Odd divine intervention in Packers-Vikings game; Dick Rauch

[Bryan]

I am hoping someone else saw the mini "Immaculate Reception" play in the Packers-Vikings game. The Vikings threw a pass over the middle, just when the WR was catching the ball he gets blasted by the DB, the ball ricochets backwards, where it is caught and run upfield by a Vikings OL. Two weird things about the play. First, it happens after John Madden recently passes away. Second, the play itself looked like a mini version of the Immaculate Reception. The pass over the middle, the way the defender collides with the WR (like Tatum-Fuqua), the way the ball sails almost straight backwards, how the OL catches the ball at his shoetops while running. Eerily similar.

There was a graphic regarding the Packers head coach...it was either best win% in first few years or best home win% in first few years by a head coach. Anyways, the coach that had a similar record was a guy named Dick Rauch, who I had never heard of. I thought they meant John Rauch. Dick Rauch was a player-coach for the Pottsville Maroons (among other teams), but he only played every other year. Does anyone have any information on Dick Rauch, and why he only played sporadically?

[Brian wolf]

Good call Bryan ...

Did anyone see the catch Ward made for the Cardinals against the Cowboys ? Despite a defensive pass interference penalty, Ward pinned the ball against the defenders head and maintained possession while falling down ... incredible

[GameBeforeTheMoney]

Another coincidence in the Packers/Vikings game is that the Vikings QB was making his first start and he was from John Madden's hometown.

[JameisLoseston]

I've definitely seen Sean Mannion make a start before. He's been around for a hot minute.

[GameBeforeTheMoney]

That will teach me to quote the announcers. Or at least what I thought they said. Maybe I heard it wrong on the broadcast.

[TanksAndSpartans]

I think Dick Rauch was a coach who played a few games here and there. I would bet teams didn't really want to pay for a separate coach, but Pottsville could afford it. I recall discussion of him in Breaker Boys, but I haven't read it in a few years. I'm not sure why he left Pottsville after the '27 season and then returned the next year, but I bet the book covers it.

[Bob Gill]

Rauch did play for Pottsville in 1923 (four games, three starts) when he was NOT the coach. And he apparently didn't have anything to do with the team in 1924. But it looks like T & S is basically right: Since Rauch was a legitimate player, he probably just filled in now and then during his tenure as a coach when the team found itself short-handed. He wouldn't have been the only coach in the 1920s who did that.

[Jay Z]

That will teach me to quote the announcers. Or at least what I thought they said. Maybe I heard it wrong on the broadcast.

Announcers said it was the first game he started that meant anything. Apparently the other two starts were meaningless games from a playoff perspective.