Why Sam Darnold's NFL Debut is a Shock

Sam Darnold's debut is not the norm for 21 year olds (Jose Juarez / AP).

   Sam Darnold won his first game in the NFL.  What's unusual about that is that he is only 21 years old. Rookies who start their first game before their 22nd birthday are usually terrible. The record for wins that first season is six (Jameis Winston and David Woodley).
     The list below is for every QB who had his first start before his 22nd birthday, and shows the QB's won-loss record in that year.   There were three QBs who had winning records as a 21 year old rookie:  Woodley at 6-5, Jacky Lee at 2-1, and Jack Concannon at 1-0.  That's it.  The table below shows the won-lost record for the rookie year of every qb who made their first start at age 21. It's pretty grim, so if you are faint of heart, you might not want to look. 

        These days, players can enter the NFL as underclassmen, so the 21 year old qb is a little more common now.  Back in the old days, the only guys who could enter the NFL at age 21 were those who skipped a grade in elementary school or something like that.  

    Some qbs have won their first game, but not very many. Fran Tarkenton had a fantastic start, throwing four TDs and running for another.  But he went 1-8 the rest of the season.  The future Hall of Famer had to struggle for a while before his career took off.  

      Woodley is the outlier, actually having a decent year at 6-5 for a good Dolphins team. Kosar managed to start a playoff game in his rookie year, though the Browns lost it.  

      Hence Darnold's victorious start is a bit of an anomaly. After emulating his idol Brett Favre by throwing a pick-6 in his very first pass, he settled down and finished 16 for 21 for 198 yards and 2 TDs.  Most importantly, the Jets won the game 48-17 over the Lions, who played like kittens.
       We'll see how well Darnold does later on.  The fact that he simply won a game is impressive in his own right.
       The Cleveland Browns have done this experiment three times, with Bernie Kosar, Johnny Manziel and DeShone Kizer.  Kosar grew up to be a star, whereas Manziel was out of the league after two tumultuous seasons.
       It should be obvious that a 21 year old is too young to base an evaluation on that first year. Going down the list below, several of the 21 year olds went on to become Pro Bowlers and even a Hall of Famer in the case of Tarkenton.
       That's why I was down on the decision to start Darnold and very surprised that he won.  I would have much rather started Josh McCown until such time as the team falls out of contention, and only then consider starting the rookie. 
     21 year old quarterbacks are like your little brother.  They might grow up and surprise you later on, but for now they are easy to beat up, fall for your tricks and generally not that bright.  They might be more formidable in a few years but for now they are usually not that tough.  

Rookie W-L Records for 21 year old QBs since 1960.

Ex-Browns QBs Destroying the NFL after Game 1 of Exhibition Season (Really!)

UPDATE:  I included Josh McCown's totals and also realized I had forgotten a few ex-Browns qbs (hey, there are a lot of them!  Even I have a hard time tracking them). 
     No, it doesn't mean anything because it's all about backups in game one of the exhibition season, but you have to admit it's an amazing stat.  I doubt whether it has ever happened in the NFL before.  

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Yeah I know, NFL PreSeason is meaningless, but check out the results from ex-Browns Quarterbacks around the NFL. There are 12 of them on NFL rosters right now.  It might be that some of these guys are not totally to blame for the Browns' ineptitude.  Like, ex-Browns threw for over 1100 yards in Week 1 of exhibition season!  They also threw for 6 TDs vs only 1 INT!!

Bwahahaha!

Update, after Preseason, 11 of the ex-Browns made it onto NFL rosters.  

Cleveland Browns Upside Down Receiving Totals from 2017.

     If you look at the stat sheet from the team, you realize that something is seriously wrong.  Namely, wide receivers were unusually unproductive in 2017.  The table lists the yardage totals last year as well as the position that generated those yards.  The names are withheld for the moment in order to observe the positional trends.

First of all, let's consider what I call the Greg Little Line,  of at least 700 reception yards. Greg Little was a receiver who did not last long with the Browns and was infamous for getting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties at bad times plus celebrating too much over modest accomplishments. Despite his poor reputation --and by the way, let me add that Little was a great blocker and did well on special teams as well--Little got 709 yards his rookie season.  So just as baseball has the Mendoza line (.200 batting average), I think the Browns should have a Greg Little Line as the minimal acceptable yards for a starting wide receiver in the NFL. 

