MVP Profile: O.J. Simpson, 1973

Running Back, Buffalo Bills


Age: 26
5th season in pro football & with Bills
College: Southern California
Height: 6’1” Weight: 212

Prelude:
Following an outstanding college career capped by winning the 1968 Heisman Trophy, the highly-coveted Simpson was drafted by the Bills with the first overall pick in the combined AFL/NFL draft. His pro career started slowly, as he was used sparingly and missed time due to injury during his first three seasons, never carrying more than 182 times or gaining more than 742 yards. However, the return to Buffalo of Head Coach Lou Saban in 1972 marked a change as Simpson became the centerpiece of the offense and led the NFL in rushing with 1251 yards, earning 1st-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors.

1973 Season Summary
Appeared and started in all 14 games
[Bracketed numbers indicate league rank in Top 20]

Rushing
Attempts – 332 [1]
Most attempts, game - 39 (for 157 yds.) vs. Kansas City 10/29
Yards – 2003 [1]
Most yards, game – 250 yards (on 29 carries) at New England 9/16
Average gain – 6.0 [2]
TDs – 12 [1, tied with Floyd Little]
200-yard rushing games – 3
100-yard rushing games – 11

Pass Receiving
Receptions – 6
Most receptions, game – 3 (for 33 yds.) vs. Philadelphia 10/7
Yards – 70
Most yards, game - 33 (on 3 catches) vs. Philadelphia 10/7
Average gain – 11.7
TDs – 0

Passing
Attempts – 2
Completions – 1
Yards – -3
TD passes – 0
Interceptions – 0

All-purpose yards - 2073 [1]

Scoring
TDs – 12 [5]
Points – 72

Awards & Honors:
NFL MVP: AP, NEA, Bert Bell Award
NFL Offensive Player of the Year: AP
AFC Player of the Year: Sporting News
1st team All-NFL: AP, PFWA, NEA, Pro Football Weekly
1st team All-AFC: AP, UPI, Pro Football Weekly, Sporting News
Pro Bowl

Bills went 9-5 to finish second in the AFC East while leading the NFL in rushing yards (3088). It was their first winning record since 1966.

Aftermath:
Simpson was a consensus 1st team All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection after each of the next three seasons, setting a then-league record with 23 TDs in 1975 while also gaining 1817 yards on the ground. Injuries in 1977 limited him to seven games and he was dealt to the 49ers, where he spent his last two seasons (1978 and ’79). Upon retirement, he had gained 11,236 rushing yards, the second-highest total up to that time. Simpson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 1985.

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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).

[Updated 2/15/14]

Past Venue: Pitt Stadium

Pittsburgh, PA



Year opened: 1925
Capacity: 56,500, down from 69,400 at opening

Names:
Pitt Stadium, 1925-99

Pro football tenants:
Pittsburgh Steelers (NFL), 1958-69

Postseason games hosted:
None

Other tenants of note:
University of Pittsburgh, 1925-99

Notes: Steelers split home games between Forbes Field and Pitt Stadium from 1958 to ’63. Grass field was replaced with AstroTurf in 1970, SuperTurf from 1984-89, and then back to AstroTurf in 1990. Temporary lighting was added for a game between Univ. of Pittsburgh and Purdue in 1985. Permanent lights were installed in 1987. Also used for track & field and soccer. Hosted first football game on Sept. 26, 1925 between Univ. of Pittsburgh and Washington & Lee Univ.

Fate: Demolished in 1999, the site is now occupied by the Petersen Events Center and student housing.

2007: Curtis Martin Retires from Jets

On July 26, 2007 Curtis Martin, star running back of the New York Jets, confirmed what had first been acknowledged in January, and 19 months after he had last taken the field – that he had played his last game because of a severe right knee injury suffered during the 2005 season. The 34-year-old Martin retired as the fourth-ranked rusher in NFL history.

“I don't have any regrets,” Martin said. “I feel like I'm leaving this game exactly how I would want to. I know that I'm stubborn when it comes to football and I know that it would have to take something like this – and gratefully it's not too bad to where it's going to hinder the rest of my life where I'd need a wheelchair or cane.”

“At the end of the day, things turned out better than what I had even intended from the beginning,” Martin added.

Martin came from a rough part of Pittsburgh but made it to the University of Pittsburgh where he became a star running back. He was the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year in 1995 with the Patriots, having gained 1487 rushing yards, and played three seasons in New England before moving on to the Jets in 1998 as a restricted free agent, reuniting with his first pro head coach, Bill Parcells (who was willing to lose two draft choices to obtain him).

