Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Earl Morrall spent from 1965 to 1967 with the New York Giants.  In these three years,  Morrall did very little except back up Tom Kennedy in 1965 and Fran Tarkenton the following two years. He did hurt his former team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, in 1966.  It was the first weekend of the 1966 season and Bill Austin's debut as Head Coach for the Steelers.   During Austin's tenure, 1966 to 1968, Pittsburgh won only 11 games.  Nevertheless, the 5-8-1 record in 1966 was a great  improvement from 2-12 the year before.  Earl Morrall on opening day ruined the Steelers' chances of victory.

In first quarter with no score, Earl threw a 75 yard touchdown pass to Homer Jones.

Midway in the fourth quarter,  Pittsburgh was leading the Giants 31 to 20. Steeler Punter Frank Lambert kicked a beauty that went out of bounds at the Giant one.  A stop here meant a punt, good field position, and a chance put the game away.  Instead Earl Morrall dropped back in the End Zone and threw a 99 yard touchdown pass Homer Jones.

On the next series,  defensive halfback Wendell Harris returned a fumble for touchdown and Steelers were behind  34 to 31.

Late in the game, the Pittsburgh  Steelers kicked a field goal and the final score was a  34 to 34 tie.  For the fifth consecutive year, the Steelers failed to win on opening day.   Earl Morrall and Homer Jones saw to that.

Sorry Leonard, Morrall and Jones werent part of the exclusive 99 yrd TD club. Still, at 98 yards, a huge play, though Jones is still debated amongst people that think he has a HOVG/HOF case ... Exciting or not, his TDs werent quite enough for me but its an interesting debate ...

Earl Morrall didn't "back up Tom Kennedy in 1965," who wasn't even on the team. Morrall started all 14 games, threw for 2446 yards and 22 TDs, good numbers for the time. The Giants went a surprising 7-7. I remembered Morrall having a good year for the 1965 Giants, checked Pro Football Reference for the stats.

And Fran Tarkenton didn't come to the Giants until 1967.

SixtiesFan wrote:Earl Morrall didn't "back up Tom Kennedy in 1965," who wasn't even on the team. Morrall started all 14 games, threw for 2446 yards and 22 TDs, good numbers for the time. The Giants went a surprising 7-7. I remembered Morrall having a good year for the 1965 Giants, checked Pro Football Reference for the stats.

And Fran Tarkenton didn't come to the Giants until 1967.

Alternate facts. It's a thing.

Little bizarre occurrence I noticed with the horrible 1-12-1 1966 New York Giants

They scored 40 or more points consecutive weeks (Week 12 and 13) and lost both games. Can't image that has happened often in NFL history. 72-41 to the Redskins and 49-40 to the Browns. If you bring in Week 14 they put up 109 points in the three weeks combined and lost all 3 games.

How often does a team have a 3 week stretch of 100 or more total points and not gotten at least one win out of it?

The Giants would allow 501 pts that year in 14 games. 35.7 pts a game. Brutal

sheajets wrote:1966 New York Giants

They scored 40 or more points consecutive weeks (Week 12 and 13) and lost both games. Can't image that has happened often in NFL history. 72-41 to the Redskins and 49-40 to the Browns.

Your instinct was right...only time it has happened...and looks like six team went 1-1

good call

sheajets wrote: How often does a team have a 3 week stretch of 100 or more total points and not gotten at least one win out of it?

The opposite of that, in the modern NFL, was when the Jets scored 15 points in three consecutive games and won twice.