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NFL – Throwback Thursday: Righting The Ship

07 Nov

It’s already week 10 of the NFL season, and on this week’s slate of games there is a matchup of a pair of old American Football League rivals, the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos. Our Throwback Thursday time machine will travel back to October 29, 1967 for this week’s TBT feature, when these Western Division clubs clashed. The Chiefs were defending AFL champions, having beaten Buffalo in the 1966 title game to advance to the initial AFL-NFL Championship game. Maybe the pounding they took from Green Bay in that game affected their psyche, or maybe it was the first case ever of “Super Bowl hangover”, but after starting the ’67 season with a pair of victories, the Chiefs had now suddenly lost 3 of 4 contests to fall to 3-3 for the year.

Facing a downtrodden Denver team coming into the game with a 1-6 record, this was a perfect opportunity for the Chiefs to right the ship and get their season back on track. They wasted little time in doing that. Fullback Curtis McClinton scored on a 1 yard plunge and Len Dawson hit tight end Fred Arbanas with a 14 yard touchdown pass to end the first quarter with his club ahead 14-0. In the second quarter, Dawson found his favorite target, Otis Taylor, on a 30 yard TD throw, then coach Hank Stram unleashed his slippery little back, Mike Garrett, who proceeded to gash the Bronco defense for touchdown runs of 20 and 8 yards. The rout was on as the score was now 35-0, but Denver stemmed the tide with a Steve Tensi to Al Denson scoring bomb of 48 yards to make it 35-7. Dawson matched that before the half with a 5 yard TD toss to Gene Thomas to up the lead to 42-7.

In the third quarter, the Broncos showed some fight, slowing down the K.C. attack and providing the only scoring of the period when they tackled Johnny Robinson in the end zone for a safety after he had intercepted a Tensi pass and tried to run with it. The final quarter went the Chiefs’ way again, as they added a Jan Stenerud field goal and a 15 yard touchdown run by backup halfback Bert Coan, putting the final touches on a 52-9 romp. Statistically, Garrett enjoyed a fine day with 20 carries for 101 yards and the 2 TDs, along with 37 receiving yards. Denson was a bright spot for Denver with 4 catches for 107 and his team’s lone touchdown. The win turned the Chiefs’ fortunes back in the right direction, and they went on to finish 9-5 for the year. However, despite being defending champs, it wasn’t good enough to qualify for the playoffs (there were no wild cards in that era) as the Oakland Raiders dominated the AFL Western Division with a stellar 13-1 record. Denver finished in it’s familiar spot – in the Western Division cellar – with a 3-11 record.

 

Chiefs’ back Mike Garrett

 

NFL – Throwback Thursday: Adios Chicago

31 Oct

There is a matchup of the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals on this week’s NFL schedule, and our Throwback Thursday time machine will take us back to November 29, 1959 for a game between these 2 old franchises. The Bears were an NFL powerhouse in the 1940s but despite declining on the field in the ’50s, they were still the favorites of fans of the city. At the time the Cardinals were also based in the Windy City, but played second fiddle to the Bears to the point that team owners decided to move to St. Louis for the 1960 season. This game is significant because it was the last home game the Cardinals would play in Chicago. Coach George Halas’ Monsters of The Midway would give their cross-town neighbors a rude sendoff, winning 31-7 in a game that was decided early.

The Bears’ played their home games in that era at Wrigley Field, the venerable old ballpark that is still home to baseball’s Cubs to this day. This matchup took place at the Cardinals’ home base of Soldier Field, for the last time of course with the move to St. Louis pending. The attendance was a bit over 48,000, but with the indifference of Cardinal fans at that point, the betting here is it was mostly a Bears’ fan crowd. The Bears’ Ed Brown had what was a typical outing at that time for a quarterback. He completed only 12 of 27 passes for a meager 188 yards, a 44% completion percentage that would be unacceptable to today’s efficiency driven signal callers, and a surprisingly below average performance in what was a one-sided game. Brown made his completions matter, however. He threw touchdown passes of 76 and 12 yards to Willard Dewveall in the first half, and John Aveni’s 24 yard field goal put Halas’ forces up 17-0 at the break. Dewveall was the statistical star of the game with 3 catches for 105 yards and the 2 TD.

