Tag Archives: Vikings

Colts-Bengals . . . and other tail-kickings

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

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

BIGGEST YARDAGE DIFFERENTIAL IN A GAME SINCE 1940

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

How are those for one-sided contests?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: pro-football-reference.com

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The Percy Harvin puzzle

A receiver possessing Percy Harvin’s tools — speed, elusiveness, hands — should be able to gain yards in the NFL, at the very least. That’s what’s so confounding about his play with the Seahawks . . . and was one of the main reasons they unloaded him to the Jets last week for a late-round draft pick. Forget touchdowns; he wasn’t even getting first downs.

In fact, his per-catch average through five games was ridiculously low: 6.05 yards. Only one wide receiver in league history has finished with a lower one (on 20 or more receptions). The data:

LOWEST PER-CATCH AVERAGES BY WRS IN NFL HISTORY (20+ RECEPTIONS)

Year Wideout, Team Rec Yds Avg
2003 Justin Griffith, Falcons 21 122 5.81
2014 Percy Harvin*, Seahawks/Jets 22 133 6.05
2009 Josh Cribbs, Browns 20 135 6.75
2012 Early Doucet, Saints 28 207 7.39
2009 Mike Furrey, Browns 23 170 7.39
1997 David Palmer, Vikings 26 193 7.42
1993 Kevin Williams, Cowboys 20 151 7.55
2009 Danny Amendola, Rams 43 326 7.58
2013 Earl Bennett, Bears 32 243 7.59
2001 Tywan Mitchell, Cardinals 25 196 7.84
2006 Dante Hall, Chiefs 26 204 7.85

*season incomplete

Not exactly a prestigious group, is it? It’s certainly not the kind of group a player with Harvin’s contract (6 years, $64.25 million) and expectations should be associating with. But when you get right down to it, Percy — as a wideout, anyway — isn’t all that fearsome a force. He’s more of a horizontal threat with his Jet sweeps, pitch plays out of the backfield, bubble screens and shallow underneath routes.

If Harvin were a truly great receiver, he’d just line up wide, beat his man (or the zone confronting him) and make big plays. But his teams – first the Vikings, then the Seahawks – haven’t used him that way, which suggests it’s Not His Thing. To me, he’s a bell, a whistle, a trinket, an additional ornament for an offense, but not somebody who should be making $11 million a year.

Maybe that will change with the Jets. Maybe he’ll show the world he’s capable of being the focal point of an attack. But we’re talking about a guy who’s had injury issues and, reportedly, personality issues, a guy who only once has gained as many as 1,000 yards from scrimmage in a season (1,312 in 2011). A few times a game he’ll get his hands on the ball, step on the gas and give the crowd a thrill, but how often does he ever tip the balance?

He’s a receiver who specializes in catching passes that aren’t really passes, throws behind the line or close to the line where there’s no defender to worry about. This is a star? An old-time quarterback once told me, “We used to call those pee passes. You threw ’em about as far as you could pee.” That, to me, is Percy Harvin: The Prince of Pee Passes.

Source: pro-football-reference.com

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What once was Sammy’s is now Peyton’s

Tracing the history of an NFL record can be more fun than a barrel of Statue of Liberty plays. That was certainly the case when I researched the mark Peyton Manning broke Sunday night for career touchdown passes.

The Broncos legend — who’s at 510 and counting — is the eighth quarterback to hold the record since 1943, when the Redskins’ Sammy Baugh took possession of it. All eight — Baugh, Bobby Layne, Y.A. Tittle, Johnny Unitas, Fran Tarkenton, Dan Marino, Brett Favre and now Peyton — are either in the Hall of Fame or guaranteed to get there. The NFL isn’t as stats-driven as baseball, but this mark is probably the closest it comes to the home run record in baseball. (Once upon a time, the Holy Grail was the career rushing record, but that was before rule changes reduced the running game to a quaint sideshow.)

The year Baugh broke the mark, statistics-keeping was much less exacting than it is now. In fact, the league didn’t even know who held the record, much less how many TD passes he’d thrown. As proof, I offer page 43 of the 1943 Record and Roster Manual. As you can see, the Top 3 under “Most Touchdown Passes” at the start of that season are Cecil Isbell with 59, Baugh with 56 and Arnie Herber with 51. (Isbell and Herber, two former Packers, had retired, though the latter would make a comeback in 1944.)

1943 NFL Record Book

Unfortunately, the figures aren’t accurate. Subsequent research revealed that Herber was No. 1 with 66 (not 59), followed by Isbell with 61 (not 59) and Baugh with 57 (not 56). Also, Arnie was actually tied with Benny Friedman, who’d thrown 56 of his 66 TD passes from 1927 to ’31, before “official” records were kept. (Or unkept. As I said, there were lots of mistakes that weren’t caught until later.)

Anyway, when Baugh tossed No. 67, there was no mention of the record in the newspapers. Instead, sportswriters gushed about another mark he broke that afternoon — by throwing for six scores in a 48-10 bludgeoning of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Thus, the headline in the next day’s Brooklyn Eagle looked like this:

Brooklyn Eagle headline

“All the stunned crowd could see,” the Eagle’s Harold C. Burr wrote, “was Bob Seymour, Andy Farkas, Wilbur Moore and [Joe] Aguirre . . . taking all sorts of passes — long, short, high and low, leisurely and hurried from the sharpshooter behind the Redskin[s] line, who calmly looked over the field and picked out the man in the clear. Once they gathered in the leather, over their head, waist high or off their shoetops, on the gallop or standing waiting, the receivers whirled away from the Dodger[s] secondary like autumn leaves.”

As terrific as Manning was against the 49ers — and he carved them up to the tune of 318 yards and four touchdowns — he didn’t match Baugh’s 376 yards and six TDs against the Dodgers. So far, nobody who’s broken the record has had a game like that.

By 1962, when the Steelers’ Layne passed Baugh’s mark of 187 by throwing his 188th and 189th in a 30-28 win over the Cowboys, there was a little more awareness of these career achievements. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s headline:

Layne P-G headline

“Layne and the immortal Sammy Baugh of the Washington Redskins had been tied for most TD passes at 187,” Jack Sell reported. “Slingin’ Sam finished his career in 1952.

“The tiebreaker came on a beautiful 38-yard play with Buddy Dial on the receiving end. It not only smashed the record but put Rooney U. ahead to stay in the second quarter.”

