Nov. 21, 1976 – Worst Passing Sunday Ever?

[Evan]

The mention of much-maligned Gary Marangi in the post about the Worst Seasons ever got me reminiscing about Marangi’s statistical nadir in 1976. Turns out he was hardly alone when he literally bottomed out in passer rating on Nov. 21, 1976.

I know passing was much tougher pre-1978, but the passing stats for the 11th week of 1976 (Nov. 21-22) strike me as extra bad, especially when the games were not severely impacted by weather.

According to the sort feature on pro football reference, this was the only day since 1960 that three quarterbacks (Jim Hart, Bob Avellini, Gary Marangi) attempted 29 or more passes and completed 9 or fewer. Here’s the list of ugly stats:

Gary Marangi – BUF - 8 of 30, 83 yards, 0 TD, 3 Int, 0.0 rating (yes that’s “zero-point-zero” also known as the Blutarsky)
Jim Plunkett – SF – 6 of 18 for 35 yards, 0 TD, 2 Int – 2.8 rating
Carlos Brown – GB – 11 of 25 for 82 yards, 0 TD, 3 Int – 12.8 rating
Roger Staubach – DAL - 13 of 28, 157 yards, 0 TD, 3 Int, 24.6 rating
Joe Namath – NYJ – 16 of 36 for 176 yards, 1 TD, 5 Int – 29.2 rating
Craig Morton – NYG – 11 of 24 for 137 yards, 0 TD, 2 Int – 29.3 rating
Bobby Douglass – NO – 12 of 21 for 115 yards, 0 TD, 2 Int – 32.9 rating (and his team scored 51 points)
Scott Hunter – ATL - 8 of 20, 99 yards, 0 TD, 1 Int, 35.2 rating
Bill Kilmer – WSH – 9 of 20, 110 yards, 0 TD, 1 Int – 41.7 rating
Bob Avellini – CHI – 8 of 29 for 133 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int – 43.3 rating
Jim Zorn – SEA – 11 of 22 for 106 yards, 0 TD, 1 Int – 44.9 rating
Jim Hart – STL - 9 of 31, 181 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int – 48.7 rating
Ken Anderson – CIN – 9 of 17 for 123 yards, 0 TD, 1 Int – 51.8 rating

Bert Jones, Ken Stabler and Brian Sipe had the best statistical performances that day, but across the league that weekend there were 25 TD passes and 46 interceptions. For the norm, the overall league completion percentage for the entire 1976 season was 52.2, and the overall passer rating was 63.6.

Footnote: Marangi followed up his 8 for 30 in 1976 Week 11 with a 4 for 21 performance four days later on Thanksgiving when O.J. ran for 273 against Detroit. Marangi finished 1976 completing 82 of 232 (35.3 percent) total for his 7 starts (all losses) and some other spot duty.

That begs the question, who was Buffalo’s other QB option in 1976?

With Joe Ferguson out for the year with a back injury, the only other QB I can find listed for Buffalo in 1976 was Sam Wyche, who the Bills signed on Oct. 26, the day after Ferguson went down. Wyche did not throw a pass for the Bills.

Marangi Epilogue: Marangi, who the Bills took with a 3rd-round pick in 1974, was traded by Buffalo to the Packers for an undisclosed draft pick on Aug. 31, 1977, but he failed his physical with Green Bay and was released by the Bills on Sept. 6, 1977.
Apparently Marangi had a look by Cleveland the next year but was released by the Browns on July 24, 1978. (Thank you prosportstransactions.com!)

[Todd Pence]

I always get Marangi confused with another Bills backup of the time, Dan Manucci.

[Rupert Patrick]

The mention of much-maligned Gary Marangi in the post about the Worst Seasons ever got me reminiscing about Marangi’s statistical nadir in 1976. Turns out he was hardly alone when he literally bottomed out in passer rating on Nov. 21, 1976.

(edit)

Footnote: Marangi followed up his 8 for 30 in 1976 Week 11 with a 4 for 21 performance four days later on Thanksgiving when O.J. ran for 273 against Detroit.

It is surprising to think that you could have a RB who rushes for record yards in a game, but you still lose 27-14. And yet, it happened. The reason why it happened is that Dexter Bussey rushed for 137 yards for Detroit, helping to keep the ball away from OJ. Is the the only time a RB from each team would combine to rush for over 400 yards in a single game? If not, I imagine that would be a very short list.

[JohnH19]

On the flipside of Gary Marangi's disastrous season, Joe Ferguson actually had excellent numbers, with a passer rating of 90.0, before he was injured. He only completed 49% of his 151 passes but for 9 TDs and only 1 INT.

[SixtiesFan]

The mention of much-maligned Gary Marangi in the post about the Worst Seasons ever got me reminiscing about Marangi’s statistical nadir in 1976. Turns out he was hardly alone when he literally bottomed out in passer rating on Nov. 21, 1976.

(edit)

Footnote: Marangi followed up his 8 for 30 in 1976 Week 11 with a 4 for 21 performance four days later on Thanksgiving when O.J. ran for 273 against Detroit.

It is surprising to think that you could have a RB who rushes for record yards in a game, but you still lose 27-14. And yet, it happened. The reason why it happened is that Dexter Bussey rushed for 137 yards for Detroit, helping to keep the ball away from OJ. Is the the only time a RB from each team would combine to rush for over 400 yards in a single game? If not, I imagine that would be a very short list.

O.J. started racking up big yardage after the Lions went up 20-0 in the third quarter. He helped run out the clock.

[BD Sullivan]

Bert Jones, Ken Stabler and Brian Sipe had the best statistical performances that day,

Apparently Marangi had a look by Cleveland the next year but was released by the Browns on July 24, 1978. (Thank you prosportstransactions.com!)

Sipe had the good fortune to be facing the 0-8 expansion Buccaneers.

Speaking of Sipe, the Browns signed Marangi a few weeks after Sipe suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. He never saw the field, since he was only being kept around in the event that the immortal duo of Dave Mays and Terry Luck couldn't answer the bell. The Browns ended up losing all three of their final games.

Legendary beat writer Chuck Heaton (father of actress Patricia Heaton, BTW) had this info at the time of Marangi's signing:

"If his arm is sound, he should be capable of challenging Brian Sipe for the starting job."
"Gary claims that he developed bad habits while playing injured last season and believes this accounts for his inaccuracy after winter surgery."

[John Grasso]

It is surprising to think that you could have a RB who rushes for record yards in a game, but you still lose 27-14. And yet, it happened. The reason why it happened is that Dexter Bussey rushed for 137 yards for Detroit, helping to keep the ball away from OJ. Is the the only time a RB from each team would combine to rush for over 400 yards in a single game? If not, I imagine that would be a very short list.

There's at least one more - 12/20/09 - Cleveland 41, Kansas City 34 - Jerome Harrison, CLE 286 yards rushing,
Jamaal Charles, KC 154.

[BD Sullivan]

Another Cleveland game: 11/15/59, 422 yards

Bobby Mitchell (Cle) 232 yards
Johnny Olszewski (Was) 190 yards

[Todd Pence]

Tennessee vs. Jacksonville 11/1/2009

Chris Johnson - 228
Maurice Jones-Drew - 177