Record Setting Night

Record Setting Night
by Rob Holecko

Last night, Saints QB Drew Brees broke Dan Marino's 1984 single-season passing mark of 5,084 yards on his final throw of the night, a touchdown that gave him 5,087 yards for the season, with one more game still to play.  The Saints beat the Falcons and clinched the NFC South title.

Throughout the night, during the telecast they referred to the record, giving a countdown of how many yards Brees needed.  They flashed back to 1984 and the Monday Night game at the end of the year against the Cowboys when Marino set the record.  They talked about the evolution of the record, from Sammy Baugh and John Unitas, and then in 1967, in the AFL, Joe Namath became the first to pass for 4,000 yards in a season.  Dan Fouts broke that record three consecutive years, in 1979, 1980 and 1981, and then Marino in 1984 passed for 5,084, a record that has stood since then.

In 2008, Brees got close to breaking the record a first time, throwing an incomplete pass on the final play of the season against the Carolina Panthers and winding up at 5,069 yards.

But this time he closed the deal, and he'll get to add to it next week, possibly they won't rest their starters in the season finale as the Saints still have a chance at a first-round bye, if they can win although they'll need the 49ers to lose to the Rams, possibly a tall order.

It was an exciting night in the Louisiana Superdome Allstate Car Carriers Big Old Round Building Mercedes Benz Superdome, possibly the biggest since the 2009 Super Bowl run, a with it being a Monday Night against the Falcons, it was reminiscent of the 2006 Week 3 game against the MNF Falcons when the Saints re-opened the dome after losing the 2005 season to Hurricane Katrina.

The Saints that year, after a dismal 2005 season went all the way to the NFC Championship game where they lost to the Bears, and three years later won Super Bowl XLIV.

Tom Brady has 4,897 yards going into his finale against Buffalo, so he also has an outside chance of passing 5,000 yards and Marino's mark.

Next week Brees also has a chance of passing Peyton Manning's record of 450 completions in a season, he finished last night with 440.

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"On This Day..."

Last week all the talk (in and around New York anyway) was the Giants-Jets game, but today we will look back to another day where the focus of the NFL was all on the New York teams.  On December 27, 1981, the two NFL Wild Card games were played as the Bills and the Jets faced off at Shea stadium in the early AFC game, and the Giants and Eagles faced off in the NFC game in Philadelphia.

Here's a quick summary of this game from Wikipedia:

Bills defensive back Bill Simpson's interception at the Buffalo 1-yard line with 2 seconds left in the game preserved a 31-27 victory and gave Buffalo their first playoff win since 1965.

The Bills jumped to a 24-0 lead by the second quarter. First New York's Bruce Harper fumbled the opening kickoff while being tackled by Ervin Parker, and Charles Romes returned the ball 26-yards to the end zone. Then after a punt, quarterback Joe Ferguson completed a 50-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Frank Lewis, while interceptions by Simpson and linebacker Phil Villapiano led to a 29-yard field goal by Nick Mike-Mayer and a 26-yard scoring reception by Lewis. However, Jets quarterback Richard Todd threw a 30-yard touchdown to tight end Mickey Shuler, and kicker Pat Leahy added two field goals to cut Buffalo's lead, 24-13.
With about 10 minutes left in the game, running back Joe Cribbs ran for a 45-yard touchdown, increasing the Bills lead to 31-13. But Todd then led the Jets 80 yards in 8 plays and completed a 30-yard touchdown to Bobby Jones. Then after forcing a punt, New York drove for another score, aided by a pass interference call against Bills defensive back Mario Clark that nullified an interception. Kevin Long finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to cut the score to 31-27. The Jets got the ball back with 2:36 remaining and then drove 69 yards to the Buffalo 11-yard line, aided by a holding penalty that wiped out an interception by defensive back Steve Freeman. However, Simpson's interception at the 1-yard line halted New York's comeback with 2 seconds left.

Simpson recorded 2 interceptions, while Lewis caught 7 passes for a franchise postseason record 158 yards and 2 touchdowns. Shuler caught 6 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown. Todd threw for 377 yards, while Ferguson threw for 268. Both quarterbacks threw 2 touchdowns and were intercepted four times.

Larry Schmit reports to us in the forum that in this game the Bills' Joe Cribbs wore a gray facemask, while the other Bills wore the correct white facemasks. (see pictures)  Thanks, Larry.

In the other game, the Giants and Eagles faced off.  Here's the Wikipedia run down of that game:

The Giants jumped to a 20-0 lead in the first quarter, but had to withstand an Eagles comeback at the end to hold on to a 27-21 win. In the first quarter, Eagles kick/punt returner Wally Henry fumbled a punt and Beasley Reece recovered the ball at the Philadelphia 26-yard line. A few plays later, quarterback Scott Brunner then threw a 9-yard touchdown to running back Leon Bright (the extra point attempt failed). Later in the first period, Brunner threw a 10-yard touchdown to wide receiver John Mistler, Henry then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Mark Haynes recovered the ball in the end zone to give New York a 20-0 lead.

In the second quarter, Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski completed a 15-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Harold Carmichael, but it was countered by Brunner's 22-yard touchdown to wide receiver Tom Mullady to give the Giants a 27-7 halftime lead. However, New York was shut out in the second half, while the Eagles opened the third period by marching 82 yards to score on running back Wilbert Montgomery's 6-yard rushing touchdown. Montgomery added another touchdown with 2:51 left in the game, but the Giants were able to run out the rest of the clock to preserve the victory. It marked the Giants first post season victory since 1956.

The Bills and the Giants both scored their first post-season victories in decades that day, and while they would both go on to lose to the eventual Super Bowl participants, the 49ers and the Bengals, the following week, for one day the New York teams were the center of the football world.

