Fewest yards in a victory with more than 20 pts scored

[vikingsfan1963]

Could it be this 1966 Eagles win over the Cowboys?
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... 060phi.htm

How about the fewest yards total offense in any type of victory?

[conace21]

Houston gained 47 total yards and five first downs, while scoring 24 points against the Steelers in 2002

[JeffreyMiller]

Houston gained 47 total yards and five first downs, while scoring 24 points against the Steelers in 2002

As Jim Croce once sang: "All I can do is shake my head."

[Todd Pence]

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... r_by_asc=Y

[Jay Z]

Houston gained 47 total yards and five first downs, while scoring 24 points against the Steelers in 2002

Actually, it was three first downs. That is tied for second place for fewest first downs in a victory (for games in which first down statistics are available.)

The other game with three first downs was in 1945, and the victim was again the Steelers. Fielding a complete team for the first time in three years, Pittsburgh lost to the now forgotten 1945 merged team, the Boston Yanks/Brooklyn Tigers team. They're forgotten because the Yanks are defunct. Forgotten because the Tigers, nee Dodgers, never came back, and most of their old players followed owner Dan Topping to the AAFC New York Yankees. According to Wiki, they were billed as simply The Yanks, and though they did play a home game in Yankee Stadium, the press reports for this game still referred to Boston Yanks, so I'm not sure whatever rebranding was done ever took.

This October 28th game drew a good Pittsburgh crowd of 25,477, the best Steeler crowd of the season. An early Augie Leo FG for the Yanks was offset by two by the Steelers' Ben Agajanian. With 6 minutes left, the Yanks' Jim Magee returned an interception to his own 38. From there Scott Gudmundson hit Boston College grad Don Currivan with a long pass. Currivan lateraled to Frank Martin, who took it the rest of the way for a lead and a 10-6 win.

This win combined with a earlier win over the Steelers and a surprising defeat of the title game bound Redskins to give the Yankers? Tinks? a surprising 3-1-1 record. But Halloween loomed three nights away, and it was time for Cinderella to do her pumpkin act. The Yanks lost their last 5 games.

The record holder for fewest first downs in a victory is held by an honest to goodness NFL Champion, the 1950 Cleveland Browns! They set this record in a defeat of the defending champion Eagles in Cleveland. The Browns had beaten the Eagles 35-10 that day in a very famous game. Hall Of Famer Otto Graham attempted 38 passes, completing 21 for 346 yards in the rout. Ironically, the Eagles bounced back after that game, winning their next 5 to lead their conference at the season's halfway point. A weaker second half performance left them two games behind the leading Browns and New York Giants. But a win here and next week against the Giants, plus losses by the Browns and Giants in their other games against the Redskins and New York Yanks respectively, left the Eagles a mathematical chance.

That chance would be lost after this game, as the Browns prevailed, 13-7. Supposedly this game proved the Browns could win without Graham's passing, as they attempted not a single pass officially. (Unofficially, they attempted two, but both were called back for penalties.) I'm not sure one first down and 69 yards from scrimmage prove anything.

The game was played in a steady rain. Warren Lahr gave the Browns a big break when he returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown in the game's second minute. Lou Groza added two field goals in the second and third quarter. The field goals gave him a NFL record at the time for most field goals in a season with 12, which has been broken many times! The Eagles added their only score late in the game on a two yard Jim Parmer plunge. It was their only serious scoring threat, and required 5 of their total 10 first downs to accomplish. The Eagles outgained the Browns 167-69, but turned the ball over 4 times, whereas the Browns didn't turn it over at all. Now that was impressive for rainy 1950 football!

Steve Van Buren was injured for the first Browns-Eagles tilt, but was of no use in this game, rushing 10 times for minus 2 yards. Fellow HOFer Marion Motley didn't do much better with 12 for 16. The leading rusher in the game was the Eagles' Frank Ziegler, with a relatively spritely 16 for 50. Ziegler finished the season as the Eagles leading rusher with 733 yards in what would be his best NFL season.

[vikingsfan1963]

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... r_by_asc=Y

Thanks. That's really cool. Didn't know you could do anything like that on that site!

[BD Sullivan]

The record holder for fewest first downs in a victory is held by an honest to goodness NFL Champion, the 1950 Cleveland Browns! They set this record in a defeat of the defending champion Eagles in Cleveland. The Browns had beaten the Eagles 35-10 that day in a very famous game. Hall Of Famer Otto Graham attempted 38 passes, completing 21 for 346 yards in the rout. Ironically, the Eagles bounced back after that game, winning their next 5 to lead their conference at the season's halfway point. A weaker second half performance left them two games behind the leading Browns and New York Giants. But a win here and next week against the Giants, plus losses by the Browns and Giants in their other games against the Redskins and New York Yanks respectively, left the Eagles a mathematical chance.

That chance would be lost after this game, as the Browns prevailed, 13-7. Supposedly this game proved the Browns could win without Graham's passing, as they attempted not a single pass officially. (Unofficially, they attempted two, but both were called back for penalties.) I'm not sure one first down and 69 yards from scrimmage prove anything.

The game was played in a steady rain. Warren Lahr gave the Browns a big break when he returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown in the game's second minute. Lou Groza added two field goals in the second and third quarter. The field goals gave him a NFL record at the time for most field goals in a season with 12, which has been broken many times! The Eagles added their only score late in the game on a two yard Jim Parmer plunge. It was their only serious scoring threat, and required 5 of their total 10 first downs to accomplish. The Eagles outgained the Browns 167-69, but turned the ball over 4 times, whereas the Browns didn't turn it over at all. Now that was impressive for rainy 1950 football!

Steve Van Buren was injured for the first Browns-Eagles tilt, but was of no use in this game, rushing 10 times for minus 2 yards. Fellow HOFer Marion Motley didn't do much better with 12 for 16. The leading rusher in the game was the Eagles' Frank Ziegler, with a relatively spritely 16 for 50. Ziegler finished the season as the Eagles leading rusher with 733 yards in what would be his best NFL season.

This was the game that NFL lore said was Paul Brown's answer to Greasy Neale's gripe about the Browns: "All they do is pass the ball." It made for a nice story, yet the slopfest conditions were never noted in any "official" retelling, which was the chief reason why passing wasn't an option in the game.