SWC75
Bored Historian
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When I was 9 years old my extedned family gathered at our house for Thanksgiving dinner and then settled down to watch the Detroit Lions play the 10-0 Green Bay Packers. This was Lombardi's greatest team, the one year Jim Taylor outgained Jim Brown, (and he did did it by almost 500 yards). Paul Hornung, a year before his suspension, was at the hight of his powers and the NFL's leading scorer as a halfback and kicker in that pre-specialist era. Lombardi had actually turned the Packers into "overdogs" even though Green Bay was the ultimate underdog as far as major league porfessional sports cities. They were the defending NFL champions, having slaughtered the Giants , 37-0 in the previous year's championship game, (which we'd also gathered to watch at Christmas time- the earliest NFL championship game I have a specific memory of).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZuyPT2M4O8
The 1962 Packers had outscored their first ten opponents by 309-74. The Lions were 8-2 and had outscored their opponents by 231-123. Their two losses had been to the Packers, 7-9 in Green Bay thanks to a late interception thrown by Milt Plum, who was nearly attacked in the lcoker room afterwards,a nd 14-17 to the Giants who wound up 12-2. The Lions played perhaps the greatest game in franchise history, (they'd won four previous NFL titles, including 59-14 over the turnover-prone Cleveland Browns in 1957), outgaining the Pack, 304-122, sacking Bart Starr 10 times, including for a safety and building a 26-0 lead through the first three quarters before giving up two late scores to make the final 26-14. I remember the huge tsunami of cheers that erupted when Alex Karras and Roger Brown pulled Starr down in the end zone to make it 23-0. I also remember my Uncle Ed, who for some reason had it in for Paul Hornung, shouting "Break his leg!" every time Hornung got tackled.
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/196211220det.htm
I couldn't find anything on U-Tube about that game:
http://packerville.blogspot.com/2007/11/thanksgiving-1962.html
The game was memorable enough to get a mention 17 years later in this episode of "Lou Grant", which you can watch by clicking on "watch episode":
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0636490/
Unfortunately for the Lions the Packers didn't lose again, going 13-1, (415-148) and beating the Giants again in the title game. The Lions were already eliminated when they slogged through a 0-3 loss to the Bears to end the season at 11-3. They had three losses by a total of 8 points. They haven't had a team as good since.
This year they might have their best team since then, (7-3, 301-219), and they will be facing another 10-0, (355-212), Green Bay team that is the defending NFL champions tomorrow. I'll still hear the cheers when Star was tackled for the safety and Uncle Ed's voice shouting "Break his leg!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZuyPT2M4O8
The 1962 Packers had outscored their first ten opponents by 309-74. The Lions were 8-2 and had outscored their opponents by 231-123. Their two losses had been to the Packers, 7-9 in Green Bay thanks to a late interception thrown by Milt Plum, who was nearly attacked in the lcoker room afterwards,a nd 14-17 to the Giants who wound up 12-2. The Lions played perhaps the greatest game in franchise history, (they'd won four previous NFL titles, including 59-14 over the turnover-prone Cleveland Browns in 1957), outgaining the Pack, 304-122, sacking Bart Starr 10 times, including for a safety and building a 26-0 lead through the first three quarters before giving up two late scores to make the final 26-14. I remember the huge tsunami of cheers that erupted when Alex Karras and Roger Brown pulled Starr down in the end zone to make it 23-0. I also remember my Uncle Ed, who for some reason had it in for Paul Hornung, shouting "Break his leg!" every time Hornung got tackled.
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/196211220det.htm
I couldn't find anything on U-Tube about that game:
http://packerville.blogspot.com/2007/11/thanksgiving-1962.html
The game was memorable enough to get a mention 17 years later in this episode of "Lou Grant", which you can watch by clicking on "watch episode":
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0636490/
Unfortunately for the Lions the Packers didn't lose again, going 13-1, (415-148) and beating the Giants again in the title game. The Lions were already eliminated when they slogged through a 0-3 loss to the Bears to end the season at 11-3. They had three losses by a total of 8 points. They haven't had a team as good since.
This year they might have their best team since then, (7-3, 301-219), and they will be facing another 10-0, (355-212), Green Bay team that is the defending NFL champions tomorrow. I'll still hear the cheers when Star was tackled for the safety and Uncle Ed's voice shouting "Break his leg!"