Two Championship Tilts

"On This Day..."

by Rob Holecko

We hope everyone had a good Christmas, a least a better one that the ex-boyfriend of this girl at Lambeau Field last night. (see picture to the right)

Yesterday while discussing the 1971 Christmas Day 'longest game ever' between the Chiefs and the Dolphins, we mentioned that twice previous, the NFL had scheduled NFL Championships for Monday the 26th, rather than play on Christmas Sunday.

Today we will feature those two games, the 1955 and 1960 Championships, for our "On This Day..." feature.

In 1955, the Los Angeles Rams, in coach Sid Gillman's first season, were the Western Division champions at 8-3-1.  They had won the 1945 NFL championship while still in Cleveland, and the next year moved out west to Los Angeles.  Out west they had gone to three straight championship games from 1949 to '51, winning a second championship in '51.  Now under Gillman, with players such as Bob Waterfield and Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch, they were back in the title game, looking for their third title.

Meanwhile the team that replaced them in, or some would say drove them out of, Cleveland, Paul Brown's Browns, the defending champions, were in their sixth consecutive NFL Championship in six years in the league.  After winning all four AAFC titles from 1946 through 1949, the Browns were 1950 and 1954 NFL Champions, and arguably one of the best dynasties of all time, going for their seventh title in nine years.  Led by Otto Graham, Lou Groza and Dante Lavelli, the Browns were 9-2-1 and Eastern Division Champions.

Here is the Wikipedia write-up of the game:

The 1955 National Football League Championship Game was played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum between the Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Browns and the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Rams. The 23rd NFL title game was played on Monday, December 26, 1955 before 87,695, the largest crowd to see an NFL title game to that time. This was the first NFL championship game televised by NBC and the first NFL championship game played on a Monday.

Browns veteran Lou Groza kicked off; Rams rookie halfback Ron Waller returned the kick, and Groza himself made the tackle. A subsequent Rams drive was stopped at the Cleveland 12 when Kenny Konz intercepted a Norm Van Brocklin pass. Browns quarterback Otto Graham, who had announced his retirement at the end of the season, drove Cleveland to the L.A. 26 where Groza's FG gave the Browns a 3-0 first quarter lead. The Browns scored again when DB Don Paul intercepted Van Brocklin's pass on the Browns 30 and raced 70 yards to a touchdown, making the score 10-0. The Rams answered back when Van Brocklin connected with halfback Volney Skeets Quinlan for a 67-yard rouchdown, pulling the Rams to within 3 points, 10-7, and giving the large crowd hopes of an upset. But late in the second period, Van Brocklin threw his third interception of the half; defensive back Tom James, who had been beaten on the Rams' Tom Fears' title-winning touchdown on the same field four years earlier, grabbed the errant pass and took the ball back to midfield with time running out. The next play turned a close game into a rout; Otto Graham found Dante Lavelli with a 50-yard TD pass along the sideline and the Rams, who moments earlier were driving to take the lead, went to the locker room down 17-7.


Graham earned his place as the star of the game. After moving the Browns from the L.A. 46, Graham kept the ball and ran around right end from the 19 and scored to put the Browns ahead 24-7. On Los Angeles's next possession, Sam Palumbo intercepted Van Brocklin at the Ram 36. Graham drove the Browns to the 4, then scored himself on a sneak. Groza's conversion increased Cleveland's lead to 31-7 with two minutes left in the third quarter. In the final period, Graham tossed a 35-yard touchdown pass to Ray Renfro and Groza's kick gave the Browns a 38-7 lead. Late in the game, Waller ran four yards for a touchdown and Les Richter's conversion finished the scoring. In the final minutes coach Brown sent in reserve quarterback George Ratterman and allowed Graham to leave the field to an ovation from the Los Angeles crowd. Cleveland, winning three titles in the first half of the decade and representing the Eastern Conference in the championship game every year since its admission to the NFL, celebrated Graham's farewell, while the Rams' Van Brocklin, who threw six interceptions, would often be quoted that the game was the worst of his Hall of Fame career.

This may have been the pinnacle of the Browns' dynasty, while they would go on to have five more conference titles from 1957 through 1969, including a 1964 NFL Title, their fourth NFL title and 8th overall, after the 1970 merger, the Browns would never see the greatness of the 1940s and 1950s.  After a couple heart-breaking AFC Championship losses to Denver in the 1980s, the Browns' would move to Baltimore after the 1995 season.  Although they would re-born as a 1999 expansion team, the current incarnation of the Browns has only been to the playoffs once, in 2002, and continues to rebuild, ever in search of recapturing they glory days of yesterday, and along with the Detroit Lions, are the only non-expansion teams to have never reached the Super Bowl.

The Rams, like the Browns, have not seen success in recent years like in the olden days.  While they were a perennial playoff team, reaching the postseason 14 out of 17 years from 1973 through 1989, they continuously ran into strong Cowboys and Vikings teams in the 1970s and Bears and 49ers teams in the 1980s and only made it to one Super Bowl, losing XIV to the Steelers after the 1979 season.  Under Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk, they reached two Super Bowls, winning XXXIV after the 1999 season and returning two years later.  They too, have reached bottom again, won only 3, 2 and 1 games from 2007 through 2009, and are currently completing another 2-win season.

The other championship game we are looking back to today is the 1960 championship between the Packers and the Eagles.  The Packers (8-4, Western Conference Champs) were just beginning their 1960s Vince Lombardi years of greatness, while the Eagles (10-2, Eastern Conference Champs) led by Chuck Bednarik were the dominate team in the league that year.  While they would go to two Super Bowls, winning NFC titles in 1980 and 2004, the 1960 squad would be the last Eagle squad to be NFL Champions.  They went to four straight NFC Championships from 2001 to 2004, and again in 2008, but are still looking for that elusive title, having celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 1960 Championship by wearing throwbacks to that year Week 1 2010.

