A Number That’s Hard to Believe

By Nick Webster

Jaylon Smith, the Cowboys’ trending Linebacker, yesterday notched the only sack of the game for America’s Team. On the last play of the half as Deshaun Watson broke out to the right the speedy Smith tracked him down and knocked him out of bounds for a one-yard loss, effectively ending the scoring threat for the Texans, a great play, and one of the best defensive plays you’ll see.

Now, nobody could hold it against you for asking whether this should have been called a sack or a stuff, I am personally not sure Watson ever planned to throw the ball on this play. But it was the icing on the cake for Smith getting credit for short sacks.

In fact, Jaylon has 3 sacks now on the season, a week one sack for ZERO YARDS on Cam Newton at Carolina, a week three sack for ZERO YARDS against Russell Wilson in Seattle, and finally yesterday Smith took down Watson in Houston for ONE YARD on his third sack of the season.

Given that most sacks fall in the 5 to10-yard range what are the odds of having 3 sacks for just one-yard loss?  The numbers say that this should happen once for every 9,798 times that a player has three sacks, ok, ok, maybe it’s not one in a million, but one in 10 thousand isn’t bad. Let’s watch what happens next, another 0 or 1 yarder and he’ll be one in 200,000.

The Bills Pick Off Broadway Joe Five Times To Secure The Greatest Upset In Team History

The Buffalo Bills entered the 2018 season with controversy swirling all around them. Despite selecting quarterback Josh Allen with the seventh overall pick in the college draft, Bills head coach Sean McDermott tapped second-year signal caller Nathan Peterman to start when the season opened against the Baltimore Ravens. It wasn’t so much that fans wanted to see the new “franchise” quarterback Allen was projected to be, for most logical observers knew he needed some experience before he would be ready to assume the reins of leadership. The problem for a large segment of Bills fans was that they were simply not ready to accept Peterman on the grounds that he had thrown five interceptions in his first career start the previous year. 

What these Bills fans didn’t know, or, more likely, wouldn’t accept, was that several quarterbacks (including many with busts residing in the Pro Football Hall of Fame) have thrown five or more interceptions in a single game. Just to name a few, we’ll start with Oakland’s Ken Stabler, who threw seven picks against the Broncos in 1977. Houston’s George Blanda attained a dubious high of six no less than three (yes, three!) times, including twice in the same season (1962 versus Buffalo and Dallas). For pundits who insist those numbers are ancient history, how about the Packers’ Brett Favre tossing six interceptions against the Rams in 2002, or the Colts’ Peyton Manning throwing six against the Chargers in 2007? 

Then, of course, there was Joe Namath, famed gunslinger of the New York Jets, who threw six picks twice in his career (versus Baltimore in 1970 and, then again versus Miami in 1975. He also has five different five-interception games to his credit, including two against the Buffalo Bills.  The first came in a 33-23 loss to Buffalo in October 1966, but that was when the Bills were still a powerhouse in the old American Football League. The second, on September 29, 1968, will be the topic for this article, since it came at a time when the Jets were soaring toward an unlikely world championship and the Bills were descending the stairs that would lead them to the league’s basement, and occurred 50 years ago this season.  

The Bills were a team seemingly in total chaos when they welcomed the New York Jets to War Memorial Stadium in late September 1968. After losing their first two games that year--including an embarrassing 48-6 pasting at the hands of the Oakland Raiders in Week 2—owner Ralph Wilson fired coach Joe Collier and replaced him with Harvey Johnson, the team's chief scout.  By all accounts, Johnson was an astute judge of football talent, but by no means was he prepared to lead a team as head coach.

            "Harvey was just in there to manage it until the season was over until they could hire somebody else," said defensive end Ron McDole. "He didn't have the background to be the head coach, and he'd be the first to tell you that.  He didn't want the job. He knew enough ball, and so, like anything else, the boss comes in and tells you, 'You're the new head coach.'  Harvey was probably the only guy they could get at that point in time, and so Harvey took the job."

            The team's first game under Johnson was played at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati, and the change in leadership saw the same result, as the expansion Bengals handed Buffalo its third straight loss. It didn't appear that things were going to be any different when the Bills returned home to face the undefeated Jets in Week 4. The Jets featured a high-flying offense, led by Namath, arguably the most famous name in the game at the time. The Jets were the odds-on favorite to take the AFL crown and represent the league in Super Bowl III. But the Bills were a proud bunch, with several veterans remaining from the team that just a few years earlier won back-to-back AFL championships. They might not have been playing for any titles in this one, but there was no way stalwarts such as Ron McDole, Booker Edgerson, Harry Jacobs, and Tom Sestak were going to roll over for anyone. 

Team captains meet at midfield for the toss of the

coin.  Representing the Bills are guard Billy Shaw

(66) and defensive end Ron McDole (72).  For the

Jets, it's defensive back Johnny Sample (24) and

quarterback Joe Namath (12).