There wasn’t much exulting on Layne’s part, though. He’d had to leave the game briefly in the first quarter after he “got slugged,” he said, but didn’t offer any other details about the incident. [At 36 — and playing his final season — Bobby still didn’t wear a facemask.] It should have been one of his more satisfying moments, coming as it did in Dallas, where he’d played his high school ball. The game was even stopped so he could be presented with the ball. But his basic reaction was: “It warn’t nothing. . . . It didn’t feel a damn bit different from any other touchdown pass I’ve thrown.”

(Yes, he said “warn’t.”)

Less than 15 months later, in December 1963, the Giants’ Tittle went shooting by Layne’s mark of 197. He, too, did it against the Cowboys at the Cotton Bowl. (Meaning Dallas coach Tom Landry bore witness to both Layne and Tittle breaking the record. Bet he was thrilled.)

The game took place just nine days after the Kennedy Assassination. (How weird must it have been to play in Dallas that close to the tragedy?) TD No. 198 — a 17-yarder to Del Shofner with five minutes left — gave the Giants the victory, 34-27. The pass was released, The Associated Press noted dramatically, “just as the old boy was being slammed to the ground.”

Here’s what’s really funny: The New York Times was so nonchalant about the mark that reporter William N. Wallace didn’t mention it until the seventh paragraph of his story. And when he did mention it, it was only after mentioning first that “Don Chandler . . . kicked a 53-yard field goal for New York today. It was the longest in Giant[s] history and tied the third-longest kick listed in the NFL record book. [Chandler’s] kicking was a major contribution to the Giant[s] victory. So were two touchdown passes by Y.A. Tittle, who thereby set a record. The 37-year-old quarterback has thrown more touchdown passes than anyone else in the 43-year-old league — 197. Bobby Layne held the old mark of 196.”

Talk about burying the lead.

But then, there was something unusual about most of these history-making performances. For instance, when the Colts’ Unitas topped Tittle’s mark of 212 in 1966, the opposing quarterback was the Vikings’ Tarkenton — who in ’75 would break Johnny U.’s record of 290. What are the odds of that?

And when the Dolphins’ Marino blew by Scramblin’ Fran’s mark of 342 in 1995, the opposing quarterback was the Colts’ Jim Harbaugh — the same Jim Harbaugh who, as coach of the 49ers, got to admire Manning’s handiwork up close Sunday night. When he wasn’t gnashing his teeth, that is.

(A couple of other things also made Marino’s feat unusual. One, he had the same coach Unitas did in ’66: Don Shula. And two, he was the only one of the eight QBs who didn’t come away with a victory. Despite his four touchdown passes, which rallied his team from a 24-0 deficit, Miami lost, 36-28.)

Only Favre’s record day was utterly ordinary, devoid of strangeness or coincidence. When the Packers icon threw for his 421st TD to overtake Marino in 2007, it was simply a case of catching the Vikings in a blitz and whipping a 16-yard pass to Greg Jennings on a slant. The middle had been vacated by the safety. Jennings, covered by the nickel back, had no trouble getting open. It couldn’t have been much easier.

And now we have Manning replacing Favre (508) atop the all-time list, firing for one, two, three, four scores to lead Denver to a 42-17 win. You may have noticed, too, that there was plenty of build-up before the game, exhaustive discussion of the record during it and the requisite amount of whoopee when the mark finally fell.

The NFL has come a long way from 1943 — from the days when Sammy Baugh, its most famous player, could break a major record and no one would be aware of it. Indeed, I wouldn’t be surprised if the game story in Monday’s Denver Post mentioned Manning’s accomplishment before the seventh paragraph.

Unitas photo throwing TD pass

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An old(er) back learns some new tricks

Ahmad Bradshaw’s days as a 1,000-yard rusher are probably behind him. He’s what you might call a complementary back now, rotating with Trent Richardson and giving the Colts, at the age of 28, A Little Bit of This and A Little Bit of That. It’s the Little Bit of That we’ll be discussing today.

Suddenly, Bradshaw, never much of a receiving threat before, has started catching touchdown passes. He had three TD receptions in his first seven NFL seasons; he has five in the first six games of 2014. That’s as many as any running back has had through six games since 1960. In fact, it’s been 31 years since a back got off to this good a start (Joe Cribbs, Bills). Two of the other backs since ’60 with five TD catches in the first six games: Hall of Famers Gale Sayers (1965) and Lenny Moore (1961).

Clearly, Andrew Luck has faith in Bradshaw as a receiver, because he keeps throwing him the ball in the red zone. (The five touchdowns have measured 1, 7, 6, 15 and 5 yards.) And if Luck keeps throwing him the ball in the red zone, Ahmad might well break the modern record for TD catches in a season by a running back — 9, shared by four players.

MOST TOUCHDOWN CATCHES IN A SEASON BY A RUNNING BACK SINCE 1932

Year Running Back,Team Rec Yds Avg TD
1991 Leroy Hoard, Browns 48 567 11.8 9
1975 Chuck Foreman, Vikings 73 691 9.5 9
1964 Bill Brown, Vikings 48 703 14.6 9
1961 Billy Cannon, Oilers (AFL) 43 586 13.6 9
1960 Lenny Moore, Colts 45 936 20.8 9
2000 Marshall Faulk, Rams 81 830 10.2 8
1986 Gary Anderson, Chargers 80 871 10.9 8
1966 Dan Reeves, Cowboys 41 557 13.6 8
1949 Gene Roberts, Giants 35 711 20.3 8

Always fun to see Dan Reeves’ name pop up in a chart, isn’t it? “Choo-Choo” Roberts, by the way, had one of the great forgotten seasons in ’49 for a 6-6 Giants team. He finished fourth in the league in both rushing yards (634) and receiving yards (711, including two 200-yard games) and scored 17 touchdowns, one shy of Steve Van Buren’s mark (since erased).

I said “modern record” earlier because Hall of Famer Johnny Blood caught 10 for the Packers in 1931, the year before they began keeping Official Statistics. Blood was a hybrid back like Lenny Moore — or, more recently, the Seahawks’ Percy Harvin. He’d line up either in the backfield or on the flank (where his speed could be put to optimum use). Just a dangerous, dangerous receiver. Indeed, he had four scoring grabs of 40 yards or longer that year.

Let’s see Ahmad Bradshaw top that.

Postscript: There are a million Blood stories. Some are even true. He was one of pro football’s all-time characters, the kind of guy who didn’t waste a minute of his life. If you want to read more about him, check out this classic piece Gerald Holland wrote for Sports Illustrated in 1963.