The Packers, of course, were the team of the 1960s, rebounding from this loss to the Eagles to win the 1961 and 1962 titles, and three more from 1965 through 1967, as well as the first two Super Bowls.  After a couple decades of mediocrity, they would win Super Bowl XXXI under Brett Favre, and another one last year under Aaron Rodgers, and are working on a second this year.

We are proud to add these games to Gridiron Uniform Database's collection of randomly added single-game matchups.

You can view other randomly added past games here.

The Longest Game Ever

The Longest Game Ever
by Rob Holecko

While Tim's Christmas Eve post yesterday summed up our feelings around here and gratitude to everyone who has helped us make this website be what it is during this first year, those feelings of gratitude are dwarfed by the excitement that we feel in anticipation for how much this site can and will grow in the next couple years as we see just how little we have on the site as compared with what it will be when complete.

To that end we offer another small Christmas present to our visitors.  We have slightly revamped the navigation for the 'Head-to-Head Matchups.'  You will now see on the front page to the left of the web-visitor counter (which by the way is now at 95,000) links which will help you easily find matchups by week, by team, and by year.  Also there are links to the 'Randomly Added', 'All-Time Post-Season' and 'Historical Head-To-Head' matchups.  When clicking on to these pages, you can see truly how little of the vast collection of complete head-to-head matchups we have done, and how much work there is to go.  But, of course all of the yearly graphics, which are accessible by the year and team links down either side of the webpage, are available, and if there is a particular past head-to-head matchup you would like added to the database, just let us know and we'll add it.

Another new feature, to the right of the web-counter, you will now see links to the most recent blog entries, so you do not have to click into the blog to see if and when it has been updated.  I know at times we have updated daily, while at times during the school year we just haven't had time to update it more than weekly, so now you will know wherever something new is there just by a quick look at the front page.  You can also subscribe to the blog here.

Now onto the main subject of today's Christmas Day blog, the "On This Day..."

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"On This Day..."

In 1971, the Chiefs and Dolphins met in an AFC Divisional Playoff game.  The Chiefs had been to two of the first five Super Bowls, having won Super Bowl IV, while the Dolphins were making their second consecutive playoff appearance, in Don Shula's second year.  Both teams were 10-3-1 and had the two best records in the conference, but under the system then teams in the NFL playoffs were not seeded, but merely rotated among the three division winners and one wild card team.  (The same system, which would the following year see the 15-0 Dolphins play on the road in the AFC Championship game at Pittsburgh, would be abandoned a few years later.)  So the top two seeds met in the divisional playoff round on Christmas Day, while the Central Division champion Browns and wild card Colts would meet in the other divisional playoff, the following day.

What makes this game special is that it was tied at the end of regulation, and after a 15 minute overtime period with no scoring, for the first time ever, an NFL game went to a second overtime.  To this day, only four games have gone into a second overtime, yesterday we told you about the 1977 Oakland-Baltimore game, and a game in 1987 between the Jets and Browns and the Panthers-Rams game a few years ago were the other two.

This exciting game is described as follows in Wikipedia:

In the longest NFL game played to date at 82 minutes, 40 seconds (and the Chiefs' last-ever game at Municipal Stadium), Miami kicker Garo Yepremian kicked the winning 37-yard field goal after 7:40 of double-overtime. The Chiefs jumped to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter with Jan Stenerud's 24-yard field goal and quarterback Len Dawson's 7-yard touchdown pass to Ed Podolak. But the Dolphins tied the game in the second quarter with Yepremian's 14-yard field goal and running back Larry Csonka's 1-yard touchdown run. The teams exchanged touchdowns in the third quarter before Podolak scored on a 3-yard run in the fourth period. But Miami quarterback Bob Griese threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end Marv Fleming to tie the game. Podolak returned the ensuing kickoff 78 yards to the Dolphins 22-yard line before being shoved out of bounds by Miami's Curtis Johnson (cornerback), giving Stenerud a chance to win the game for the Chiefs in the final minute of regulation. But he missed the field goal attempt from 31 yards and the game went into overtime.

Kansas City took the opening kickoff of the first overtime period, but Stenerud 42-yard field goal attempt was blocked. Yepremian also attempted a 52-yard field goal later in the period, but missed. Csonka's 29-yard run in the second quarter set up Yepremian's game-winning score.


Podolak's 350 all-purpose yards (8 receptions for 110 yards, 17 carries for 85 yards, 3 kickoff returns for 154 yards, two punt returns for two yards) in this game remain an NFL playoff record, and is still the fourth highest total in NFL history. "I don't think any one player in a big game, a monumental game like that, had a day like Eddie Podolak had," said Chiefs coach Hank Stram after the game.  Dolphins receiver Paul Warfield finished with 7 receptions for a career postseason high 140 yards, while Dolphins linebacker Nick Buonticonti racked up 20 tackles.

The NFL drew criticism for scheduling games for the first time on Christmas.  The Vikings-Cowboys NFC playoff game was first at 1:00 Eastern, and the Dolphins-Chiefs was the late game at 4:00.  The NFL had previously avoided playing on Christmas, moving both the 1955 and 1960 NFL Championships to Monday the 26th, and in most earlier years, the season was over before Christmas.

Since this game ran so long, it went well into Christmas evening.  The following year, 1972, Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday, and the NFL played two divisional playoff games on Christmas Eve.  The next time that Christmas fell on a weekend in 1977, the NFL played the two AFC divisional games on Christmas Eve on Saturday and the two NFC games on Monday the 26th.  

Over the last few decades, as the season has grown longer, and later, and the regular season now stretches into January, the NFL does regularly play games on and around Christmas, but not night games on Christmas Eve, nor a full slate of day games on Christmas Day.  This year, like in 2005, the majority of the day games were moved to early Saturday Christmas Eve starts, with one or two late games on Christmas Day.  

