Chris Chandler and the Passer Rating System

Chris Chandler had a long (16 seasons) NFL career as both a starting and backup quarterback. He played for the Colts, Buccaneers, Cardinals, Rams, Oilers, Falcons, Bears, and then the Rams again. He played collegiately for the University of Washington Huskies.

There are many mysteries surrounding the Passer Rating System used to assess NFL quarterbacks, but a score of zero is of course the worst rating you can get while a score of 158.3 is the best rating you can get.

Chris Chandler has the distinction of being the only quarterback (through the 2006 season) to have achieved both a zero rating in a game and a perfect 158.3 rating in a game during his career.

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We had another question sent in via a comment:

what is the win lose record for the last 16 years packers vs vikings home and away

Well, upon further review… over the past 16 years (1992-2007… that would cover the years since Brett Favre joined the Packers) the Packers lead the series with 17 wins vs. the Vikings 15 wins… pretty close.

Being in the same division, these two teams play twice a year. We wondered, what about season sweeps? Which team has swept the other one more often?

The Vikings have swept the Packers on four different occasions, winning both their contests in the years 1992, 1993, 1998, and 2005.

But, the Packers have swept the Vikings in five different years; 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006, and 2007.

As far as home/away for the series goes, these two teams both seem to enjoy a healthy home field advantage.

The Packers record at home against the Vikings over the last 16 years is: 11-5
While when playing the Vikings on the road over the past 16 years their record is: 6-10

All this data comes from regular season games.

Thanks for the great question!

Colts and Rams, Biggest Trade in NFL History?

While not officially a player for player swap, the Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams participated in one of the most unusual, if not largest, trades in NFL history. In 1972, Baltimore Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom traded the entire franchise (players, administration, equipment, everything) to Robert Irsay the then-owner of the Los Angeles Rams for his entire franchise. No people or equipment changed cities, one day Rosenbloom and Irsay owned the Colts and Rams respectively, and the next day they’d switched places as owners of those teams.

In a strange coincidence, both teams would eventually leave their respective cities and relocate to play football in the Midwest. The Colts left Baltimore in 1984 and have since played as the Indianapolis Colts, while the Rams left Los Angeles in 1995 and became the St. Louis Rams.

An interesting note regarding Super Bowl trophies: The Baltimore Colts won Super Bowl V and were presented of course with the Super Bowl trophy. In 1972, when he traded franchises with Irsay, Rosenbloom kept the Super Bowl Trophy and took it west with him to Los Angeles. The Colts petitioned the NFL, and the NFL gave the Colts a replacement Super Bowl Trophy. In the legal maneuvers surrounding the Colts leaving Baltimore for Indianapolis, they were forced to leave the replacement trophy in Baltimore as part of the settlement. So, until the Colts won Super Bowl XLI following the 2006 season they did not have a Super Bowl Trophy, even though the organization had also won Super Bowl V.

Another connected story to this trading of franchises is centered on the legal help that the two owners received during the transaction. The entire deal was supervised by attorney Hugh Culverhouse. Culverhouse would later join these two as equals when he purchased the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers a few years later, he would go on to own them for a significant amount of time.

We recently had a question asked by Kristine, who appears to be a Detroit Lions fan, about the Lions recent success in their Thanksgiving Day games:

“My friend and I watched this year’s Detroit Turkey Day Game. After the game was over, we were trying to remember the last time the Lion’s won a game on Thanksgiving. And much to my surprise I couldn’t remember the Lion’s winning on Thanksgiving after The Great ‘ Barry Sanders’ retired. Do you know the last game won by Detoit in Detroit?”

We did some research, but expanded it to look at Detroit’s success in Thanksgiving Day games since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970.

So, to answer the original question regarding the Detroit Lions success in Thanksgiving Day games since Barry Sanders retired (1998):

The last time the Lions won on Thanksgiving was 2003 against the Packers, and they’ve won three times since Barry Sanders retired.

With Barry Sanders on the roster (1989-1998) the Detroit Lions were 7-3 in games played on Thanksgiving.

In games played on Thanksgiving since Barry Sanders retired (1999-2007) the Detroit Lions are 3-6.

