SWC75
Bored Historian
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Football blow-outs interest me: how did they happen? There tend to be five factors: There are games where one team physically dominates another, grinding out gain after gain and refusing to let the opposition get anything. They build up a tremendous edge in yardage and first downs, complete drive and slowly build up the score until the game is out of reach. Then there are explosive plays. The losing team might make incremental gains but had a hard time putting together enough plays to complete drives while the winners get big gains that allow them to score in just a few plays. Them, to borrow a baseball term, there the team that strings together it’s yards in successful scoring drives while the other tam also moved the ball but fails to capitalize on scoring opportunities because of penalties, sacks, turnovers, missed kicks, etc. Finally there are those cousins, big defensive plays and big kicking team plays. Interception and fumbles returns can put serious dents in the scoreboard without the offense having to do much and so can kick returns and blocked kicks. Or the winning team could use a mixture of these things to give themselves an easy win.
The NFL had a series of four straight blow-outs in their championships games in the mid 50’s. Here is break down of these games showing the total yardage for each team, the turnover margin, return yards, the final score and any scores not scored directly by the offense:
1954 303-311; 4-9; 127-108; 56-10; none
1955 371-259; 3-7; 68-224; 38-14; pick six
1956 348-270; 2-3; 129-144; 47-7; blocked punt
1957 438-313; 1-6, 88-184; 59-14; pick six
I’ll add in the 1961 game referenced in another post as a comparison:
1961 345-120; 0-5; 22-129; 37-0
My first observation is the return yards are the most deceiving stat, although I won’t call them the least relevant: there are some important plays in there but the losing team in a one-sided game will tend to have more return yardage because kick-offs ten to produce more return yards than punts. A second observation is that, physically, the 1961 game was the most dominated by the winner: the Packers out-gained the Giants by 225 yards whereas the brown in 1954 were actually out-gained by 8 yards. They did much better in 1955 against the Rams, out-gaining them by 78 yards. They actually gained more yard in losing 14-59 in 1957 than they did in winning 56-10 in 1954. But they did the worst defensive job that year, being outgained by 125 yards. But the thing that really stands out is turnovers. You rarely have one-sided pro games were turnovers are not a big margin. All teams have size, speed and talent and they are unlikely to be physically dominated. The 1954 Browns were +5 in turnovers. In 1955 they were +4. In 1957 they were -5, as were the 1961 Giants.
The outlier here is that 1956 game. The Giants out-gained the Bears by just 78 yards and got only more turnover. How did they win by 40 points? Well, that game can be seen in edited form in this You-Tube clip:
I decided to take some notes on how the teams scored- and didn’t score to try to figure out how this game became such a blow-out with small differences in yards and turnovers.
- The Giants return the opening kick-off 53 yards for a score to the Bear’s 39 then get a 22 yard pass play before Mel Triplett goes 17 yards for the score. 7-0.
- The Bears fumble the kick-off but recover it on their own 7, then lose a fumble at their 14. The Giants get a field goal out of it. 10-0
- The Bears throw an interception that’s returned to their own 36. The Giants can’t move the ball but Ben Agajanian, (who would be kicking off for the Packers in 1961), kicks a 43 yard field goal, a long one in those days of straight-ahead kickers. 13-0
- The Bears, now down by 13, move to their 43 but can’t covert a 4th and 1.
- The Giants use a 22 yard screen pass to Alex Webster to set up a touchdown. 20-0
- The Bears used a fumbled punt to set up their only score. 20-7
- The Giants use another scored to Webster that goes for 50 yards to drive 72 yards for another score. 27-7
- The Bears again bobble the kickoff and wind up punting from their one yards line. The ball goes sideways and is recovered by the Giants to make it 34-7.
- The half runs out on the Bears as they are driving.
- The Bears open the second half with a 74 yard drive. Unfortunately, they started from 76 yards away and two passes are dropped in the end zone. The bears eschew the field goal because of the score and they get nothing- from back-to-back possessions. .
- A 67 yard pass to Frank Gifford keys a 98 yard Giant scoring drive. The conversion is no good. 40-7.
- A 15 yard penalty prevents the bears from getting a drive going. And the Giants return the punt to the Bear 39. Gifford makes a great 16 yard run but Agajanian misses a field goal.
- The teams exchange punts. The Bears drive to the Giant 45 but give up the ball on downs. Triplett runs, (spins is more like it), for 19. Gifford catches a 29 yard pass then scores on a running play. 47-7.
- A Bear’s drive is spoiled by an interception. The Giants, running the clock, give up the ball on downs. Rick Casares catches a pass for 19 yards as the game ends.
The return yards are a key here, even though the Giants lost that stat, 129-144. Gene Filipski returned the opening kickoff for 53 yards to set up a score. He had another 30 yards return, 9from 2 yards in the end zone) that got the Giants off on a 72 yard scoring drive. Chicago twice bobbled kick-offs and had to start at their 7 and 5 yard line. A fumble and a blocked punt got the Giants 10 points. One of the Bear’s interceptions set up a score. Two times they lost the ball on downs and the Giants drove to score, once from their 2 yard line. They gave up a chip-shot field goal the first time. A punt the second time could have pinned the Giants back. But they’d already shown they could drive 98 yards and it was already 7-40. As near as I can tell, the Giants won the yardage battle 171-80 in the first half when the game was really decided. The bears would have out-gained them 190-177 in the second half but that includes the 98 yard Giant drive as well several sacks and some penalties by the Bears that curtailed drives. The bears wound up passing the ball 47 times because they trailed by so much by so much. Still they only had 9 more yards passing than the Giants who passed 20 times, (237-228), and actually fewer when you subtract 34 yards in sacks, (to 6). The Giants out-rushed the Bears 126-67.