In '05, the Bears played the Packers at 5 PM on Christmas on FOX, followed by the usual ESPN Sunday Night game between Minnesota and Baltimore, and the Packers-Bears will face off again tonight on NBC.  

NFL Network today will be airing a special on this 1971 Dolphins-Chiefs game, sure to be something not to miss.

We are proud to add this game to Gridiron Uniform Database's collection of randomly added single-game matchups.

You can view other randomly added past games here.

A Christmas Message from the Gridiron Uniform Database

A Christmas Message from the Gridiron Uniform Database
by Tim Brulia

This is our first Christmas at the Gridiron Uniform Database.

I have been doing the serious research on NFL Uniforms for nearly 10 years.

Bill Schaefer and I connected in September of 2009.

Rob Holecko made contact with Bill and me on May 14th. So the research man, the graphic artist and the web-meister all came together. And, with Rob working feverishly, we were able to officially launch gridironuniforms.com on June 12th. That is our Christmas gift to all of you, the fans of pro football, history and uniforms.

Since our launch, we have numerous corrections, made even more discoveries, and have put up, literally as they trot on the field, the uniform matchups for the 2011 season.

For 2012, we hope to maintain the same standards that we have set for 2011. We will do all we can to continue to be as accurate as possible on uniform detail.

We want to thank those of you who have made contributions to that accuracy with your finds and discoveries. We may ask some of you to help contribute to our blog in the coming weeks and months. We also wish to thank those of you for simply visiting our site and hope you find it of value and enjoyment.

We also take this time and opportunity to give special thanks to our friends at Uni Watch, namely Paul Lukas and Phil Hecken for their help and support, first to send the word out to help with the graphics in 2009 and then earlier this year for the call to enlist help for the website. It goes without saying that without Bill and Rob answering those "calls," I would still be sitting on a pile of valuable historical information, without anyone to share it with. I owe them every morsel of gratitude.

So, on behalf of Bill and Rob, we'd like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and the Best of the Holiday Season.

Peace on Earth.

The Gridiron Uniform Database

Now here's Rob with today's "On This Day..."

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"On This Day..."

by Rob Holecko

On Christmas Eve 1977, like yesterday's Immaculate Reception game, the Raiders and Colts played another memorable AFC Divisional Playoff game.  This game is fondly remembered as "Ghost To The Post."  In 1977, Christmas fell on Sunday, so the NFL played the two AFC Divisional Playoffs on Christmas Eve, and the two NFC games on Monday.  The Raiders were the defending champions, coming off of  Super Bowl XI victory, and the Colts were an aging team seven years removed from their Super Bowl V victory, and were looking to bring a championship during the Bert Jones years to Baltimore.  The Wikipedia write-up is as follows:

Ghost to the Post is a significant play in NFL history. It refers specifically to a 42-yard pass from Ken Stabler to Dave Casper, nicknamed "The Ghost" after the cartoon character, that set up a game tying field goal in the final seconds of a double-overtime playoff game played between Casper's Oakland Raiders and the then-Baltimore Colts on December 24, 1977. Casper also caught the last pass of the game, a 10-yard touchdown pass. The game is currently the fourth-longest in NFL history, and has become synonymous with the play that made it famous.

To this date, the game is still the fourth-longest in pro football history. The game marked the last playoff appearance for the Baltimore-based Colts. The Raiders would go on to lose the AFC championship game that year to the Broncos 20-17. Hall of Fame coach John Madden has called the moment one of the most memorable of his coaching career. Dave Casper has been named one of the best Tight Ends in NFL History and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and this catch is cited as the most memorable in his career.

The Raiders won the game, but lost the following week in the AFC Championship to Denver.  Ken Stabler would not see another championship, as the Raiders, in the coming years, would go on to win Super Bowl XV and, after moving to Los Angeles, XVIII, but they would be with Jim Plunkett under center.  The Colts would never again play a playoff game or have another winning season in Baltimore, posting records of 5-11 (twice), 2-14 and 0-8-1 in the following years, before leaving in the middle of the night for Indianapolis in 1984.

You can see the NFL Films show on this game on Hulu here.

We are proud to add this game to Gridiron Uniform Database's collection of randomly added single-game matchups.

You can view other randomly added past games here.

The Immaculate Reception

Today for our "On This Day..." feature, we are taking a look back at the December 23, 1972 Immaculate Reception of Franco Harris:

In this memorable game, after forty years of being a perennial loser, the Steelers trailed 7-6 in the final minutes after a Ken Stabler touchdown run.  On fourth-and-ten from their own 35, Terry Bradshaw's pass down the field for Frenchy Fuqua was deflected by either the Raiders' DB Jack Tatum or Fuqua, and it was "caught out of the air" by Harris, who raced down the sideline for the winning score.  (See above video.)  After some debate by the officials, (had the pass only touched Fuqua it would have been a foul, as NFL rules at the time did not permit an offensive player to catch a forward pass that had been touched only by another offensive player.  That rule was rescinded after 1978) the play was ruled a touchdown and Pittsburgh won 13-7.  They went on to lose to the undefeated Miami Dolphins in the AFC Championship Game, but this was the beginning of their dynasty, as they went on to win four of the next seven Super Bowls.

The game was not broadcast in Pittsburgh.  1972 was the last year that all home games were blacked-out in home cities, and since the beginning of the 1973 season, every Steelers game has sold-out and has been televised locally.

The NFL Films footage of the play may have led
to speculation -- was the play legal?