Detroit’s Turkey Day Win-Loss Record By Decade:
1970’s 6-4
1980’s 5-5
1990’s 7-3
2000’s 2-6

In the 38 games that the Lions have played on Thanksgiving Day since 1970, their record is 20-18… just over .500 - If you throw out their record since 2000, they were a very respectable 19-12.

Thanks for the great question!

A quick answer to a question we had asked of us… Who is the oldest coach in the NFL?

The oldest coach in the NFL right now is Joe Gibbs of the Washington Redskins who turned 67 years old this year.

Second oldest on that list is the New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin at 61.

The third oldest coach in the NFL is Romeo Crennel (60 years old) of the Cleveland Browns who is only three days older than #4 on the list: Wade Phillips of the Dallas Cowboys.

An interesting thing, the NFL like most of the other sports is looked at as a retread league in terms of coaching. Most say that it seems like the same guys keep getting hired as coaches over and over. Two of the four oldest coaches in the league have only been head coach of one team: Crennel with the Browns and Gibbs with the Redskins (although this is Gibbs’ second go-around with Washington).

All this, of course, begs the question: Who is the youngest coach in the NFL?

Lane Kiffin of the Oakland Raiders who is 32 years old… second youngest would be the New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini at 36 years old.

All-American Football Conference – Early Challenger To The NFL

In modern times it is hard to imagine a professional football league that could come along and compete with the National Football League. But, life for the NFL has not always been this way. In the 1980’s the USFL was there, in the 1970’s the WFL tried, and in the 1960’s the AFL not only tried to compete but were successful. But, long before that there was the All-American Football Conference.

The AAFC began in 1946 and like most alternative football leagues was made up of owners who had been denied an opportunity to buy an existing NFL franchise or denied the opportunity of starting an NFL expansion franchise. The NFL at the time had just survived the World War II years. Some teams had merged during the war years, some teams had folded, and all teams had struggled with the wartime rations and loss of players to the war effort. The owners in the AAFC were, for the most part, more established and wealthier than their NFL counterparts.

The AAFC’s biggest downfall was the imbalance in team performance. There were very good teams (Cleveland, San Francisco, New York) and there were very bad teams (Brooklyn, Miami, Chicago), but there really wasn’t any in-between teams. During the league’s four year existence, Cleveland won the championship each season.

Attendance for the AAFC was good to begin with but did steadily decline as the years went on. The owners in the AAFC made a good effort of signing the best college football players before the NFL could get them; this also had the effect of driving up players’ salaries.

In the end, though there were successful teams, the owners as a whole could not keep the AAFC afloat and the league folded. Upon folding, three teams from the AAFC were allowed membership in the NFL. The Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, and Baltimore Colts all made the jump to play the 1950 season as NFL teams. In fact, the Cleveland Browns won the NFL Championship in their first year as a member in 1950. The 49ers would also go on to much success in the NFL after being one of the better teams in the AAFC. The Colts, however, wouldn’t experience the same success and three years later would cease operations. When Baltimore was given an NFL franchise years later, the new owners decided to revive the old Baltimore Colts name but the current franchise has no relation to the 1940’s AAFC franchise.

The AAFC wasn’t a true success in that it did go out of business and did not force a merger with the NFL. But, for some of the teams it proved to be the launching pad to their admittance to the NFL and future success.

The big story in the sports world today is the death of Washington Redskins defensive back Sean Taylor.

Sean Taylor burst onto the NFL scene out of the University of Miami and although there were problems with agents and contract negotiations early on, when he stepped on the field he made his presence known.

During Taylor’s rookie year he finished second on the team in interceptions even though he saw limited action in the team’s first two games. He also had an impressive 86 tackles and one sack.

During 2005, Taylor’s second year in the NFL, he had two interceptions and returned a fumble for a touchdown. He had an unfortunate incident in the Redskins’ playoff victory against the Buccaneers where he spit on Bucs running back Michael Pittman that garnered a lot of negative press and overshadowed his season.

The 2006 season saw Taylor lead the Redskins in tackles with an amazing 129, though his interception total dropped to just one. He ended up making the pro bowl as an alternate and when starter Brian Dawkins of the Eagles couldn’t play, Taylor saw his first and only action as a Pro-Bowl football player.

During his fourth NFL season Sean Taylor was tied for the league lead in interceptions and appeared to be on his way to another pro bowl appearance. Having spent weeks 11 and 12 unable to play due to injury, Taylor was at his home in Florida when an apparent intruder shot him. Sean Taylor passed away the next day while in the hospital.

