TUESDAY TIDBITS: Wampum 60

By TJ Troup

Matt Nagy

Do not have insight into all thirty-two teams in the NFL at this juncture. A few could make a cryptic comment, or praise what they have done so far—but we all can do that. Will begin today with my beloved Bears. 

These days are darker than their jerseys and the McCaskey family will not be contacting me. So much has been written about the losing streak and Nagy's future. Termination is a very real possibility, and would relish having all of you respond with who you think should get the job? 

For me want a Big 10 man of toughness who understands Chicago. How about either Fitzgerald or Harbaugh? Many times have listed the defensive passer rating for teams during a season, and no time like the present for the Bears. Over the course of the last six weeks opponent passers rating is 114.6—and no that is not a misprint. You can have all the offensive masterminds, but unless you play pass defense you don't win in the NFL. 

Additionally, only 8 sacks recorded in the losing streak. OUCH! Shifting to a team that was the poster boys for losing, and now sure have the look of a playoff team...the Cleveland Browns. On Sunday in a game against a quality opponent, the Browns set a new record of scoring 38 points in a half...old record was 35. 

Considering how many offensive juggernauts Cleveland has had...very impressive. The folks that know me well, realize have always had a very strong, and negative opinion of Gregg Williams, and his foolish decision on Sunday takes me to our historical time in the way back machine. December 6th, 1969 on a Saturday afternoon in the Astrodome the two teams that have now fought for the AFL eastern division title for three years meet. Namath gains only 52 yards passing on his six completions as the Jets run the ball effectively against a very strong Oiler defense. 

Jets rush on Oilers QBs was fierce

Houston rookie Jerry Levias gains 329 all-purpose yards in the game...one of the few players ever in AFL history to surpass 300 in a game. The key though to the New York 34-10 victory comes from the defensive line as Philbin and Elliott both sack Oiler quarterbacks twice, and while noteworthy—pales in comparison to one of the most unheralded pass-rushing performances in history as right defensive end Verlon Biggs records FIVE sacks. Biggs also recovers a fumble, and Philbin chips in with an interception. Yes folks, once upon a time the Jets actually did play strong and sometimes dominating defense. 

One of Biggs' five sacks

The linebackers and secondary also contribute with five interceptions. Losing game after game in the early part of the '70 season, and then playing resilient football in beating the contending Vikings and Rams brings us to December 6th, 1970 and their arch-rivals the Silver & Black Raiders come to Shea. Oakland must win to stay in the race to win the west and trail late in the game 13-7. The Jets pass defense has been air tight, and severely limited Raider receivers except for one short Warren Wells touchdown earlier in the game. 

New York has committed 97 yards in penalties, and it is first and ten for the Raiders on their own thirty-yard line. Lamonica's deep pass is broken up, but wait a minute—a flag on the field...the Jets have now "earned" 134 yards in penalties on the 37-yard pass interference penalty on rookie Earlie Thomas. First and ten on the New York thirty-three, and the mad bomber pitches incomplete, and into the game comes Blanda, and he also throws incomplete. Eight seconds remain, and Lamonica back in the game lofts a deep pass towards the corner of the end zone. Warren Wells has run a post/corner to perfection yet the rookie right corner is right there and tips the ball. 

W.K. Hicks with an INT

The direction of the pigskin is changed as the ball goes end over end into the corner. Thomas is not alone, as free safety W.K. Hicks is there to help, but the trajectory of the ball is such he cannot make a play on the ball, and Wells makes a sure-handed catch for the score. The extra point is good. Final on December 6th, 1970 in a must-win situation for Oakland 14-13. Fifty years later to the day, Oakland wins in New York on the last play of the game. Go figure? 

This season many former baseball and football players have left us, and have discussed them here. Though there was controversy more than once in Dick Allen's career; he was a player that I respected as both a man, and as a talent on the diamond. Am not alone in stating he hit the ball as hard as few others have in the history of the game. His rookie season of '64 in Philadelphia was a main reason for the Philies being in contention. Saw him hit a homer in the '67 all-star game in person. 