The clip you see above was from when NBC re-aired the original footage at halftime of the 1997 AFC Championship on January 11, 1998.  When they aired this, I believe they promoted this at the time as being the first time that the footage had been aired since the game.  Many people, including Gene Upshaw and John Madden, believed that the play should have been nullifed for being an illegal catch.  The NFL Films version of the highlight (this still to the right is from that footage), which had been seen repeatedly over the previous twenty-five years, did not show the collision, and that may have added fuel to the fire.  This NBC footage, which many people were seeing for the first time in 1998, however, I believe ended the speculation.  It is clear that Tatum must have touched the ball, for I don't see how, with the direction that Fuqua was running, his momentum alone would have caused the ball to ricochet back that far to Harris.  It doesn't matter if Fuqua touched it or not, only that had Tatum not touched it would it have been illegal.  (Unless, of course it was Tatum's momentum into Fuqua that caused Fuqua to hit the ball hard enough.)

The only remaining dispute was whether or not Harris cleanly caught the ball before it touched the ground.  Again the NFL Films version of the replay doesn't show that clearly, either.  But upon viewing the NBC replay, it is fairly clear that the catch was clean as well.

We are proud to add this game to Gridiron Uniform Database's collection of randomly added single-game matchups.

You can view other randomly added past games here.

Week 15 Uniform Rankings

Week 15 Uniform Rankings

by Tim Brulia

Week 15 and we start to separate the men from the boys, on the field and on the body (er, uniform wise!)

Jaguars-Falcons: Jag rock white/black and the Falcs go red/white. Lot of blackness here. Falcons red saves this from being total blah from my standpoint.

Cowboys-Buccaneers: Cowboys in the standard white/green-blue-silver and the Bucs go red-pewter. This may be just a bit of metallic color overload for me. I think had the Bucs worn the white pants here, it would have made the red jerseys pop a little more. But, this is not really all that bad.

Panthers-Texans: Panthers in the white-white get up and the Texans go with navy-white. A lot of white, but the Texans navy jerseys just look good and make this one a pretty good feature.

Redskins-Giants: OK, I accept that the Skins yellow pants are mothballed for 2011. And doing that, I can deal with this matchup well. Much more traditional and a heaping amount of color, with white, blue, burgundy and gray, trimmed with yellow and red. Soothing to the football eyes.

Dolphins-Bills: Dolphins in white/aqua, Bills in blue/white. White helmets aside, I'm not sure why, but whenever the Dolphins rock an aqua jersey or aqua pants, I get fired up. And the Bills in their very sharp blue jerseys, I find myself quite attracted to this matchup. Satisfaction.

Seahawks-Bears: Hawks in all white with the Bears in navy/white. For whatever reason, this matchup appeals to me. Normally I'd hanker for the Seahawks to go white/seahawk blue here, but not now. I'm quite pleased with this on field look.

Saints-Vikings: Saints go white/gold and the Vikes in standard purple/white. Another time where I might said, gee, I wish the Saints would've black pants here. But the gold works, with black as a nice accessory color. Vikes purple goes well with the color mixture. May not be one of the better uni matchups, but not a yucky one, either.

Bengals-Rams: Bengals go white/black and the Rams in their second time in throwback blue/yellow. Oh do I like this one. Color abounds. Orange, black, blue, yellow, white all come together in fine fashion. It's all good in my neighborhood.

Titans-Colts: Titans in white/columbia blue and the (winning!) Colts in blue/white. There once was an instrumental hit (when I was a kid, hundreds of years ago) called "Love Is Blue," and such is the case here. columbia (light) blue, royal blue, navy blue with a wisp of red on the Titans helmet logo. Somehow, this all comes together in fine form.

Packers-Chiefs: Packers in white/yellow with the Chiefs in red/white. A little seasonal as the Packers green trim goes up against Chiefs red. But a little heavy on the white and yellow for it to be truly Christmasy. Traditional looks by these two. But I'm to be Scroogeish and say it's not working for me today.

Lions-Raiders: Lions in white/silver, Raiders in black/silver. "Silver Bells" anyone? Silver helmets and silver pants for both squads. silver on both jerseys, too. Some contrast with the black and honolulu blue, but I'm not feeling it.

Patriots-Broncos: Pats in white/navy and for the third home game in a row, Broncs in all navy. Loads of navy here. Perhaps too much? Remember, while a home team has to let the NFL know by July 1st what color jersey they will wear, they don't have to tell anyone about what color pants they will wear. Perhaps the Broncs on their hot streak with the all blue decided to give one more shot.

Jets-Eagles: Jets in white/green, Eagles in green/white. Much of a role reversal here, from head to foot. Jets white lid, Eagles green lid. Jets white jersey, Eagles green jersey! Jets green pants, Eagles white pants! Jets white socks, Eagles - um - black socks! For that alone, I give this a plus!

Browns-Cardinals: Browns heading for a full season of WAY (white all year). Cardinals, just like the Broncos, with a hat trick of all dark at home, going red/red. This so deep a contrast (all white vs all red) that I happen to dig this, man.

Ravens-Chargers: Ravens in all white and the Chargers with their second showing in powder blue/white. Ravens haven't worn black pants since week 7 and I think they would have played nicely off of the Bolts POWder blues. As always, the Chargers ratchet up the chart whenever they break out these babies. Just a thought...powder blue tops and navy blue bottoms??? Shock factor: HIGH!

Steelers-49ers: Steelers in white/yellow and the Niners in red/gold. Niners are so hot this season that the transformer blew at Candlestick! This is actually a sharp looking matchup here and shows beyond the shadow of a doubt when we talk about the difference between yellow and gold.

Summing up, I think Week 15 was one of the best weeks for uni matchups for 2011, even if all 16 games featured all dark at home.

Here's the hit parade:

1) Bengals-Rams

2) Browns-Cardinals

3) Dolphins-Bills

4) Ravens-Chargers

5) Steelers-49ers

6) Jets-Eagles

7) Patriots-Broncos

8) Titans-Colts

9) Saints-Vikings

10) Redskins-Giants

11) Packers-Chiefs

12) Panthers-Texans

13) Seahawks-Bears

14) Cowboys-Buccaneers

15) Lions-Raiders

16) Jaguars-Falcons

Check in next week for further review!