             But when the New York marched right down the field to score on a four-yard Namath-to-George Sauer touchdown pass on their first drive, a sense of “oh, here we go again” washed over the crowd.  The players, however, weren’t having it, for, on the Jets’ next possession, the Bills’ began a crime spree that led to the greatest upset victory in team history.

            It started with safety Tom Janik, who picked off a Namath pass and returned it 37 yards, setting up a 35-yard field goal to put the Bills on the board.  

Tom Janik returns his first interception for 37

yards, setting up Buffalo's first score.  Blocking

for Janik are safety George Saimes (26) and

defensive end Ron McDole (72).

 Buffalo took a 10-7 lead just as the first quarter ended, but the Jets' defense rose up late in the second quarter, forcing a fumble at the Buffalo 10. After throwing two straight incompletions, Namath attempted to hit Curley Johnson in the right flat.  But Janik intervened to make his second theft of the half, snatching Namath's pass before it could reach Johnson in the end zone. Janik turned upfield and made a beeline for the New York end zone, sprinting past the riotous Buffalo bench as he streaked down the left sideline. Janik cruised untouched the rest of the way for a 100-yard touchdown run.  Just like that, the Bills were on top, 17-7. 

Tom Janik in mid-sprint as he makes his way for

a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown.

             The Jets bounced back to take a 21-20 lead before intermission, but Janik's theft had given his team a much-needed infusion of confidence. The Bills re-established the momentum in the third, reclaiming the lead with a field goal midway through. The veteran Buffalo defense stepped up in the fourth, with veteran cornerbacks Butch Byrd and Booker Edgerson returning two more of Namath's passes for touchdowns (53 and 45 yards, respectively) within a span of 62 seconds to give the Bills a commanding 37-21 lead. The Jets scored twice more, but the damage was done and the Bills--19-point underdogs at game time—claimed the biggest upset of the 1968 season, defeating the eventual Super Bowl champions, 37-35.      

Butch Byrd racing 53 yards to score on a pilfered

Joe Namath pass.

Booker Edgerson (24) returns an interception for

a touchdown on the Jets second straight

possession. Moving in to block for Booker is

defensive end Tom Day (89).

           This was the only victory the Bills would record in 1968, as the team went 0-9-1 the rest of the way to finish 1-12-1--the worst record in both the AFL and NFL--and earn the first overall pick in the upcoming college draft.  They used that pick, of course, to select O.J. Simpson, the Heisman Trophy-winning halfback from the University of Southern California. 

*****

             
So how did they manage to pick off Namath five times for the second time in three years?  One word:  Simplicity. A close examination of the film shows that the Bills defense was not doing anything out of the ordinary. Said Head Coach Harvey Johnson, “We didn’t feel we could blitz Namath effectively, so we just hung back and waited for the interception.”

Middle linebacker and defensive signal-caller Harry Jacobs had the team aligned in their standard 41 Red (or 4-3 with man-to-man coverage) on every interception. There were only a couple of noticeable variations. First a right side “twist” on Janik’s 100-yard pick-six in which defensive end Tom Day slanted inside toward the offensive guard and defensive tackle Tom Sestak looped outside.  

The Bills aligned in standard 4-3 formation prior

to Tom Janik's interception and 100-yard return.

In this image, the twist (or stunt) that the left side

of the defensive line is employing can be clearly

seen.  Defensive tackle Tom Sestak (70) is step out

and around defensive end Tom Day (89), who is

pinching in toward guard Bob Talamini (61).

   

This stunt did not effect the play at all, as Sestak was picked up easily by the left by the offensive tackle, giving Namath plenty of time to throw.  "I was covering Johnson all the way," Janik explained. "The ball was perfectly thrown.  I hesitated a split second, then stepped inside my man.  All I saw was daylight. Namath came up on the play downfield and I was getting tired, but I knew he was, too, and that knee had to be bothering him, so I just kept going." 

On Booker Edgerson’s interception, the Bills used a standard 4-3 but blitzed outside linebackers Mike Stratton and Paul Guidry, thus hurrying Namath’s throw, which flew directly into Edgerson’s waiting hands. From there, it was an easy stroll into the end zone for the Bills’ veteran cornerback.  

Namath being pressured by the Bills defense as

outside linebackers Mike Stratton (58) and Paul

Guidry (59) blitz, resulting in a Booker Edgerson

interception.

 The rest of the thefts appear to be attributable to little more than good, solid defense and, according to Jets’ Head Coach Weeb Ewbank, “Lousy protection.”

But Namath was not allowing excuses to be made in his behalf.  “I’m to blame for the interceptions.  Yeh, me—this dumb guy sitting here.  I threw the ball, so I’m at fault."        

*****

 Notes:  The Bills amassed 235 yards on interception returns.  Tom Janik's 100-yarder eclipsed the old Bills record of 91 yards set by Booker Edgerson against Houston in 1964 and stood as the standard until October 3, 1976, when Tony Greene went 101 yards with an interception against the Kansas City Chiefs. 