Rick Casares’ 28 yard touchdown rumble put the lead at an insurmountable 24-0 in the third quarter, but the Cardinals managed one final score in their soon to be abandoned home stadium as QB King Hill tossed a 25 yard TD pass to Perry Richards. Hill had an even more miserable passing day than Brown. He was 7 of 21 (33%) for only 102 yards while being intercepted twice. Merrill Douglas’ 2 yard scoring run gave the Bears their final 31-7 advantage, and the Cardinals’ stay in Chicago, which had begun in 1920 as one of the original NFL franchises (and as an independent athletic team since 1898) came to an end. The Bidwell family, Cardinal owners, kept the club in the Gateway city until 1987, then after a stadium dispute moved them again to their current home in Arizona.

 

 

Cardinals/Bears program from 11/29/1959

 

NFL – Throwback Thursday: Dandy Don Lights It Up

24 Oct

On November 10, 1963 the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers hooked up in a contest at San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium. With the Cowboys and Niners matched up on this week’s NFL schedule, that’s the game we’ll highlight for this week’s Throwback Thursday post. Both clubs were in the midst of dismal losing seasons as they entered this week 9 game, with Dallas owning only 2 wins and San Fran only a single one, having gotten their coach fired earlier in the year and now being led by interim coach Jack Christiansen.  Cowboy coach Tom Landry was in his fourth year at the helm, and would eventually build the franchise into a consistent winner, but they hadn’t quite reached “America’s Team” level yet. In fact, they regressed from where they had finished in 1962. A few weeks prior to this game, Landry made a decision that in upcoming seasons would turn the team’s fortunes around. He scrapped his quarterback shuffle plan between Eddie LeBaron and Don Meredith and installed Meredith as full time starter.

San Francisco, meanwhile, had lost starting quarterback John Brodie to a season-ending injury in October, and were being led by veteran journeyman Lamar McHan. The 2 signal callers matched each other in the first half. Meredith sandwiched touchdown passes of 15 and 24 yards to the Cowboys’ best receiver, Frank Clarke, around a 27 yard McHan to Don Lisbon scoring toss. Meredith continued his hot first half, throwing his third TD pass to Billy Howton from 15 yards out. 49er kicker Tommy Davis cut Dallas’ lead to 21-10 at halftime with a late field goal. It was McHan’s turn to shine in the second half. He led a pair of third quarter touchdown drives, ending in a 1 yard plunge by J.D. Smith and a second scoring pass to his running back Lisbon from 46 yards out. The Niners now found themselves with a 24-21 lead. McHan completed the comeback with a 20 yard scoring strike to future actor Bernie Casey, while Dallas could only muster a late field goal and wound up on the short end of a 31-24 final score.

 

 

 

 

 

Bernie Casey, Gargoyle and Nerd mentor

 

Despite the loss, Meredith had an amazing day. He completed 30 of 48 passes for 460 yards and 3 TDs (in the NFL’s 3 yards and a cloud of dust era), while 3 of his receivers, Clarke, Howton and Lee Folkins, each amassed over 100 yards. Despite 1963 being a disappointing year, making Meredith the full time starter paid dividends for coach Landry in upcoming years. The Cowboys became consistent winners and Meredith led them to the NFL title game twice, where they lost heartbreakers to Green Bay. Landry ran into the same problem in the early 1970s when he platooned Craig Morton and Roger Staubach as his QBs, only to finally reach the pinnacle of the sport with 2 Super Bowl wins going with Staubach full time.

 

Meredith pitches out

 

NFL – Throwback Thursday: A Giant Tsunami

17 Oct

A pair of old NFL and NFC East opponents, the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles, square off on the league’s week 7 schedule, and we’ll harken back to a game played between these 2 rivals on November 26, 1972, at Yankee Stadium. It was a clash of 2 clubs at opposite ends of the spectrum. Philly had managed only 2 wins and a tie through 10 weeks of the season, while the Giants, at 6-4, were chasing both Washington and Dallas in the NFC East race. Eagle coach Ed Khayat had taken the reins early in the 1971 season after Jerry Williams was fired and the team won 6 games to finish that year, earning Khayat the full time position for ’72. Unfortunately the success didn’t carry over and Khayat was fired after the season ended.

