1935: Lions Beat Grounded Giants for NFL Championship

The weather in Detroit for the NFL Championship game on December 15, 1935 was gray, wet, and windy. The field at the University of Detroit’s Titan Stadium was sloppy – good news for the ground-oriented Lions, but inauspicious for the visiting New York Giants.

Detroit, under the direction of Head Coach George “Potsy” Clark, didn’t throw the ball much (a total of 142 passes all season, second fewest in the league). But two of the top four rushers in the NFL played for the Lions - second-ranked wingback Ernie Caddel (450 yards) and fourth-ranked tailback Dutch Clark (427 yards), who also led the NFL in scoring (55 points). Bill Shepherd had come to the Lions from the Boston Redskins during the season and, between the two teams, came in fifth in rushing, right behind Clark (425 yards). Clark (pictured above), along with tailback/wingback Glenn Presnell, directed the offense and was known for his shifty running style. Caddel and Shepherd provided the speed. FB Ace Gutowsky supplied the power. After a slow start, the Lions finished out at 3-0-1 to accumulate a 7-3-2 record, thus beating out the Packers for the Western Division title.

The Giants, coached by Steve Owen, were the defending league champions and had won the Eastern Division in each of the first two years of division play. They had the NFL’s best passer in tailback Ed Danowski, who led the league in attempts (113), completions (57), yards (794), and touchdowns (10). Rookie end Tod Goodwin led the NFL with 26 catches and was second in receiving yards with 432. FB Kink Richards was the top runner, with a third-ranked 449 yards. New York went 9-3 during the regular season to again top the division and earn a spot in the title contest, which they were heavily favored to win.

There were 15,000 hardy fans on hand to see if the Lions, like major league baseball’s Tigers back in October, could bring a championship to Detroit. The Lions took the opening kickoff and drove down field. They were helped by two long passing plays, including one from Gutowsky that hit Danowski, playing defense, in the chest and was caught by end Ed Klewicki. Gutowsky capped the 61-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run and Presnell kicked the extra point for the 7-0 lead.


The Giants came back with a drive of their own, but came up empty when FB Ken Strong (pictured at left) missed a 34-yard field goal attempt. Even more costly, Goodwin suffered broken ribs when hit after making a catch and was lost for the remainder of the game. As the team’s next-most-productive receiver throughout the year, wingback Dale Burnett, was already out with a hand infection, New York’s aerial attack was hindered all the more.

The Giants got a break by recovering a Detroit fumble on the next possession, but once again failed to capitalize when they were held on downs. The Lions scored again when Clark slithered through the Giants defense for a 40-yard touchdown. While the PAT attempt failed, Detroit held a 13-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Lions came close to scoring again in the second quarter when end Harry Ebding blocked a Danowski punt but, after recovering and running to the Giants’ two yard line, fumbled the ball, which traveled through the end zone for a touchback.

Midway through the second quarter, New York finally got on the board. A Danowski pass was partially deflected by Gutowsky, but Strong managed to catch it with one hand and run for a 42-yard touchdown. Strong successfully kicked the extra point and the Lions’ lead was cut to 13-7 at halftime.


The third quarter was scoreless, but in the fourth quarter the Giants threatened, failing to get on the board in each instance. With three minutes remaining to play, Danowski attempted a quick kick that was too low and hit one of his blockers, and it was recovered by Detroit tackle George Christensen at the New York 26. The Lions ran five straight plays into the line and then, on the sixth, Clark faked a handoff to Gutowsky straight ahead and instead gave the ball to Caddel (pictured at right), who swept to the outside for a four-yard touchdown. With Clark’s kick, the Lions now held a commanding 20-7 lead.

Detroit scored once more when, after tailback Harry Newman returned the ensuing kickoff to the Giants’ 32, on first down Danowski went to the air and was intercepted by FB/LB Buddy Parker, the future head coach of the Lions, who returned it to the 10 yard line. Parker himself scored on a four-yard run on third down, although he missed the extra point. Detroit won by a final score of 26-7 for its first NFL Championship.

The Lions outgained the Giants with 303 yards to 194 and also had the edge in first downs, 16 to 9. 235 of Detroit’s yards came on the ground – the Lions threw only five passes and the two completions on the opening drive were it for the day. However, the Giants were able to complete just four of 13 passes for the one TD and gave up two interceptions.

1958: Summerall FG Lifts Giants Past Browns to Force Playoff

The battle for the NFL’s Eastern Conference had come down to the season finale on December 14, 1958 as the New York Giants hosted the Cleveland Browns at Yankee Stadium. The Giants were 8-3 and a game behind the 9-2 Browns. Thus, New York needed to win in order to force a playoff with Cleveland for the conference title. A loss or tie would propel the Browns into the championship game.