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Thanks, Tim.  And now for our new regular feature, "On This Day..."

On December 21, 1974, thirty-seven years ago yesterday, the two time defending Super Bowl Champion Miami Dolphins played an AFC Divisional Playoff Game in Oakland, losing on the final play, a miraculous pass from Ken Stabler to Clarence Davis.  

We are proud to add this game to Gridiron Uniform Database's collection of randomly added single-game matchups.

You can view other randomly added past games here.

According to Wikipedia:

With 24 seconds left in the game, Raiders RB Clarence Davis somehow caught the game-winning touchdown pass among "the sea of hands" of three Dolphins defenders. This game eliminated Miami from the playoffs after they had made it to the Super Bowl in each of the last 3 seasons. Also known as the "Lost Game" due to both NBC and NFL Films losing their English copies of the broadcast. It was thought until recently that the only remaining copy was NBC's Spanish version, when NFL Films found their copy buried deep in storage, which they thought was lost in a move in the early 80's.

Back When A Bucs' Primetime Game Was Exciting

For those of you who watched the Bucs dismal performance on NFL Network against the Cowboys last night (not talking to those of you who have Time Warner or Bright House) it may seem like a long time since the Bucs played an exciting primetime game.  Earlier this year the Bucs beat the Colts on Monday Night Football, and while a win is a win (and was much better for Buccaneers' fans than the historical 2003 MNF collapse to the same Colts) it was a boring game.  But if we go back eleven years to a Monday Night game between the Bucs and the Rams, you will recall one of the most exciting primetime games in recent memory, as we go... "On This Day..." back to 2000:

"On This Day..."
On December 18, 2000, the Bucs and Rams played a thrilling Monday Night game, so good in fact, the fact that Dennis Miller was announcing it didn't even detract from it.  In the crowded NFC playoff chase, the two teams from the previous year's NFC Championship met in a game they both needed.  The winner would clinch a spot, while the loser would be in danger of missing the playoffs altogether.   Trailing 35-31, with under 2:00 to play, RB Warrick Dunn caught a screen pass and was wrapped up fifteen yards behind the line of scrimmage on a key third down and it seemed like the Bucs hopes were dwindling.  Just before being whistled down, however, Dunn lateralled the ball back to QB Shaun King who improbably ran thirty yards for a first down, and the Bucs drove down the field for the winning score.

The Bucs went on to miss a field goal on Christmas Eve at Lambeau Field the following week and had to settle for a wild card, where they lost to the Eagles, and the Rams beat the Saints the next week and made the playoffs anyway, but then lost to the Saints in the first round.  The Rams made it back to the Super Bowl the next year, losing to the Patriots, while the Bucs (after another wild card loss to the Eagles after the 2001 season, fired Tony Dungy and hired Jon Gruden and got their Lombardi trophy the following year.)  But for one exciting December night in 2000, these two teams played an epic MNF battle.

To read a complete recap of the game, click here.

We are proud to add this historic Monday Night football game from eleven years ago today to our matchup database.

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Speaking of yesterday's dismal Bucs-Cowboys game (well, dismal if you are a Bucs' fan anyway), what was up with the bias on the NFL Network's coverage?  While this was the fourth consecutive year that the Cowboys have been on NFLN's Saturday Night special broadcast, this was the first time the Bucs have ever been on NFL Network, I believe.  It would have been a perfect time for them to showcase the Bucs.  I know they are playing awful -- in the midst of a seven-game (now eight-game) losing streak, but that was no excuse for the bias-ness of the NFL Network's coverage.  Yesterday on their network they aired, leading up to the game: "America's Game: 1992 Cowboys", "America's Game: 1995 Cowboys", a replay of the Cowboys-49ers game from earlier this year, "Tom Landry: A Football Life", and Top Ten Dallas Cowboys of All-Time.   C'mon, is this a national network, or am I watching a local Dallas-Fort Worth station?  They could have at least mixed in an "America's Game: 2002 Buccaneers" instead of 10 straight hours of this Cowboys-love fest.  The game was all-Cowboys, at least they could have shown the Bucs a little love during the programming all day leading up to it.  Even FOX News thinks that violates equal time guidelines!  Even ESPN is less biased when showing a Red Sox-Yankees game!

And then to top it all off, they rubbed salt in the wound at halftime, the Bucs were trailing 28-0, and they put the Bucs' score not just as "0", but "00":

What, one "zero" wasn't enough?

The Problem With The Internet

The Problem With The Internet

by Rob Holecko

The problem with the internet is you can't always believe everything you see, even when the source is somewhat reputable.  Yesterday we unveiled a new feature here at The Gridiron Uniform Database called "On This Day..." where we will feature past games played on this calendar day from now through the Super Bowl.  In researching today's December 17 game, we were preparing the head-to-head matchup of the 1933 NFL Championship game, and in stumbling upon the Pro Football Hall of Fame's website we came upon this picture and caption to the right, purported to be the 12/17/33 NFL Championship game between the Giants and the Bears at Wrigley Field.

Not "On This Day..."

Not so fast, my friends!  After consulting with the other two-thirds of the staff, our Bill Schaefer and Tim Brulia told me that this picture is indeed not from that game.  The grandstands, they told me, indicates that that game appears to be at the Polo Grounds, therefore is it probably from the 11/19/33 regular season game between the same two teams.  After further research, I came across this contemporary picture from the Pittsburgh Press via Google News, that indicates that yes, the Bears did wear white in that game:

But what about the other picture?  Well apparently the folks at the Hall of Fame believe it is from the Championship Game, and because of that other people on the internet believe that it is true, and they blog about it, and the error gets compounded.  (Note: after the publishing of this article, Keith Yowell, author of 'Today In Pro Football History,' whose comment you can read below, updated his site and corrected the picture to the above actual image from the 1933 NFL Championship Game. Special thanks also to Tom Farley for bringing our research to Keith's attention. All any of us want is accuracy. Now if only the Pro Football HOF can correct their information, we'll be all set!).  