The Browns had no one over the Little Line in 2017.  Weirdly, wide receivers are not anywhere near the top of the list.  Instead, the second string running  back and part time slot receiver led the team by far, followed by two tight ends. Among WR, the best performance was from the WR3 role (Ricardo Louis), who is now injured and out for the year. The nominal WR1 and WR2 (Josh Gordon and Corey Coleman)were down near the bottom of the list partly because of suspensions and injuries respectively.  Still both players failed to catch as many as 50% of the balls intended for them which ranked them both near the bottom of the league.

Partly that might be explained by the fact that the Browns quarterback was a 21 year old rookie who had left college early.  That has never been a formula for success.  Nevertheless, he could complete passes to running backs and tight ends and even to the WR4 (Rashard Higgins), but not to his supposed top receivers.  

Second string running back (Duke) was by far the best receiver, operating out of the slot at times. The two tight ends (Njoku and DeValve) also performed much better statistically than the wide receivers, with more yards, and bringing in completions a higher percentage of the time..

The point is, if you just look at the numbers, from a positional standpoint the Browns had very little production from the wide receivers in 2017. In fact, it is downright amazing how little they contributed. 

It's possible that the same group of underperformers at WR might improve in 2018 with a new quarterback, a new Offensive Coordinator and improved talent around them (especially Pro Bowl slot receiver Jarvis Landry). Maybe this is the year that Corey Coleman stays healthy and focused, and Josh Gordon plays like his old self again.  Both guys are capable of playing at the Little Line at least, even thought neither guy has done much the past few years. These guys are at the top of the depth chart not because they have earned it, but because there is no one else at present.   

It's also possible that some of the young additions like Antonio Callaway and Damion Ratley might be given the opportunity to start.   Callaway in particular has a very high talent level.  The main concerns about him are off the field, which makes him a bit like Josh Gordon.  If he's not suspended, play him!  Ratley is a raw talent but also has game breaking ability.  He may need a while to learn, but there is no reason why he can't push some of the underachievers away and earn some game snaps.  

Paul Brown and the Birth of the Cincinnati Bengals.

      
     When I was a kid, growing up in Berea Ohio, a suburb of football-crazy Cleveland, Blanton Collier was Coach of the Browns.  But I got interested in reading about football, and read about the incredible Browns teams of the 1940s and 1950s, how Coach Paul Brown started the team in the All-America Conference and won all four championships that that league ever head, then came to the NFL and continued to win Championships.  At the same time, the players seemed to be always quality individuals, like Lou Groza who lived in our town and was universally loved.  I remember asking my Dad, "Dad, what happened to Coach Paul Brown?"  The stunning, incomprehensible reply was, "Art Modell fired him, son."
        That didn't make sense to me.  How could this fantastic Coach who won so many games and produced so many outstanding players have been fired?  Surely there was some mistake?
      The firing of Paul Brown rocked not only by little world, but the Ohio football universe. This was an event that rocked Ohio football for decades.  Paul Brown was not just a Coach, but one of the greatest of all time.  His Browns didn't even start in the NFL, nor the AFL, but the now-defunct All-America Conference, which existed from 1946 to 1949. The Browns won all four championships during the league's existence, going 47-4-3. Many observers thought that Paul Brown was a coaching genius, and his team was the equal of any in the NFL. Of course the majority of sportswriters pooh-poohed that idea, smugly agreeing that the caliber of the rival league was in no way comparable to the NFL.  This belief went out the window after the Browns won their first game in the NFL, versus the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles.   They won the NFL Championship that year also.

Brown's teams won 3 NFL Championships and finished first in their conference 10 straight years and 12 times out of 13.  He was every bit the equal of Bill Belichick. He had many of the same personal characteristics too, including a desire for total control of football operations, and a stern, demanding personality that put off many players. 

Later, I came to understand that it wasn't just about football.  There were very complex, serious financial issues.  The previous owners of the Browns, had an understanding with Coach Brown that he would have an increasing ownership role of the franchise.  Not everything was in writing, and thus it is hard to say how much obligation Modell and the team had to its only Coach.  Even today we may not know the full story, but in order for Modell to get out from under that commitment, he felt that he needed to fire Brown.