Source: pro-football-reference.com

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Instant-impact receivers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Gronk vs. the greats

Rob Gronkowski scored another touchdown Sunday night in the Patriots’ 43-16 pasting of the previously unbeaten Bengals. That’s what Gronkowski does — at a rate never seen before by a tight end (and by few other receivers in NFL history). His latest, a 16-yarder over the middle from Tom Brady, was his 46th scoring catch in 56 games. Do the math, and it comes out to .82 TDs per game. Wow.

Only four receivers — all wideouts — have had more scoring receptions in their first 56 games. Their names should be pretty recognizable. Three are in the Hall of Fame, and the other, I’ve got to believe, will make it when he’s eligible.

MOST TOUCHDOWNS CATCHES, FIRST 56 GAMES

Years Receiver,Team TD
1962-66 Lance Alworth*, Chargers (AFL) 53
1985-88 Jerry Rice*, 49ers 50
1965-69 Bob Hayes*, Cowboys 47
1998-01 Randy Moss, Vikings 47
2010-14 Rob Gronkowski, Patriots 46
1957-61 Tommy McDonald*, Eagles 42

*Hall of Famer

It’s impressive enough that a tight end is keeping company with some of the greatest deep threats of all time. You get an even greater sense of the Magnitude of Gronk, though, when you compare him to Hall of Famers who played his position. (I threw in a few more who figure to reach Canton eventually — plus Jerry Smith, who held the TD record for tight ends for years and should never be left out of these conversations.)

TD CATCHES BY NOTABLE TIGHT ENDS, FIRST 56 GAMES

Years Tight End, Team TD
2010-14 Rob Gronkowski, Patriots 46
2010-13 Jimmy Graham, Saints 35
1961-64 Mike Ditka*, Bears 30
2003-06 Antonio Gates, Chargers 30
1979-83 Kellen Winslow*, Chargers 29
1965-69 Jerry Smith, Redskins 27
1963-66 John Mackey*, Colts 25
1974-78 Dave Casper*, Raiders 20
1978-81 Ozzie Newsome*, Browns 19
1997-00 Tony Gonzalez, Chiefs 19
1968-72 Charlie Sanders*, Lions 15
2003-06 Jason Witten, Cowboys 14
1963-66 Jackie Smith*, Cardinals 11
1990-93 Shannon Sharpe*, Broncos   7

*Hall of Famer

Sharpe, who finished with 62 touchdown receptions (a record since broken), is a reminder that some players, even future stars, take a while to establish themselves. That wasn’t the case with Gronkowski, of course. In just his ninth game he caught three TD passes against the Steelers and was off to immortality.

That is, if he can stay out of the operating room for a spell. He’s had a rough go if it of late with injuries, but he looked like the Gronk of Old on Sunday night. The Gronk of Old was a wonder to behold.

Source: pro-football-reference.com

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More than you ever wanted to know about coaching hires

Now that Dennis Allen has been asked to turn in his key fob in Oakland, after coaching the Raiders for a mere 36 games (28 of them losses), it might be a good time to talk about NFL coaching hires. It’s a fertile area for study, with plenty of data to analyze, yet little is ever written about it. Coaches come and coaches go — sometimes at a head-spinning rate — and everybody seems fine with that. Maybe it’s because they can’t score points in Fantasy Football.

Take this year’s seven new hires. At the quarter pole of Season 1, this is where they stand:

Coach,Team W-L
Jim Caldwell, Lions 3-1
Bill O’Brien, Texans 3-1
Mike Zimmer, Vikings 2-2
Mike Pettine, Browns 1-2
Jay Gruden, Redskins 1-3
Lovie Smith, Bucs 1-3
Ken Whisenhunt, Titans 1-3
Total 12-15

It’s just a snapshot, sure, but did anybody have much of a feel going into the season about which of these coaches would be successful right out of the chute and which wouldn’t? Along those same lines, would anyone wager much money on which of them — if any — will still be in their jobs, say, five years from now?

Obviously, no coach is an island. Winning takes a village, from the owner and general manager on down. Luck also factors in — especially when you get to draft Oliver Luck with the first pick of the draft instead of JaMarcus Russell or Tim Couch. Even so, there’s much about the selection of an NFL coach that’s just plain mysterious. Here’s why:

There’s no cone drill for a would-be coach to run, no Wonderlic test to take. He doesn’t get asked to jump as high as he can, hoist a barbell until his biceps bark or do anything particularly measurable — except maybe eat a 24-ounce porterhouse at Morton’s during the interview.

Think about it: Teams will put their first-round picks under a magnifying glass, looking for flaws with a jeweler’s scrutiny. The draft has become a national obsession fed by Mel Kiper Jr., Todd McShay and scores of other gurus, amateur and professional. Whose stock is rising? Whose is falling? Should my team trade up? Trade down? Stockpile picks for next year, when talent pool is deeper? Fans take this stuff very seriously. Or to put it another way, you mock their mock draft at your peril.

None of that hysteria — or thoroughness, it would seem — surrounds the hiring of coaches. The Texans (O’Brien) and Bucs (Smith) had their men by Jan. 2, four days after the regular season ended. The other five openings were filled in the next three weeks (and it only took that long because the Browns dawdled before deciding on Pettine). Granted, there’s a practicality to settling on a coach as soon as possible: much work needs to be done. But it makes you wonder how much Deep Thinking is involved in the process, especially since it’s arguably the most crucial decision a club will make.

So why don’t we look at these hires a little more closely, not just the ones this year but all the hires in the 2000s. It gives us a nice-sized sample — 103 in all (interim coaches not included) — from which to spot patterns, draw conclusions and just bat around a subject that, to me, is strangely underexplored. Some of results, no doubt, will surprise you. Such as:

● 26 of the 103 coaches (25.2%) had a quarterback in their first season who either (a.) had started in the Super Bowl or (b.) would start in the Super Bowl. Seems like a lot, doesn’t it? (Of course, part of reason is that we have to include guys like Rex Grossman, Zimmer’s No. 3 in Cleveland, who started in the Super Bowl for the Bears seven seasons ago and, at this stage, is basically on emergency standby. Still, 26 past or future Super Bowl QBs — who would have guessed? And the number can only go up, depending on how some of these young guns (e.g. Luck, Robert Griffin III, Teddy Bridgewater, even Matthew Stafford, who’s still only 26) develop.

● The same number, 26 (25.2%), had a Top 3 draft pick their first year, and 12 (11.7 percent) had the first overall pick (as O’Brien and the Texans did this year).

