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We’re headed into week 3 of the NFL season already, and one of the matchups is between 2 old franchises, the New York Giants and Cleveland Browns. We will travel back to December 4, 1966 for a contest involving these teams, who were bitter Eastern Division rivals at that time. Throughout the 1950s they were top clubs, and between 1961 and 1965 either the Giants (’61, ’62 and ’63) or Browns (’64 and ’65) represented the East in the NFL title game.

In ’66 the Browns were coming off back-to-back Eastern crowns, while the Giants were on a steep decline, having lost the field general responsible for their earlier glory, Y.A. Tittle, to retirement after the ’64 season. This was week 12 of a 14 game season, and the Giants had only a single victory to show for their efforts so far, while the Browns were in pursuit of the up and coming Dallas Cowboys, who led the division. When New York’s Clarence Childs returned the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown and Giants’ QB Gary Wood ran 5 yards for another score to put the Giants up quickly 14-0, Cleveland knew they were in for a fight from a team that might have been down, but still held contempt for their rival. The Browns steadied themselves and put together a drive that ended with a 1 yard touchdown plunge by Leroy Kelly to cut the deficit in half. The Giants were determined, however. Wood scrambled for another score, from 16 yards out, and after Cleveland matched that with a short TD pass from Frank Ryan to Gary Collins, New York took over the rest of the second quarter and added a 33 yard touchdown pass from Wood to Joe Morrison and a Pete Gogolak field goal. Entering the halftime locker room the Browns found themselves staring at a shocking 31-14 deficit.

Pete Gogolak, pro football’s first soccer style kicker

The lead was bumped up to 20 points when Gogolak opened the second half scoring with another field goal. Kelly, who had taken over from the retired Jim Brown as Cleveland’s featured back in ’66, sandwiched a pair of short touchdown runs around another Gogolak three-pointer, and the Giants’ lead after 3 quarters was cut to 37-28. Gogolak booted his fourth field goal to start the final quarter to put his club up 40-28, but the Browns’ winning DNA took over from there. Ryan, who to this day is still the last Cleveland signal caller to guide the Browns to a championship, connected on scoring throws of 19 yards to Ralph Smith and 31 yards to Ernie Green and it was 42-40 in favor of Cleveland. The defense added some icing to the cake when defensive end Bill Glass scooped up a Giants’ fumble and rambled 13 yards to the end zone to put the game away for good with a final count of 49-40. It was a good scare by a losing club against their bitter long-time rival, but the cream eventually rose to the top.

Future Hall of Fame back Leroy Kelly

It’s week 2 of the NFL season, and for this week’s Throwback Thursday feature we’ll go with a team for the second straight week, as the Los Angeles Rams meet the Arizona Cardinals. Last week we went back to 1963 for a Rams’ contest, and we’ll venture back another decade, to November 15, 1953 this week. The game wasn’t necessarily an important one, and the end result was of the “kissing your sister” variety, a 24-24 tie. There was no overtime in those days, and teams would routinely finish their season with 2 or 3 ties on their record.

This was supposed to be a one-sided affair, as the Rams were a Western Division contender at 5-2 while the Cardinals, based in Chicago back then, were winless in 7 contests. The lowly Cardinals, determined to show some pride in front of their Comiskey Park home crowd, came out firing on all cylinders. Quarterback Jim Root found back Johnny Olszewski, affectionately known as “Johnny O”, for a 62 yard touchdown to open the scoring, and future broadcaster Pat Summerall added a 16 yard field goal. The defense then joined the fray. Ray Ramsey took 1 of his 2 interceptions of Norm Van Brocklin 37 yards to paydirt and suddenly the home club found themselves with a 17-0 first quarter lead.

The Rams found their footing in the second quarter, and got on the scoreboard twice, first on a Ben Agajanian field goal and then on a Skeet Quinlan 2 yard scoring plunge to cut their halftime deficit to 17-10. The Cards began to revert to their bumbling selves again in the second half. They allowed L.A. to tie the game when Dick “Night Train” Lane scooped up a fumble and raced 26 yards for the only third quarter score. When Deacon Dan Towler scored on a 1 yard run to put the Rams in the lead for the first time at 24-17, it appeared that they had finally righted the ship and taken command. That’s when Chicago turned to their quintuple threat future Hall of Famer, back Charley Trippi, to salvage the tie. Back in those days, positions weren’t as specialized as they are today, including even the quarterback spot. Trippi, primarily a halfback, could do it all. He was adept at running, passing, receiving, was the team’s punter and also excelled at safety on defense. Running an offense with a full house backfield (4 backs) he completed 11 of 16 passes for 117 yards, and connected with Don Paul on a 17 yard TD pass to earn the tie. QB Root, by contrast, only threw 7 passes, 3 which were complete, for a paltry 79 yards. Trippi also led the team in rushing with 96 yards on 15 carries, punted, returned punts and played defense.

The Rams would only lose 1 more game the rest of the year, but finished third in a highly competitive Western race, while the Cardinals would manage only a single win the rest of the way that season. Trippi held the distinction of being the oldest living Hall of Famer until he passed away in 2022 at the age of 100.

Rams’ Skeet Quinlan attracts Cardinal defenders as he fights for yardage

The new NFL season is upon us tonight, as the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs take on Baltimore. And that means that it’s also time for the first installment of 2024 of our Throwback Thursday feature, where we pick out a game from the week’s schedule and go back in time to another earlier meeting between the 2 teams. On this first week’s schedule, the Los Angeles Rams take on the Detroit Lions, and we’ll travel back to November 17, 1963, when these Western Division rivals met at Detroit’s Tiger Stadium. There hadn’t been much of a rivalry, really, as the Lions, who were a powerhouse in the 1950s and a formidable club in the early ’60s, had beaten the Rams 6 straight times, and 9 of 10 times going back to the late ’50s.

The latest embarrassment had taken place earlier that season, when the Lions trounced L.A. 23-2 on their own home turf at the Coliseum. For this November rematch both clubs sported losing records, but coach Harland Svare’s Tinsel Town team came into the match determined to reverse their fortunes against the Motor City Kitties. They started strong, taking a first quarter lead on a 9 yard touchdown run by halfback Dick Bass. Lions’ quarterback Earl Morrall, who had wrestled the starting job away from Milt Plum, matched the Rams’ score with an 18 yard TD toss to Terry Barr. As a precursor of things to come, the Rams’ young second year QB, Roman Gabriel, connected with his favorite target, Carroll Dale, on a 66 yard bomb to give his club a 14-7 halftime lead.

Roman Gabriel in action, Dick Bass looks to protect him

Morrall and the Lions reasserted their dominance, scoring the only third quarter touchdown on a Morrall to Jim Gibbons 32 yard strike, and then taking the lead for the first time in the final quarter with another touchdown pitch to Barr, this time from 20 yards out.  Having earlier found a weakness in the Detroit secondary, Gabriel exploited it with a pair of touchdown throws to Dale, a 42 and a 51 yarder, and when the final gun sounded (they actually signaled the game’s end with a gun back then), Los Angeles ended their misery with a 28-21 victory. Dale enjoyed a career day with 7 receptions for 207 yards and the 3 scores, while Detroit, despite the loss, had 2 receivers, Barr and Gail Cogdill, reach 100+ yards receiving.

Five days later, the unspeakable happened. The President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

Ticket from November 1963 Rams-Lions game