Janik's single-game total of 137 interception return yards also set a new club record that still stands, as does the record three interceptions the team returned for touchdowns that day. 

The Bills’ defense also recorded nine passes defensed this day. Several of which were balls batted down by defensive lineman at the line of scrimmage, while a couple of others were aerials broken up by defensive backs, which could have resulted in even more interceptions.

It should also be noted that the Bills had a sixth interception this day—and fourth pick-six—when Butch Byrd pilfered an errant Namath throw on the Jets’ possession immediately following Janik’s 100-yard TD return. The play was nullified however, as the Bills were called offside.

The Mentor Meant Business: How Hank Stram’s 1968 Full House Backfield Ran Over the Raiders

By Joe Zagorski

For Kansas City Chiefs head coach Hank Stram, necessity was not always to be regarded as the mother of invention. Sometimes, Stram just decided to tweak his strategies just for the fun of it. But Coach Stram was not doing too much laughing in the wake of sustaining some unsettling injuries to his wide receiver corps in the middle of the 1968 American Football League season. 

Superstar pass catcher Otis Taylor was among those on Stram’s roster who would not suit up for the Chiefs in their upcoming grudge match against their divisional rivals, the Oakland Raiders, at Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium on October 20, 1968. Fellow wide receivers Frank Pitts and Gloster Richardson were also banged up going into their seventh game of the season. The Chiefs stood firm in first place with an impressive 5-1 record, but a loss to the Raiders would mean that the two teams would be tied going into the second half of their respective schedules.  

Indeed, this first of two regular-season matchups against each other would be vital for both teams, as both represented the AFL in the first two Super Bowl games.  Both the Chiefs and the Raiders planned on attending Super Bowl III at the end of the 1968 season. 

But what would Stram do in order to help his team overcome their shortcomings against the strong Oakland defense? The Raiders had given up a meager 75 points up to that point (an average of only 15 points per game). There was no time to scour the waiver wire to find an available receiver who was lingering out on the market. And even if Stram was able to locate and obtain a new receiver, it would take a long time to acquaint the new man with the complexities of Kansas City’s diverse and difficult multiple offensive formations and plays. No, Stram was going to have to go another route if he planned on putting up a decent fight against the Raiders in less than a week.

By 1968, the Oakland Raiders were developing a reputation as a dynamic team, one that was prone to throwing the ball a lot. Pro football in the 1960s was still primarily a running game as far as offensive strategy was concerned. Nevertheless, the AFL was the league where experimenting with the air game was much more common than the basic ground attacks in the older and more conservative NFL. The Raiders and the San Diego Chargers utilized the two most prolific air attacks in pro football during the latter part of the decade. 

What Stram needed to do was to somehow blunt the throwing and scoring of Oakland’s offense. Strangely enough, he would discover what appeared to be the answer to his dilemma with the inner workings of his own offense.

Holmes (45), Hayes (38), Garrett (21) fake a sweep left as Dawson drops to pass, credit: AFL FIlms)

Kansas City might have had some bad luck with the injuries to their receiving corps, but they had plenty of talented running backs, each of whom was more than capable of gaining positive yardage in virtually every down and distance situation. Tailback Mike Garrett (5-foot-9, 200 pounds) was a shifty and fluid runner who could change directions on a dime, and who had the speed to outrace virtually any linebacker in the league. Fellow backfield mate Wendell Hayes (6-2, 220) was a bigger and stronger version of Garrett, and even though he did not possess that quickness of Garrett, he did deliver a strong blow to would-be tacklers that Garrett could not. Hayes represented the natural bridge to a bull of a runner, fullback Robert Holmes (5-9, 220), a man who made no pretense of his intentions.  

Holmes was considered by all as a power runner, a call carrier who would run into a brick wall, then chuckle as the assorted bricks lie strewn in his wake. Holmes was not the type of runner who would try to juke a defender. There was simply no need for him to do so. Holmes would rely on his innate ability to hit a defender —or several defenders—with his shoulders, his upper torso, and his oversized knees and thighs.  It typically did not take too long for said defenders to try to get out of Holmes’ way, then try to latch on to him from behind in their feeble attempts at dragging him to the turf.

It was this threesome that Coach Stram felt could be the key to winning the game against the Raiders. If he could alternate the carries that each of his running backs would get on every play with no specific or recognizable pattern, the guessing game that the Oakland coaching staff would be forced to play would probably work to Kansas City’s favor. The most important objectives of Stram’s full house backfield was to keep obtaining first downs, which would keep the game clock running. This, in turn, would keep the dynamic Oakland offense on the bench.

Chiefs Front Seven, credit: AFL Films

Stram had a solid defense that was getting better every year during the late 1960s. They had given up a total of just 56 points in their first six games of the 1968 season (a meager 9.3 points per game average), heading into their week seven game against the Raiders. They had a big and brutal defensive line, with defensive ends Aaron Brown (6-5, 265) and Jerry Mays (6-4, 252), and defensive tackles Buck Buchanan (6-7, 287), Curley Culp (6-1, 265), and in some instances, the gigantic Ernie Ladd (6-9, 290). 