New York’s head coach was Jim Lee Howell, but he had two highly able assistants in Vince Lombardi to run the offense and Tom Landry to direct the defense. They were a solid, veteran club on both sides of the ball, featuring QB Charlie Conerly, halfbacks Frank Gifford and Alex Webster, OT Roosevelt Brown, and C Ray Wietecha on offense and DE Andy Robustelli, MLB Sam Huff, and safety Jim Patton on defense. However, they had played poorly in the preseason and got off to a 2-2 start in the regular season games before winning six of their last seven contests (one of their wins had been against the Browns in Cleveland).

As for Cleveland, Head Coach Paul Brown’s club featured second-year FB Jim Brown on offense, who had already broken the single-season rushing record. If teams concentrated too heavily on stopping him, rookie HB Bobby Mitchell made them pay with his outstanding outside running ability. Second-year QB Milt Plum was still something of a project, but the offensive line was a good one and the defense contained Pro Bowl-quality players in tackles Bob Gain and Don Colo, LB Walt Michaels, and HB Don Paul.

The Browns wasted no time in taking the lead as Jim Brown ran 65 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. There was no further scoring until the second quarter, when Giants DE Jim Katcavage recovered a fumble at the Cleveland 38 by HB Lew Carpenter and the Giants capitalized as Pat Summerall kicked a 46-yard field goal.

The Browns responded with a 22-yard Lou Groza field goal that was set up by a 51-yard pass play from Plum to flanker Ray Renfro. Cleveland held a 10-3 lead at the half.

In their first possession of the third quarter, the Browns drove to the New York 13 yard line. But in a call that was heavily second-guessed afterward, Paul Brown chose to try a fake field goal. Holder Bobby Freeman attempted to run around left end but was tackled for a loss by LB Harland Svare. Instead of potentially taking a 13-3 lead (Groza had missed two earlier attempts, but this would have been from just 20 yards with the ball well placed at the center of the field), the margin remained seven points.

The teams traded punts after the failure on the fake. Now in the fourth quarter, and following a fumble by Plum that the Giants recovered on the Cleveland 45, New York came back with trickery of its own. End Kyle Rote had noted that the Browns were vulnerable to the halfback option pass because HB Don Paul and safety Junior Wren were quick to run up and defend against the sweep coming in their direction. On the first play following the fumble recovery, Conerly pitched to Gifford, who ran to his right on an apparent power sweep. The Browns defense shifted to stop the run, and Gifford fired a pass to Rote, who was finally brought down after a 39-yard gain to the six yard line. After two running plays into the line lost yardage, the Giants again ran the option play and Gifford threw to end Bob Schnelker in the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown (pictured below). Following Summerall’s extra point, the score was tied at 10-10.


The Browns, playing conservatively to run the clock down since a tie was as good as a win for their purposes, punted the ball back to the Giants. New York proceeded to drive from its own 30 to the Cleveland 25, but Summerall missed a 33-yard field goal attempt with less than five minutes to play.

The New York defense again forced the Browns to punt, but punter Dick Deschaine, who encountered a heavy rush, got off a poor 22-yard kick that went out at the Cleveland 43. The Giants misfired on three passes, including a long throw to Webster at the goal line that the halfback dropped and one to Gifford that was ruled an incomplete pass (although the Browns insisted afterward that it was a fumble).

With just over two minutes left, Summerall, who had suffered a knee injury in the previous contest against Detroit and was listed as doubtful in the week leading up to the game, kicked a 49-yard field goal through the snow for the winning points (pictured at top). The final score was 13-10, setting up the rematch at the same venue the following week.


The game had been a tough defensive struggle, and the two Cleveland turnovers, against none by the Giants, played a key role. The Browns outgained New York, 257 yards to 226. Jim Brown (pictured at right) accounted for 148 yards on 26 carries (bringing his record total to 1527), but other than the game-opening 65-yard score, the great fullback had been well defensed. Cleveland passed for just 107 yards, to 162 for the Giants.

“Imagine having to beat the Browns three times in one season to even get into the championship game,” said Jim Lee Howell. “Once is tough enough. Twice, and now again.”

In the rematch of the two 9-3 teams for the conference title the following week, the Giants defense shut the Browns down even more effectively and won, 10-0. They lost the NFL Championship game to the Baltimore Colts in a 23-17 overtime classic.

Pat Summerall, in his first year with the Giants after a season in Detroit and five with the Chicago Cardinals, was successful on 12 of 23 field goals in 1958, none bigger than the kick to beat the Browns. As he returned to the sideline following the climactic field goal, Vince Lombardi said to him, “You know you can’t kick a football that far, don’t you?”

1964: Lenny Moore Reaches 20 TDs as Colts Beat Redskins

During the spring and summer of 1964, the Baltimore Colts looked to see what sort of trade they could make for HB Lenny Moore. Moore, who had been drafted out of Penn State in the first round in 1956, had been a key player in winning back-to-back championships in 1958 and ’59. As a halfback who posted gaudy yards-per-attempt averages on his occasional runs from scrimmage and was perhaps even more dangerous as a receiver out of the backfield (often lining up at flanker), he was named to the Pro Bowl in five consecutive seasons and was a consensus first-team All-NFL selection from 1958 thru ‘61.

