Tag Archives: Steelers

Ram-bunctious defense

Earlier in the week we were talking about the Rams posting two straight shutouts, a rare feat. Now we’re talking about them going three games without allowing a touchdown, another rare feat. Five teams have done it in the 2000s:

TEAMS IN THE 2000S THAT DIDN’T ALLOW A TD IN 3 CONSECUTIVE GAMES

[table width=”500px”]

Year,Team (W-L),Opponents (Score),PA

2014,Rams (6-8)*,Raiders (52-0)\, Redskins (24-0)\, Rams (L\, 12-6),12

2011,Dolphins (6-10)*,Chiefs (31-3)\, Redskins (20-9)\, Bills (35-8),20

2008,Dolphins (11-5),Rams (16-12)\, Bills (16-3)\, 49ers (14-9),24

2000,Titans (13-3),Bengals (35-3)\, Browns (24-0)\, Cowboys (31-0),3

2000,Steelers (9-7)*,Jets (20-3)\, Bengals (15-0)\, Browns (22-0),3

[/table]

*missed playoffs

The thing about the Steelers’ streak is that it kept going. They extended it to five games before giving up a touchdown to the Eagles. (Where have you gone, Jeff Thomason? He was the guy who scored it.)

In all, the Steelers allowed six field goals during this stretch. And they didn’t make the playoffs! Their 9-7 record left them in the First Alternate position. In fact, three of the above teams failed to earn a postseason berth (and the two that did were one-and-done). Go figure.

The Rams have a chance to match the Steelers’ run, but it won’t be easy. They have the Giants (home) and Seahawks (away) left on their schedule, and it doesn’t look like Seattle will be in a position to mail-in the last game, not with the division title — and possibly home-field advantage in the NFC — at stake.

Still, it’s been an impressive display of defense, even if the Rams haven’t exactly faced a Murderer’s Row of quarterbacks (Derek Carr, Colt McCoy, Drew Stanton). That’s usually how it is with these streaks — hot defenses squashing less-than-quality competition (and their club being fortunate enough not to give up any return TDs, of course).

One final note: Two of these teams (2014 Rams, 2000 Titans) had Gregg Williams as their defensive coordinator. Gotta be more than just a coincidence, don’t you think?

Source: pro-football-reference.com

“That’s Gregg with TWO G’s.”

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

[table]

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

[/table]

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.

PEDs in the 1930s

Now that the NFL has revised its drug policy — and made punishments less penal — let’s revisit a piece Ira Berkow wrote for the Newspaper Enterprise Association in 1973 about pill popping in pro football’s early days. His source is Johnny Blood, the Packers’ legendary Hall of Fame back. I say “legendary” because there are sooooo many Johnny Blood tales (some of which might even be true).

The one and only Johnny Blood.

Blood played and partied with equal abandon. After Green Bay won the championship in New York in 1936, he must have really tied one on. “The last time I saw him,” a teammate once told me, “He was going around and around in the hotel’s revolving door.”

Another player from that period passed along this (second-hand) story: “One time some [NFL] players were at a whorehouse in St. Louis, sitting in the parlor. In walks the madam holding an armful of football equipment — helmet, pads, uniform, the whole bit. ‘Do you any of you guys know Johnny Blood?’ she asks. ‘He left this stuff the last time he was here.’”

That’s who Johnny Blood was — when he wasn’t, that is, scoring touchdowns for four title teams. In 1973 he talked with Berkow about, among other things, taking Benzedrine before games. It’s an amazing glimpse into a lost football world.

“He remembers popping Benzedrine pills, an ‘upper’ which reportedly has been in common use in the NFL, in 1935 or 1936,” Berkow writes. Blood’s explanation:

In the offseason I used to work as a feed salesman in Wisconsin. I’d have to make long drives at night across the state, from a client to my office. I remember reading in Time magazine about a drug that helped keep you awake — and made you feel good, too. I tried it, and it worked.

I thought, well, if it’s good enough for driving, maybe it’s good for football, too. So I experimented with the pill. I don’t think it had any effect on my play, but it sure did give a lift. Then I told some of the other players about it. One fella I remember telling was Clarke Hinkle, the great running back, when we both played for the Packers. After that, Clarke became known for taking pills.

In those days, nobody talked about drugs, nobody really took notice of them. Not like today. They were non-prescription drugs, available to most anybody.

Blood also talks about experimenting with opium during a visit to China but deciding it was “too risky.” Bennies were another matter, though. They “just kind of made you feel better.”

In the early days of football, with the light padding and the glove-sized helmets, as they were called, a player needed strong fortification to attain an ethereal frame of mind. Yes, some guys took a drink before the game to raise the spirits. And I guess I could drink with any man. I had the reputation, and sometimes I’d drink the night before a game. I was the manic type. And the next day I might show the effects, in my talk and responses.

