a tie when the Rams’ Eddie Meador picked off a Bobby Layne pass and started heading for the end zone. Pat Livingston of the Pittsburgh Press described what happened next:

The brawling started when [running back] John Henry Johnson knocked Meador out of bounds on the Steeler[s] 7. Johnson was hit from behind and knocked down by linebacker Bill Jobko and got up swinging the goal-line marker.

The marker hit Jobko on the head but, luckily, the Ram was protected by the helmet he wore. It was enough to empty both benches, though.

Johnson emerged from the scrap with “a deep cut” on his nose, Jack Sell of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. Naturally, he was none too pleased about it.

“They were roughing me up all day,” he said. “They were dirty as hell. I don’t have to take it, and I won’t.”

(Years later, a story in the Post-Gazette revealed: “The Rams punished Johnson with a series of late hits in retaliation for Johnson having broken the jaw of Ram[s] linebacker Les Richter earlier in the game.”)

Speaking of Richter — a Hall of Famer like Johnson — he was involved in another memorable fight, seven years earlier, on the same Los Angeles Coliseum field. It was the first quarter of a game between the Rams and Colts, and he and Baltimore defensive end Don Joyce got into it over something or other. It depends on your source.

Joyce said Richter started it by kneeing him on a kickoff return. Richter’s version: “I blocked Joyce on the kickoff. He grabbed me by the head. My helmet came off in his hands, and the next thing I knew he hit me across the face with my helmet.”

Here are a couple of visuals for you. The first is a photo of the aftermath — Richter lying on the ground, grabbing his face, while Joyce looks on unsympathetically. (Note the helmet at Don’s feet. He was ejected from the game, by the way.)

The second is a shot of Richter taken later in the week, after he’d needed 15 stitches to close the cut over his right eye.

(In an era in which few holds were barred, Joyce was one of the tougher customers. As Carl Brettschneider, a roughhousing linebacker for the Cardinals and Lions, put it: “Every team had a guy the other team was always aware of – guys like Hardy Brown, John Henry Johnson, Bucko Kilroy, Don Joyce. You didn’t turn your back on Don Joyce.”)

Commissioner Bert Bell looked into the situation and — you’ll love this — decided not to suspend Joyce. The Colts had one game left, against the 49ers in San Francisco, and Don was in the lineup. There may have been a fine, but I’m not even sure of that. Bell wasn’t exactly a disciplinarian when it came to such matters.

“We cannot condone this short of thing,” he told the Baltimore Sun. “But there is no sense flying off the handle and condemning the boy too harshly. I have already talked to the boy, and he and I will work it out. . . .

“Four or five years ago I fined two players heavily. After the season was over we got together and talked over the situation, and since that time neither has been put out of a game. They also got their fines back.

“If people would just let the players and myself thrash out the difficulties, we would be able to do it without all the fuss and bother.”

They also got their fines back. That kinda says it all for 1950s justice — and for how the commissioner dealt with the violence issue. Bell, I’m convinced, low-keyed it because he figured if he did, sportswriters wouldn’t make as big a deal of it. And for the most part, they didn’t.

Finally, there’s this from the Sun story: “Word from San Francisco says Joyce probably will get a big hand when he takes the field against the 49ers Saturday. The folks from the Golden Gate didn’t care for the way Les Richter played against their team.”

Now tell me again about this bloodless practice-bubble battle at Redskins Park.

Sources: pro-football-reference.com, The Pro Football Chronicle.

Edelmania

My weakness for multi-purpose players is well documented. To me, they’re a throwback to those glorious days when rosters were smaller and everybody had to do more, even if you were one of the stars who turned the turnstiles.

Today’s fixation is with Julian Edelman, the Patriots’ receiver-returner. Edelman had a big night Sunday against the Chargers, catching eight passes for a career-high 141 yards, including a game-icing 69-yard touchdown, in a 23-14 win. This give him 884 receiving yards for the season with three games left, well within reach of 1,000.

If Edelman can average 38.7 yards a game the rest of the way, he’ll become just the 14^th player since 1960 to total 1,000 receiving yards and return a punt for a touchdown in the same season. He accomplished the latter, an 84-yard back-breaker against the Broncos, in Week 9.

Here are the others who’ve done it. In some cases, they did it multiple times. Only the most recent one is listed.