But injuries had dramatically reduced his effectiveness in 1962 and ’63. He fractured his kneecap in ’62 and went down with a rib injury in the 1963 preseason. Two days before the opening game of the ’63 season, he underwent an appendectomy. Returning to action for the third game of the year, new Head Coach Don Shula moved him to split end because of an injury to another of the offense’s stalwarts, Raymond Berry. After five games he was shifted back to halfback, but a week later suffered a head injury that cost him the remainder of the season (he had also suffered a head injury in 1961). Along the way, Moore got into feuds with both the Colts front office and Head Coach Weeb Ewbank (prior to his departure following the 1962 season).

Appearing in 10 games in 1962, Moore played more as a halfback than a flanker and accumulated over a hundred carries for the first time in his career (106) but also caught the fewest passes (18) since his rookie season. In ’63, making it into just seven games, he gained only 136 yards on 27 rushing attempts and caught 21 passes. At age 30, and with the younger Tom Matte showing promise at halfback, it appeared that he was on the way out.

However, while the Colts came close to dealing Moore to the Giants and Cowboys, they couldn’t get the price they wanted and the halfback remained with the team. On December 13, 1964 against Washington, Moore capped an amazing comeback by becoming the first player in NFL history to score 20 touchdowns in a season.

It had not looked promising for Moore when he started the ’64 season on the bench, with Matte in the starting lineup, in a loss to the Vikings. However, he did get into the game and scored twice, including his one pass reception of the day that covered 70 yards. Moore was back in the starting lineup the following week, and scored two more TDs in a 21-20 win over Green Bay. By the season finale against the Redskins, he had scored 18 touchdowns, putting him one short of Jim Taylor’s league record of 19 set two years earlier with the Packers. He also, counting the last three games that he appeared in during the ’63 season, had scored at least one TD in an NFL-record 16 straight games.

The Colts were doing well, too. After the opening game loss to Minnesota, they weren’t beaten again until the previous week against the Lions, giving them a record of 11-2. In combination with fullbacks Tony Lorick and Jerry Hill, Moore gave the club a potent running attack, thus improving the effectiveness of the passing game which, with star QB Johnny Unitas at the helm, was already formidable.

Washington, under Head Coach Bill McPeak, had an outstanding quarterback of its own in Sonny Jurgensen, a great receiver in flanker Bobby Mitchell, and exciting rookie halfback Charley Taylor. But there were too many holes, especially on the offensive line, and the Redskins were 6-7 entering the game at Baltimore.

Conditions were foggy at Memorial Stadium, and some of the 60,213 fans in attendance had difficulty seeing the action on the field. The Redskins scored first on a 17-yard run by HB Pervis Atkins thanks to a Baltimore fumble on the opening kickoff. Baltimore came back with a 25-yard Lou Michaels field goal and took the lead in the second quarter on a 30-yard pass play from Unitas to Berry.

Play was sloppy throughout as the Colts, no doubt looking ahead to the title game in Cleveland, fumbled the ball away four times. Moore coughed the ball up once, at his own 11, but Washington fumbled it back as DE Gino Marchetti recovered at the 20. However, Unitas fumbled and the Redskins’ Jim Martin kicked a 25-yard field goal to tie the contest at 10-10 at the half.

Baltimore took command in the second half. First, safety Jerry Logan recovered a Washington fumble at the Redskins’ 40, leading to a seven-yard Jerry Hill TD run. While Washington responded with a two-yard scoring run by Jurgensen, Unitas threw another TD pass, this time of 22 yards to TE John Mackey. It was all Colts the rest of the way as they outscored the Redskins in the second half by 35-7.

Moore scored twice in a five minute period in the fourth quarter. The first touchdown, a run of three yards, tied Taylor’s record for TDs and extended his streak. The second, from a yard out, was the record-setting 20th. Moore received a huge ovation from the home crowd after the record-breaking TD. With the game safely out of reach for the Redskins, Shula was able to rest most of his starters for the remainder of the game that the Colts won by a final score of 45-17.

Jerry Hill was the running star for the Colts – used effectively on trap plays in the second half, he scored one touchdown and set up another with a 56-yard run as he totaled 90 yards on 8 carries. Before backup Gary Cuozzo entered the game to mop up, Johnny Unitas completed 13 of 20 passes for 226 yards with two touchdowns against one interception. Also of note, Raymond Berry, by catching 5 passes for 89 yards, passed Billy Howton to become the NFL’s all-time career pass receiving leader (506, to Howton’s 503; Berry would eventually end up with 631).

The Colts ended up with the league’s best record at 12-2, but were upset by the Browns in the NFL Championship game. Washington finished at 6-8, tied with the Eagles for third in the Eastern Conference.