Nonetheless, as our research shows, the Bears did wear white in that game, and the picture from the HOF (and elsewhere) on the internet was not from that game.  It just goes to show that you shouldn't assume anything on the internet is entirely accurate without double-checking it yourself, no matter what the source is, even if it is the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  Here at the Gridiron Uniform Database, we'll always strive to bring you the most accurate facts and whenever we do uncover new information, we'll bring it to you and update accordingly.

Speaking of which, sometime in the new future, we'll be bringing you some new discoveries about these mid-1930s Giants, thanks to our head researcher Tim Bruilia, working with "bigbluelarry", our friend Larry Schmitt.  Without further ado, the "On This Day..."

On This Day...

The NFL split into Eastern and Western divisions in 1933 and the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants were the division champions and met in the first ever scheduled Championship game on December 17.  These teams met in November, the aforementioned game at the Polo Grounds, which the Giants won 3-0.  This rematch was an exciting game full of trick plays and exciting action with players such as Bronco Nagurski and Red Grange, and the Bears held on to win 23-21 and claim their third NFL title.  You can read in-depth write-ups of the game here, here and here (just remember the pictures may not be from the correct game!)

Both of these 1933 Giants-Bears matchups have been added to our 'matchups database,' and if there is a game you'd like to see in there that hasn't been added yet, let us know and we'll get to it. We'll be back tomorrow with another past NFL matchup, another game with an exciting memorable lateral and what a surprise, it features the Buccaneers again! 

Week 14 Uniform Rankings

While there are still three weeks left in the NFL regular season (which is unfortunate if you are a Buccaneers fan like some of us around here) we have reached the end of the academic year, which for me at least, means I will have more time to devote to the Gridiron Uniform Database.  So check back more often to this blog, as we may, for the time being return to the "daily update" format that was so popular and successful during the summer.  Hopefully in the coming weeks, we'll be able to make a huge dent in the past years head-to-head matchups.  If you have any particular past year matchups you'd like to see, like for instance this one, post a reply or in post it in the forum and we'll add it.  In the meantime, we'd also like to debut a new feature today called "On This Day..."   Every day, from now through the Super Bowl, we'll be featuring a past NFL matchup that occurred on this calendar day.

On This Day...

Today, in the first of this series, we'd like to feature the December 16, 1979 matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs.  This was the Bucs' Cinderella season, after going 0-14, 2-12, and 5-11 in their first three seasons of existence, the Bucs started out 5-0 behind the play of second-year QB Doug Williams, RB Ricky Bell and a great defense led by Lee Roy Selmon and Richard Wood.  After 12 games they were 9-3 and needed one more win to clinch their first ever playoff spot.   With three straight losses, however, to Minnesota, Chicago and the 1-13 San Francisco 49ers, the Bucs' playoff hopes came down to this final game.  A win would mean the NFC Central title, a loss would mean the Bears would take the division and the Bucs wouldn't even make the playoffs.  A torrential downpour caused a sloppy game and a defensive battle against the Chiefs.  One Neil O'Donoghue field goal was the only scoring, and the Bucs prevailed 3-0.

This game was featured on NFL Networks' Top 10 Bad Weather Games of all time, and you can watch the segment on this game here.

We'll be back tomorrow with a great game from a past December 17, and now here's Tim with this week's uniform rankings:

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Week 14 Uniform Rankings

by Tim Brulia

Welcome to the blog for Week 14. No less than 8 games involving all white in the mix:

Browns-Steelers: Browns in looks like a run of the table in white/white this season. Steelers with their second and last game in the black/white throwbacks. Picture yourself at Forbes Field in the 1960-1962 era. Jim Brown and Ernie Stautner. Kind of the same feeling in 2011.

Chiefs-Jets: Chiefs rocking all white for the second straight week while the Jets go green/white. Somewhat of a Holiday feel, but the Chiefs would look so much better in red pants here.

Buccaneers-Jaguars: Battle of Upper Florida. Bucs go white pewter and the Jags with the teal/white. This one I like because the Jags go teal and the Bucs bless us everyone with pewter pants. Thumbs up to these two.

Patriots-Redskins: Pats go white/navy and the Skins, apparently ditching yellow pants for good this season, go burgundy/white. Lotsa color here; silver, red, burgundy, yellow, navy. Like this one a lot.

Falcons-Panthers: Falcons all white and the Panthers go black/silver. The nicest colors, red and Carolina blue, are merely trim colors in this matchup. Alas, a few knockdowns on the list for that.

Colts-Ravens: Colts return to their onetime home in all white and the current Charm City residents go purple/white. A normal but not that exciting matchup.

Eagles-Dolphins: Eagles in the green/white and the Fish in the all white. Again, I am not that worked up over this uni matchup.

Vikings-Lions: Vikes are another team going all white with the Lions in standard Honolulu blue/silver. The purple and yellow trim save this game from being a rather meh affair. Lions still looking good.

Saints-Titans: NO back in the gold pants complimenting the white jersey while the Titans roll with the columbia blue/navy blue look. I happen to think this matchup works well.

Texans-Bengals: The Tex rocking white/navy and the home Bengals go with the black/white get-up. Another combo that fits rather well.

Bears-Broncos: Bears in the white/navy standard and the Broncos show off the all blue look again. Oddly, a little too much dark blue for me. Broncs should've gone with white pants here. Intriguing nonetheless.

49ers-Cardinals: Niners go with standard white/gold and the Cardinals, after keeping the red pants on the shelves all season long suddenly get a case a scarlet fever two weeks in a row. And, the red pants would gone so well earlier, now pose too much red in this matchup. Should've stuck with white pants here.

