TUESDAY TIDBITS: "Starts With a Whistle, and Ends with a Gun"

By TJ Troup 

Alan Ameche

This past Sunday would have been Steve Sabol's 80th birthday, thus the title of this saga in his honor. Since Steve's favorite team was the Baltimore Colts. Let's journey back to the night before his 13th birthday for a night game between the defending western conference champion Lions, and the vastly improved Colts. 

There have been teams that suddenly became contenders due to the draft, and the Colts rookie class of '55 was one of the best of the decade of the '50s. 

Alan Ameche exploded on opening day against the Bears as he gained 194 yards—including a 79-yard touchdown run down the left sideline, and now in his second game as a pro, he pounded out 153 yards against Detroit. 

Leading 14-6 in the second quarter Ameche takes off on a long trap play to the right against the Lions 5-2-4 defense. Superb blocking opens a gaping hole, and the Horse has again busted loose. 

Jack Christiansen is the best left safety in the western conference, but today he is not on the field and his replacement in his final season is Doak Walker. The Doaker is out of position, and Ameche dashes into the end zone after a 57-yard run. 

Jack Christiansen

He is the first fullback in NFL history to have a run of over 50 yards in his first two games as a pro! Baltimore wins easily and though they would endure growing pains during the season, this is a group of men that eventually would take their place in the annuals of great teams. 

Since Steve was a fullback, there is no doubt he relished seeing Ameche run with the ball. 

Last Sunday went to a Sports Bar to watch my beloved Bears take on the Giants. Still not sure how strong New York is, yet winning early sows the seeds of belief. Chicago on the other hand is not going to be a contender for the NFC North title. The game on the screen next to the Bears game was Jacksonville against Philadelphia. Andre Cisco dashes 59 yards down the sideline to put the Jaguars on the scoreboard, and they add to that to lead 14-0. 

Historically when a team scores on an interception return they win about 80% of the time. Thus the Eagles only have a 20% chance of winning? 

Right? 

Oh, wait, no so fast! 

Philadelphia was relentless on offense the rest of the game as Miles Sanders gained 134 yards rushing. When one team has a 100-yard rusher, and the other does not......the team with the 100-yard rusher wins 77% of the time. 

This upcoming Sunday the Eagles travel to the desert to take on the Cardinals. These two long-time rivals have been knocking heads since the mid-'30s, and as such there have been many hard-fought and fascinating games between the two teams. 

October 2nd, 1966 was one of those games. During 1965 NFL Films referred to the game of the week as NFL Play by Play Report, but in '66 the talented folks at Films featured every game, yes EVERY game as "Game of the Week". 

Joe Kuharich is in his third season as head coach of the Eagles, and though he has not yet had a winning campaign, they are a tough team to play. The Cardinals after excellent seasons in 1963 & 1964 stumbled back in '65. 

Charley Winner in his first year as head coach has St. Louis playing top-notch football and leads the East with a record of 3-0. Philadelphia has won 2 of 3, and are at home at Franklin Field. 

Studying the film we see the Cardinals are one of the best pass-rushing teams in the league, and their constant blitzing by the Redbird linebacker corps, and a hard-charging defensive line takes down Norm Snead nine times in the game. 

The player that stood out in film study is right defensive tackle Chuck Walker, but he sure had plenty of help from his Cardinal teammates. St. Louis leads at the half 17-10, and the key plays came from rookie Johnny Roland as he returned two punts for 111 yards, the second was an 86-yard scoring scamper as he followed precision open field blocking. 

St. Louis will gain just 147 yards in total offense (the Eagles gain 230), thus when we see a final score of 41-10 you cannot help but wonder where all the points came from. Strong safety Jerry Stovall disguised his coverage, darted in front of Retzlaff and intercepted, and weaved his way 18 yards to score. Late in the game Snead lofts the ball up the left sideline towards halfback Timmy Brown. Free safety Larry Wilson has man coverage on Brown, and ranges to his right and goes up and pilfers the ball one-handed. 

The lean hard-bitten hitter dashes down the sideline as the teammates escort him 91 yards to the end zone. St. Louis returns interceptions 119 yards as a team in this game, and when a team returns interceptions over 100 yards in a game—they win 91% of the time. 

The Cardinals with the win look like they just might dethrone Cleveland in the East, but stumbled down the stretch to finish 8-5-1. The Eagles with the loss to the Cardinals are now 2-2, but somehow, someway win seven of their last ten, and though Dallas wins the East. . .Philadelphia earns a playoff bowl game.