The 5’11”, 205-pound running back was a key to New England’s AFC Championship team in 1996 and, in his first year with New York, was a significant factor in the club going 12-4 and advancing to the AFC title game.

A classy yet tough player who was also humble and inclined to shun the spotlight, he was often overlooked over the course of his 11-season career. Team-oriented, hard-working in practice, and liked by coaches and fans, he became one of the most popular players in Jets history. Martin was also durable and regularly played while hurt. In the 2000 season-opening game, with badly damaged ligaments (he said it felt as though the top half of his right leg had separated from the bottom) he wore a brace and rushed for 110 yards and two TDs against the Packers. The durability proved to be something of a surprise considering that injuries during his college career had hurt his draft status (the Patriots took him in the third-round in ‘95).

The lack of flashiness in Martin’s personality carried over to his performance at running back, where his play was better defined by consistency (and consistent excellence) rather than making explosive runs and generating highlight footage. He was the thinking-man’s power runner, rarely making mistakes while playing with great determination. Not particularly fast by NFL standards, Martin had excellent running instincts.

His last healthy season, 2004, was also his best as he led the NFL with 1697 yards rushing and tied Barry Sanders with 10 thousand-yard seasons from the start of his career. That string came to an end with the injury during the ’05 season that held him to twelve games, in which he compiled 735 yards on 220 carries to close out his career.

Martin played 11 seasons and ended up with 14,101 rushing yards on 3518 attempts for a 4.0 average and 90 touchdowns. He also caught 484 passes for 3329 yards and ten more TDs (for a total of 100), with a high of 70 receptions for 508 yards in 2000. He was a consensus first-team All-Pro once, received All-Pro and/or All-AFC consideration following four other seasons, and was selected to the Pro Bowl five times.

MVP Profile: Randall Cunningham, 1988

Quarterback, Philadelphia Eagles



Age: 25
4th season in pro football & with Eagles
College: Nevada – Las Vegas
Height: 6’4” Weight: 201

Prelude:
Taken by the Eagles in the 2nd round of the 1985 NFL draft, Cunningham saw some action in place of veteran QB Ron Jaworski, and while he completed only 42 % of his passes, he showed off his exciting running ability. In ’86, under new Head Coach Buddy Ryan, he saw more action in place of Jaworski and took over as the starting quarterback during the strike-interrupted 1987 season. Cunningham threw for 2786 yards and 23 TDs in 12 games and also rushed for 505 yards.

1988 Season Summary
Appeared and started in all 16 games
[Bracketed numbers indicate league rank in Top 20]

Passing
Attempts – 560 [2]
Most attempts, game – 53 vs. Dallas 10/23
Completions – 301 [3]
Most completions, game – 31 vs. NY Giants 10/10
Yards – 3808 [3]
Most yards, game – 369 vs. NY Giants 10/10
Completion percentage – 53.8
Yards per attempt – 6.8
TD passes – 24 [4]
Most TD passes, game – 3 vs. NY Giants 10/10, vs. LA Rams 11/6
Interceptions – 16 [7, tied with Steve DeBerg]
Most interceptions, game – 2 on five occasions
Passer rating – 77.6 [15]
300-yard passing games – 2
200-yard passing games – 11

Rushing
Attempts – 93
Most attempts, game - 9 (for 85 yds.) vs. Cincinnati 9/11, (for 64 yds.) at NY Giants 11/20, (for 21 yds.) at Phoenix 12/10
Yards – 624
Most yards, game – 85 yards (on 9 carries) vs. Cincinnati 9/11
Yards per attempt – 6.7 [1]
TDs – 6

Punting
Punts – 3
Yards – 167
Average – 55.7
Punts blocked – 0
Longest punt – 58 yards

Scoring
TDs – 6
Points - 36

Postseason: 1 G (NFC Divisional playoff at Chicago)
Pass attempts – 54
Pass completions – 27
Passing yardage – 407
TD passes – 0
Interceptions – 3

Rushing attempts – 3
Rushing yards – 12
Average gain rushing – 4.0
Rushing TDs – 0

Awards & Honors:
NFL Player of the Year: Bert Bell Award
2nd team All-NFL: AP
1st team All-NFC: UPI, Pro Football Weekly
Pro Bowl

Eagles went 10-6 to win NFC East, their first division title since 1980. Lost NFC Divisional playoff to Chicago Bears (20-12).