Other than setting the touchdown record, Lenny Moore had a rather ordinary day against Washington, running for just 22 yards on 13 carries. But there was no question as to his value to the Colts throughout the year, and he received the Jim Thorpe trophy as league MVP from the Newspaper Enterprise Association (Unitas was the consensus MVP choice, however) and was a consensus first-team All-NFL selection and Pro Bowl choice. Utilized more as a runner than a receiver, he scored 16 of the 20 touchdowns on the ground and gained 584 yards on a career-high 157 carries (he also scored one TD on a fumble recovery). To be sure, he was still an effective pass receiver and averaged 22.5 yards-per-catch on 21 receptions for 472 yards with three TDs. Moore was the NFL’s leading scorer with 120 points and his 1056 total yards from scrimmage ranked eighth.

Moore’s consecutive game touchdown streak finally ended at 19, in the second week of the 1965 season (it was eventually tied by the Chargers’ LaDainian Tomlinson in 2005). At the time of his retirement following the 1967 season, he ranked second to only Jim Brown in career touchdowns with 113. It is a testament to his versatility that 63 of those TDs came on the ground while 48 came through the air (in fact, from 1959 thru ’63, most of his touchdowns had come via pass receptions). He also scored on a kickoff return and the aforementioned fumble recovery.

The 6’1”, 190-pound Moore gained 5174 yards on 1069 carries (4.8 avg.) and 6039 yards on 363 pass receptions (16.6 avg.), making him the first player to gain 5000 yards both rushing and receiving. His versatility made him invaluable to the Colts, and their decision to not give him away in 1964 proved to be a good one. The five consensus first-team All-Pro selections and seven Pro Bowls attest to that value. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1975.

1965: Eagles Intercept 9 Passes in Rout of Steelers

The December 12, 1965 game at Pitt Stadium was hardly a battle of powerhouse teams. The Steelers were 2-10 and had lost five straight games, although one of their wins had been at Philadelphia, which was only slightly better at 4-8. But on a day of significant achievements that included Bears HB Gale Sayers running for six touchdowns and Green Bay HB Paul Hornung scoring five TDs in a key win over the Colts, the Eagles defense managed to do its part to grab a place in the record book.

The Eagles, under second-year Head Coach Joe Kuharich, were more noted for their offense, which included fleet all-purpose HB Timmy Brown, TE Pete Retzlaff, and a line anchored by ex-Packer C Jim Ringo and second-year OT Bob Brown. QB Norm Snead, in his second year following a controversial trade that brought him to Philadelphia from Washington for QB Sonny Jurgensen, continued to show promise but could me maddeningly inconsistent. The defensive line, on the other hand, was mediocre and the Eagles tended to blitz heavily, making them prone to aerial assaults.

Pittsburgh was coached by Mike Nixon, who had been forced to take over when Buddy Parker quit the team two weeks prior to the opening game (similar to his abrupt departure from the Detroit Lions eight years before). Things didn’t get better when the 12th-year veteran FB John Henry Johnson was lost for the season in the first game. Promising third-year QB Bill Nelsen was inserted into the starting lineup, but was inexperienced and had a bad knee that hindered his mobility.

There were 22,002 fans at Pitt Stadium, the smallest turnout of the year for the final home game. It didn’t take long for the Eagles to take advantage of a Steeler turnover when SS Nate Ramsey (pictured above) grabbed a fumble by HB Dick Hoak. Philadelphia drove 54 yards to a two-yard touchdown by FB Earl Gros.

Ramsey struck again, intercepting a Nelsen pass, and once more the Eagles capitalized. This time they drove 58 yards with Snead passing to Retzlaff for a 13-yard touchdown. While the extra point attempt by Sam Baker was missed, Philadelphia was up by 13-0 (two of the seven PAT attempts failed).

Ramsey went down with an injury, but his replacement, rookie Jim Nettles, made the next big defensive play as he also intercepted a pass by Nelsen and returned it 28 yards to the Pittsburgh eight yard line. Two plays later, HB Ollie Matson, in for the injured Timmy Brown, ran eight yards for another Eagles TD.


Coach Nixon replaced the shell-shocked Nelsen with Tommy Wade, but the move didn’t slow down the pickoff parade. Of Wade’s first four passes, two were intercepted, the first by Pro Bowl LB Maxie Baughan (pictured at left), who ran 33 yards for a touchdown. The Eagles had a 27-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, thanks to the fumble recovery and three interceptions.

The second quarter proceeded much as the first as Nettles intercepted his second pass of the day and returned it 56 yards for yet another Eagles touchdown. However, the Steelers finally got on the board when Wade connected with flanker Gary Ballman for a 20-yard TD. They even scored on an interception return of their own as CB Marv Woodson picked off a Snead pass in the closing seconds of the first half and ran 61 yards for a touchdown. But they were still down by 34-13 at the intermission (the second PAT attempt was no good).

In the third quarter, DE George Tarasovic, a 35-year-old ex-Steeler, scored on a 40-yard interception return. It was the fourth pickoff of the game to be brought back for a TD (three by the Eagles, one by Pittsburgh), thus setting a NFL record for combined touchdowns on interception returns (tied by the Seahawks against the Chiefs in 1984).

