Quarterback, Cleveland
Browns
Age: 34 (Dec. 6)
10th
season in pro football & with Browns
College: Northwestern
Height: 6’1” Weight: 205
Prelude:
A single-wing
tailback in college, Graham chose to sign with the Browns of the new AAFC rather
than the NFL Detroit Lions, who had drafted him in the first round in 1944,
after coming out of the Navy. An outstanding athlete, he first played pro
basketball before joining the Browns for the 1946 season. Mobile and an
accurate passer, Graham threw for 1834 yards as a rookie and led the AAFC with
17 TD passes as the Browns won the league championship. He was the league’s MVP
for the first time in ’47 as he led the AAFC in overall passing as well as
completion percentage (60.6), yards (2753), TD passes (25), and yards per
attempt (10.2). Graham was co-MVP with San Francisco’s Frankie Albert in ’48, a
season in which he once more led the AAFC in passing yards (2713) while tossing
another 25 TD passes and the Browns went undefeated. The Browns won the AAFC
title for the fourth straight year in 1949, and Graham led the league in
passing yards (2785) and yards per attempt (9.8). While no MVP was awarded by
the league, he was a consensus first-team All-AAFC selection. Graham and the
Browns moved to the NFL in 1950 and kept up their winning ways by achieving
another championship. Graham was selected to the Pro Bowl. He was named league
MVP by UPI in ’51 as the Browns went 11-1, although they lost the Championship
game to the Rams. In 1952, Graham led the league in pass attempts (364),
completions (181), yards (2816), and TD passes (20), as well as interceptions
(24), and was once again named to the Pro Bowl. He received MVP honors from UPI
again in ’53 after leading the league in passing yards (2722), yards per
attempt (10.6), and completion percentage (64.7) and, while the Browns lost the
NFL Championship game for a third straight year, they returned to the top in
1954 as Graham again led the NFL in completion percentage (59.2). He retired at
that point, although when the Browns had difficulty in the 1955 preseason, he
was coaxed back into action for one more year.
1955 Season Summary
Appeared in
all 12 games
[Bracketed
numbers indicate league rank in Top 20]
Passing
Attempts – 185
[10]
Most
attempts, game – 31 at NY Giants 11/27
Completions –
98 [8, tied with Charlie Conerly]
Most
completions, game – 17 at NY Giants 11/27
Yards – 1721 [6]
Most yards,
game – 319 at NY Giants 11/27
Completion
percentage – 53.0 [1, tied with Bobby Layne]
Yards per
attempt – 9.3 [1]
TD passes – 15
[3]
Most TD
passes, game – 3 at NY Giants 11/27, vs. Chi. Cardinals 12/11
Interceptions
– 8 [12]
Most
interceptions, game – 2 vs. Washington 9/25, at Philadelphia 11/13
Passer rating
– 94.0 [1]
300-yard
passing games – 1
200-yard passing
games – 2
Rushing
Attempts – 68
Yards – 121
Yards per
attempt – 1.8
TDs – 6 [4,
tied with Ed Modzelewski & Lew Carpenter]
Scoring
TDs – 6 [17,
tied with four others]
Points – 36
Postseason: 1
G (NFL Championship at LA Rams)
Pass attempts
– 25
Pass
completions – 14
Passing
yardage – 209
TD passes – 2
Interceptions
– 3
Rushing
attempts – 9
Rushing yards
– 21
Average gain
rushing – 2.3
Rushing TDs –
2
Awards & Honors:
NFL MVP: UPI,
Sporting News
1st
team All-NFL: AP, UPI, NY Daily News, Sporting News
2nd
team All-NFL: NEA
Browns went 9-2-1
to finish first in the NFL Eastern Conference while leading league in scoring
(349 points) and touchdowns (45). Won NFL Championship over Los Angeles Rams
(38-14).
Aftermath:
Graham
retired for good following the 1955 season. Altogether, over 10 seasons (four
in the AAFC, 6 in the NFL) he averaged 9.0 yards per attempt (a record 8.6 in
the NFL alone) while throwing for 23,584 yards (10,085 in AAFC, 13,499 in NFL)
with 174 TDs (86 in AAFC, 88 in NFL). He also ran for 882 yards and scored 44
TDs, with a high of 8 in 1954. Graham was a first-team All-league selection
three times in the AAFC as well as three more times in the NFL and was chosen
for the first five Pro Bowls. Perhaps most significantly of all, he quarterbacked
Cleveland to a championship game in all ten years, winning seven of them. The
Browns retired his #14 and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame,
Class of 1965.
--
MVP Profiles feature players who were named MVP or
Player of the Year in the NFL, AAFC (1946-49), AFL (1960-69), WFL (1974), or
USFL (1983-85) by a recognized organization (Associated Press, Pro Football
Writers Association, Newspaper Enterprise Association, United Press
International, The Sporting News, Maxwell Club – Bert Bell Award, or the league
itself).
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