After the 1932 season the Packers went on a barnstorming tour that included two games in Hawaii. Green Bay won the first — which it was supposed to do, of course. The night before the second, though, the Hawaiian players tried to give themselves more of a fighting chance by getting Blood drunk.

“They invited me to a luau,” he told Berkow. “That’s their big bash.

And they put me up against their toughest drinker, a big tackle for their team. We drank their national drink, okolehao, and we drank into the night and morning. I got an hour’s sleep, but I showed up at the game. Their big tackle didn’t. I remember I was not feeling too terrific as the game started. Then a shower burst through the sun. And I got my refresher, and then went on to score a couple of touchdowns.

I don’t know how I did it, but I know I paid for it. Games like that took a few years off my career.

Several years later, when he was working for The New York Times, Berkow went back to the Blood well. By then, Johnny had been sober for seven years.

“I thought I saw King Arthur’s Court,” he said, “and walked through a plate-glass window to get there. I decided then, either King Arthur had to go . . . or I was going. Some people can handle drugs better than others. But in the end, no matter how well you handle it, it ends up handling you.”

I just thought of one more Johnny Blood story. It’s from the late ’30s, when he was player-coach of the Pittsburgh Pirates (as they were called then). Seems Johnny had recently had his appendix removed, but he was determined to play in the big game against the Bears, fresh stitches or no fresh stitches.

George Halas’ ruffians didn’t usually treat opponents very tenderly, but on that day Papa Bear preached caution. “Be careful when you hit Blood,” he told his players. “I don’t want his guts spillin’ all over the field.”

The streaking Patriots

It’s easier to lose seven straight games in the NFL than it is to win seven straight. If you doubt this, click on these two links. You’ll see there have been 52 regular-season winning streaks of seven games or longer in the 2000s — and 69 losing streaks of the same length.

Indeed, the Bucs, now in their 39th year, have never reeled off seven victories in a row, not even the season they won the Super Bowl. The Browns, meanwhile, haven’t had a seven-gamer since ’68, and the Bengals (‘73) and Cardinals (’74) haven’t put one together in nearly as long.

I point this out because the Patriots are on their annual seven-game roll. Well, maybe not annual, but they’ve certainly been Frequent Streakers in the Belichick-Brady Era. This is their seventh run of seven games or more; a couple of times, they didn’t stop until they reached 21 and 18.

The only other team in the 2000s that’s had more than four such streaks is Peyton Manning’s team. Manning had five with the Colts, and has added a sixth — a 17-gamer — with the Broncos.

A look at the Patriots’ streaks (which become even more impressive when you realize that no other club in the AFC East has had even one in the 2000s):

PATRIOTS’ REGULAR-SEASON WINNING STREAKS OF 7 OR MORE SINCE 2000

[table width=”500px”]

Games,Years,Result,Broken By\, Score

21,2006-08,Lost Super Bowl in ’07,Dolphins\, 38-13

18,2003-04,Won Super Bowl in ’03 & ’04,Steelers\, 34-20

10,2010-11,Lost first playoff game in ’10,Bills\, 34-31

9,2011-12,Lost Super Bowl in ’11,Cardinals\, 20-18

9,2001-02,Won Super Bowl in ’01,Chargers\, 21-14

7,2012,Lost AFC title game,49ers\, 41-34

7,2014,TBD,TBD

[/table]

The rest of the league: Colts (5 streaks of seven or better), Packers (4), Chargers (3), Seahawks (3), Vikings (3), Bears (2), Chiefs (2), Eagles (2), Falcons (2), 49ers (2), Panthers (2), Rams (2), Saints (2), Steelers (2), Titans (2), Broncos (1), Cowboys (1), Giants (1), Lions (1), Ravens (1), Redskins (1), Texans (1).

Teams that haven’t had a seven-game streak in the 2000s: Bengals, Bills, Browns, Bucs, Cardinals, Dolphins, Jaguars, Jets, Raiders.

How do the Patriots stack up against other teams over the decades led by Hall of Fame quarterbacks? Pretty favorably — keeping in mind, of course, that Brady is in his 13^th full season as a starter (Roger Staubach was the Cowboys’ QB of record for just nine) and that schedules are now 16 games (Sid Luckman never played more than 12).