New York had traded quarterback Fran Tarkenton back to the Minnesota Vikings prior to the ’72 season and their current field general was former Eagle Norm Snead. Snead directed a well-balanced attack in this contest that saw the Giants rack up 503 total yards, 246 on the ground and 257 through the air, in a blowout 62-10 win that was the largest margin of victory in team history. In the first quarter Snead threw a 15 yard touchdown pass to Bob Tucker and Ron Johnson rumbled 35 yards for a score to put New York up 14-0. The Eagles could only muster a Tom Dempsey field goal, and Snead continued his aerial attack in the second stanza with scoring throws of 5 yards to Joe Orduna and 29 yards to Tucker. Pete Gogolak added a 25 yard field goal in between the touchdowns and the Giants were now comfortably in front 31-3. The Eagles struck lightning when their QB, John Reaves, found Harold Jackson for a 77 yard score. Snead countered that before the half ended with a drive ending in a 1 yard TD plunge by Johnson, putting New York ahead 38-10.

Giants’ coach Alex Webster called off the dogs somewhat in the second half when he replaced Snead with backup Randy Johnson, but it didn’t make much difference. Gogolak added a field goal and the second string signal caller fired a pair of touchdown passes, of 32 and 63 yards, to Don Hermann against the hapless Eagle defense, then wrapped up the scoring himself with a 1 yard YD run to account for the final 62-10 score. Statistically, the 2 New York quarterbacks combined for 5 touchdown passes, Tucker had 8 receptions for 100 yards and Hermann 2 catches for 95 with both scoring a pair of touchdowns. Ron Johnson carried 22 times for 123 yards and also scored twice. The lone bright spot for the Eagles was Harold Jackson with 5 catches for 152 yards and his long touchdown. The Giants fell short of making the playoffs, losing 2 of their final 3 games, while Philly never won another and finished in the NFC East basement.

 

Giants-Eagles highlights from 11/26/72

 

NFL – Throwback Thursday: Superdome Shootout

10 Oct

On December 6, 1987, a game was played between 2 clubs who meet on this week’s NFL schedule – the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That game will be our feature for this week’s Throwback Thursday. Coach Jim Mora’s Saints, at 8-3, were fighting for a playoff spot while the Bucs were languishing in a losing season. New Orleans looked to take the fight out of their opponent as quarterback Bobby Hebert and tight end John Tice hooked up on a pair of short touchdown passes in the first quarter to jump out to a 14-0 lead. Bucs’ QB Vinny Testaverde worked his way into the end zone from a yard out to give Tampa their first score. New Orleans, obviously proving to be the better team, started the second quarter the same as they did the first. This time their running game finished drives, as Rueben Mayes scored on a 7 yard run and Dalton Hilliard pranced in from 3 yards out. The Bucs managed a field goal before the half to cut the Saints’ lead to 28-10, but the game appeared to be all but over when New Orleans added 2 more scores – a 40 yard Morten Andersen field goal and a 2 yard Mayes rushing TD, to move ahead 38-10.

Tampa Bay was not about to roll over and play dead yet, however. Testaverde found Mark Carrier for a 37 yard touchdown pass, and Donald Igwebuike booted a 43 yard field goal to cut the deficit to 38-20 after 3 quarters. Andersen stemmed the tide with another field goal but Testaverde went back to work and tossed a 12 yard touchdown pass to Bruce Hill. Now leading 41-27, Andersen finished the Saints’ scoring with another three pointer. Still not finished battling, the Bucs drove to another touchdown behind Testaverde, this one completed by a 2 yard Bobby Howard run. A loss is a loss, and the defeat lowered Tampa’s season record to 4-8, but the team’s effort to shorten the final score to 44-34 was valiant. Testaverde wound up throwing for 369 yards, while Carrier had a career day with 8 receptions for 212 yards and his TD.  This Saints’ victory officially qualified them for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, but they wound up being blown out 44-10 in the wild card round by Minnesota.

 

Coach Jim Mora, architect of the Saints’ first playoff team

 

 

 

NFL – Throwback Thursday: The “Common Sense” Officials

03 Oct

The Buffalo Bills travel to Houston this Sunday to take on the Texans, and this week’s Throwback Thursday feature is from a game played between these 2 teams just a few years ago, on January 4, 2020. It was an AFC Wild Card game set at Houston’s NRG Stadium, with the Texans being AFC South champions, while Buffalo qualified for the playoffs with a second place finish in the AFC East. Buffalo used some trickery to open the scoring in the first quarter, as offensive coordinator Brian Daboll dialed up a play that saw wide receiver John Brown hit quarterback Josh Allen with a throwback pass that resulted in a 16 yard touchdown.

