By TJ Troup
This past Sunday three times teams recorded safeties in the game. Luck fumbles out of bounds out of the end zone, Barber being tackled by Coley of the Browns, and
Cory Littleton of the Rams blocking a punt out of the end zone. As impressive as Littleton's play was; he falls short of October 21st, 1973 when
Fred Dryer sacked two different Packer quarterbacks in the end zone in the same quarter in the Ram victory. Doubt if we ever see any player get two safeties in the same game, let alone the same quarter.
Next up; the
Adam T. update. He has 67 catches for an impressive 822 yards so far. How many receivers historically began a year with more than 822 yards receiving after the first seven games you ask? Might have missed a couple, yet here is the list:
Charley Hennigan in 1961 with 33-1,044,
Crazy Legs Hirsch in '51 with 40-961,
Bobby Mitchell in '62 with 39-872,
Lance Alworth (twice) with 40-871 in '68 & 35-867 in '65. Just missing making our list is
Billy Howton in '56 for the Packers and
Jerry Rice in '89.
Since I mentioned a receiver in '62, this coming Sunday marks the anniversary of
Y.A. Tittle throwing 7 touchdown passes against the Redskins for 505 yards, and of course, his main target was
Del Shofner with 269 yards. Washington plays New York this Sunday, but doubt either quarterback throws for seven scores.
Finally, all of us here at the
Journal are doing a story on the season of 1968 since it is the 50th anniversary of that compelling season. Jeff Miller and Joe Zagorski have already written superb stories on AFL games that year. Hopefully, time permits in all of your busy schedules and you will come back on Friday to read about the Shula/Allen rivalry and the game between the Rams and Colts of October 27th, 1968.
Coach Troup, how do you think Adam Thielen stacks up to a guy like Lance Alworth in terms of speed, route-running, and hands?
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