Saw him play against the Cubs, and Dodgers, yet what stays with me is his season in '72 under the guidance of Chuck Tanner. Allen hit a ball at Comiskey that literally sounded like a cannon going off..."CRRRAAAACK" and the ball disappeared deep, and I mean DEEP into cavernous Comiskey left-center bleachers. The greatest third baseman of all-time is Michael Jack Schmidt...there is no debate, and Mike steadfastly believes to this day how much Dick Allen's wisdom and philosophy helped him. RIP Mr. Allen—you were a joy to watch in the batter's box. 

Aaron Jones' Well-Timed Dash Sinks Philly

 By Eric Goska

Aaron Jones begins his 77-yard, fourth-quarter TD run.
(screenshot from NFL Game Pass)

Call him the closer.

Aaron Jones wielded the dagger in Green Bay’s 30-16 win over Philadelphia Sunday. His 77-yard jaunt served as the longest play from scrimmage and the longest run of his career.

The sprint reminded all that Jones is a threat to go the distance on any play. It also squelched the comeback aspirations of the Eagles who had put up two fourth-quarter touchdowns in the span of 89 seconds.

Jones’ lightning bolt came with the Packers clinging to a 23-16 lead. A 20-point advantage early in the quarter had withered to seven after the Eagles scored on fourth-and-18 and on a 73-yard punt return.

When Aaron Rodgers and company took over at the Packers’ 20-yard line with two minutes, 57 seconds remaining, Green Bay could ill afford another three-and-out. That’s all the unit had mustered on two previous possessions, gaining a total of six yards.

Another quick exit would leave Philadelphia with plenty of time to finish its rally.

Jones carried for three yards on first down, and Philly stopped the clock with 2:51 to go. Just six seconds had come off the clock.

Something more was needed. That’s when Jones sent the Eagles packing.

On second down, Guard Lucas Patrick walled off defensive tackle Fletcher Cox. Tight end Marcedes Lewis double dipped, his pancake block of Duke Riley bringing both the linebacker and Vinnie Curry down after the defensive end tumbled over the fallen body of his teammate.

A diving Alex Singleton got just enough of Jones to cause a stumble near the 30.  But Jones recovered and reached out to stiffarm K’Von Wallace who fell to earth at the 40.

Tackle David Bakhtiari and receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling caught up with Jones as he neared midfield. Valdes-Scantling screened off safety Rodney McLeod and cornerback Michael Jacquet until McLeod pulled ahead and forced Jones to slow and cut back inside the Eagles 30.

Valdes-Scantling continued to box out Jacquet. McLeod hit the turf in a futile flop at the 21.

That left a streaking Avonte Maddox – coming from clear across the field – with the last shot. The cornerback grabbed Jones’ jersey at the 3, but didn’t secure enough cloth to prevent the running back from crossing the goal line.

With 2:36 remaining, Green Bay was up by two touchdowns. Darnell Savage Jr. then intercepted rookie quarterback Jalen Hurts after the two minute warning, and Green Bay used six plays to run out the clock.

How unusual was Jones’ scamper? Only six other Packers have uncorked a run of 70-plus yards in the fourth quarter: Ahman Green (98, 70), Tom Moore (77), Najeh Davenport (76), Paul Hornung (72) and Andy Uram (70).

The runs by Davenport and Jones were the only registered with less than three minutes remaining.

The game at Lambeau Field was the 50th regular-season contest of Jones’ career. The milestone provides an opportunity to compare his work with that of others in franchise history.

By gaining 130 yards rushing, Jones (3,014 yards) became the sixth Packer to surpass 3,000 yards on the ground in his first 50 games. The others are Ahman Green (4,244), John Brockington (3,708), Ryan Grant (3,522), Jim Taylor (3,430) and Eddie Lacy (3,370).

Jones has now amassed 3,995 yards from srimmage. That’s fifth best behind Green (5,899), Brockington (4,355), Lacy (4,264) and Grant (3,999).

But make no mistake. Jones is second to none when it comes to touchdowns and average per carry.

Jones has scored 41 touchdowns from scrimmage. That’s more than Taylor (40), Green (38) or the incomparable Don Hutson (35) tallied in their first 50 games.

