Roman Gabriel's 1973 Season

[Todd Pence]

It came in the twilight of his career and for a lousy team, but Roman Gabriel's 1973 season can be considered one of the most prolific in modern NFL history.

True, the 3219 yards he led the NFL with that year hardly raises eyebrows by today's standards. That total wouldn't have even put him in the top half of the league this past campaign.

But consider the fact that 1973 was the height of the "deadball" era in modern football, which spanned the years 1970-77. This was the period when rules favored passing defenses, leading to low yardage totals through the air and teams using the ground as the primary means of advancing the ball.

In 1973, the average gross passing yards for a team per game was a mere 159. This past season, it was 252. That means that one passing yard in 1973 was worth 1.58 times a passing yard in 2014.

Using that measure, let's adjust Gabriel's numbers from '73 and see what his season would look like in 2014 terms. Gabriel's efforts come out to a phenomenal 364 yards per game. That's much more than Manning, Brees, or Marino ever accomplished. Keep in mind that those quarterbacks set their marks in years in which high passing numbers were commonplace, so they are not going to get the benefits of inflation Gabriel got.

364 yards per game tracked over a 16-game season works out to an eye-popping 5,800 yards.

Only Dan Fouts of the 1982 Chargers, with 366 Historically Adjusted Yards Per Game, has a higher mark than Gabriel's season. But Fouts only played nine games because of the strike that year and his numbers would have probably settled down somewhat if he had played a full schedule.

[JohnTurney]

It was a good year for him, he should have been All-Pro over Hadl. Hadl started on fire, but slumped the second half of the seaso. Tarkenton was the NEA All-pro and it was a decent year for him, but both Hadl and Tark were also given credit for being on good teams.

Dempsey missed a short last second FG that cost them one game, and the tie, I think they almost had that won . . . taking that 2--12 team to 5-8-1 and were really close to 7-7 was likely a bigger feat than Tark and Hadl taking .500 teams to 12 wins.

[BD Sullivan]

Mike McCormick looked like a genius that first year for bringing him in. Not so much after that.

[Rupert Patrick]

Mike McCormick looked like a genius that first year for bringing him in. Not so much after that.

The Eagles started out the 1974 season 4-1, which included a win over the Cowboys on Monday Night, then the Eagles lost six straight, winning their final three to finish 7-7. Gabriel had a poor season, and the only thing that saved McCormick's job was Mike Boryla winning those final three games. In 1975 the Eagles went 4-10, which ushered in the Dick Vermeil era.

[SixtiesFan]

Mike McCormick looked like a genius that first year for bringing him in. Not so much after that.

I recall a news story about Mike McCormick's hiring by the Eagles. McCormick said he was going to follow the George Allen formula by trading for veterans.

[7DnBrnc53]

Mike McCormick looked like a genius that first year for bringing him in. Not so much after that.

I recall a news story about Mike McCormick's hiring by the Eagles. McCormick said he was going to follow the George Allen formula by trading for veterans.

That explains why John Reaves, Philly's #1 pick in 1972 (by the former coach, Ed Khayat), really didn't get much of a chance there.

That 1973 performance seemed to have Eagle fans thinking NFC East Title heading into 1974. On that Dal-Phi MNF game in week 2, there were banners saying "74 is for the birds" hanging in Veteran's Stadium. They were right that it was for the birds, but for the Cardinals, not them.

[JKelly]

He may have said that but other than Gabriel the only other veterans of note were Marlin McKeever and Kermit Alexander. Alexander was brought in by the previous staff in 1972. Actually Ed Khayat brought more verterans in than McCormick. In 1972 he had Chuck Allen, Houston Antwine, Don Hultz & Jerry Sturm to go along with existing players like Nate Ramsey, Jim Skaggs & Gary Ballman. Which no doubt contributed to his demise as Eagles HC.

[SixtiesFan]

He may have said that but other than Gabriel the only other veterans of note were Marlin McKeever and Kermit Alexander. Alexander was brought in by the previous staff in 1972. Actually Ed Khayat brought more verterans in than McCormick. In 1972 he had Chuck Allen, Houston Antwine, Don Hultz & Jerry Sturm to go along with existing players like Nate Ramsey, Jim Skaggs & Gary Ballman. Which no doubt contributed to his demise as Eagles HC.

The Eagles also obtained Norm Bulaich in 1973 from the Colts.

[John Maxymuk]

McCormack did try to follow the Allen model, having coached under Allen in DC. In addition to gabriel, Mike traded draft picks during his tenure in philly for bill bergey, norm bulaich, mike boryla, jerry patton, wes chesson, tom roussel, john tarver, randy jackson, john niland, james mcalister, horst muhlmann and stan walters. The result was that the eagles highest draft picks were 1974 third round, 1975 seventh round, 1976 fifth round, 1977 fifth round and 1978 third round.

Allen and Buddy Parker are the two guys who knew how to trade draft picks for veterans; mccormack just left a mess for Dick Vermeil.

[Gary Najman]

McCormack did try to follow the Allen model, having coached under Allen in DC. In addition to gabriel, Mike traded draft picks during his tenure in philly for bill bergey, norm bulaich, mike boryla, jerry patton, wes chesson, tom roussel, john tarver, randy jackson, john niland, james mcalister, horst muhlmann and stan walters. The result was that the eagles highest draft picks were 1974 third round, 1975 seventh round, 1976 fifth round, 1977 fifth round and 1978 third round.

Allen and Buddy Parker are the two guys who knew how to trade draft picks for veterans; mccormack just left a mess for Dick Vermeil.

When I saw the movie "Invincible" about Vince Papale in Vermeil's first year in Philadelphia, I immediatily went to check what veteran players (more than 30 years old) the Eagles had that season (I started following the NFL the next season at 7 years old). I was surprised to check that they had a young team, only Bergey, Gabriel, Mulhmann and cornerback Johnny Outlaw were over 30 y/o IIRC (by the way, Vermeil brought former 1,000 yard rusher Dave Hampton from Atlanta, but by the time he landed in Philly he was washed out). Other veteran who was brought by Vermeil was tackle Ed George from the Colts. George had one of the most interesting career in the 70s. A 4th round pick by Pittsburgh in 1970, he opted to go to the CFL with Montreal. After 5 years in Montreal, where he was a Canadian All-Star every year and won the Grey Cup, he went to Baltimore. After one year with the Colts, he went to Philadelphia for three seasons. He then returned to Canada, playing two seasons with Hamilton. Although he only played 7 seasons in Canqda, he was inducted to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.