● Fewer and fewer Super Bowl coaches are former NFL (or AFL) players. Twenty-three of the first 24 Super Bowls featured at least one coach who was an ex-player. The last 24 Super Bowls have been much different; only seven had a coach who had played in the league (not counting the Saints’ Sean Payton, whose NFL “career” consists of three games as a replacement during the 1987 strike).

● Average win total of first-year coaches: 7.1. (Read it and weep. Or perhaps not.)

● 61 (64.2 percent) of them, though, improved the team’s record that first season. You can see, then, why owners aren’t shy about firing coaches, even after one year. They usually get an immediate bump — in the short term, anyway.

OK, that’s enough for now. More — much more — as we go along.

Who gets hired?

When I started crunching the numbers, I had some preconceived notions. For one thing, I figured more offensive than defensive coaches would be getting jobs because the game is so tilted toward the offense. My reasoning: Better to have a head guy who knows quarterbacks and can take advantage of all the rules that favor that side of the ball. After all, defense can be such a fruitless proposition nowadays (though a handful of teams, the champion Seahawks first and foremost, play it well).

Anyway, I was wrong. For the 103 coaches hired since 2000, the offense/defense split is virtually identical: 52/51. This season, before the Allen firing, it was dead even: 16 O, 16 D.

I also thought recycled coaches would be more successful than first-timers. Just a hunch; I didn’t have anything concrete to base it on. (Kickers, it seems, are like that, too.) This time my suspicion was (mostly) right. Here’s how it breaks down:

First-time coaches: 66 (not counting the 2014 hires).

● Made it to the Super Bowl: 11 (16.7%), 4 winners (6.1%), 4-8 record (.333).

● Made it to the conference title game: 15 (22.7%), 11 winners (16.7%), 12-13 record (.480).

● Made the playoffs: 32 (48.5%).

● Finished the job with a winning record: 8 of 48 (16.7%). This number might end up higher because there are still 22 active first-time coaches, several of whom — including Super Bowl winners Mike Tomlin (Steelers), John Harbaugh (Ravens), Sean Payton (Saints) and Mike McCarthy (Packers) — have been quite successful. But it still takes your breath away.

● Finished at .500 or below: 40 of 48 (83.3%).

Recycled coaches: 30 (again, not counting the 2014 hires).

● Super Bowl: 6 (20%), 5 winners (16.7%), 8-3 record (.727).

● Conference title game: 7 (23.3%), 6 winners (20%), 11-5 record (.688).

● Playoffs: 16 (53.3%).

● Finished the job with a winning record: 8 of 24 (33.3%).

● Finished at .500 or below: 16 of 24 (66.7%) Note: Nine recycled coaches are still active.

Admittedly, one coach — e.g. the Patriots’ Bill Belichick, who has been to five Super Bowls and won three — can skew things. But even if you eliminated Belichick, you’d still have as many retreads as first-timers winning rings (4) — and a far higher percentage of them (13.3% to 6.1%).

You’re hired to get fired

There’s a reason people are always saying that, and it’s not just because it rhymes. Look at these figures:

● 30 of 66 first-time coaches (45.4%) — Allen being the latest — were gone within three years. (That includes four who bailed for college jobs and another who resigned rather than shuffle his staff.)

● 12 of 30 recycled coaches (46.7%) also lasted three seasons or less.

● And these percentages likely will increase depending on how the last three coaching classes, who haven’t reached the three-year threshold yet, fare.

Not For Long League, indeed.

Offensive coaches vs. defensive coaches

Offensive (48*):

● Made it to the Super Bowl: 9 (18.8%), 4 winners (8.3%), 5-5 record (.500).

● Made it to the conference title game: 10 (20.8%), 9 winners (18.8%), 10-5 record (.667).

● Made the playoffs: 22 (45.8%).

● Finished the job with a winning record: 7 of 36 (19.4%).

● Finished at .500 or below: 29 of 36 (80.6%).

Defensive (48*):

● Super Bowl: 8 (16.7%), 5 winners (10.4%), 8-5 record (.615).

● Conference title game: 12 (25%), 8 winners (16.7%), 13-13 record (.500).

● Playoffs: 26 (54.2%).

● Finished the job with a winning record: 9 of 35 (25.7%).

● Finished at .500 or below: 26 of 35 (74.3%).

*Not counting 2014 hires.

Again, there’s a Belichick Factor here, but even without him the group has 18 conference title game berths, three more than the offensive bunch. That’s because Tony Dungy (Colts), John Fox (Panthers/Broncos), Lovie Smith (Bears), Mike Tomlin (Steelers), John Harbaugh (Ravens) and Rex Ryan (Jets) all went — or have gone — to two or more.

Note, too, that a significantly higher percentage of defensive coaches have made the playoffs (54.2 to 45.8).

In terms of longevity, here’s the comparison:

● 24 of 36 offensive coaches (66.7%) were fired by the end of their third season.

● 18 of 36 defensive coaches (50%) also never saw Year 4.

Note: 12 offensive and 12 defensive coaches are still on the job.

In-house hires

The sample sizes start to get smaller now. Just 18 coaches fall into this category, eight of whom started with the “interim” title before being given the job outright. (The only current one is the Cowboys’ Jason Garrett.) The breakdown:

● Made it to the Super Bowl: 3 of 18 (16.7%), 0 winners (0%), 0-3 record (.000).

● Made it to the conference title game 3 of 18 (16.7%), 3 winners (16.7%), 3-0 record (1.000).

● Made the playoffs: 6 of 18 (33.3%).

● Finished the job with a winning record: 4 of 17 (23.5 percent). (Garrett is excluded because he’s still coaching.)

● Finished at .500 or below: 13 of 17 (76.5 percent).

● Lasted three seasons or less: 12 of 18 (66.7%).

Coaches who came from the college ranks

There have been 12 of these, an even smaller group.

● Made it to the Super Bowl: 2 of 12 (16.7%), 1 winner (8.3%), 1-1 record (.500).

● Made it to the conference title game: 2 of 12 (16.7%), 2 winners (16.7%), 2-2 record (.500).

● Made the playoffs: 4 of 12 (33.3%).

● Finished the job with a winning record: 0 of 7 (0%).

● Finished at .500 or below: 7 of 7 (100 percent).

Note: 5 are still active, including the Seahawks’ Pete Carroll, the 49ers’ Jim Harbaugh and the Eagles’ Chip Kelly.

● Lasted three seasons or less: 6 of 9 (66.7%). (Three of the active coaches are in their first or second year.)

Unemployed/retired coaches

● Made it to the Super Bowl: 1 of 10 (10%), 1 winner (10%), 2-0 record (1.000). (Take a bow, Tom Coughlin.)