1,000 RECEIVING YARDS AND PUNT-RETURN TD IN SAME SEASON SINCE 1960

Year Receiver, Team	Rec	Yds	TD	PR TD (Yds/Opponent)
2013 Antonio Brown, Steelers	110	1,499	8	67 vs. Bengals
2010 DeSean Jackson, Eagles	47	1,056	6	65 vs. Giants
2008 Santana Moss, Redskins	79	1,044	6	80 vs. Lions
2004 Nate Burleson, Vikings	68	1,006	9	91 vs. Colts
2003 Steve Smith, Panthers	88	1,110	7	53 vs. Giants
2001 Tim Brown, Raiders	91	1,165	9	88 vs. Chiefs
2001 Troy Brown, Patriots	101	1,199	5	85 vs. Browns, 68 vs. Panthers
1999 Randy Moss, Vikings	80	1,413	11	64 vs. Chiefs
1998 Joey Galloway, Seahawks	65	1,047	10	74 vs. Chargers, 56 vs. Raiders
1995 Eric Metcalf, Falcons	104	1,189	8	66 vs. Rams
1985 Louis Lipps, Steelers	59	1,134	12	62 vs. Bengals, 71 vs. Chiefs
1979 Stanley Morgan, Patriots	44	1,002	12	80 vs. Colts
1968 Roy Jefferson, Steelers	58	1,074	11	80 vs. Cardinals

The Packers’ Randall Cobb is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. In 2012, his second season, he led the team in receiving (80 for 954 yards) and also returned virtually all of the punts (31 of 36) and kickoffs (38 of 43). But now that he’s established his value as a wideout, his returning has been scaled back dramatically. This year, for instance, he’s run back just 11 punts and no kickoffs. Those chores are now handled by (or shared with) running back DuJuan Harris and cornerback Micah Hyde.

Only three other receivers in the 2000s have matched Cobb’s trifecta — that is, have led their team in receiving yards, punt returns and kickoff returns. The rundown:

● Derrick Mason, Titans, 2000-2001 — Mason actually did it in consecutive years. His stats in the first: 895 yards receiving, 51 punt returns for 662 yards and a touchdown, 42 kickoff returns for 1,132 yards and no TD. In the second: 1,128 receiving, 20-128-0 on punts and 34-748-1 on kickoffs.

● Steve Smith, Panthers, 2002 — Receiving: 872. PR: 55-470-2. KOR: 26-571-0.

● Danny Amendola, Rams, 2010 — Receiving: 689. PR: 40-452-0. KOR: 50-1,142-0.

● Randall Cobb, Packers, 2012 — Receiving: 954. PR: 31-292-1. KOR: 38-964-0.

(A kid to keep an eye on: rookie Jarvis Landry, who’s second on the Dolphins in receiving yards with 573 and returns practically all kicks.)

It’s even more unusual for a club’s No. 1 running back to multitask like this. Once a guy becomes the primary ball carrier, his returning responsibilities tend to be reduced if not eliminated — for self-preservation’s sake, presumably. (With wideouts, it seems, the attitude is a little different, perhaps because they take less of a pounding running pass routes than backs do running between the tackles.)

Only one back in the 2000s has been his team’s leading rusher and its primary punt and kickoff returner — the Saints’ Darren Sproles in 2011. And just twice in league history has a 1,000-yard rusher pulled it off. (Bet you can’t guess who.) Call it: The Curse of the 53-Man Roster. With so many bodies to work with now, clubs no longer have to exploit their players’ versatility to the fullest. They can spread the load among various specialists and keep their lead backs fresher (and protect their often-hefty financial investment in them, too).

Make no mistake, though: This type of all-around performance has never really been that common, even in the days of two-way players. Here, in case you’re curious, are some of the more prominent members of this exclusive club, listed according to their rushing yardage:

● Greg Pruitt, Browns, 1975 — 1,067 yards rushing, 13 punt returns for 130 yards and no touchdowns, 14 kickoff returns for 302 yards and 0 TD.

● Chris Warren, Seahawks, 1992 — Rushing: 1,017. PR: 34-252-0. KOR: 28-524-0.

● Abner Haynes, Texans, 1960 (AFL) — Rushing: 875 (led league). PR: 14-215-0. KOR: 19-434-0.

● Gale Sayers, Bears, 1965 — Rushing: 867. PR: 16-238-1. KOR: 21-660-1.

● Timmy Brown, Eagles, 1963 — Rushing: 841. PR: 16-152-0. KOR: 33-945-1.

● Steve Van Buren, Eagles, 1945 — Rushing: 832 (led league). PR: 14-154-0. KOR: 13-373-1.

● Mack Herron, Patriots, 1974 — Rushing: 824. PR: 35-517-0. KOR: 28-629-0.

● Terry Metcalf, Cardinals, 1977 — Rushing: 739. PR: 14-108-0. KOR: 32-772-0.

● Terry Metcalf, Cardinals, 1974 — Rushing: 718. PR: 26-340-0. KOR: 20-623-1.

● Bill Dudley, Steelers, 1946 — Rushing: 604 (led league). PR: 27-385-0. KOR: 14-280-0

● Darren Sproles, Saints, 2011 — Rushing: 603. PR: 29-294-1. KOR: 40-1,089-0.

● Jon Arnett, Rams, 1961 — Rushing: 609. PR: 18-223-0. KOR: 16-331-0.

● Floyd Little, Broncos, 1968 (AFL) — Rushing: 584. PR: 24-261-1. KOR: 26-649-0.

Four of these backs, I’ll just point out, are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame — Sayers, Van Buren, Dudley and Little — which adds some gravitas to the feat. Another Hall of Famer who just missed was Leroy Kelly, who rushed for 1,141 yards with the Browns in 1966 (second in the NFL) and had the most combined punt-and-kickoff returns on the team (32), but had one less kickoff return than Walter Roberts (19 to The Flea’s 20).