There was one more record to add before the sloppy contest was concluded. In the closing minutes of the fourth quarter, CB Irv Cross intercepted a pass at his two yard line. It was the ninth by the Eagles, tying the record set by the Green Bay Packers against Detroit in 1943.

The Eagles drove 98 yards, highlighted by a 60-yard gain on a pass from Snead to FB Tom Woodeshick, to score their final TD on an eight-yard run by FB Israel “Izzy” Lang with two minutes left in the game. The final tally was 47-13.

The Steelers gave up 12 turnovers in all, with three lost fumbles in addition to the nine interceptions (Philadelphia turned the ball over twice, both on pickoffs). Intercepting passes for the Eagles were Jim Nettles, with three; FS Joe Scarpati, who had two; and Nate Ramsey, Maxie Baughan, George Tarasovic, and Irv Cross with one apiece. Nettles (pictured below right) also led by returning his for a total of 84 yards.


Offensively, Pittsburgh outgained the Eagles (324 yards to 302) and had more first downs (19 to 17), but of course the Steelers dug themselves into a deep hole with the turnovers and were throwing often as they sought to catch up.

Philadelphia gained 191 yards on the ground, with the 13th-year veteran Ollie Matson leading the way, gaining 80 yards on 11 carries with a TD. Norm Snead completed just 7 of 21 passes for 118 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Pete Retzlaff caught 5 passes for 52 yards and the touchdown, and in the process broke existing single-season franchise records for pass receptions and receiving yards (he ended up with 66 catches for 1190 yards).

The two Pittsburgh quarterbacks combined for 305 passing yards, although the club ran for only 58 yards on 25 attempts. Bill Nelsen was successful on two of five passes for 27 yards and the first two interceptions. Tommy Wade completed 22 of 38 throws for 278 yards with one TD but 7 interceptions (a team record). Lost in the deluge was Gary Ballman’s 9 catches for 163 yards and a touchdown. HB Jim “Cannonball” Butler was the team’s top runner with 26 yards on 10 carries.

The Eagles lost their finale to finish at 5-9 and tied for fifth in the Eastern Conference with the Cardinals. Pittsburgh also lost the following week to conclude its worst year since 1944 with a 2-12 record to finish at the bottom of the conference.

A Philadelphia sportswriter described Bill Nelsen and Tommy Wade after the game as “seated despondently next to each other like two old ladies whose purses had just been snatched.” Things would get better for Nelsen, especially after he was traded to Cleveland in 1968, and he had a solid ten-year NFL career. Wade, however, was finished after the ’65 season. For his two-season career, he threw 13 interceptions and fumbled six times while tossing two touchdown passes.

Nate Ramsey ended up leading the Eagles with six interceptions in 1965. The three for backup Jim Nettles were his only pickoffs of the year. An undrafted free agent out of Wisconsin, Nettles ended up playing eight years in the NFL – like Nelsen, his best years came after he was traded away which, in his case, was to the Rams in 1969.

1960: Unitas’ 47-Game TD Pass Streak Comes to End as Colts Lose to Rams

The Baltimore Colts had won back-to-back NFL championships in 1958 and ’59, and seemed a good bet to win three straight when they got off to a 6-2 start in 1960. However, Head Coach Weeb Ewbank’s club sputtered at that point. Age and injuries began to catch up to the Colts, most significantly a torn Achilles tendon suffered by FB Alan Ameche that proved to be career-ending.

Of course, the Colts still had their star quarterback, Johnny Unitas (pictured above), who was playing with a bad back but was still effective. The running game was not nearly as productive without Ameche, though, and defenses were adjusting to concentrate on stopping the passing attack.

Baltimore had lost two straight games, including a stunning, last-minute 20-15 defeat at the hands of the Lions (one of the contenders chasing the Colts in the Western Conference) the previous week. They were now 6-4 and in trouble as they traveled to Los Angeles to take on the Rams on December 11.

Los Angeles had a new head coach in ’60, former star quarterback Bob Waterfield. The club lost its first four games (including one at Baltimore), but was 3-6-1 by the time the Colts arrived. Some younger players were getting opportunities to play, among them Frank Ryan at quarterback in place of veteran Bill Wade.

There were 75,461 fans at the Memorial Coliseum, and they saw a low-scoring defensive battle. The Colts looked impressive initially, taking up most of the first quarter with a 17-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a nine-yard field goal by Steve Myhra. But that was it as Baltimore held on to a miniscule 3-0 lead at halftime.

Ryan started at quarterback for the Rams but left with a shoulder injury, bringing Wade into the game. Del Shofner, normally a split end, saw action in the defensive backfield and was also the team’s punter until he went down with a leg injury. FB Joe Marconi took over the punting and had an excellent game, kicking six times for a 47.8 average and thus keeping the Colts from starting drives in good field position.

Wade made the biggest play of the game in the third quarter when he rolled out to his left and proceeded to run 66 yards for the only touchdown. He got a good block from Marconi and eluded CB Milt Davis at the 10 yard line on the way to putting the Rams ahead by 7-3.