Chief Secondary after a Robinson interceptions, credit: AFL Films

They also had what many experts agree was the best trio of linebackers in AFL history. Comprising that group were rangy outside backers Bobby Bell and Jim Lynch, and middle linebacker Willie Lanier, who was fast becoming one of the greatest players at his position in the history of pro football. The Kansas City defensive backs listed cornerbacks Emmitt Thomas and Willie Mitchell, and safeties Johnny Robinson and Jim Kearney, each of whom were more than capable of covering the quality opposing wide receivers that one saw in the AFL at that time.  If any defensive unit could slow down the Raiders offense, Stram’s defense was that group of defenders.

Stram did not worry much about his defensive players.  He knew that they were going to play well, especially if his offense did what he hoped that it would do...control the ball and move the first down markers downfield. 

The plan that “The Mentor” (a moniker that Stram gave to himself), called was a “Straight T” formation. That meant that the running backs in Kansas City’s offensive backfield lined up before the snap of the ball in the shape of the letter “T,” with one of them directly behind the quarterback, and the other two spread out behind that running back, and a few yards directly behind the offensive guards.  But that was just one way that Stram employed the Straight T.  

On other occasions, he would transfer the backs so that they would reverse where the top line of the T was aligned. And, of course, he would always call for a change in the position of each individual back, meaning that Mike Garrett might line up on some plays as one of the two backs along the top line of the T. On other plays, Garrett might be the back who lined up directly behind the quarterback. It was all geared to keep Oakland’s defense from successfully keying on any one particular runner in the Chiefs’ backfield.  It was also intended to create overall confusion among every player in Oakland’s defense, and on this day, it accomplished all that Stram had hoped for.

“Hank has always been a guy that wanted to look at new ideas, new schemes,” recalled Kansas City quarterback Len Dawson.  “Football was his life.  That’s what he thought about most...I think almost 24 hours a day.  He was one that was always looking at things.”

Chiefs Two Tight End Offense with three backs, credit:  AFL Films

The game against Oakland began with Stram showing the Raiders that he meant business.  He had quarterback Len Dawson hand the ball of to his runners right from the get-go.  The target area of the ground assault was between the Kansas City offensive tackles, right up the gut whenever possible. To help his offensive line with the blocking duties, Stram kept tight ends Reg Carolan and Fred Arbanas in the game, and even they would line up in different locations for every play. Most of the time, each tight end would line up alongside of each offensive tackle, but on other occasions, Stram would have both tight ends line up next to each other on the same side of the field. As a result, the Raider brain trust was stuck with even more confusion from the Kansas City offense.

“We thought they would go with the two tight ends,” admitted Oakland head coach John Rauch after the game.  “They hadn’t shown that formation before.”  Stram felt that the move was simply a helpful addition to his blocking schemes.  “You have to do what you think is best when your squad situation is the way ours is,” said Stram.  “All I was concerned with was winning, and I thought this was the best way for us to win.”

The path to what turned out to be one of the greatest strategical victories in Hank Stram’s coaching career relied on providing just too many blockers for the Raiders defense to contend with at the line of scrimmage. The two running backs who did not get the ball on any one particular play would focus their attention on the intended path ahead of the actual ball carrier. These two “decoy backs” would then block out any Oakland defender who was trying to fill up the designated hole. It was a simple numbers game, where one team has more players at the point of attack than the other team had to stop them. 

The numbers started to add up for Stram’s team early in the contest. A long drive by the Chiefs in the first quarter was culminated by a 1-yard dive off of left tackle by Wendell Hayes, giving Kansas City a 7-0 lead. The Kansas City defense then blunted what appeared to be a promising Oakland drive early in the second quarter with a timely interception by Chiefs safety Johnny Robinson. Kansas City’s defense was so stifling, that the Raiders could accrue only four first downs throughout the entire first half. They also failed to register a single point on the scoreboard during the first half as well.

Robert Holmes with a short touchdown run, credit: AFL Films

Later in the second quarter, another long Chiefs drive led to their second touchdown. But on Robert Holmes’ 4-yard rush to paydirt, Stram surprised the Raiders defense once more, this time with a sweep to the left.  Holmes scored standing up, and one could almost sense the puzzled and concerned feelings emanating from the Oakland sideline.  Still another long drive by the Kansas City offense closed out the first half with a 13-yard field goal by placekicker Jan Stenerud, giving the Chiefs a 17-0 halftime edge.

More of the same was in store for the Oakland defense on Kansas City’s first drive of the third quarter.  Dawson and Company ate up over nine minutes of the game clock to start the second half.  Wendell Hayes completed that drive with his second 1-yard scoring rush of the game, and it came on an identical dive over left tackle that was seen on his first quarter touchdown. The Chiefs now owned an insurmountable 24-0 lead. 