Aftermath:
Cunningham had another Pro Bowl year in 1989, passing for 3400 yards and running for 621, but the Eagles again lost in the first round of the playoffs. He followed up in ‘90 with a second MVP season and was again chosen for the Pro Bowl, passing for 3466 yards and 30 touchdowns with a much-improved passer rating of 91.6. But once more, the club fell quickly in the postseason. An outstanding talent who could often improvise brilliantly, Cunningham was less adept at reading defenses and often irritated teammates with his demeanor. He was lost to a season-ending injury in the first game of 1991 and, while he successfully returned in ’92, injuries became more of an issue as he missed most of 1993 with a broken leg. Benched in favor of Rodney Peete in ’95, he sat out a year in retirement before returning as a backup with the Vikings in 1997. When starting QB Brad Johnson was injured early in ’98, Cunningham put together an outstanding season, leading the league in passing (106.0 rating) while throwing 34 TD passes against just 10 interceptions. However, the team was upset by Atlanta in the NFC Championship game and Cunningham played in just six games in ’99. He finished up his career for good following a year each in Dallas and Baltimore. In the end, he passed for 29,979 yards and 207 TDs, was the career rushing leader for quarterbacks (4928 yards), and had the best rushing average (6.4) of any player in NFL history with over 750 carries (775).

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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).

[Updated 2/15/14]

Past Venue: JFK Stadium

Philadelphia, PA
aka Municipal Stadium



Year opened: 1926
Capacity: 102,000

Names:
Sesquicentennial Stadium, 1926
Philadelphia Municipal Stadium, 1926-64
John F. Kennedy Stadium, 1964-92

Pro football tenants:
Philadelphia Quakers (AFL), 1926
Philadelphia Eagles (NFL), 1936-39
Philadelphia Bell (WFL), 1974

Postseason games hosted:
None

Other tenants of note:
None

Notes: Hosted annual Liberty Bowl, 1959-63. Hosted Army vs. Navy football game, 1936-41, 1945-79. In addition to dates noted, hosted selected Eagles home games in 1941, 1947, 1950, and 1954. Was also occasionally used as a practice facility by the Eagles during the 1970s. Hosted one home game of NFL Frankford Yellow Jackets, 1931. Built as part of 1926 Sesquicentennial International Exposition and was so named until the closing of the exposition. Site of boxing world heavyweight title fight on Sept. 23, 1926 in which Gene Tunney defeated Jack Dempsey and also hosted another such fight in 1952 in which a reigning champion, Joe Walcott, lost to Rocky Marciano. Also used for track & field events.

Fate: Demolished in 1992, the site is now occupied by the Wells Fargo Center.



(View showing, from bottom to top, JFK Stadium, The Spectrum, and Veterans Stadium)

1995: Morten Andersen Leaves Saints for Falcons

Kickers typically come and go without much fanfare, but in the case of Morten Andersen and his leaving the New Orleans Saints for the Atlanta Falcons, it was a move of some significance.

The Danish-born Andersen had come to the US as a youth and first began kicking footballs in high school. From there it was on to Michigan State, where he once booted a 63-yard field goal against Ohio State, and then to the Saints in 1982, who drafted him in the fourth round. While things got off to a less than promising start when Andersen missed much of his rookie season due to injury, he rebounded to become one of the NFL’s most accurate and accomplished placekickers.

Through 13 years in New Orleans, he kicked 302 field goals in 389 attempts, a healthy 77.6 percentage (sixth best at the time), and 412 of 418 extra point attempts. While he benefited from his team’s playing home games in a domed stadium, the left-footed kicker was good from long distances and already held the NFL record with 22 field goals from 50 yards or longer (of 53 attempts). He was also the league’s second-leading active career scorer with 1318 points, had been a consensus first-team All-Pro twice, and was selected to the Pro Bowl six times (four times consecutively from 1985 to ’88).

However, in 1994 Andersen’s field goal percentage dipped to 71.8 (28 of a league-leading 39 attempts), his lowest since 1989. He was released by the Saints in a salary cap move, although the team had expected to re-sign him with a restructured contract (Andersen’s salary, which included bonuses earned in 1994, would have counted for $1.2 million against the cap).

Instead, on July 20, 1995, the day following the release, Andersen signed a contract with the Atlanta Falcons. Not only had the star placekicker left the Saints, but he signed with their archrivals.

