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Archive for November, 2014

Classic Team Logo of The Day

14 Nov

ralph2014

This is the memorial logo being worn by the Buffalo Bills in 2014 in honor of their late founder and owner Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Wilson was one of the original eight owners who founded the American Football League, which began play in 1960. He was the last survivor of that group, known collectively as “The Foolish Club” for having the audacity to challenge the established NFL. He also played an important behind-the-scenes role in helping to bring about the merger between the AFL and NFL which produced the thriving entity the league has become today.

 

Classic Sports Card of The Day

14 Nov

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1963 Fleer football card of former pro football lineman Ken Rice, who played seven seasons in the American Football League for three different teams. He was an AFL All Star in his rookie season of 1961 with the Buffalo Bills. He moved on to Oakland in 1964, and was left unprotected by the Raiders in the 1966 expansion draft, and was chosen by the Miami Dolphins. Injuries forced him to retire after the 1967 season.

 

NFL – Throwback Thursday: Lombardi Loses

13 Nov

The Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles square off on this week’s NFL schedule, harkening back to another meeting between these two franchises that will be this week’s Throwback Thursday feature. That meeting was the National Football League championship game of the 1960 season, and was historic in the fact that it was the only post-season loss in the head coaching career of Packer legend Vince Lombardi. The decade of the 1950s had been dominated by the likes of the Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Colts, as those three clubs won 7 titles between them. So when the Packers and Eagles qualified for the title game in ’60, it was a matchup of “new blood”. Green Bay hadn’t played for a league title since 1944, while the Eagles were making their first championship appearance since 1949. There were some quirky things about the game – it was played on a Monday – December 26th, because the NFL didn’t want to play on Christmas, and was scheduled for a noon start time, because Philadelphia’s home stadium, Franklin Field, had no lights and the league was concerned that there could be sudden death overtime, which had happened two years previous in 1958. The Packers had been a losing franchise in the ’50s, and Lombardi took over as head coach in 1959 and produced a winning season, then got his club into the title game in 1960. The Packers were an unknown quantity at the time. Bart Starr was on the roster, but he shared quarterback duties with Lamar McHan. In fact, the Packers got to the title game with an 8-4 record, and were 4-0 in McHan’s starts and 4-4 in Starr’s. Other future Packer legends, like Paul Hornung, Jim Taylor and Ray Nitschke, were in the early stages of their careers. The Eagles, on the other hand, were pretty much a one-year wonder. They were led by veteran QB Norm Van Brocklin, who would retire after the title game, and coach Buck Shaw, who turned the Eagles from chronic losers into NFL champs in three seasons. The title game would be Shaw’s last with Philly also. Philadelphia wound up winning the game 17-13, and the game ended with Green Bay driving deep into Eagle territory. With only 22 seconds left and no timeouts, Starr threw a short pass to Taylor and he was tackled at the ten by Philly’s Chuck “Concrete Charlie” Bednarik. The rules were a lot different in that era, and Bednarik, after making the tackle, held Taylor down as the clock wound down. As the final gun sounded, Bednarik snarled “You can get up now, Taylor. This damn game’s over!” Winning the title was a bit of a crowning achievement for players like Bednarik, Van Brocklin and veteran receivers Tommy McDonald and Pete Retzlaff, who all played well. Ted Dean, an Eagle rookie phenom, scored what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown on a five yard run.

For Green Bay and Lombardi, the game was not their greatest moment. Lombardi, in fact, made some tactical mistakes, including going for it on fourth down (and failing) on several occasions deep in Eagle territory. The Packers outgained Philly 401 yards to 296, but couldn’t finish the job. In typical Lombardi fashion, the coach took the brunt of the blame, claiming afterward “When you get down there, you have to come out with something. I lost the game, not my players.” Lombardi also exhorted his players to remember the feeling they were experiencing in that losing locker room, and told them they wouldn’t ever feel it again. His words were prophetic, as the Packers grew into a dynasty that dominated the 1960s, winning the NFL championship 5 of the next 7 seasons, including the first two Super Bowls.

