Weirdest box score in NFL history?
Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 12:39 pm
September 17, 1950. Opening Day at Pittsburgh, Giants defeating the Steelers by a score of 18-7.
The Giants' first two scores came on safeties, which means that at one point they had the score of 4 on the board. Their two touchdowns both came on fumble recoveries. The first of these plays actually featured three turnovers on one play - the Giants intercepted a pass, fumbled it back to the Steelers, and the Steeler lineman who got the ball wound up fumbling to future HOF Cowboy coach Tom Landry who took it back all the way to paydirt.
As strange as that scoring summary is, it pales in comparison to the Steelers' individual and team statistics. Pittsburgh ran the ball 32 times and yet gained a grand total of just 34 yards. That aggregate total includes three players with negative rushing yardage: Bob Gage's 3 for -5, Jerry Shipkey's 4 for -9 and Jerry Nuzum's mind-numbing line of EIGHT for MINUS EIGHTEEN.
But the Steelers topped that with their individual passing stats: No less than six players on the offense are credited with pass attempts on the afternoon, with five of those registering completions! Has anything like that ever happened in the NFL otherwise ever? The Steelers were still the only team running the single-wing in 1950 and thus did not really have a designated quarterback. But they never in any other game had close to that many different players throwing the ball.
The Giants' first two scores came on safeties, which means that at one point they had the score of 4 on the board. Their two touchdowns both came on fumble recoveries. The first of these plays actually featured three turnovers on one play - the Giants intercepted a pass, fumbled it back to the Steelers, and the Steeler lineman who got the ball wound up fumbling to future HOF Cowboy coach Tom Landry who took it back all the way to paydirt.
As strange as that scoring summary is, it pales in comparison to the Steelers' individual and team statistics. Pittsburgh ran the ball 32 times and yet gained a grand total of just 34 yards. That aggregate total includes three players with negative rushing yardage: Bob Gage's 3 for -5, Jerry Shipkey's 4 for -9 and Jerry Nuzum's mind-numbing line of EIGHT for MINUS EIGHTEEN.
But the Steelers topped that with their individual passing stats: No less than six players on the offense are credited with pass attempts on the afternoon, with five of those registering completions! Has anything like that ever happened in the NFL otherwise ever? The Steelers were still the only team running the single-wing in 1950 and thus did not really have a designated quarterback. But they never in any other game had close to that many different players throwing the ball.