MOST WINNING STREAKS OF 7 GAMES OR MORE, REGULAR SEASON

[table width=”350px”]

Years,Quarterback\, Team,7+ Streaks

2001-14,Tom Brady’s Patriots, 7

1999-10,Peyton Manning’s Colts, 6

1980-90,Joe Montana’s 49ers, 6

1946-55,Otto Graham’s Browns, 6*

1992-07,Brett Favre’s Packers, 4

1991-99,Steve Young’s 49ers, 4

1983-98,John Elway’s Broncos, 4

1970-82,Terry Bradshaw’s Steelers, 4

1971-79,Roger Staubach’s Cowboys, 4

1967-80,Bob Griese’s Dolphins, 4

1956-72,Johnny Unitas’ Colts, 4

1939-50,Sid Luckman’s Bears, 4

[/table]

*Includes years in the All-America Conference (1946-49).

Note: “Years” denotes the span of seasons the quarterback was the team’s starter. Obviously, a QB didn’t get credit for a streak unless he started all or virtually all of the games. (Backup Earl Morrall, for instance, filled in for the injured Unitas when the Colts won eight straight in ’68 – and did likewise for Griese when the Dolphins went undefeated in ’72.)

In case you were wondering, Bart Starr’s Packers had a mere two runs of seven games or longer during the Lombardi years (1959-67) — which just shows how much more competitive the NFL was back then. We’re talking, after all, about arguably the greatest dynasty in pro football history.

Source: pro-football-reference.com

Snow in Buffalo

The NFL has moved the Bills-Jets game to Detroit this week because the show, of course, must go on. Even when the president of the United States gets assassinated, the show must go on in pro football. In the current case, it’s due to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Mother Nature, who dumped six feet of snow on Orchard Park and forced the Bills to find another venue. So the game will be played Monday night, not Sunday afternoon, and the site will be Ford Field, not Ralph Wilson Stadium.

It wasn’t always thus. In the days before TV mega-contracts, postponements and even cancellations were hardly unheard of. Sometimes all it took was slow sales ticket sales or the threat of bad weather to get owners to reschedule — or to bag the game entirely. Why don’t we revisit some of these episodes so you can get a better feel for The Way Things Were?

We begin with a couple of games in New York that were snowed out Dec. 5, 1926 — one between the Giants and Bears at the Polo Grounds, the other between the Brooklyn Horsemen and Duluth Eskimos at Ebbets Field. (And yes, I’m as surprised as anybody that a game involving the Eskimos could be snowed out.) Here’s how The New York Times reported it:

What’s interesting about the first game is that it was the second of back-to-backers for the Bears. They’d lost the day before to the Frankford Yellow Jackets in Philadelphia — their only loss of the season, it would turn out, and one that would leave them second behind the Yellow Jackets in the final standings. (This was before the league staged a title game to determine its champion.)

I’m kind of amazed George Halas, their owner/coach/end, didn’t insist that the game be played at a later date — for the New York payday as much as for the potential W. But as you can see from the Bears’ 1926 results, it was just canceled (though they did play twice more before calling it a season).

Then there was the time in 1936 the Eagles and Pirates (as the Steelers were called then) got the brilliant idea to move one of their games to Johnstown, Pa. Naturally, there was a flood that caused a postponement. Well, almost a flood. The Pittsburgh Press put it this way:

Two years later, Pittsburgh owner Art Rooney caused a stir by putting off a game against the Cleveland Rams because — brace yourself — he had too many players banged up. The Rams were none to pleased about it, as you can see in this Press story:

What’s interesting about this tempest in a leather helmet is that the teams wound up playing the game in December in New Orleans. It was the first NFL game ever played in the Big Easy. (Why New Orleans, you ask? Answer: During the Depression, clubs that didn’t draw well at home would play anywhere they could get a decent guarantee. The next year, the Rams played their season finale against the Eagles in Colorado Springs.

Moving along, in 1954 the Browns pushed their Oct. 3 home game against the Lions back to Dec. 19 because they weren’t sure if the Indians would need Cleveland Stadium for a World Series game against the New York Giants. (The Indians didn’t. The Giants completed their shocking sweep the day before.)

This created a bizarre situation. When the Browns and Lions finally did meet, all the other teams had completed their schedules — and Browns and Lions had already wrapped up their conference titles. So they played on consecutive Sundays in Cleveland . . . with the whole pro football world watching. The Lions won the first game 14-10, and the Browns won the one that really mattered 56-10. What’s that, a 50-point swing in the space of a week?

I could go on, but I’ll finish with the infamous Bills-Patriots postponement in 1961. The game was supposed to be played on a Friday night in Boston but, with Hurricane Gerda looming, was held over to Sunday. Almost predictably, Gerda ended up being the Brian Bosworth of storms — dozens of area high school contests went on as planned that night — and Buffalo coach Buster Ramsay was convinced the delay was “a deliberate attempt to upset my team. . . . A bush-league trick.”

The Patriots actually had to get the city council approval to reschedule to Sunday. They were using Boston University’s Field, you see, and BU didn’t have a permit for games on the Sabbath, according to The Boston Globe.