But the ‘mystery’ of how the Giants won by so much lies in Filipski’s returns, the two botched kick-off returns by the Bears and the Giant’s opportunism and ability to “bunch” their yards.
The NFL had a series of four straight blow-outs in their championships games in the mid 50’s. Here is break down of these games showing the total yardage for each team, the turnover margin, return yards, the final score and any scores not scored directly by the offense:
1954 303-311; 4-9; 127-108; 56-10; none
1955 371-259; 3-7; 68-224; 38-14; pick six
1956 348-270; 2-3; 129-144; 47-7; blocked punt
1957 438-313; 1-6, 88-184; 59-14; pick six
I’ll add in the 1961 game referenced in another post as a comparison:
1961 345-120; 0-5; 22-129; 37-0
My first observation is the return yards are the most deceiving stat, although I won’t call them the least relevant: there are some important plays in there but the losing team in a one-sided game will tend to have more return yardage because kick-offs ten to produce more return yards than punts. A second observation is that, physically, the 1961 game was the most dominated by the winner: the Packers out-gained the Giants by 225 yards whereas the brown in 1954 were actually out-gained by 8 yards. They did much better in 1955 against the Rams, out-gaining them by 78 yards. They actually gained more yard in losing 14-59 in 1957 than they did in winning 56-10 in 1954. But they did the worst defensive job that year, being outgained by 125 yards. But the thing that really stands out is turnovers. You rarely have one-sided pro games were turnovers are not a big margin. All teams have size, speed and talent and they are unlikely to be physically dominated. The 1954 Browns were +5 in turnovers. In 1955 they were +4. In 1957 they were -5, as were the 1961 Giants.
The outlier here is that 1956 game. The Giants out-gained the Bears by just 78 yards and got only more turnover. How did they win by 40 points? Well, that game can be seen in edited form in this You-Tube clip:
I decided to take some notes on how the teams scored- and didn’t score to try to figure out how this game became such a blow-out with small differences in yards and turnovers.
- The Giants return the opening kick-off 53 yards for a score to the Bear’s 39 then get a 22 yard pass play before Mel Triplett goes 17 yards for the score. 7-0.
- The Bears fumble the kick-off but recover it on their own 7, then lose a fumble at their 14. The Giants get a field goal out of it. 10-0
- The Bears throw an interception that’s returned to their own 36. The Giants can’t move the ball but Ben Agajanian, (who would be kicking off for the Packers in 1961), kicks a 43 yard field goal, a long one in those days of straight-ahead kickers. 13-0
- The Bears, now down by 13, move to their 43 but can’t covert a 4th and 1.
- The Giants use a 22 yard screen pass to Alex Webster to set up a touchdown. 20-0
- The Bears used a fumbled punt to set up their only score. 20-7
- The Giants use another scored to Webster that goes for 50 yards to drive 72 yards for another score. 27-7
- The Bears again bobble the kickoff and wind up punting from their one yards line. The ball goes sideways and is recovered by the Giants to make it 34-7.
- The half runs out on the Bears as they are driving.
- The Bears open the second half with a 74 yard drive. Unfortunately, they started from 76 yards away and two passes are dropped in the end zone. The bears eschew the field goal because of the score and they get nothing- from back-to-back possessions. .
- A 67 yard pass to Frank Gifford keys a 98 yard Giant scoring drive. The conversion is no good. 40-7.
- A 15 yard penalty prevents the bears from getting a drive going. And the Giants return the punt to the Bear 39. Gifford makes a great 16 yard run but Agajanian misses a field goal.
- The teams exchange punts. The Bears drive to the Giant 45 but give up the ball on downs. Triplett runs, (spins is more like it), for 19. Gifford catches a 29 yard pass then scores on a running play. 47-7.
- A Bear’s drive is spoiled by an interception. The Giants, running the clock, give up the ball on downs. Rick Casares catches a pass for 19 yards as the game ends.
The return yards are a key here, even though the Giants lost that stat, 129-144. Gene Filipski returned the opening kickoff for 53 yards to set up a score. He had another 30 yards return, 9from 2 yards in the end zone) that got the Giants off on a 72 yard scoring drive. Chicago twice bobbled kick-offs and had to start at their 7 and 5 yard line. A fumble and a blocked punt got the Giants 10 points. One of the Bear’s interceptions set up a score. Two times they lost the ball on downs and the Giants drove to score, once from their 2 yard line. They gave up a chip-shot field goal the first time. A punt the second time could have pinned the Giants back. But they’d already shown they could drive 98 yards and it was already 7-40. As near as I can tell, the Giants won the yardage battle 171-80 in the first half when the game was really decided. The bears would have out-gained them 190-177 in the second half but that includes the 98 yard Giant drive as well several sacks and some penalties by the Bears that curtailed drives. The bears wound up passing the ball 47 times because they trailed by so much by so much. Still they only had 9 more yards passing than the Giants who passed 20 times, (237-228), and actually fewer when you subtract 34 yards in sacks, (to 6). The Giants out-rushed the Bears 126-67.
But the ‘mystery’ of how the Giants won by so much lies in Filipski’s returns, the two botched kick-off returns by the Bears and the Giant’s opportunism and ability to “bunch” their yards.