     That is not the first time a Coach has been fired, nor would it be the last.  But coaching wasn't just a job for Brown--any one of several teams would surely have hired him at top dollar--but it was the loss of HIS team, and probably millions of dollars.  In any case Paul Brown took it very hard, and never forgave Modell.  

     For a few years Paul Brown stayed away from the game, and became almost a recluse.  But gradually, Brown decided to rebuild.  Rather than taking a ready-made job in the NFL, he would become Coach and Owner of an expansion team in Cincinnati Bengals.  He would re-do what he had done in Cleveland.   Hence the Cincinnati Bengals were born.

    Growing up in Cleveland, nobody that I know of was upset that there was a new Ohio team in the AFL team.  It was more like, hey great!  Our former Coach has a new team!  Twice as much football for us!

    The Bengals were built with some of the same characteristics as his old Browns teams, with quality individuals.  The talent level was not there, but the 1968 Bengals were still a hard nosed running team, with fullback Paul Robinson gaining 1000 yards.  

The 1968 Bengals featured uniforms that were very similar to the Cleveland Browns, and perhaps not surprisingly featured a 1000 yard runner in Paul Robinson, as well as a premier tight end in Bob Trumpy.  

     Brown's team evolved quickly.  The 1969 team featured an outstanding quarterback in Greg Cook, who played his college ball at the University of Cincinnati, who at that time played under the radar in the Missouri Valley Conference.  By all accounts, Cook was an emerging superstar when as a rookie he led the league  in yards per attempt and yards per completion.  However, he suffered a severe shoulder injury and tried to play through it, which ended his career.  He tried bravely to come back, but was able to throw only three more passes after his rookie season.  There is no way to know for sure how great he might have become, but for one year, rookie Greg Cook was right up there with the likes of Namath and Lamonica.   

Greg Cook is the greatest quarterback you never heard of, playing one year with the Bengals after a sensational career at the University of Cincinnati. 

Despite his look of consternation at the criticism he is receiving from Coach Brown, young Sam Wyche would eventually become Coach of the Bengals and lead the team to the Super Bowl against the 49ers and their Coach, former Bengal Assistant Bill Walsh.

     The merger of the two leagues led to three teams coming to the AFC:  the Browns, Steelers and Colts would play in the new AFC.  As a result, the Bengals and the Browns were in the same division.  The Bengals, of course hated the Browns, and even in exhibition games tried to win at all costs.  To compensate for losing their star quarterback,  Offensive Coordinator Bill Walsh devised a short passing game with Virgil Carter and Sam Wyche at quarterback, which was the forerunner of the West Coast Offense.     The next year, another unknown quarterback, Ken Anderson from tiny Augustana College, would appear on the scene. Eventually, in 1981, Anderson and the Bengals would make it to the Super Bowl, only to be thwarted by their former Offensive Coordinator and the San Francisco 49ers.  

Bill Walsh was possibly not considered to be quite tough enough to succeed Brown as Coach of the Bengals, but he did all right with the 49ers and a kid named Montana.  

   One of the things I didn't like about the merger of the two leagues is that it forced fans to choose between the Browns and the Bengals.  Browns fans have had our ups and downs with Art Modell for firing Brown.  It didn't bother us a bit to see our old Coach restart his career in Cincinnati.  We could understand why Paul Brown hated Modell and his former team, but we didn't hate the Bengals, at least not at first.   Brown had done nothing wrong but get fired by Modell.
     Sometimes I used to get into disputes about whether it was fair game to be a Browns fan, but to have a dislike for the owner.   My friend Morris and I used to argue about that.  I was still upset at Modell for firing both Marty Schottenheimer and Paul Brown as well as many other sins (trading Hall of Famer Paul Warfield for Mike Phipps comes to mind).  Morris used to say that I was not a true Browns fan for not supporting Mr. Modell.  Well, one fateful day in 1995, that little debate was ended. Morris,almost in tears, admitted I was right about Modell.  Paul Brown's team was moving to Baltimore.   
      

Second Guessing Coach Shula 50 years Later: Should Unitas have Started Super Bowl 3?

