Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Green Bay also had a rookie linebacker named Jim Flanigan in 1967, who they drafted in the second round of the draft that year. Jim played 4 years for the Packers as a reserve linebacker. In 1971, Flanigan played for New Orleans before retiring. So, I guess that with Flanigan and 1968 first round dr...

Green Bay guard and author Jerry Kramer had nice words for linebacker Tommy Crutcher in his books, even though Tommy was a reserve for the Packers. Green Bay had the finest set of starting linebackers at the time and it would have been nearly impossible for any linebacker to break into their startin...

After the 1967 season, the New York Giants made a couple of trades that they figured to help them improve some. A trade with Green Bay netted them a couple of new starters for 1968. They were linebacker Tommy Crutcher and tackle Steve Wright. For this they sent tackle Francis Peay to the Packers. Pe...

I guess that some would try to make a case that the 1967 Giants were a better team than the 1967 Browns even though Cleveland did win their division by 2 games. The Browns were lucky in some of their wins and were really a crippled team that year while the Giants offense seemed to be hitting on all ...

Plum might have been the first example of how overrated passing statistics can be. He won two supposed "passing efficiency titles" but was traded for obvious reasons -- not clutch enough in big games. Could he have been better calling his own plays? Possibly, but even in Detroit, his leas...

Oops! I should have mentioned the Giants receivers in 1967 like Homer Jones, Aaron Thomas, and Joe Morrison. They were all good receivers enhanced by having Fran Tarkenton throwing to them that year. I don't know about PFHOF, but I believe that all three of those Giants receivers would be good candi...

Then there was the 1967 New York Giants, one of the most improved teams in football history. Of course, the biggest reason for the improvement was the acquisition of quarterback Fran Tarkenton in a trade with the Minnesota Vikings. The Giants went from a record of 1-12-1 in 1966 to 7-7 in 1967. They...

Here is something that further separates the quality of play between the 1966 Cleveland Browns and their 1967 team. In 1966, the Browns lost a game to the Green Bay Packers by the score of 21 to 20. In that game, Cleveland was ahead at some point in the first half, 14 to 0. The Packers chipped away ...

Frank Ryan's Passer Rating stats in 1966 were so much better than his 1967 Passer Rating stats that game for game, the 1966 stats were better. For example, the best game in 1966 Passer Rating was 139.9 compared to 127.7 in the best game of 1967. The 5th best was 111.5 in 1966 compared to 87.1 in 196...

The Detroit game was Frank Ryan's second worst game of 1967 by passer rating with a rating of 38.6. The worst, of course, was the Green Bay game with a rating of 9.5. Ryan's three best that year were Washington at 127.7, Pittsburgh (second game) at 117.4, and New York (first game) at 115.0. Even tho...