 

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From left, Norm Van Brocklin, coach Buck Shaw and Chuck Bednarik celebrate winning the 1960 NFL title

 

 

Classic Team Logo of The Day

13 Nov

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Logo of a small college football program, the Holy Cross Crusaders, used from 1966 until 1998. The team plays in the Patriot League, a Football Championship Sub-division conference (formerly known as Division I-AA). Former Crusaders who’ve played pro football in either the AFL or NFL include Hall of Famer George Connor, Bob Dee, Doug Cosbie , Vince Promuto and Jon Morris.

 

Classic Sports Card of The Day

13 Nov

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1962 Post Cereal football card of former NFL halfback Ted Dean. This series was available on the back of boxes of Post cereal products. Dean was a prize rookie on the Philadelphia Eagles’ 1960 championship team, as a runner, kick returner and placekicker. He scored the winning touchdown in that season’s title game. Although considered a rising star, Dean played for the Eagles for only four seasons before injuries curtailed his production, and he was traded to Minnesota prior to the 1964 season. However, he suffered further injuries in an automobile accident and only played in 2 games for the Vikings. He became a teacher in the Philadelphia area after his playing career ended.

 

NFL – Bills’ Game Review

09 Nov

For the second season in a row, the Buffalo Bills outplayed the Kansas City Chiefs for most of the day, then proceeded to hand them a win with what now has to be considered “Buffalo Bills football – 2014 edition” – that is, combining costly mistakes, questionable coaching decisions and breakdowns at the worst possible crucial times to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  The Bills blew a 13-3 lead in the second half and lost 17-13. Buffalo’s offensive effort was average, as they struggled to run the ball at times, but had success running at others. Kyle Orton completed some impressive throws at times, and missed the mark on some others. It could be argued that the Bills played well enough on offense, defense and special teams to win the game, but were done in by the two things that have hampered them in the 1 1/2 year Doug Marrone regime – turnovers and penalties. The two turnovers were game-changers, and underscored why the Bills are still the same old Bills, despite what their players say. Bryce Brown took off on what looked like a sure touchdown run only to have the ball knocked loose at the four yard line. The ball bounced directly into the hands of tight end Scott Chandler, but he lost the handle on it and allowed it to bounce out of the end zone for a touchback. After the Bills’ defense made a stand, Leodis McKelvin wiped out whatever momentum that stand might have given his team by fumbling the Chiefs’ punt. Did the Bills’ supposedly dominant defense stiffen up and bail out McKelvin? No, two plays later, the Chiefs were in the end zone on an eight yard Alex Smith run for what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown. It’s tough to assign any blame for the defeat on the defense, since they pressured Smith most of the day, sacking him six times, and contained K.C. back Jamaal Charles for the most part. However, at the most crucial points of the game in the second half, they allowed Charles to run 39 yards for a score on fourth down and one, and allowed an 18 yard scamper by Charles right after McKelvin’s fumble. Again, the Bills played what has become their “signature” game – they played well enough to win but gave the game away. It’s that maddening habit that keeps them from getting any respect from the national media, why they aren’t considered real contenders and why, against the New York Jets in their last game, they became the first team with a winning record in NFL history to be an underdog against a team with one win. Most of the pro football experts know what to expect from this team – that they’ll collapse at critical times during games and at some point every season, and the Bills feed that lack of respect by continually delivering those collapses.

Other than letting a sure win get away, did the Bills accomplish anything positive on Sunday? Absolutely they did. After a slow start, their running game started to click, with Brown and Anthony Dixon grinding out good chunks of yardage. The offensive line had a decent game, blocking well enough for the backs to total 111 yards and allowing only a single sack on Orton. McKelvin, before his disastrous fumble, set up the offense in good field position with some nice punt returns. The defense, other than the pair of breakdowns involving Charles, had another good day, sacking Smith six times, with three coming from Marcell Dareus, who is now establishing himself as a solid Pro Bowl-caliber player.

 
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Classic Team Logo of The Day

09 Nov

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Today’s logo is another example of the great cartoon art featured on the American Football League’s game day programs in the 1960s. This program was from a pre-season game played on August 14, 1964 between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs, and shows the “Buffalo Bill” logo that was used on many of the Bills’ programs at the time, dousing the campfire of a pretty sorry-looking Chief.