Sean Taylor: April 1, 1983 - November 27, 2007

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1982 San Francisco 49ers Win-Loss Oddity

How’s this for an odd win-loss record?
In 1982, the strike shortened year, the San Francisco 49ers win-loss record was an unimpressive 3-6. The unusual thing about this is that while the 49ers were 3-1 on the road, their home record was 0-5. That year the 49ers became the first team ever to go winless at home and be above .500 on the road.

In an NFL football game, usually it is odd for one team to be favored by too much more than 14 points. Oddsmakers use different formulas to come up with a point spread that entices people to bet on both teams for any given game. But, that’s all out the window for this Sunday’s Patriots vs. Eagles game.

Depending on your source, the betting line on this game favors the Patriots by anywhere from 23 to 29 points. One of the largest point spreads, if not the largest, in the history of the NFL. It’s a unique combination of a great team (Patriots) coming up against a sub-par team (Eagles), and having a coach (Belichick) who in the past has shown himself not to be shy regarding running up the score.

It’s so unusual in fact that some casinos have taken the game “off the board” and are not accepting bets at all. You know something is weird when a casino stops taking bets on anything.

But, now it’s up to see what happens on the field. Most NFL fans will tell you that anything can happen on the football field. All it takes is a freak injury or one team to play far above or below their abilities and the story can change quickly.

73-0

One team scores 73 points and the other team scores 0… that’s right, zero… nothing… zilch.

When you hear that score, 73-0, you think that it must’ve been the best team vs. the worst team. Maybe it was a preseason game. Possibly, a college team against a professional team. It sounds like it could even be a high school football game score.

No, that was the 1940 NFL Championship Game. The Championship of the NFL was won in 1940 by the Chicago Bears when they defeated the Washington Redskins by a score of 73-0.

Imagine, the two best teams in the league face each other for the championship, the fans crowd into their seats to see this epic battle. A few hours later, the score is 73-0 and the game is over. It must’ve been a tough day to be a Redskins fan.

Through the years, there have been some great running quarterbacks in the league: Steve Young, Daunte Culpepper, Brett Favre, and more… but how many quarterbacks have led their team in rushing over the course of a season?

Let’s look at the NFL from the time of the AFL-NFL merger (1970) and see…

1972 Chicago Bears

In 1972 the Chicago Bears starting quarterback Bobby Douglass, known for running the ball well, led the team in rushing gaining 968 yards on 141 carries (6.9 yard average) and scoring 8 rushing touchdowns.

1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 Philadelphia Eagles

For four years in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s the Philadelphia Eagles‘ Randall Cunningham was an elusive runner, especially for a quarterback. Cunningham ran for 505 yards and three touchdowns in 1987, 624 yards and six touchdowns in 1988, 621 yards and four touchdowns in 1989, and finally 942 yards and five touchdowns in 1990. Amazingly, during the 1990 season he averaged 7.98 yards per carry.

2000 Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles became an answer to a trivia question (only team to have two different quarterbacks lead the team in rushing) in 2000 when second year quarterback Donovan McNabb led the team in rushing with 629 yards on 86 carries and six tourchdowns, averaging an impressive 7.3 yards per carry.

Since 1970, there have been six different times that a quarterback has led their team in rushing. Four of those times were accomplished by the same person, Randall Cunningham.

After a rough start in a season and a quarter as the head coach of the Raiders, Mike Shanahan has gone on to become one of the more successful head coaches in the league while coaching the Denver Broncos.

One of Shanahan’s acknowledged strengths is his ability to assess running back talent. He has had a number of successful running backs and gotten most of them as castoffs from other teams or late in the NFL Draft. There is debate whether the running backs have been that good or if the Broncos “system” is what allows them to excel, but there can be no debate regarding their productivity.

Let’s take a look at the history of Shanahan’s running backs:

1995

1995 saw rookie running back Terrell Davis shred defenses as he came out of nowhere (actually he came out of the University of Georgia, but wasn’t drafted until the sixth round) to run for over 1,000 yards and catch almost 50 passes. Davis’ backup that year was journeyman Aaron Craver who had his most productive season gaining over 300 yards and also catching over 40 passes.