Bills-Chargers: Bills do the all white thing, but it looks like the white socks are out for the season as they keep with the blue socks. Chargers with their navy/white look. Just once, I'd love to see the Bolts go all navy. Here, it would have been fantastic.

Raiders-Packers: Classic, yet - well - classic. Raiders in white/silver, Packers in green/yellow. Very nice, lads.

Giants-Cowboys: Giants in the blue/gray and the Cowboys in white/quasi-silver. BUT, these are not your normal Giants' blue/grays. They are the G-Men's blue/AWAY grays, where the side stripes are separated and a wee bit thinner than the HOME gray pants, with the blue/red/blue stripes. A nice occasional kink to the standard fare.

Rams-Seahawks: Rams in all-white and the Seahawks, who have never stained a home game in their entire history with a white jersey, go the usual all Seahawks blue. For the horned sheep, I think the gold pants would have been the way to go here. But white - to me - goes better than blue pants for this occasion.


So the Week 14 lineup goes as follows:

16) Eagles-Dolphins
15) Colts-Ravens
14) Chiefs-Jets
13) Bills-Chargers
12) Falcons-Panthers
11) Vikings-Lions
10) 49ers-Cardinals
9) Rams-Seahawks
8) Browns-Steelers
7) Bears-Broncos
6) Buccaneers-Jaguars
5) Giants-Cowboys
4) Saints-Titans
3) Raiders-Packers
2) Patriots-Redskins
1) Texans-Bengals

~ ~ ~

Tim will be back next week with the Week 15 sartorial review, and we'll see you tomorrow with another "On This Day..."

Week 13 Uniform Rankings

 

 

Week 13 Uniform Rankings

by Tim Brulia

 

Week 13 brings a bit of a monochrome outbreak and a throwback. So, let's get to it.

Eagles-Seahawks: Eagles bring us the white/green combo and the Seahawks in standard monochrome quasi-blue. It seems to bring out the green tincture in the Seahawks combo. Seasick, perhaps?

Panthers-Buccaneers: Panthers in white/white and the Bucs in their homage to the creamsicles, the orange-peach/white throwback combo, including white cleats. This is the third year in a row the Bucs have rocked their pre-1997 look. And that's just about right. It was a rather unique - and fun - look for its day, but they sport red and pewter now. Nicely done, but the hint of peach in the throwbacks is a little odd.

Bengals-Steelers: Bengals in white/white against the Steelers in standard black/yellow. Good that the Bengals didn't choose to rock their black slacks with the white jersey. Nice look.

Falcons-Texans: Falcons in mono-white and the Texans in mono dark blue. Nice for the change of pace Texans, but just a little touch of red (socks) would have really brightened the occasion.

Jets-Redskins: Jets go white/green and the Skins look like they've put the yellow pants back in the trunk as they rock the burgundy/white look. This is a nice batch of colors, though.

Titans-Bills: Titans in white/columbia blue and the Bills go with blue/white. Lotta blue at play here. But since there are the three shades (light, royal, navy) working, it does blend rather well.

Colts-Patriots: Colts in mono-white with the Pats in navy/silver. A rather common sight in recent years, so I'm not that worked up about this uni-matchup.

Raiders-Dolphins: Raiders in black/silver and if the Dolphins are going mono-white instead of white/aqua, it must mean Miami is at home this week. Correct. And alas, this one slips down the pole.

Broncos-Vikings: Another mono-white team (Denver) going against a purple/white side. The slivers of orange (Broncs) trim and yellow (Vikes) trim help some, but not enough to keep this uni matchup from the lower rung.

Chiefs-Bears: Took awhile, but the Chiefs rocked mono-white for the first time this season. Blah. The Bears in their conventional navy-white home duds help, but not enough.

Ravens-Browns: Ravens take charge in purple/white against the Browns in white/white, which they will likely wear all season long, unless - out of the...um...brown they shock us all with brown pants.

Rams-49ers: Somehow, I find this matchup as nice as any this week. Rams go white/blue while the Niners wear red/gold. For the Rams, who have a choice of three pairs of pants at all times in 2011, they made the right choice this week. Bleds well with the Niner red and gold. I actually think it makes the red much brighter.

Cowboys-Cardinals: Cowboys in standard white/quasi-silver and yes, friends, Big Red goes all red! First time for the red pants this season and I guess it's better late than never. I like this one.

Packers-Giants: Classic look for classic teams. Pack in white/yellow and G-Men in blue/home gray. A lot of colors here and I always love me some colors; green, yellow, white, red, blue, gray. Sweet.

Lions-Saints: Lions in white/silver and the Saints go marching in mono black. And that makes more of a contrast than had NO gone black/gold on us. This matchup isn't for the faint of heart, but I dig it, mama.

Chargers-Jaguars: Chargers in white/navy and the Jags in teal/white. Somehow, this one works for me. Nothing splashy, but enough variance to be enjoyable.

So then, I rank them from bottom to the top this week like so:

16) Colts-Patriots

15) Broncos-Vikings

14) Raiders-Dolphins

13) Eagles-Seahawks

12) Chiefs-Bears

11) Ravens-Browns

10) Titans-Bills

9) Bengals-Steelers

8) Chargers-Jaguars

7) Falcons-Texans

6) Jets-Redskins

5) Panthers-Buccaneers

4) Lions-Saints

3) Cardinals-Cowboys

2) Rams-49ers

1) Packers-Giants

Before I close, just thing to keep in mind. Teams MUST submit jersey color to the Commissioner's Office by July 1 each year for all preseason and regular season games. There are no rules regarding pant colors, so while we may know what team will wear what color jersey ahead of time, we don't necessarily know about the pants.

Take care and see you next time.