Oakland finally started to move the ball late in the third quarter, and they finally put some points on the scoreboard with a 45-yard touchdown pass down the near sideline from Raiders quarterback Daryle Lamonica to setback Billy Cannon. In the fourth quarter, Oakland’s defense finally solved the Kansas City running game by bunching up their defenders into the line of scrimmage. They did this very well, allowing exactly zero first downs by the Chiefs throughout the fourth quarter. Lamonica accounted for the majority of his 189 passing yards in the final stanza, mainly because he finally had possession of the ball long enough with which to do so. A 28-yard field goal by Oakland placekicker George Blanda closed out the scoring with the final verdict: Kansas City 24, Oakland 10.

The final numbers were impressive, to say the least. Kansas City ran the ball an incredible 60 times in the game, accounting for a total of 294 ground yards. Mike Garrett rushed for 109 yards on 24 carries. Robert Holmes contributed 95 yards on 19 carries, and Wendell Hayes rushed for 89 yards on 14 carries. Len Dawson would throw the ball only three times in the game, completing two of those tosses. But in this contest, Stram did not want him to throw the ball. A successful running strategy was what the Chiefs needed the most in order to beat the Raiders.

“Well I think Oakland was an excellent football team to begin with,” affirmed Len Dawson many years after that game, “and we knew that they were the arch-rivals, and we had to get past them to get to any championship. They were a good football team.  I think that we were a similar type of team.  Both of us (had) outstanding defenses. Both of us (had) good running attacks and both of us were very physical football teams.”

In the end, Coach Stram was typically magnanimous in victory. The win boosted the Chiefs to a 6-1 record and undisputed first place in the AFL’s Western Division. 

“Give the credit for this game to the people it belongs to, the people up front who blocked and tackled and to our entire squad,” said Stram.  “It was a team effort.”

In retrospect, the main cause for the impressive Kansas City win over Oakland on October 20, 1968, was Hank Stram. His willingness to defy traditional coaching philosophies and using what many considered to be previously outdated strategies turned out to be the main key to victory.   

Author’s Note: Joe Zagorski’s upcoming book about Kansas City Chiefs middle linebacker Willie Lanier is scheduled to be available in the latter part of 2019.  Entitled America’s Trailblazing Middle Linebacker: The Story of NFL Hall of Famer Willie Lanier, it will be published by Rowman & Littlefield.  His first book, The NFL in the 1970s: Pro Football’s Most Important Decade, was published by McFarland and Company, Inc., in 2016, and was rated as one of the top ten football books in 2016 by The Library Journal. 

Works Cited:

Associated Press, “Chiefs Retain Lead in West.”  Independence (Missouri) Examiner, October 21, 1968, 7.

Brinker, Bernard.  “Beat The Hell Out Of Them: The Chiefs-Raiders Rivalry, 1968-1971.”  The Coffin Corner, September/October, 2012, 11-18.

Nissenson, Herschel.  “Raiders Run For Juice But Get Spiked Punch.”  Wichita Falls Times, October 21, 1968, 20.

Len Dawson Interview with NFL Films, May 5, 2006.

Neft, David S., and Cohen, Richard M.  The Sports Encyclopedia Edition 6, Pro Football the Modern Era, 1960-1988.  New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1988.

Fumble Foursomes and the Defensive Player of the Year at the Quarter Pole

By Nick Webster 

Khalil Mack, credit: Fox Sports

Earlier this week ESPN.com’s Bill Barnwell named his award winners at the quarter-pole of the season, at Defensive Player of the Year he named in order Khalil Mack, Demarcus Lawrence, and J.J. Watt. We might quibble a bit about the order – between 2 and 3, not 1—but there’s no question that these three are off to a very special start to the season. Indeed, this site’s own John Turney selected Khalil Mack as his pre-season Defensive Player of the Year prediction, while yours truly was way off, placing him second.

JJ Watt, credit: CBS Sports

Mack and Watt have separated themselves in a very unique way.  Over the past 25 years, 1993 to date, Mack and Watt are the only two defenders ever to force 4 fumbles through the first 4 games of the season. Mack, amazingly, has forced one in each of the first four games, each on strip-sacks. Watt, on the other hand, forced one each in the second and third game and 2 this past weekend against the Colts. At this pace, both Watt and Mack would set a record for the known forced fumbles in a single season.

Demarcus Lawrence, credit: Fox Sports

A little bit on what we know about forced fumbles, from around 1993 to date NFL defensive stats while not official, have been consistently compiled and reported in play-by-plays by the press-box crew doing the home games.

Think of this as the “Unofficial-Official” era. From circa 1975-1980 to date teams consistently reported on the number of fumbles their defenders forced in Media Guides, I think of this as the “Team-Official” era as the numbers were kept fairly consistently across teams, unlike tackles where clearly teams used very different criteria, forcing a fumble is a very discrete event that can either be known to have happened or not—little left in doubt.