Danny Villanueva added a 32-yard field goal for LA in the fourth quarter. In the closing minutes, Unitas moved the Colts from their own three yard line to the Rams’ 20, but a fumbled handoff to HB Alex Hawkins was recovered by Los Angeles DT George Strugar, nailing down the 10-3 win for the Rams.

While the Colts outgained LA by 272 yards to 248, they were held to 91 yards on the ground. They also fumbled five times, losing two of them. HB Lenny Moore gained 44 yards on 18 carries (by far his most attempts of the year) while the replacement for Alan Ameche, FB Billy Pricer, ran the ball 8 times and accumulated only 11 yards.

Stars on defense for the Rams included MLB Les Richter, DE Lou Michaels, DE Gene Brito, and DT John Baker. Michaels and the 35-year-old Brito were playing hurt, making their contributions all the more significant.

But the biggest story was that Johnny Unitas failed to complete a touchdown pass, breaking a string of 47 consecutive games stretching back to the eighth contest of the 1956 season (ironically, against the Rams at the same venue). As remarkable as the streak was at the time, it has grown in luster over the intervening years.

The streak occurred at a time when teams were not as prone to passing, and prior to rules changes (most notably in the 1970s) that opened up the aerial game and encouraged teams to throw the ball far more often. The closest any quarterback since has come to the 47-game streak is 36 by Green Bay’s Brett Favre from 2002-04. Dan Marino ranks third, with a 30-game streak in 1985-87.

Along the way, Unitas threw for multiple touchdowns in 33 of the 47 contests (including every game in 1959 and the six leading up to the contest against the Rams), with a high of four that he reached on seven occasions (three times in ’60). The Colts went 31-16 during the 47 games (Unitas missed two complete games to injury in 1958. The streak does not include the two NFL Championship games, in both of which Unitas threw TD passes).

The third straight defeat for the Colts effectively knocked them out of title contention and they ended up losing a fourth to close out the 1960 season with a record of 6-6, placing them fourth in the Western Conference. The Rams were farther behind in sixth place at 4-7-1.

While his touchdown passing streak ended and the team failed to remain on top in the NFL, the 27-year-old Unitas still was among league’s best passers. He set a new record for passing yards with 3099 (he in fact broke Sammy Baugh’s previous record of 2938 in the Rams game) and led the league in pass attempts (378), completions (190), and touchdowns (25). However, he also was second in interceptions thrown (24) due to defenses hanging back to stop the pass once they no longer feared the Colts’ running game (12 of the pickoffs occurred during the last four losing games of the year, including one by the Rams).

1983: Bradshaw Spurs Steelers to Playoff-Clinching Win in Last Appearance

The Pittsburgh Steelers had gotten off to a 9-2 start in 1983 and appeared to be cruising toward the playoffs. But after winning seven straight games through Week 11, they lost the next three contests. Not only did their record drop to 9-5, but the Steelers were in danger of missing the postseason altogether. Their lead in the AFC Central was down to a game over the Cleveland Browns, and they needed a win to assure a playoff spot.

To start at quarterback against the New York Jets at Shea Stadium on December 10 was Terry Bradshaw, who had led the Steelers to four championships in the 1970s. It would be the 35-year-old veteran’s first start of the season. He had undergone surgery on his right (throwing) elbow in March, which had been considered successful, but aggravated the injury in May and re-injured the elbow in training camp. Placed on injured reserve to start the season, he had been activated the week before, but had not played.

Backup Cliff Stoudt was the starting quarterback while Bradshaw was out, and while the team had been winning, it was primarily because of the running game and defense. The passing offense had not kept pace, and Head Coach Chuck Noll decided that, with the postseason on the line, it was time to turn to the most successful quarterback in the franchise’s history.

The Jets, under first-year Head Coach Joe Walton, were 7-7 and entertaining slim playoff hopes of their own. New York had been in the postseason the previous two years, advancing all the way to the AFC Championship game in ‘82. But Walt Michaels had resigned as head coach and Walton, the highly regarded offensive coordinator, was elevated to the top job. The result had been regression as the Jets played inconsistently.

As a side note, the game against the Steelers would be the last for the Jets at Shea Stadium, their home since 1964. They were moving to Giants Stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands for the ’84 season, a venue they would share with New York’s other NFL club.

There were 53,996 fans on hand, with 6314 no-shows on a partly sunny and cool day. The teams traded punts on their first possessions. But when Pittsburgh got the ball back after another punt by the Jets, Bradshaw completed a 24-yard pass to TE Bennie Cunningham, followed by a 22-yard run by RB Frank Pollard to the New York 28 yard line. The drive stalled, but on a third-and-ten play, Bradshaw sprinted to his right and threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to WR Gregg Garrity, who was wide open in the middle of the end zone. The eight-play possession had covered 77 yards.