“We were shocked that a kicker of Morten's caliber was available, so I decided we should make the move now,” Atlanta Head Coach June Jones said. The Falcons waived their own veteran placekicker, Norm Johnson, who moved on to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Andersen overcame any concerns about slippage by again receiving first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors while tying his career-high with 31 field goals, in 37 attempts, for an 83.8 success rate – including a league-record eight of nine from 50 yards or more. By contrast, the Saints went through two placekickers: ex-Washington veteran Chip Lohmiller, who was good on just 57.1 % of his field goal attempts (8 for 14) and missed two extra points, and Doug Brien, who was more successful (12 of 17, 70.6 %).

Andersen stayed with the Falcons for six seasons before moving on to the New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs, and Minnesota Vikings. He finished up back in Atlanta for two years, and in his last season was successful on 89.3 % of his field goal attempts (25 of 28) at the age of 47. While his leg strength diminished (he wasn’t successful from 50 yards or longer after 2002 with the Chiefs), his accuracy never fell below 80 % in any of his last seven seasons.

Overall, over the course of 25 NFL seasons (second most all-time), Andersen ended up with career records in games played (382), points scored (2544), and field goals (565). He eventually surrendered the all-time record for three-pointers from 50 yards or longer to Jason Hanson, but his total of 40 still ranks second, as do his 859 extra points. And finally, he holds the distinction of being the only player that is the career scoring leader for two NFL teams – the Saints (1318) and, perhaps the unkindest cut of all for New Orleans fans, the Falcons (806).

MVP Profile: Frank Sinkwich, 1944

Tailback, Detroit Lions


Age: 24 (Oct. 10)
2nd season in pro football & with Lions
College: Georgia
Height: 5’11” Weight: 195

Prelude:
Winner of the 1942 Heisman Trophy after setting a NCAA season record for total offense (2187 yards), Sinkwich was chosen by the Lions with the first overall pick in the 1943 NFL draft. Directing the single-wing attack under new Head Coach Gus Dorais, he displayed his all-around skills as a runner, passer, and punter.

1944 Season Summary
Appeared in all 10 games
[Bracketed numbers indicate league rank in Top 20]

Passing
Attempts – 148 [2]
Completions – 58 [5]
Yards – 1060 [3]
Completion percentage – 39.2 [6]
Yards per attempt – 7.2 [3]
TD passes – 12 [2, tied with Irv Comp]
Most TD passes, game – 4 vs. Chicago Bears 11/19
Interceptions – 20 [3]
Passer rating – 52.0 [5]

Rushing
Attempts – 150 [3]
Yards – 563 [3]
Yards per attempt – 3.8 [12]
TDs – 6 [2]

Kicking
Field goals – 2 [5, tied with Augie Lio]
Field goal attempts – 8 [2, tied with Roy Zimmerman, Joe Aguirre & Augie Lio]
Percentage – 25.0
PATs – 24 [4]
PAT attempts – 30 [4]
Longest field goal – 23 yards vs. Boston Yanks 12/3

Punting
Punts – 45 [2]
Yards – 1845
Average – 41.0 [2]
Punts blocked – 0
Longest punt – 73 yards

Interceptions
Interceptions – 3 [19, tied with fifteen others]
Return yards – 28
TDs – 0

Kickoff Returns
Returns – 6
Yards – 144 [16]
Average per return – 24.0
TDs – 0
Longest return – 31 yards

Punt Returns
Returns – 11 [4, tied with Al Grygo, Ernie Steele & Ward Cuff]
Yards – 148 [4]
Average per return – 13.5 [3]
TDs – 0
Longest return – 25 yards

Scoring
TDs – 6 [8, tied with four others]
Field goals – 2
PATs - 24
Points – 66 [2]

All-purpose yards – 855 [7]

Awards & Honors:
NFL MVP: Joe F. Carr Trophy
1st team All-NFL: AP, UPI, INS, Pro Football Illustrated, NY Daily News

Lions went 6-3-1 to finish in a tie for second in the NFL Western Division with the Chicago Bears – the club’s first winning record since 1939.

Aftermath:
Sinkwich went into the military and missed the 1945 season (he had originally been exempted due to flat feet), and when he returned to pro football it was with the New York Yankees of the AAFC. Having suffered a knee injury while playing football in the service, he saw little action behind tailbacks Ace Parker and Spec Sanders in ’46 and was dealt to the Baltimore Colts during the 1947 season. Ill-suited to playing T-formation quarterback, and unable to return to form from the knee injury, he finished out the year as a halfback and retired.

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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).

[Updated 2/15/14]