● Made it to the conference title game: 1 of 10 (10%), 1 winner (10%), 2-0 record (1.000).

● Made the playoffs: 5 of 10 (50%).

● Finished the job with a winning record: 2 of 7 (28.6%).

● Finished at .500 or below: 5 of 7 (71.4%).

Note: 3 are still on the sideline — the Giants’ Coughlin, the Rams’ Jeff Fisher and the Bucs’ Lovie Smith.

● Lasted three seasons or less: 3 of 8 (37.5%).

Coaches just fired by another team

This is the smallest bunch of all. I’m talking about guys who were hired immediately after losing a head job somewhere else.

● Made it to the Super Bowl: 2 of 7 (28.6%), 1 winner (14.3%), 1-1 record (.500). Any guesses who the two coaches are? Answer: Tony Dungy, who won with the Colts after being fired by the Bucs, and John Fox, who lost with the Broncos after being canned by the Panthers.

● Made it to the conference title game: 2 of 7 (28.6%), 2 winners (28.6%), 2-1 record (.667).

● Made the playoffs: 5 of 7 (71.4%).

● Finished the job with a winning record: 2 of 5 (40%).

● Finished at .500 or below: 3 of 5 (60%).

Note: Fox and the Chiefs’ Andy Reid, cast off by the Eagles, are still gainfully employed.

● Lasted three seasons or less: 3 of 6 (50%). (Reid is in only his second season in Kansas City.)

Better, worse or the same?

How have coaches done in their first year, compared to the team’s previous season?

● Better record: 61 of 95 (64.2%).

● Same record: 6 of 95 (6.3%).

● Worse record: 28 of 95 (29.5%).

(Dom Capers’ first season with the Texans in 2002 is excluded because it was an expansion team.)

● Missed the playoffs: 69 of 96 (71.9%).

● Went to the playoffs: 27 of 96 (28.1%).

● Took team to the playoffs after it had missed them the season before: 20 of 95 (21.1%).

● Missed the playoffs after the team had gone the season before: 2 of 95 (2.1%).

(Again, Capers was excluded from the last two because the ’02 Texans didn’t have a “season before.”)

● Winning record: 31 of 96 (32.3%).

Of those 31, 25 went to the playoffs, two went with .500 (John Fox/2011 Broncos) or below (Pete Carroll/2010 Seahawks, 7-9) records and six missed them.

● .500 record: 13 of 96 (13.5%). So 44 of 96 (45.8%) finished .500 or better. (And Jeff Fisher just missed with the 2012 Rams at 7-8-1.)

What kind of draft situation do new coaches walk into?

● First overall pick: 12 of 103 (11.7%).

● Top 3 pick: 26 of 103 (25.2%).

● Top 5 pick: 38 of 103 (36.9%).

● Top 10 pick: 61 of 103 (59.2%).

● No first-round pick: 10 of 103 (9.7%).

● Worst top pick of any of the 103 coaches hired since 2000: 95th (Allen, Raiders, 2012). Yup, that’s a real plum job Dennis landed. (Oakland used the third-rounder to select guard Tony Bergstrom, who has started a grand total of one game.)

Taking Over a Winning Team

None of this year’s new coaches was fortunate enough to inherit a winning club, but since 2000:

● 16 of 102 have (15.7%). (Capers excluded.)

● 10 of the 16 (62.5%) went to the playoffs.

● 5 reached the conference title game (Jon Gruden/2002 Bucs, Bill Callahan/’02 Raiders, Norv Turner/’07 Chargers, Jim Caldwell/’09 Colts, Rex Ryan/’09 Jets).

● 3 made it to the Super Bowl (Gruden/’02 Bucs, Callahan/’02 Raiders, Caldwell/’09 Colts).

● 1 won the Super Bowl (Gruden/’02 Bucs).

● 4 other first-year coaches also went to the conference title game (Jim Mora Jr./’04 Falcons, Sean Payton/’06 Saints, John Harbaugh/’08 Ravens, Jim Harbaugh/’11 49ers). All of them lost. So 9 of 96 coaches (9.4%) went at least as far as the conference title game in their first season.

Moral No. 1: Changing coaches after a winning year isn’t necessarily the worst idea in the world.

Moral No. 2: An almost 1-in-10 chance to get to the conference championship game — for a team that just brought in a new coach — sounds pretty good to me.

Some other factoids:

● Marc Trestman (2013 Bears) is the only coach since 2010 — 33 hires, counting the seven this year — to inherit a winning team. He took over a 10-6 club from Lovie Smith and went 8-8.

● Marty Schottenheimer is the last coach to be fired after a playoff season (14-2 with the ’06 Chargers). The two others this happened to: Tony Dungy (9-7 with the ’01 Bucs) and Steve Mariucci (10-6 — plus a first-round win) with the ’02 49ers.

● The luck of Herman Edwards: Both times he was hired as a head coach, he took over a team that had finished with a winning record the year before but had missed the playoffs — first with the ’01 Jets (9-7 in ’00 under Al Groh, who left for the University of Virginia), then with the ’06 Chiefs (10-6 in ’05 under Dick Vermeil, who retired once and for all). He went 10-6 in his first season with the Jets (and made the playoffs) and 9-7 in his first season with the Chiefs (and made the playoffs again). His team failed to advance both years.

● Vermeil retired twice after having a winning team — the ’99 Rams (successor: Mike Martz) and the ’05 Chiefs (Edwards). Jimmy Johnson (9-7, ’99 Dolphins), Bill Parcells (9-7, ’06 Cowboys), Joe Gibbs (9-7, ’07 Redskins) and Tony Dungy (12-4, ’08 Colts) also retired on a winning note. Five of those six teams made the playoffs (Vermeil’s ’05 Chiefs being the exception).

● Martz (2000 Rams) is the lone coach since 2000 to be handed a Super Bowl winner — or even a Super Bowl loser.

● 1993 was the last year at least half the coaches were former NFL/AFL players (14 of 28). The number has shrunk to six this season (again, not counting picket-line-crosser Payton). That’s 18.8 percent. In 1970, when the two leagues merged, it was 61.5 percent (16 of 26).

What do we make of this mountain of data? Whatever you will, I guess. But sifting through the numbers, an ideal candidate emerges (for me, anyway): a recycled coach from a defensive background who, in a perfect world, has just been fired. Or maybe he’s been out of the game for a season or two.