Josh Allen scores on trick play option pass

 

The Bills’ defense put the locks on the Texans for the entire first half, holding them scoreless. Meanwhile Steven Hauschka contributed a pair of 40 yard field goals to give his club a 13-0 halftime lead. When Hauschka hit his third consecutive three-pointer in the third quarter, it upped the Bills’ lead to 16-0 and set up a play on the ensuing kickoff that changed the momentum of the game. The kickoff went into the end zone and was fielded by Houston’s DeAndre Carter, who then flipped the ball at the feet of an official. The ref never blew his whistle, and the Bills alertly rushed in and recovered the ball for an apparent touchdown, since the returner never really downed the ball by taking a knee. It would have given Buffalo pretty much an insurmountable lead, but then the inexplicable happened. A mysterious black-clad “common sense” alternate official came in from the sideline and overruled the refs on the field, negating the score by ruling that the Texans’ player’s “intention” was to down the ball when he flipped it in the vicinity of the official standing next to him. These extra refs, only used during the playoffs to keep the guys who didn’t earn playoff games because of poor performance during the regular season employed, somehow were given the authority over the actual game officials.

Being let off the hook must have given the Texans a jolt of energy, because they stormed back to score 19 unanswered points to go ahead 19-16 in the fourth quarter. Quarterback DeShaun Watson ran 20 yards for a score and then added a 2 point conversion run, Kai Fairbairn kicked a field goal and Watson hit Carlos Hyde with a short scoring pass, and added another 2 point conversion with a toss to DeAndre Hopkins. Buffalo battled back to tie the game with another Hauschka field goal, sending the contest into overtime. They were burned in the extra period by an old friend and former teammate, Taiwan Jones, who grabbed a short Watson pass and rambled 34 yards to set up a winning 28 yard field goal by Fairbairn, giving the Texans a 22-19 win.

 

Mysterious “alternate” ref affecting the game’s outcome

 

NFL – Throwback Thursday: Expansion Pride

26 Sep

The Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans clash on the week 4 NFL schedule, and for this week’s Throwback Thursday post we will feature a game played between these 2 franchises in the Dolphins’ inaugural expansion season of 1966. The Titans were the Houston Oilers at that time, and although they won the first 2 American Football League championships, they were on a steep decline when this game was played on December 18, 1966. Miami had managed 2 wins so far in their first year, and 1 of them was earlier in Houston over the Oilers at Rice Stadium. Houston came into this matchup, the final regular season game for both clubs, with only 3 wins. Needless to say, in spite of being at the end of a lost year, they did not want to suffer the embarrassment of being defeated twice in a season by an expansion team.

Houston quarterback Don Trull found running back Hoyle Granger for a 27 yard touchdown pass to get the scoring started in the first quarter, and then hooked up with Larry Elkins in the second from 11 yards out to give his Oilers a 14-0 lead. Miami signal caller John Stofa then began what would become a career day by hitting Joe Auer with a 27 yard scoring toss. The Dolphins added a 2 point conversion (which was only a rule in the AFL, not the NFL, back then). Trull was unfazed, and upped the Oiler lead to 21-8 with a 2 yard TD pass to Bob McLeod. Stofa was the man in the second half. He provided the only score of the third quarter with a 48 yard bomb to flanker Frank Jackson. Trull’s 1 yard QB sneak gave Houston a 28-15 advantage, but Stofa capped his performance with a pair of touchdown drives that ended with his third and fourth TD throws – 4 yards to Bill Cronin and 14 to Auer. Gene Mingo’s successful extra point kicks on those 2 scores put Miami up 29-28 and they hung on to hand the Oilers another loss. Auer had 87 rushing yards in addition to his 2 receiving TDs, while Jackson amassed 110 receiving yards on 4 catches from Stofa.

Two years later Stofa would be traded to Cincinnati prior to their expansion draft to enter the AFL in ’68, officially becoming the first Bengal player in team history, only to return to the Dolphins for the ’69 and ’70 seasons.

 

 

John Stofa, Pride of University of Buffalo

 

NFL – Throwback Thursday: Shootout On The Lake

19 Sep

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

 

NFL – Throwback Thursday: The Quintuple Threat

12 Sep

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

 

 

NFL – Throwback Thursday: Taming The Lions

05 Sep

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