If you were Coach Shula, would you have benched NFL MVP Earl Morrall for the great Johnny Unitas?

     I can't believe I am writing this article, but I need to vent my spleen.   In an earlier article, I wrote about the amazing upset by the New York Jets over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, which is still the most compelling Super Bowl of all time for me.  Briefly, in my view the AFL was more innovative than the NFL and knew how to generate takeaways via the Zone Defense and Bump-N-Run, and they were better at the Blitz and countering the Blitz with the Hot Read and Hot Receiver, and made better use of the quarterback's ability to call audibles. That's how an 18 point underdog dominates its opponent, and by the way the next year a 14 point underdog was even more dominant. You can find this article here:  

Super Bowl III was not a Fluke. Why the AFL beat a Superior Team

and the Chiefs upset here:

What about Super Bowl III did you not get? Kansas City Chiefs Destroy Vikes in SB IV.

Anyway, I had a huge response on that blog, and many of the readers felt strongly that Earl Morrall was to blame, and if only Don Shula had started Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas, the Colts would have surely won that game.  Shula himself occasionally expressed regret about not having inserted Unitas at halftime. 
Obviously, the Colts had their chances.  If they could have done it again without five turnovers and a blown flea flicker, maybe they would have won.  But they could not have foreseen that in advance, and you don't get do-overs.
Thee idea that Unitas should have started is not only wrong, at least in my opinion, it's crazy. Supposing you were Coach Shula, you would not start Johnny Unitas for the following reasons: 

1.   Your team has gone 13-1 in a presumably much more powerful league (the previous two years the NFL teams beat the 14 point spread).  

2.  Your Colts gave up only 144 points (10.3 points per game), tied for the lowest in NFL history for a 14 game season (the 1963 Chicago Bears also gave up only 144 points).  

3.  You have the league MVP in Quarterback Earl Morrall.  He has led the NFL with 26 TD passes, 4 more than the second place guy.  He is number two in Yards and Yards Per Game.  He was comfortably ahead almost all the time and didn't have to pass that much, or he would have led the league in yards, too.

4.  Morrall has taken first string reps for the entire year.  Unitas has not.

5.  In your last game, your team won the NFL Championship 30 to 0.  And NOW you want to make a change? Really?

6.  In the one game you lost, your boy Unitas went 1 for 11, with 3 INTs.   Overall, for the season he was 11 for 32 (34.4% completion), for 134 yards, 2 TDs and 4 INTs. 

7.  Unitas is 35 years old and you have no guarantee that he is going to be able to perform.  Hey most experts believe he was the greatest of all time, but how sound is his arm?  You can't know how long his arm is going to hold out, and at no point in the season has he looked like his old self.  

So Coach Shula, are you nuts?  You're going to bench the NFL MVP for a guy who went 11 for 32?  To play the New York Jets,a team of unknowns?  Who are they?  You are going to be laughed out of the stadium if you sit Morrall.  

As it turned out, Earl Morrall had a terrible game with 3 turnovers and a blown play in which he somehow did not pick up Jimmy Orr during a flea flicker.  Unitas came into the game in the second half and did better.  He threw only 1 INT, an underthrown and completed 11 passes out of 24, a 45.8% completion rate. His quarterback rating was an abysmal 42.0. 

Namath, on the other hand, was never pushed.  His favorite receiver, Don Maynard, had a pulled hamstring so they used him only as a decoy.  He still went 17 for 28 with zero INTs and a rating of 83.3.  So, if the Colts are going to get a do-over, so will the Jets.  If  the game had been closer, Namath might have launched an aeriel bombardment of his own.  

In Super Bowl V two year later, Unitas would have the chance to redeem himself in the Super Bowl versus the Dallas Cowboys.  Do you remember that game?  Evidently not.  Unitas went 3 for 9 with 2 INTs before getting injured, leaving his team behind by a touchdown,  10-3.  So in came Earl Morrall, who also had a shaky game versus the Doomsday Defense, but the Colts scored 10 unanswered points to win 13-10.  Early 70's football was characterized by tough defense.  Morrall also received two more rings as a backup with the Dolphins.  He did not play in those Bowls, but did contribute during the season, especially for the 1972 undefeated season when he rescued the Dolphins in the championship game, subbing for injured Bob Griese.  