When you look at the seven new coaches, Lovie Smith comes closest to fitting the profile – the same Lovie, it pains me to add, who lost 56-14 to the Falcons two weeks ago. That’s why, no matter how teams go about them, these coaching searches are still a game of Blind Man’s Bluff. Somewhere out there, though, there has to be another Vince Lombardi, doesn’t there?

Postscript: Because I know you’re dying to find out, here are the 26 Super Bowl quarterbacks I referred to earlier.

First-year coaches who had Super Bowl QBs (past or future)

● Dave Campo, 2000 Cowboys — Troy Aikman (3-0 in the Super Bowl in the past).

● Mike Martz, 2000 Rams — Kurt Warner (1-0 in past, 0-2 in future, 1-2 total).

● Bill Belichick, 2000 Patriots — Drew Bledsoe (0-1 in past).

● Mike Sherman, 2000 Packers — Brett Favre (1-1 in past).

● Tony Dungy, 2000 Colts — Peyton Manning (1-2 in future).

● Marty Schottenheimer, 2002 Chargers — Drew Brees (1-0 in future).

● Bill Callahan, 2002 Raiders — Rich Gannon (0-1 in future — that season).

● Jon Gruden, 2002 Raiders — Brad Johnson (1-0 in future — that season).

● Tom Coughlin, 2004 Giants — Kurt Warner (1-1 in past, 0-1 in future, 1-2 total). The Giants also drafted Eli Manning that year (2-0 in future).

● Norv Turner, 2004 Raiders — Kerry Collins (0-1 in past).

● Lovie Smith, 2004 Bears — Rex Grossman (0-1 in future).

● Mike Mularkey, 2004 Bills — Drew Bledsoe (0-1 in past)

● Romeo Crennel, 2005 Browns — Trent Dilfer (0-1 in past)

● Sean Payton, 2006 Saints — Drew Brees (1-0 in future)

● Brad Childress, 2006 Vikings — Brad Johnson (1-0 in past)

● Mike McCarthy, 2006 Packers — Brett Favre (1-1 in past). Plus, the Packers had drafted Aaron Rodgers (1-0 in future) the year before.

● Ken Whisenhunt, 2007 Cardinals — Kurt Warner (1-1 in past, 0-1 in future, 1-2 total).

● Mike Tomlin, 2007 Steelers — Ben Roethlisberger (1-0 in past, 1-1 in future, 2-1 total).

● John Harbaugh, 2008 Ravens — Joe Flacco (1-0 in future).

● Jim Caldwell, 2009 Colts — Peyton Manning (1-0 in past, 0-2 in future, 1-2 total).

● Jim Mora Jr., 2009 Seahawks — Matt Hasselbeck (0-1 in past).

● Pete Carroll, 2010 Seahawks — Matt Hasselbeck (0-1 in past).

● Mike Shanahan, 2010 Redskins — Donovan McNabb (0-1 in past). The Redskins also had Rex Grossman (0-1 in past) on the roster.

● Leslie Frazier, 2011 Vikings — Donovan McNabb (0-1 in past).

● Mike Munchak, 2011 Titans — Matt Hasselbeck (0-1 in past).

To boil it down further:

— 18 of the 96 first-year coaches (2000-13) had a QB who had started in the Super Bowl in the past (18.8%).

— 10 had a QB who won the Super Bowl in the past (10.4%).

— 12 had a QB who would start in the Super Bowl in the future (12.5%).

— 6 had a QB who would win the Super Bowl in the future (6.3%).

— 5 had a QB who would win the Super Bowl with them as coach (5.2%).

— The 5 coaches who had QBs with a Super Bowl in their past and future: Martz ’00 (Warner), Coughlin ’04 (Warner), Whisenhunt ’07 (Warner), Tomlin ’07 (Roethlisberger), Caldwell ’09 (P. Manning).

● The 3 coaches who had two past and/or future Super Bowl QBs on the roster: Coughlin ’04 (Warner, E. Manning), McCarthy ’06 (Favre, Rodgers), Shanahan ’10 (McNabb, Grossman).

For a fair number of first-year coaches, in other words, the cupboard is far from bare.

Source: pro-football-reference.com

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The joy of stats, Week 4

The Vikings’ 41-28 win over the Falcons on Sunday produced not one but two intriguing statistics.

1. In his first NFL start, the Vikes’ Teddy Bridgewater completed 19 of 30 passes for 317 yards and . . . that’s it. No touchdowns, no interceptions. You might say it’s unusual to throw for 300 yards, average 10 per attempt (league norm: 7.1), avoid getting picked off and not have any TD passes. In fact, Bridgewater is just the third quarterback since 1960 to have such a game.

300 PASSING YARDS, 10 YARDS PER ATTEMPT, 0 TD, 0 INT IN A GAME

Date Quarterback, Team Opponent Yds YPA TD Int Result
9-28-14 Teddy Bridgewater,Vikings Falcons 317 10.6 0 0 W, 41-28
11-4-12 Matt Ryan, Falcons Cowboys 342 10.1 0 0 W, 19-13
12-10-00 Kurt Warner, Rams Vikings 346 10.8 0 0 W, 40-29

A big reason Bridgewater didn’t throw for any scores — except for a two-point conversion, that is — is that Minnesota ran the ball well when it got near the goal line. Matt Asiata pounded it in from 1, 3 and 6 yards out, and Teddy scrambled 13 for another touchdown. The four rushing TDs equaled the franchise record, first set in 1965.

Anyway, that’s how Bridgewater wound up with his unusual 30-19-317-0-0 line. (And it’ll probably never happen again.)

2. In defeat, the Falcons’ Devin Hester caught a 36-yard scoring pass from Matt Ryan. That gave Hester touchdowns rushing, receiving and punt returning in the first four games. Only five players have done that since ’60. The list:

RUSHING, RECEIVING AND PUNT-RETURN TD IN FIRST 4 GAMES

Year Player, Team Rush TD Rec TD PR TD
2014 Devin Hester, Falcons 1 1 1
2011 Darren Sproles, Saints 1 1 1
2008 Reggie Bush, Saints 1 2 1
1966 Mike Garrett, Chiefs 1 1 1
1961 Bobby Mitchell, Browns 1 2 1

Finally, one other performance popped out at me in Week 4. Frank Gore, at the tender age of 31, racked up 119 yards rushing and 55 receiving against the Eagles in the 49ers’ 26-21 victory. Since 1960, just nine backs 31 or older have had a 100/50 game. Five are in the Hall of Fame, so the feat must mean something, right?