Furthermore, Jones has been the very definition of efficiency, averaging 5.07 yards per crack on 595 rushing attempts. He and Rodgers (5.03) are the only two players in team history to have bettered five yards a try with a minimum of 500 carries.

In a perfect world, Jones’ production would continue for another 50 games. But his rookie contract is up after this season and, given his talent, the back who turned 26 on Dec. 2 might find himself elsewhere come 2021.

Let’s Scrimmage

The nine Packers players who gained more than 3,500 yards from scrimmage in their first 50 regular-season games.

  Yards          Player                                  Rush             Rec              TDs

   5,899           Ahman Green                       4,244             1,655                38

   4,355           John Brockington                 3,708               647                20

   4,264           Eddie Lacy                            3,370               894                29

   3,999           Ryan Grant                            3,522               477                24

   3,995           Aaron Jones                          3,014               981                41

   3,908           Jim Taylor                             3,430              478                40

   3,813           Bill Howton                             0                 3,813                32

   3,567           Gerry Ellis                            1,983             1,584                20

   3,515           Eddie Lee Ivery                   2,464             1,051                27

Houston, We Don't Have a Problem

 By John Turney

Justin Houston. Credit: CBS

Justin Houston, now playing with the Indianapolis Colts sacked Deshaun Watson for a safety this afternoon. 

(6:08) (Shotgun) D.Watson sacked in End Zone for -4 yards, SAFETY (J.Houston).

Credit: CBS

It was Houston's fourth career safety which ties him for the career lead in most career safeties in NFL history.

It ties him with—

Doug English

Ted Hendricks

Jared Allen

All have 4

Though a longshot, as of this posting he could tie the game record which is two which is held by Fred Dryer of the Rams versus Green Bay in 1973 (game is still ongoing at the time of this post). 

Houston also had three sacks today, taking his career total to 97 sacks. 

Rams Likely To Wear Grey over Yellow (Bone over Sol) Uniforms

 By John Turney

We've heard Rams will be wearing this month

As if things with the Rams uniforms couldn't get any worse, it seems that sometimes before the end of the season they will wear grey over yellow or what they call "Bone" over "Sol". We will see. 

We've reported on the Rams uniform blunder HERE, HERE, and HERE. On that final "HERE" we showd the three iterations the Rams SAID they were going to wear, which were these 

But then, three weeks or so ago the Rams wore this combination, Blue over Bone-in Seattle—

2020 Royal over Bone

This was not part of the preseason released combinations. And, in our view, the worse possible combination due to how color values work and other design issues. 

So, now, as we mentioned the Rams, at some point, will wear the Bone over Sol.

2020 Bone over Sol

So, we'd now expect, because the Rams apparently don't know what the word "uniform" means you can be darn sure the Rams will go with Bone over Royal at some point this season. You can count on it. 

2020? Bone over Royal 

2020? Bone over Royal

We could be wrong, of course, but sometime in December, you'll see the grey and blue and it won't be a Civil War reenactment, it will be the Rams. 

Who You Taking?—Kordell or Taysom?

 By John Turney

In the two seasons prior to Kordell Stewart becoming a Pro Bowl quarterback he was "Slash"—a player who playing some quarterback, even some option quarterback some running back, and some receiver. he was fast, deceptively so and was very effective, especially as a receiver.

In the last three seasons, the Saints Taysom Hill is similar in that he throws, runs, and catches and does so well, and is particularly good running the ball. 

Here are the stats for both, averaging the two seasons prior to Stewart becoming the Steelers starting quarterback and the last three seasons of Hill being the backup quarterback/slash/flex player for the Saints with five games still to be played, of course).

Neither had/have spectacular numbers but they are interesting players because one has to go back to the 1950s to fund players with so play pass attempts, rushing yards, and receiving yards in a season. Especially in back-to-back or even three straight years.

So, who do you take? Slash? Flex? Neither? Both?

Either way, they both made the game more exciting with bigger-than-usual-skill sets. We probably should throw in Kendall Hinton on the Broncos for good measure and his great effort last week versus the Saints and Hill. 