 

Classic Sports Card of The Day

09 Nov

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1984 Topps football card of former Buffalo Bills running back Booker Moore, who was drafted by the Bills out of Penn State in 1981, but was forced to sit out a year after he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome. He was able to play again in 1982 and wound up playing four mostly uneventful seasons for the Bills in the Chuck Knox era. After retiring in 1986, Moore became a sheriff’s deputy in Michigan. He died of a heart attack at the age of 50 in 2009.

 

NFL – Throwback Thursday: The Free Kick Game

05 Nov

The oldest rivalry in the National Football League will be renewed this weekend when the Chicago Bears take on the Green Bay Packers, and this week’s Throwback Thursday post will feature a game played between these two storied franchises. The game took place on September 13, 1964, and certainly wasn’t the most classic matchup of the many these two division rivals would play against each other over the years, but it included a play that caught a lot of people by surprise that day. First, let’s set up the recent history these clubs had against each other at the time. In 1962, on their way to their second consecutive NFL title, coach Vince Lombardi’s Packers had throttled the Bears twice in the regular season, by overwhelming scores of 49-0 and 38-7. The following year, Bears’ coach George Halas was on a mission to even the score, and he succeeded, as Chicago handed Green Bay their only two losses of the season. To add salt to Lombardi’s wound, the Bears would go on to win the title that year and unseat the Packers as champs. So, the September, 1964 matchup being featured this week here was somewhat of a “rubber match” between the teams. The stars of each team did their jobs in the game – Green Bay’s Bart Starr threw a pair of touchdown passes, and Chicago tight end Mike Ditka caught a scoring pass from Rudy Bukich. Bears’ kicker Bob Jencks booted a pair of field goals, one of them being an 8 yarder in the first half. That’s something that would be impossible to do in today’s game, as the goal posts are now located ten yards deep in the end zone, as opposed to directly on the goal line as they were at the time. The NFL eventually got tired of receivers running “post patterns” that ended with the player crashing into the goal post. The hero of the game was Packer star Paul Hornung, a versatile future Hall of Famer who had been a college quarterback, and was not only a triple threat as a passer, runner and receiver but was also his team’s placekicker. That was another oddity of the era – no specialists, each team’s placekicker and punter played other positions also. On this day, Hornung’s kicking ability was the difference in the game – he supplied 11 points with his foot in a 23-12 Green Bay victory, 3 field goals and a pair of extra points. Two of the field goals were short, routine kicks, but the third was the play that surprised both teams and all the people in the stands. As the first half was winding down, Green Bay forced a Bears’ punt, and the Packers’ Elijah Pitts called for a fair catch at the 48 yard line. Lombardi, to the surprise of everyone, invoked a little-known rule known as the “fair catch free kick rule”, which allows the receiving team to attempt a field goal, uncontested by the opponent, from the spot of the fair catch. Neither team had ever heard of, let alone practiced, a “free kick”, so there was a lot of confusion, but Lombardi, and luckily the officials, knew all about the rule. With Starr holding and the half nearing an end, Hornung calmly booted the 52 yard attempt, which was fairly long by 1960s standards, before the soccer-style specialists took over.

The Packers and Bears may have spent a little too much energy trying to outdo each other, as neither team won the championship that year – the Cleveland Browns did. It took five years, but the Bears extracted a bit of revenge in 1968, as their kicker that year, Mac Percival, used the same “free kick” rule to boot a game-winning 48 yard field goal to knock off the Packers, 13-10.

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Green Bay’s versatile star, Paul Hornung, splits the uprights

 

 

Classic Team Logo of The Day

05 Nov

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On the left is the iconic logo of the National Football League, unofficially known as “The Shield”, and on the right is the same logo as it appeared when first introduced in 1960. Obviously, it’s not a “team” logo, but the NFL itself, in the early years under commissioner Pete Rozelle, became somewhat of a team as the team owners, under Rozelle’s guidance, incorporated as one and negotiated huge television contracts that called for revenue sharing and ensured even the small market franchises could remain solvent and competitive. It was a brilliant strategy that helped grow the game into the media giant that it is today.