But stats can help. For example, turnovers. There is nothing like a lot of turnovers to make a game truly exciting. And who has the record? See below (the most turnovers in a game include turnovers by both teams):
Most Turnovers, Season63 San Francisco, 1978 (I think I remember this season)
58 Chi. Bears, 1947; Pittsburgh, 1950; N.Y. Giants, 1983
57 Green Bay, 1950; Houston, 1962, 1963 (Wow, do I remember this team) ; Pittsburgh, 1965 (I remember this team)
Most Turnovers, Game 12 Detroit vs. Chi. Bears, Nov. 22, 1942; Chi. Cardinals vs. Philadelphia, Sept. 24, 1950; Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia, Dec. 12, 1965
1978 49ers is Steve DeBerg at QB, I think, and he hurled a ton of interceptions. 63 is phenomenal.
ReplyDeleteWe have three games tied at 12 turnovers (and I am proud to say the Lions are in that mix). I thought it would be more, but when you think about it, that is a turnover every 5 minutes! And nothing since the 1960's. I wonder why that is.
ReplyDeleteThis dumb blog loses one's comments if you haven't chosen your profile before commenting. geez! And this was a long comment. OKAY here we go:
ReplyDelete1. Muddy fields. Drainage used to be something groundskeepers dreamed about, but didn't actually do. Games in the 40's, 50' and into the 60's could be quagmires. Teams ran the ball a lot more, and in the 40's the ball was rounder. (When did the ball change shape?) . They didn't change out the ball nearly as often as they do now. You'd have 50 hand-offs in a mud game with a ball that was like a greased pig.
2. Again, the ball. Passing in the early days, especially when they really started heaving that spheroid, must have been a real adventure before they made it less round, and smaller.
3. The Giants are being bribed to put "HR" Srickland out there, just to make it more even.
Oops, sorry, wrong blog.
4. Astroturf fields, of which there are plenty.
5. The rugby scrum play. Piling on at the end of the play was a real defensive play, and the struggle for the ball probably resulted in more than one damaged eye ball or other important body parts. They had to make piling on a penalty eventually. Now you only see that when there's been a fumble.
just lost a comment :(
ReplyDeletenot signed in properly
take II:
ReplyDeleteWell That explains a lot- the piling on and the shape of the ball. I thought maybe snow, but the dates were not conducive to snow, but certainly rain and mud would alleviate fumbles and INTs.
Anyone remember the fog bowl in philly that aired on MNF 15-20 years ago? how many turnovers in that game... The field was not visible when they used the press box camera. really weird game to watch.
oh yeah I remember that one. they had to switch to field level cameras. You could barely tell what was going on. The only other game I saw like that once was the Hula Bowl in Hawaii, where it started raining, and then was raining so hard you could not actually see the field. by the time 2 inches of water had built up on the field, they called the game. The players had long since fled to the locker rooms. if they weren't flooded.
ReplyDeleteThe Boots really want that moldy carpet.
ReplyDelete