Marlon Humphrey Gets Two More Forced Fumbles—Has Six For the Season

 By John Turney

Marlon Humphrey certainly is a "big play" cornerback. In four seasons he has eight interceptions, nine forced fumbles, two scoop-and-scores and so on.

Chart: PFJ

Yesterday he had two of those forced fumbles, taking his season total to a league-leading six and moving into a tie for third on our list of mist forced fumbles by a cornerback in a season. Peanut Tillman's ten is the most ever and seems unreachable, even for Humphrey, but we'll see. Humphrey had tied Tillman and Dave Brown for second-most.

Forced fumble records (in gamebooks) go back to about 1976 and we've found some before that but we're confident that this is a pretty complete list for those with five or more. There are quite a few with four, even a couple in the 1960s with four. 

So, we''ll monitor Humphrey and see if he can catch Tillman. 

TUESDAY TIDBITS: Hold Onto the Ball

By TJ Troup

Eric Goska wrote an exceptional column yesterday concerning turnovers in the rivalry between the Packers & Bears...and today will dovetail onto that aspect. 

Many, many, MANY times we hear coaches, and/or announcers state emphatically that we must win the turnover battle. While that is very true, how come none of them ever give a win percentage attached to interceptions and fumbles? Lazy? don't know how to do research? 

Writing a short story on the 1952 Rams for Allen Barra in his second book in 1987 (Football by the Numbers); told America that if you intercept a pass and return it for a touchdown you win about 80% of the time. Sent the information to Mr. Steve Sabol, and boy oh boy you talk about a stat opening a door? 

So where are we in 2020 you ask? Only 22 passes have been intercepted and returned for a touchdown so far this year...and 18 have come in victory; thus 81.8%. This stat stands the test of time every year. What about fumbles returned for a touchdown? Yes, have researched every fumble returned for a touchdown back to the dawn of the league...and while the win percentage is not quite as high—this year is a rare season since all most as many fumbles have been returned for a touchdown (15) as interceptions, with 11 in victory—73.3%. 

Being a man who is fascinated with where words come from, and their definition, looked up the word fumble. "to grope for or handle something clumsily or aimlessly, in an awkward or clumsy way....fail to hold onto the ball". Research tells us was probably first used in 1534, and no Frank Gore was not carrying the ball then. 

Sunday afternoon Jeremy Chinn scored twice against the Vikings on fumble returns over the course of just a few seconds. He is only the third man to accomplish this feat. The first was Al Nesser, and the second was Fred "Dippy" Evans the second on November 28th, 1948. 

Al Nesser

This column will not be a history lesson on Chicago Bear history, yet the '48 Bears still rank as one of the best second-place teams of all-time. Late in the season Fred Evans joined the Bears for three games and played right corner. 

My book This Day in Football on pages 119 & 120 details Evans exploits that afternoon in Wrigley against Washington(that book is now out of print). Evans in his very first game in the NFL(he played in the AAFC for Cleveland, Buffalo, and Chicago)...ties Nesser's record. 

Now, 71 years later the stalwart rookie for the Panthers joins this small fraternity. Sunday night Smith of the Packers rambled 14 years with a Mitch "mistake-prone" Trubisky fumble to score. Smith is not the first Packer to return a fumble for a score on November 29th. 

So, who else did score for Green Bay with a fumble on this date you ask? The 1964 Dallas Cowboys gain just 132 yards in total offense against Green Bay, and twice a Packer picked up a Cowboy fumble and score. Henry Jordan dashed 60 yards, and Lionel Aldridge scampered 29 yards.  Final Green Bay 45 Dallas 21. 

The remaining weeks of this season we will all see if the trend continues, but no doubt on the practice field you would hear coaches exhorting their players to "hold onto the ball". In closing, over the last three years have vilified Matt Patricia for his lack of leadership and knowledge with the Lions. Sheila Ford Hamp stated "I will do everyone I can to bring you a winner".   

Ok, Ms. Sheila...pressure is on, and no doubt she will not be calling me, yet whoever gets the job in Detroit he better have someone who can actually teach defensive backs how to play, and how to play both zone and man coverages. The Lions continue to be among the "sloppy six"....in the defensive passer rating category with a mark of 101.7.