100 YARDS RUSHING, 50 RECEIVING BY A BACK 31 OR OLDER

Date Running back (Age), Team Opponent Rush Rec Result
9-28-14 Frank Gore (31), 49ers Eagles 119 55 W, 26-21
9-10-06 Tiki Barber (31), Giants Colts 110 61 L, 26-21
10-31-04 Priest Holmes (31), Chiefs Colts 143 82 W, 45-35
11-9-86 Tony Dorsett* (32), Cowboys Raiders 101 64 L, 17-13
11-9-86 Walter Payton* (33), Bears Bucs 139 69 W, 23-3
11-10-85 Walter Payton* (32), Bears Lions 107 69 W, 24-3
10-13-85 Tony Dorsett* (31), Cowboys Steelers 113 82 W, 27-13
9-25-83 Franco Harris* (33), Steelers Patriots 106 83 L, 28-23
9-10-78 O.J. Simpson* (31), 49ers Bears 108 56 L, 16-13
11-11-73 Floyd Little* (31), Broncos Chargers 109 76 W, 30-19
12-10-72 Wendell Hayes (32), Chiefs Colts 104 55 W, 24-10

*Hall of Fame

By the way, that was the last 100-yard rushing performance of Simpson’s career. He outrushed Young Sweetness that day, 108-62, and outgained him from scrimmage, 164-65. Think he might have been up for the game?

Gore, though, looks like he might still have a little mileage in him. So we might need to update this chart at some point in the future.

Source: pro-football-reference.com

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Bengals novelty Mohamed Sanu: He, too, shall pass

A wide receiver who can throw the ball. What football coach wouldn’t want one of those? In Mohamed Sanu, the Bengals have one of the best ever — and we’re not prone to historical hyperbole around here.

Sanu is in just his third season, so it might seem early to be making such pronouncements. But his stats say otherwise. After his 50-yard strike to Brandon Tate in a Week 3 win over the Falcons, the numbers look like this: 3 attempts, 3 completions, 148 yards, 1 touchdown, 158.3 rating. (That’s as high, of course, as ratings get.)

Put it this way: Only two wideouts in NFL history have thrown for more yards than Sanu, and both played a lot longer than he has. Heck, a mere nine have thrown for as many as 100 yards. The group Sanu has joined:

WIDE RECEIVERS WITH 100 CAREER PASSING YARDS

Years Wideout Team(s) Att Comp Yds TD Int Rating
2002-10 Antwaan Randle El Steelers, Redskins 27 22 323 6 0 156.1
1973-83 Drew Pearson Cowboys 7 5 192 3 2 113.7
2012-14 Mohamed Sanu Bengals 3 3 148 1 0 158.3
1952-59 Bill McColl Bears 6 2 138 1 2 81.9
1999-09 Marty Booker Bears, Dolphins 10 3 126 2 0 118.7
1992-96 Arthur Marshall Broncos 2 2 111 2 0 158.3
1969-76 Marlin Briscoe Bills, Dolphins, Lions 9 4 108 0 1 49.5
1998-12 Randy Moss Vikings 8 4 106 2 1 95.8
1981-92 Jim Jensen Dolphins 7 4 102 2 0 141.4

Note: A team is only listed if the receiver threw a pass for it. Briscoe broke in as a quarterback with the Broncos, so only his passing statistics as a wideout are included.

One player who isn’t on the list is Hall of Fame end Bill Hewitt, who tossed three TD passes for the Bears — all in the 1933 season. The play Hewitt ran was dubbed the Stinky Special, not because George Halas was a stinker to call it but because Stinky was Bill’s nickname.

Years ago, I asked Ray Nolting, a teammate of Hewitt’s, where the nickname came from. “If we won a ballgame,” he told me, “he’d wear the same jockstrap until we got beat. Wouldn’t wash it. Our

Helmetless Bill Hewitt

Helmetless Bill Hewitt

trainer, Andy Lotshaw, would complain about how much he smelled. One time we were on a six-game winning streak, and Bill hopped up on the trainer’s table on Monday and asked Andy for a rubdown. ‘OK,’ Andy said, ‘turn over.’ So Bill turned over, and Andy took the scissors and cut the jockstrap off. Boy, was Bill mad. He chased Andy all around the locker room. Busted our luck, too. We lost the next one.”

Hewitt also was famous for playing without a helmet, as you can see in the accompanying photo.

Getting back to Sanu, he’s a natural for such trickery because he was an option quarterback in high school and, when he wasn’t catching passes Rutgers, ran coach Greg Schiano’s wildcat offense. “As a receiver, defenses can do things to take you out of the game if they want to,” Schiano said in 2009. “By putting him in the wildcat, we know he’s getting the touch. He may hand off to somebody, but when we want him to keep it, he’s keeping it.”

The Bengals have gotten the ball to Sanu a variety of ways. The first time he threw it, in his second NFL game, he gave the defense a wildcat look by lining up in the shotgun, then faked to running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis and fired a 73-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Green. Redskins DBs DeAngelo Hall (23) and DeJon Gomes (24) are still wondering what happened. You can watch the video here.

On his second attempt, Sanu was flanked wide left. He caught a lateral pass from Andy Dalton and completed a perfect cross-field throw to running back Giovani Bernard down the right sideline. The play set up his own 6-yard TD grab that put the Bengals ahead to stay against the Browns. You can watch that video here.

On attempt No. 3, Sanu again lined up left (though not as wide), took an end-around pitch from Dalton and hit Tate in stride along the right sideline. Another QB-quality heave. You can watch that video here.

(Sorry for the commercials. The NFL must need the dough for its defense fund.)

People would probably be more excited about this — well, some people would probably be more excited about this — if Sanu weren’t following so closely on the heels of Randle El, the gold standard among Throwing Receivers. Randle El, you may recall, was a dual-threat quarterback for Cam Cameron at Indiana. If you look at his NFL passing stats (27 attempts, etc.) they’re kind of what a QB might put up in a game — a really, really good game. Indeed, only three times since 1960 has a quarterback had that good a game: at least 6 TD passes and a rating of 156.1.

QUARTERBACKS WITH 6 TD PASSES. 156.1+ RATING IN A GAME SINCE 1960

Date Quarterback, Team Opponent Att Comp Yds TD Int Rating
9-28-03 Peyton Manning, Colts Saints 25 20 314 6 0 158.3
10-21-07 Tom Brady, Patriots Dolphins 25 21 354 6 0 158.3
11-3-13 Nick Foles, Eagles Raiders 28 22 406 7 0 158.3
Career Antwaan Randle El, Steelers/Redskins All 27 22 323 6 0 156.1

That’s how terrific a passer Randle El was. But let’s not forget: For Sanu, the future is not written.