Prior to this is the “Unofficial Play-by-Play” era, where largely the only way to gather the number is from play-by-play accounts of the games, of course, prior to 1975 play-by-plays so varied in quality that many many fumbles went without ever recoding who caused the fumble.

Osi Umenyiora, credit: Wikipedia

What do we know?  We know that in the “Unofficial-Official” era no player has ever had 4 FF’s through 4 weeks, which both J.J. and Khalil have equaled in 2018. We know that the most FF’s in a single season over that timeframe is 10, shared by Jason Taylor in 2006, Osi Umenyiora in 2010 and Peanut Tillman in 2012 (more on that later).  At this pace, both J.J. and Khalil would exceed those leaders and set a new single-season standard. 

But players often get off to a hot start. In fact, during the “Unofficial-Official” era players have forced 4 or more fumbles in 4 consecutive weeks a few times . . . just not in weeks 1-4. In 1995 Ken Harvey then of the Redskins forced a single fumble in 4 consecutive weeks, but only tallied 5 on the season.  In fact, Mike Sinclair (1998), Simeon Rice (2002) and one J.J.Watt (2012) each forced a single fumble in 4 consecutive games during the season, making Mack one of just 5 players in the last 25 years to force a single fumble in 4 consecutive games. 

But perhaps most impressive, in 1995 and 2007 Ed McDaniel and Adewale Ogunleye each forced a single fumble in three consecutive games, then forced 2 in the 4th of those games, for a total of 5 FF’s in 4 games, incredible. In his 10 FF season in 2010, Osi Umenyiora forced 2 fumbles each in 3 consecutive games for a total of 6 in just three weeks.

So what does this portend for Mack and Watt, we’ll have to wait and see.  In all likelihood teams will adapt, but it’s not like Mack and Watt being dominating defenders came out of the blue, maybe they’ll be double teamed even more often, or triple teamed.  It is possible that what we’re seeing is part of a trend, given the new rules regarding landing on a passer during a sack, Von Miller stated that he’s just going to “go for the ball”, maybe, in a backwards way, this rule will hurt offenses as more sacks will lead to forced fumbles.

The early results suggest a possible uptick, through week 4 of last season 39 of 315 sacks or 12.4% were also forced fumbles, this season 47 of 320 or 14.7% a 19% increase, though it’s still too early to tell if this trend will hold.

So what of the previous era’s, the information we do have suggests that the recent emphasis on creating turnovers has actually increased the prevalence of forced fumbles.  The numbers from the “Team-Official” era are very reliable yet the highest figures observed in a single season are consistently in the 7 to 8 range. 

Keep in mind before LT, with Derrick Thomas later taking it to another level, the goal of sacking the QB was just that. LT began “tomahawking” the ball from QB’s hands in the late 80’s and only after Derrick Thomas forced 8 fumbles in 1992 with the technique did it truly becomes a point of emphasis.

Dick Butkus, credit: NFL Films

In the “Unofficial Play-by-Play” era the data is just too sparse to tell. You’ll hear statements like, “If they’d have kept track of forced fumbles when Dick Butkus played, he'd be the all-time leader.”  It’s true he was a hard hitter, and probably forced more fumbles than any other linebacker of his era, but his top season in that category was his rookie year where he had either 6 or 8 forced, depending on which numbers you trust, by the 70’s he was in the low single-digits, with around 3 per season.


So we may be entering a golden age of forced fumbles, Mack and Watt are truly off to a terrific start and each could be on his way to a historic season.  So who’s the defensive player of the year at the quarter pole, you decide . .  . 

TUESDAY TIDBITS: Drunken Sailors

By TJ Troup

Today is Steve Sabol's birthday; my departed friend(six years now) left a lasting impression on all of us that knew him. One of the Steve's favorite stories to tell was of summer camp as a boy sitting around the campfire singing old songs, thus the title "what do you do with a drunken sailor"....which became the theme song at NFL Films. Steve left no stone unturned as his creativity in filmmaking which can be directly tied to the French artist Paul Cézanne and his quote "all art is selected detail".

Steve and his dedicated and talented staff lived that quote over and over again. Am honored that Steve wrote the foreword of my first book, and in that foreword he explained to the reader that I told stories by using statistics and analysis of those statistics. Since he supplied film to me was much easier to tell my stories. When visiting NFL Films our discussions usually began with "Coach, what are you working on?".

Steve was enthusiastic in his support, and relished me handing him lists of my research. Wish I could hand him the list of my latest detailed research on defensive fumble returns. From 1950 through 1969 defenders gained 10,763 yards on fumble returns. The league manual lists the man or men who led the league each year. Some are household names, and some are having a brief moment in the sun.

Some are rookies like one of Steve's and my favorite players like Dick Butkus who led the league in 1965. Was told by some researchers this topic was boring, and almost impossible to list each defender and how many yards on the return.