This isn’t to suggest that versatility is dead in pro football. In 2009, let’s not forget, the Chiefs’ Jamaal Charles (1,120) and the Bills’ Fred Jackson (1,062) both went over 1,000 rushing yards and also handled most of their teams’ kickoff returning. (Charles even ran one back for a touchdown.) And Tiki Barber, before he veered off into television, did double duty for the Giants as their main back and punt returner. In one of those seasons (2000) he rushed 1,006 yards.

The way the game has evolved, though, today’s players have less opportunity to show off all of their abilities. More on this subject later in the week.

Notes: Pruitt ran back the most kickoffs, but Billy Lefear had the most kickoff return yards (412 to Greg’s 302). . . . Haynes tied with Johnny Robinson for most kickoff returns with 14. . . . In ’77, Metcalf had the most punt returns, but Pat Tilley had the most punt return yards (111 to Terry’s 108). . . . Arnett ran back the most punts and kickoffs, but Dick Bass topped him in punt and kickoff return yards (109-75 and 698-653). So if you want to nitpick . . . .

Source: pro-football-reference.com

The Patriots’ Julian Edelman taking a punt the distance vs. the Broncos this season.

A block that still rocks

In case you missed last week’s annotated play-by-play of the 1940 NFL title game — Bears 73, Redskins nil — here’s another shot at it. Since the game was played Dec. 8, I thought I’d zero in on another aspect of it today: a block thrown by Chicago’s George Wilson on the second play from scrimmage.

If Wilson is remembered for anything in pro football, it’s probably for coaching the Lions to their last championship in 1957. (He was also the first coach of the Dolphins and, in his playing days, a fine two-way end for George Halas’ Monsters of the Midway in the ’40s.)

But what Wilson should be remembered for, above all, is the aforementioned block. It came on a 68-yard touchdown run by fullback Bill Osmanski that got the Bears off to a quick 7-0 lead (and foreshadowed the avalanche of points to come). Osmanski did a nice job of bouncing outside and into the clear, but it was Wilson’s downfield boom-lowering that turned it into walk-in (had his teammate so chosen). George wiped out the last two Redskins pursuers — Ed Justice (13) and Jimmy Johnston (31) — with one well-placed shoulder:

Here’s just the clip of The Block, so it’s easier to watch it over . . . and over . . . and over. No wonder Halas called it the greatest he’d ever seen. And let’s not forget: Without it, Osmanski might not have scored — and the Bears might have won only 66-0.

Finally, this is as close as I can come to a freeze frame:

Source: pro-football-reference.com

Dec. 7, 1941

If you’re looking for some black humor on this Pearl Harbor Day, check out this story I unearthed a while back — specifically the lead. It showed up on commentary pages in 1991, the 50^th anniversary of Japan’s attack.

I call attention to it because, yes, the NFL did wrap up the 1941 regular season on Dec. 7. There were three games that day — in New York, Washington and Chicago. But the Packers didn’t play in any of them. They had completed their schedule the week before and were waiting to see if there would be a playoff with the Bears to decide the West Division title. (There would, indeed. George Halas’ team beat the crosstown Cardinals on Dec. 7 to finish tied with Green Bay at 10-1.)

Let that be a cautionary tale, all you J-schoolers out there. It’s always a bad idea to reminisce about things that never happened, especially when it’s so easy to verify whether they did. Even if you don’t get caught right away, you might get exposed 23 years down the road by some curmudgeon like me. (Assuming, that is, I’m the first curmudgeon to arrive at the scene.)

OK, where was I? Right, Dec. 7, 1941. For the record, this is what the NFL scoreboard looked like at the end of the day:

Dodgers 21, Giants 7 (at the Polo Grounds)

Redskins 20, Eagles 14 (at Griffith Stadium)

Bears 34, Cardinals 24 (at Comiskey Park)

To give you a feel for what it was like at one of the games, here’s the Brooklyn Eagle’s coverage of the inter-borough Giants-Dodgers battle:

Sportswriting in that period was just fabulous, wasn’t it? Now that I’ve read this, I can hardly wait to describe a player as “a dark-brown warrior from the Iowa corn belt.”

It was Tuffy Leemans Day, by the way, at the Polo Grounds. The Giants’ Hall of Fame back was given a silver tray inscribed by his teammates and $1,500 in defense bonds. Two years later, the Steelers and Eagles merged into the “Steagles” — just to keep going. The Rams, meanwhile, shut down for the season and dispersed their players — the few, that is, that weren’t in the military — among the other clubs in the league.

Dec. 7, 1941. The Packers, as I recall, were off that day.

Sources: Brooklyn Eagle, pro-football-reference.com.

PRO FOOTBALL DALY

The whole 100 yards — and sometimes the end zones, too.

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DEC. 9, 1934: GIANTS 30, BEARS 13

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A block that still rocks

Dec. 7, 1941