Someday he might even catch a touchdown pass and throw one in the same game. (He came close Sunday with his 76-yard scoring reception and 50-yard completion.) The last 10 receivers to accomplish the feat (which takes us back to 1983):

THE LAST 10 RECEIVERS WITH A TD CATCH AND A TD PASS IN THE SAME GAME

Date Wideout, Team Opponent TD catch (Yds, QB) TD pass (Yds, Receiver)
11-11-12 Golden Tate, Seahawks Jets 38 from Russell Wilson 23 to Sidney Rice
11-30-08 Mark Clayton, Ravens Bengals 70 from Joe Flacco 32 to Derrick Mason
12-18-04 Antwaan Randle El, Steelers Giants 35 from Roethlisberger 10 to Vernon Haynes
11-9-03 Rod Gardner, Redskins Seahawks 14 from Patrick Ramsey 10 to Trung Canidate
10-06-02 Kevin Lockett, Redskins Titans 23 from Patrick Ramsey 14 to Stephen Davis
10-21-01 David Patten, Patriots Colts 91 from Tom Brady 60 to Troy Brown
10-7-01 Marty Booker, Bears Falcons 63 from Jim Miller 34 to Marcus Robinson
11-13-88 Louis Lipps, Steelers Eagles 89 from Bubby Brister 13 to Merrill Hoge
10-30-83 Harold Carmichael, Eagles Colts 6 from Ron Jaworski 45 to Mike Quick
10-9-83 Mark Clayton, Dolphins Bills 14 from Dan Marino 48 to Mark Duper

Source: pro-football-reference.com

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Ray Rice, Roger Goodell and journalistic hyperbole

The unconscionable conduct of a handful of NFL players — Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson most visibly — “has mushroomed into the biggest crisis confronting a commissioner in the NFL’s 95-year history,” ESPN.com reporters Don Van Natta Jr. and Kevin Van Valkenburg wrote the other day.

And they make that claim more than once in their investigative piece on embattled Roger Goodell — and how he and the league fumbled the handling of Rice’s domestic-violence case. Toward they end, they again call it “the worst crisis in NFL history,” adding, “some league sponsors, most notably Anheuser-Busch, are jittery.”

Worst crisis in NFL history. That certainly takes in a lot of territory. Also, if you’re going to use words like “biggest” and “worst,” it helps to define your terms. If by “biggest” and “worst” you mean “loudest,” you’re probably right. Nowadays, with social media and the 24-hour news cycle and nonstop sports chatter on TV and radio, everything is louder. But that doesn’t make the subject of the noise any more momentous. Our airwaves are a huge vacuum. Something has to fill it. The beast must be fed.

But if by “biggest” and “worst” you mean “most threatening to the league” — as far as its financial well-being and/or place in the sports hierarchy are concerned — the current crisis doesn’t even make the Top 5 all time, and pales in comparison to a few. You want a crisis? How about these:

● The Great Depression. When Black Thursday struck in October 1929, the NFL was in just its 10th season. Its success was by no means assured. College football was still far more popular, and baseball, of course, was king. On top of that, the pro football player wasn’t exactly considered a Shining Example of American Manhood. (More like a mercenary lout.)

Then the stock market crashed and, well, what do you think that was like? Do you suppose it might have been a bigger deal than what’s going on now with Rice, Peterson and the rest? By 1932, the league had shrunk to eight teams — three in New York, two in Chicago and one Boston, Portsmouth (Ohio) and Green Bay. Five cities, that’s it. And two had populations of less than 50,000.

In the late ’30s things began to get better for the NFL — as they did for the rest of the country — but it was touch and go for a while.

● World War II. Yeah, let’s not forget that. With so many of its players in the military, the league thought about shutting down in 1943 — only the Cleveland Rams did — and some franchises were merged to keep them viable. As the war went on, teams were so hurting for manpower they suited up a few 18-year-olds and talked retired players like the Redskins’ Tiger Walton, who had been out of the game since 1934, into making a comeback. (Only 12 of 330 draft picks in 1944 played in the NFL that season.)

“If the war had lasted a little longer,” Bears Hall of Famer Sid Luckman once said, “the NFL might have gotten down to the level of semi-pro ball.”

● The American Football League. Sorry, but a decade-long battle with a rival league (1960-69) — a league that mounted the most serious challenge to the NFL’s monopoly — strikes me as a much bigger crisis than L’Affaire Rice. Competition from the AFL increased salaries dramatically, forced the NFL to expand earlier than it would have (to Dallas, Minnesota, Atlanta and New Orleans) and hurt profit margins. And in the last two seasons before the merger, the AFL’s Jets and Chiefs won the Super Bowl. The horror.

● Steroids. We tend forget what a stir the steroid epidemic created in the ’80s. It wasn’t just a health issue, it was a competitive fairness issue. Let’s face it, nothing riles fans quite like the idea of cheating – and it’s damaging when such a cloud hovers over a league. Once the problem came to a head, Commissioner Pete Rozelle dealt with it quickly and decisively, but only after years of whispers and denial.

● Concussions. When all the votes are in, I wouldn’t be surprised if this crisis — which is far from over — turns out to be far worse for the NFL than the recent rash of misbehavior. Indeed, if anything brings down pro football, it will be the growing suspicion that the game is simply too dangerous, that the physical cost isn’t worth the financial gain. That doesn’t mean the league won’t continue to exist in some form; but it’ll be seriously diminished, and it won’t attract nearly as many of the best athletes.

One other crisis is worthy of mention, even if it doesn’t crack the Top 5. In 1946 New York police uncovered an attempt to fix the NFL championship game. This led to two Giants players being banished from the league and, naturally, much negative publicity — at a time when the rival All-America Conference was trying to gain traction. As difficult as life is for Goodell, I doubt he’d swap places with Bert Bell, the commissioner in ’46. (The AAC, after all, was a worthy adversary that gave us the Browns and 49ers.)

Anyway, that’s six crises in the NFL’s 95-year history I’d rate ahead of the one we’re now obsessing about. And I’m sure I could come up with several more if I wanted to think about it a bit longer. But I’ve got other blogs to throw on the fire, other fishy statements to fry.

So I’ll finish here: Crises aren’t bigger nowadays because the NFL is bigger; they’re actually smaller, generally, but for the same reason: because the game is so firmly established. It was in the early years that you had to worry. A crisis back then was like a baby running a temperature. The league hadn’t built up the immunities it has now.

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