My quest of course begins with the league manual, and beginning in 1950 realized that Joseph T. LaBrum and his staff had errors. The research for that '50 campaign was difficult since the "numbers" did not add up? Wait a minute? There are 32 yards missing? Who do they belong to? Starting with the league leader Tom Wham of the Chicago Cardinals, and voila . . . in the Chicago Tribune write-up and watching film—there is Tom returning a New York Giant fumble 32 yards.

Many seasons the league manual is correct, and can account for how far the fumble was returned and who was it against. Steve would have asked very direct and insightful questions, which takes me to the next part of the saga. The record book does not list which team holds the record for most yards gained returning opponent fumbles during a game (fumbles are the last area listed on the old score sheets).

Howley with Chicago Bears

Twenty-one times during this twenty year time frame teams returned fumbles over 100 yards in a season, but did any team return fumbles over 100 yards in a game? Let us call this the Chuck Howley stat. Howley began his rookie season in 1958 as the starting left linebacker for the Bears, yet as the year progressed he is replaced by veteran Wayne Hansen.

On a snowy December day in Wrigley and Joe Childress of the Cardinals is being tackled in the backfield by all-pro middle linebacker Bill George as rookie right corner Erich Barnes blasts into Childress knocking the ball loose. Right safety Charlie Sumner scoops up the ball and sprints down the right sideline for 86 yards and a touchdown. Later in the game Doug Atkins returns a Cardinal fumble 20 yards, but Doug is not near finished.

Atkins has improved dramatically over the last two years and nails the Cardinal quarterback and the ball is on the frozen ground again. Hansen grabs the ball and gains 16 yards to again put the Bears in scoring position in the one-sided victory. Chicago gains 122 yards in defensive fumble returns in the game which is the most during this twenty year time period. A quick note: late in the game Zeke Bratkowski of the Bears completes a pass to slotback Bill McColl who after making the catch begins to juggle the ball. McColl is surrounded by Cardinal defenders (Lane, Patera, and Taylor), and the ball pops into the hands of rookie safety Bobby Gordon who gains 42 yards to the Bear three yard line (film shows this).

The league manual lists Gordon with a 2-yard return for the season—OOPS! LaBrum and his staff have erred again.

Howley with Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys have finally become a mature powerhouse football team in 1966, and the opponent is the expansion Falcons. Junior Coffey begins to sweep left, but Bob Lilly penetrates the backfield and forces the fumble, which weakside linebacker Dave Edwards advances 19 yards before Coffey knocks him down. Atlanta is deep in Dallas territory and left halfback Perry Lee Dunn goes over right guard and fumbles. Strongside linebacker Chuck Howley grabs the ball and sets sail for the goal line. As Chuck was running 97 yards to score in the Georgia sunshine he probably was not thinking about a snowy day on the sidelines in Wrigley Field in December of  '58? These are the only two teams in this time period to gain over 100 yards in fumble returns in a game.

Next stop—yards receiving. Over 8,300 times a player has gained over 100 yards receiving in a game, and many, MANY times teammates have gained over 100 yards receiving in a game. How many times has a team had THREE teammates gain over 100 yards receiving in a game? We have 32 teams, and over half of the those teams have never had this happen. The total since 1933 is 19, and twelve teams have accomplished this once, while the Chargers have done it twice.

You could call the Rams media department, and they would not be able to tell you the following: The Rams last Thursday night in the Coliseum against the Vikings accomplished this for the FIFTH time. Los Angeles was the first team to accomplish this (also in the Coliseum) in 1951 against the New York Yanks.

In closing—Happy Birthday Steve, and no doubt you are smiling up in football heaven.

At the Quarter Pole, NFL Passers on Record-Setting Pace

LOOKING BACK
By John Turney

This season, so far, is showing how far the passing game has come. We've had two 6-TD passing performances (Pat Mahomes and Mitch Trubisky) for example.

After four weeks the NFL passer rating is 94.5, an all-time high, the completion percentage is 65.4 another all-time high. Yards per attempt is 7.48, another high and the touchdown percentage is 5.0%, the highest since 1969. And the gross passing yards is 268.1 yards, an all-time high. Interception percentage is 2.4, tied for the second-lowest ever.

Having followed these for a while, it's been our observation that the numbers go down as the season progresses. Defenses catch up, the weather gets bad but without doubt, the passing game is at its all-time peak and it's like at least some of these stats will hold to the end of the season especially if the run-pass ratio (now just under 40%) stays the same. Back it the day it was 55-45 or even higher at times. 

So, buckle up. It's going to be a fun ride.

Bills Pass Often, Gain Little in Loss to GB

By Eric Goska

Walking the Heritage Trail is one way

to celebrate the Packers 100th season of football.

The Packers are commemorating their 100th season this year.

On Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, Green Bay’s defense locked down as never before in 99 previous campaigns.