The Jets punted again, and again the Steelers moved down the field. After a three-yard run by RB Franco Harris, another aging veteran of the glory years in the ‘70s, Bradshaw threw a pass to Pollard for a 17-yard gain. Harris carried again on a sweep that picked up 18 yards. After two runs by Pollard, a pass interference penalty on New York made it first down on the Jets’ 14. Three plays later, and now into the second quarter, Bradshaw, being blitzed, fired a bullet to WR Calvin Sweeney who caught the ball at the five and ran into the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown. The Steelers were ahead by 14-0.

That was the end for Bradshaw, however. He suffered a bruise to the injured elbow when throwing the pass to Sweeney and was through for the game (and ultimately for his career). He had been in for a total of 20 plays covering three series, but it was enough to give the Steelers momentum and a lead they would not relinquish.

Stoudt came in at quarterback and the Pittsburgh offense cooled off. However, Jets QB Richard Todd, who couldn’t get his team across midfield in the first half, was intercepted by safety Ron Johnson, and the return was to the New York nine. The result was a 29-yard Gary Anderson field goal. Following another punt by the Jets, the Steelers drove 42 yards in 10 plays and Anderson kicked another field goal, of 40 yards, just prior to the end of the half. The score at halftime was 20-0, and Pittsburgh was very much in command.

After being intercepted twice and sacked three times, Todd was relieved by backup QB Pat Ryan in the third quarter. Ryan’s first pass was intercepted by CB Mel Blount after bouncing off the hands of WR Wesley Walker, setting up a 13-yard touchdown pass from Stoudt to Cunningham.

New York’s best series of the game followed when Ryan moved the team 75 yards in three plays, with two of them passes to WR Johnny “Lam” Jones of 36 yards and 27 yards for a TD. But it was 27-7 after three quarters. Stoudt threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Sweeney just over four minutes into the fourth quarter, and that provided the final score of 34-7.

Fans tore up the Shea Stadium turf, as well as some of the temporary seating for football, leading to numerous injuries and arrests. It was an ugly end to both the season and the tenure at the stadium in Queens.

But the big story had been Terry Bradshaw, who launched the big win for the Steelers by completing 5 of 8 passes for 77 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

“He was a major factor,” said Coach Noll of Bradshaw. “It was a remarkable performance considering what he's gone through. We saw him work during the week and we felt he was ready and I think he showed it today.”

“When you have a guy like Terry coming back, you have to use him,” said Cliff Stoudt. “And I guess his performance shows why. He wasn't 100 percent but he showed a lot of courage. He was the leader out there and when he got us the two quick scores, that was the ballgame.”

Other noteworthy performances were turned in by Franco Harris, who rushed for 103 yards on 26 carries, and Frank Pollard, who added 78 yards on 15 attempts as the Steelers rolled up 242 yards on the ground. Johnny “Lam” Jones was one of the few bright spots for New York, catching 7 passes for 146 yards and the team’s lone TD.

Pittsburgh lost the following week, with Stoudt at quarterback, but won the AFC Central with a 10-6 record. They lost in the Divisional round of the playoffs to the Raiders. The Jets, officially eliminated by the loss to the Steelers, also fell again in the season finale to finish at 7-9, tied with the Colts at the bottom of the AFC East.

While Chuck Noll hoped his veteran quarterback would be ready for further action, it was not to be. No one knew at the time, but the appearance against the Jets was the last of Bradshaw’s distinguished career. The damage to his throwing arm was too much to overcome.


The end for Bradshaw came fittingly enough as part of a clutch performance. While he might not always have received the credit he was due for quarterbacking the team to four championships, especially considering the strong supporting cast on offense and the many stars on defense, Bradshaw was an outstanding athlete and leader who was a key to the club’s success. He was selected to the Pro Bowl on three occasions and was a consensus first-team All-Pro choice in 1978, a year in which he led the NFL with 28 touchdown passes and the Steelers won their third Super Bowl. And Bradshaw did receive the ultimate honor – he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989.

1967: Blocked Punt Sets Up Winning TD as Rams Defeat Packers

The December 9, 1967 contest at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum featured the Green Bay Packers, two-time defending NFL champions, against the Rams, a team on the rise and in a tough battle for a division title. In this first season in which the Eastern and Western conferences were split into two four-team divisions apiece, Green Bay was 9-2-1 and had already clinched the Central Division, while Los Angeles had a 9-1-2 record, putting the Rams just behind the 10-0-2 Baltimore Colts in the Coastal Division.

While Head Coach Vince Lombardi’s Packers had won four titles in six seasons, the team was beginning to show its age and injuries had added to the challenge of keeping the run going. 33-year-old QB Bart Starr had been playing hurt at the beginning of the year, and running backs Elijah Pitts and Jim Grabowski were lost to injury, forcing the club to bring in journeymen replacements in Ben Wilson and Chuck Mercein. Still, after a slow start, Green Bay was rolling and rode a four-game winning streak into LA.