When the Bills and Pats finally did play, the weather — 35 degrees with 25-to-30 mph winds — was far worse than it had been Friday night. A mere 9,398 showed up to shiver, and Ramsey’s worst fears were realized: His club came out flat and fell behind 45-0 in a 52-21 loss.

At least we know Buffalo’s postponement this weekend wasn’t “a deliberate attempt to upset” the Jets. There’s real snow on the ground — alps of it. And it’s nice nobody had to go to the Detroit city council to get them to OK a Sunday game. Now Rex Ryan’s bunch just has to keep the Bills from running off to a 45-0 lead.

Source: pro-football-reference.com

Sept. 28, 1942 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The dead guy J.J. Watt just tied

Last week we had the Bears bringing the 1923 Rochester Jeffersons back from the dead. This week we have J.J. Watt, the Texans’ all-world defensive end, dredging up a player from 1938: Jay Arnold, a wingback for Bert Bell’s Eagles. To quote Flounder in Animal House . . .

As ESPN.com’s Tania Ganguli was good enough to note:

On Sunday in Cleveland, in a 23-7 win over the Browns, Watt became the first player since Arnold to catch two touchdown passes, return an interception for a touchdown and return a fumbled football for a touchdown all in the same season.

Watt, of course, did it as a defensive end. That’s probably more impressive than a two-way back in the ’30s doing it. After all, you wouldn’t expect a D-end to grab TD passes. In Arnold’s day, on

Eagles wingback Jay Arnold strikes a pose.

the other hand, a back could be expected to do just about anything, even kick. (And Jay did a little of that, too. In fact, he booted three extra points that season. So he still has a leg up — literally — on J.J.)

What’s cool about this cross-generational connection is that there’s virtually nothing else to remember Arnold for. Watt is a two-time Pro Bowler and pass-rushing maniac who’s building a case for Canton, but Jay had a mostly invisible career in which he scored all of six touchdowns and gained a grand total of 616 yards. He just happened, in 1938, to score TDs on both sides of the ball — and in three different ways. (Within a decade it became much harder to do this because, after the war, pro football evolved into a more specialized, two-platoon game. Fewer and fewer guys played both ways.)

But enough of that. Let’s take a closer look at Arnold’s ’38 season. Here’s something that might interest you: He scored three of those four TDs — on a reception, fumble return and interception return — in a single half, the first half of a 27-7 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. (They weren’t the Steelers yet.) They were the first three scores of the game and staked Philly to a 20-0 lead.

Nobody else in NFL history has had a game like that. Indeed, only four other players — Watt being the latest — have even had a TD catch, interception TD and fumble TD in the same season. (You’ve gotta love George Halas being one of them.) And again: Arnold did it in two quarters. The United Press summarized his heroics this way:

Did you notice how The Jay Arnold Story just got better? The “Whizzer” who coughed up the ball for the Pirates was their hotshot rookie running back, Byron “Whizzer” White. So Arnold not only had a once-in-95-NFL-seasons game, one of his scores was the result of a fumble by a future Supreme Court justice.

Arnold’s other touchdown that year also had some significance. It came in Detroit on the last day of the season against a Lions team that, had it beaten the Eagles, would have forced a playoff with the Packers for the Western Division title. To their horror, Philadelphia jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead and upset them 21-7, with Arnold scoring the second TD on a 7-yard pass from fullback Dave Smukler. This is from The Associated Press:

The Texans still have six games to play, so Watt may yet outdo Arnold. As he said afterward, “There’s a lot of season left, so hopefully that’s not the end of it.” But let’s not forget, Jay has those three PATs as his hole cards. Wherever he is.

Source: pro-football-reference.com, Spalding’s 1939 National Football League Official Guide.

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

[table width= “400px”]

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

[/table]

*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.

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

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 championship, 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 199^th 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.

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

[table width=”500px”]

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

[/table]

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).

PRO FOOTBALL DALY

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

Tag Archives: Steelers

Ram-bunctious defense

TEAMS IN THE 2000S THAT DIDN’T ALLOW A TD IN 3 CONSECUTIVE GAMES

Football fights

Edelmania

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

PEDs in the 1930s

The streaking Patriots

PATRIOTS’ REGULAR-SEASON WINNING STREAKS OF 7 OR MORE SINCE 2000

MOST WINNING STREAKS OF 7 GAMES OR MORE, REGULAR SEASON

Snow in Buffalo

The dead guy J.J. Watt just tied

Running back consistency

MOST GAMES WITH 75 OR MORE RUSHING YARDS, SEASON

Backup QBs to the rescue

The Seahawks’ 1-in-a-1,000 game

BIGGEST RUSHING MARGINS IN AN NFL GAME SINCE 1970