1996-1998

With each year, Shanahan’s late round steal Terrell Davis seemed to get stronger. Rushing for over 1,700 yards in 1997 and breaking the 2,000 yard mark in 1998. In 1996, Shanahan was even able to get a 5+ yard per carry average out of castoff running back Vaughn Hebron in a backup role, along with another productive year from Aaron Craver as a backup as well.

1999

The wheels came off the Terrell Davis bus hard in 1999 with a serious injury. The Broncos were still able to get another 1,000 yard performance by a running back though, this time from Olandis Gary who in 12 games during his rookie season ran from 1,159 yards. Olandis Gary had been taken in the fourth round of the NFL Draft, passed on by many teams before being selected by the Broncos.

2000

The year 2000 saw another Broncos rookie running back have a 1,000 yard season. This time it was Mike Anderson’s turn, he gained 1,487 yards and averaged 5 yards a carry doing it. Mike Anderson took after Terrell Davis in another respect, he too wasn’t drafted until the sixth round.

2001

2001 was the first year since 1994 that the Broncos lacked having a 1,000 yard rushing performance (leading rusher that year was Leonard Russell with 620 yards). Time was split in 2001 between Mike Anderson (687 yards) and a recuperating Terrell Davis (701 yards). As a team, it was still a very productive year running the ball.

2002

The Broncos finally used a high pick on a running back in 2002 (albeit a second rounder, still not a first round pick) and took Clinton Portis out of the University of Miami. Portis exploded onto the scene with 1,508 yards and a yards per carry average of 5.5 yards. Portis was backed up by two other former 1,000 yard rushers in Olandis Gary and Mike Anderson, both averaging four or more yards per carry.

2003

Clinton Portis proved his rookie season was no fluke by again rushing for over 1,500 yards and averaging 5.5 yards a carry for the second straight season. Portis backup that season was, among others, Rueben Droughns who would play a significant role for the Broncos during the next season.

2004

With the trade of Clinton Portis to the Washington Redskins for cornerback Champ Bailey, the Broncos were in need of someone to step up and exert their dominance from the running back position. Rueben Droughns, a former third round draft pick by the Detroit Lions out of the University of Oregon, would be that man. Droughns had backed up behind Portis, Quentin Griffith, and Mike Anderson the year before, but in 2004 he would run for over 1,200 yards with a 4.5 yards per carry average.

2005

The 2005 season would see Rueben Droughns again rush for over 1,000 yards, the only problem was that this time he did it for the Cleveland Browns after an offseason team change. Mike Anderson, who had rushed for over 1,000 yards for the Broncos during his rookie season in 2000 (5 years earlier) and been a backup for the Broncos since then, would return to the starting role and put up over a thousand yards for the second and final time of his career. Tatum Bell, a second round pick out of Oklahoma State University, had also done quite well putting up 921 yards with a 5.3 yards per carry average. Also of note on the 2005 Denver Broncos team was former Heisman Trophy winner and New York Giants running back Ron Dayne. Dayne played in a limited role, but had some key runs, gained over 250 yards and averaged over 5 yards a carry.

2006

2006 was Tatum Bell’s year to lead the Broncos in rushing as he put up just over 1,000 yards while averaging a very respectable 4.4 yards per carry. Backing up Bell that year was Mike Bell, an undrafted free agent, who although he rushed for less yards (677 yards), scored six more touchdowns than the starter Tatum Bell.

Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan has gotten more out of different players from the running back position than many people thought he’d be able to, and rarely did he give up something too valuable or use a high round draft pick to get the personnel he used.

1,000 Yard Rushers During Mike Shanahan’s Tenure (Through 2006)

Mike Anderson - 2000, 2005 - 6th Round Draft Pick
Tatum Bell - 2006 - 2nd Round Draft Pick
Terrell Davis - 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 - 6th Round Draft Pick
Olandis Gary - 1999 - 4th Round Pick
Clinton Portis - 2002, 2003 - 2nd Round Draft Pick
Rueben Droughns - 2004 - Free Agent

Through a twelve year stretch, Mike Shanahan and the Denver Broncos had eleven thousand yard rushing seasons produced by six different running backs, none of whom were first round draft picks or big name free agent signings. A pretty amazing amount of production from a wide variety of players playing one position for one team.