The Rams had strung together seven consecutive losing seasons prior to the arrival of George Allen as head coach in 1966. His impact had been immediate, as the team went 8-6 in his first year, and now it had become a title contender. The offense played conservatively, with QB Roman Gabriel (pictured above) and a solid group of running backs led by HB Les Josephson and FB Dick Bass. The defense was outstanding, starting with the line that was known as “The Fearsome Foursome” and included ends Deacon Jones and Lamar Lundy and tackles Merlin Olsen and Roger Brown (acquired from Detroit in the preseason after Roosevelt Grier was lost for the year with a knee injury).

There were 76,837 fans on hand under sunny skies for the Saturday contest. Both teams failed on field goal attempts before Green Bay scored first, late in the first quarter, on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Starr to flanker Carroll Dale. The Rams came back to tie the game early in the second quarter with a 73-yard drive that concluded with Gabriel throwing to split end Jack Snow for a 16-yard TD. Following an interception by Green Bay safety Willie Wood, the Packers scored on a 32-yard Don Chandler field goal just before the half to take a 10-7 lead into the intermission.


In the third quarter, LA regained the lead when Gabriel again tossed a scoring pass to Snow, this one covering 11 yards. It was 17-10 later in the period when Bruce Gossett kicked a 23-yard field goal. But instead of squib-kicking the ensuing kickoff, as they had been doing to keep the ball away from Green Bay’s sensational kick returner, rookie HB Travis Williams (pictured at left), Gossett kicked away. Williams fielded the kick four yards deep in his end zone and proceeded to sprint 104 yards for a touchdown – his record fourth such return of the year. From a seven-point Rams lead, the game was now tied at 17-17.

Early in the fourth quarter, CB Clancy Williams intercepted a pass for LA and the Rams capitalized with a 16-yard Gossett field goal to retake the lead. But the Packers took advantage of a turnover when Bass fumbled and they drove 43 yards to a four-yard touchdown run by Mercein. With 2:19 left on the clock, Green Bay led by 24-20.

It looked good for the Packers when the defense stifled the Rams, who had to punt after three plays. But Green Bay was unable to penetrate the LA defense for a game-clinching first down and was forced to kick the ball back.

With the ball at the Packers’ 27 yard line, Donny Anderson, the team’s punter as well as the heir apparent to the departed Paul Hornung at halfback, prepared to punt with 54 seconds now remaining to play. But before Anderson could get off the kick, Rams reserve LB Tony Guillory ran untouched through the line and blocked it. DB Claude Crabb picked up the loose football and ran 20 yards before being pulled down at the five by Anderson.

Gabriel had to throw the ball away on the first play, but on the second, after a play-action fake to HB Tommy Mason, he threw the ball into the end zone where it was caught by flanker Bernie Casey for a touchdown. Gossett’s conversion was good, and the Rams came away with a big 27-24 win.


Los Angeles outgained the Packers (324 yards to 218) and had more first downs (20 to 12), although they also gave up three turnovers to Green Bay’s two. Roman Gabriel completed 20 of 36 passes for 227 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Les Josephson led the ground game with 73 yards on 19 carries and also caught 5 passes for 51 yards. Bernie Casey caught 6 passes for 97 yards, including the winning TD. Jack Snow (pictured at right) had two touchdowns among his four receptions for 48 yards.

For the Packers, Bart Starr was successful on 10 of 20 passes for 138 yards with a touchdown and two picked off. Boyd Dowler led the club by catching four of those passes for 71 yards. The Rams managed to hold the normally potent Green Bay running game to 98 yards on 32 attempts, with Travis Williams the leading rusher with 26 yards on 12 attempts.

The Rams thrashed the Colts 34-10 the next week in the climactic battle for the division crown, and finished 11-1-2. For the first time in NFL history, a division title was determined by tiebreaker (as opposed to playing an extra game), and due to LA’s better point differential in head-to-head contests, they finished ahead of Baltimore. Green Bay lost its season finale to complete the regular season at 9-4-1, but in the Western Conference Championship game, won the rematch with the Rams by a convincing 28-7. The Packers went on to win a third straight NFL title by beating Dallas and capped it all with a Super Bowl triumph over the AFL champion Oakland Raiders.

Roman Gabriel threw a career-high 25 touchdown passes and his 2779 passing yards were his most with the Rams (his career high was 3219 with the Eagles in 1973). By the passer rating system in use at the time, he placed fourth in the league, although by the current rating system he was third (85.2). Gabriel was named to the Pro Bowl for the first of three straight years.

Bart Starr’s numbers dropped off significantly from 1966, when he was the NFL’s top passer (105.0 rating by current system). He threw a career-high 17 interceptions and only nine TD passes. Yet his 8.7 yards per attempt and 15.9 yards per completion were both league-leading figures and, along with the Packers finishing on top once again, attested to his continued effectiveness.

In addition to scoring four touchdowns on kickoff returns, Travis Williams set a record for kick return average of 41.1 on 18 returns. While Cecil Turner of the Bears also returned four kickoffs for TDs in 1970, the average per return still remains the best to date.