Kyler Fackrell, Jaire Alexander, Ha Ha Clinton Dix and others turned quarterback Josh Allen’s first visit to Lambeau Field into a nightmare. Fackrell registered three sacks and Alexander and Dix each came away with interceptions as Green Bay snuffed out Buffalo 22-0.

Green Bay’s defense has been oft-maligned in recent years. The unit surrendered more than 5,500 yards in each of the last five seasons (2013-17).

A year ago, the Packers pass defense was particularly suspect. It gave up 30 touchdown passes and, for the first time ever, allowed opponents to compile a passer rating (102.0) greater than 100.

In Buffalo, the Packers found the perfect salve. If this game is any indication as to what can be expected from first-year defensive coordinator Mike Pettine’s unit going forward, all of Packerland is onboard.

Green Bay yielded 145 yards to the Bills. The team gave up 58 rushing, holding the always dangerous LeSean McCoy and Chris Ivory to 39 on 11 carries.

Those are solid numbers. But pass defense is where a new standard was established.

Buffalo came out throwing, literally, on its first offensive play. It continued to attack in that manner in part because it trailed for all but 9 minutes, 45 seconds of the game and in part because of its limited success on the ground.

Such a concerted air attack has often meant trouble for Green Bay. Even when the Packers have prevailed, yards and points have usually been conceded in bulk.

Not against Buffalo.

Granted the Bills are playing with a rookie quarterback. Allen had started only two games before traveling to Green Bay.

But credit the Packers’ defense. It made sure Allen looked every bit the novice.

Linebacker Antonio Morrison pressured Allen into an incompletion in the first quarter. Fellow ‘backer Reggie Gilbert did the same in the second.

D-lineman Mike Daniels’ hit Allen as he threw to prevent another connection. Safety Josh Jones batted away an offering intended for receiver Kelvin Benjamin.

In addition to Fackrell, five others – Blake Martinez (1), Clay Matthews (0.5), Gilbert (1), Nick Perry (0.5) and Jermaine Whitehead (1) – soloed or shared in a sack of Allen. Green Bay dumped the youngster seven times for 64 yards in losses.

As a result, Allen threw wide. He threw long. He one-hopped a pass intended for receiver Robert Foster in the second quarter.

During one stretch in the first half, Allen fired incomplete eight straight times. Of those passes he did complete, more than half gained fewer than 10 yards.

It all added up to a passer rating of 36.3, a number that dipped to 9.9 after Clinton-Dix came away with his pick midway through the third quarter.

Buffalo grossed 151 yards through the air on 16 completions in 33 attempts. Factor in sacks and the Bills netted a grand total of 87 yards on 40 passing plays.

Never before had the Packers allowed fewer than 100 yards passing when an opponent dropped back 40 or more times. Never.

It’s no surprise that Green Bay has provided target practice for scores of teams over the years. Prior to Sunday, Green Bay had participated in 232 regular-season games in which the competition dropped back to pass 40 or more times.

In almost three-quarters of those cases (172), opponents gained 200 or more yards. In 62 instances, 300 was hit or exceeded. Twelve times did adversaries come away with 400 or more yards.

And in one glorious, 60-minute, defense-is-optional afternoon, more than 500 yards were extracted. Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson, and the Lions staged that air show on New Year’s Day 2012.

One need only look back a few seasons to be reminded of the damage a sustained aerial assault can do to the Packers. Gamebooks from some of those outings might still be smoldering around the edges.

Of course, there are those occasions where the Packers yielded little despite being bombarded. Green Bay surrendered fewer than 125 yards on six occasions prior to facing the Bills.

The previous low (108 yards) was achieved three times – against the Texans (1952), the Steelers (1957) and the Chargers (1996). The Packers won all three, each by 17 or more points.

Green Bay improved to 2-1-1 in blanking the Bills. It also lowered its defensive passer rating, a move as beneficial as lowering one’s blood pressure.

Through three games, Green Bay’s defensive passer rating was a hefty 103.1 Had that persisted into January, the team was in danger of joining the Lions of 2008-09 and 2015-16 as the only teams in NFL history to allow triple-digit ratings in consecutive seasons.

However, after the strong showing against the Bills, the Packers’ defensive rating has dropped to 86.9. Should that number trend lower, more victories are sure to follow.

Extra point

The Eagles of 1940 were the first team to attempt 40 passes against the Packers in a game. Davey O’Brien completed 18 of 40 throws for 225 yards in a 27-20 loss at City Stadium in the season opener for both teams.

Top 40

Fewest passing yards given up by Green Bay in games in which its opponent had 40 or more passing plays.

   Yds.     Date                      Opp.             Plays   Avg.

    87       Sept. 30, 2018       Bills               40        2.18

   108      Nov. 23, 1952       Texans          44        2.45

   108      Nov. 24, 1957       Steelers         42        2.57

   108      Sept. 15, 1996       Chargers       40        2.70

   110      Dec. 17, 1961        Rams             40        2.75

   117      Nov. 24, 1991       Colts             47        2.49

   117      Jan. 2, 2011           Bears            45        2.60