Anyway, looking at the total stat line, Colts qbs just had a tough go of it in the Super Bowl.  In SB3, Unitas relived Morrall and lost, and in SB5, Morrall relieved Unitas and came from behind to win. I would say overall, Morrall had the better career performance in Super Bowls than Unitas, though neither was very good.  Total stat lines: 

Unitas (2 Super Bowls, 1 ring):  14 for 33, 42.4% 198 yards, 1 TD,  3 INTS
Morrall (4 Super Bowls, 3 rings):  13 for 32, 40.6%,  218 yards, 0 TD, 4 INTS

Earl Morrall relieved injured Johnny Unitas in Super Bowl V with the Colts down by 7, and led them to score 10 unanswered points for a 16-13 redemption versus Bob Lilly and the Dallas Cowboys. If Morrall was 17 points better than Unitas in SB V, why would you think Unitas would be so much better in SB III?  

Earl would pick up two additional Super Bowl Rings, 3 for his career, as a backup for the Miami Dolphins.  He saved the perfect season for the 1972 Dolphins by subbing for an injured Bob Griese in the AFC Championship and leading the team to victory over the Steelers.  Morrall, by the way, was selected as first team All Pro that year, starting 9 times.  You want to call him a career backup, fine.  But he's a backup with an MVP award, 2 All Pro seasons, 4 NFL Championship rings, 3 Super Bowl rings, and 102 NFL starts.  He was 63-36-3 as a starter and overall his teams went 150-103-12  Super Bowl 3 was one of his worst games, but in my view the NFL was simply not prepared to play football the AFL way, and that was proven in Super Bowl 4 when the Kansas City Chiefs steamrollered the Purple People Eaters of Minnesota.   It's very hard to second guess Coach Shula.  The NFL just had to get beat before they could learn.

Do you remember Garo Yepremian's attempt to imitate Joe Namath after a blocked kick in Super Bowl VII?  His lead blocker on that blown play was none other than holder Earl Morrall, who also made All-Pro that year in addition to collecting his second Super Bowl ring.  

  t

RIchie Scheinblum, My Favorite Ballplayer

Richie Scheinblum was my favorite ballplayer as a kid, even though he batted only .218 for the Indians with one home run. 

    My favorite baseball player as a kid?  That's easy.  He was Richie Scheinblum of my hometown Cleveland Indians.   Why?  Well, it's a little bit hard to explain, but Richie came along in the late 1960s when I was old enough to think about baseball a little.  Richie represented inspiration, ambition and hope, and later I identified with his struggles against adversity.   I also liked his name, which sort of rolls off your tongue, almost as good as Rocky Colavito. I didn't realize it was a Jewish name at the time, not that it mattered to me, but later I came to appreciate that he was one of a relatively small number of Jewish ballplayers in the Major Leagues.   

      The Cleveland Indians of 1968 were brilliant defensively and had one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, with Sam McDowell, Luis Tiant, Sonny Seibert and Steve Hargan. The ERA for the staff was 2.66, which was absolutely amazing.   They just couldn't hit.  Tony Horton and Duke Sims were the only real power hitters, with 25 home runs between the two of them. The entire rest of the team hit only 36 for the year, an unbelievably low number.  Star rightfielder Rocky Colavito had been sent away the previous year, and so the stage was set for someone new to step in.
     So, here comes Richie Scheinblum, who played right field like Colavito.  He had bashed the baseball all over the place in the minor leagues, and most importantly, he was a switch hitter.   That was huge.  I knew that Mickey Mantle was a switch hitter, and that he had been taught by his Dad, "Mutt" Mantle.  Mutt had the idea that switch hitting would be the wave of the future.  The reason is that a right handed pitcher can throw a curve ball at your head, and have it curve for a strike.  Now how can you hit something like that?  Well, Mutt Mantle's solution was to learn to bat left-handed to take away the advantage of the curve ball from the right handed pitchers.  His boy Mickey seemed to do okay, slugging the third most home runs in history up to that time, despite a difficult injury history. 
     In 1968, it wasn't crazy to think that everyone would become switch hitters, and in fact the Yankees took it seriously.  They had a ton of them in addition to Mantle.  Roy White, Tom Tresh, Horace Clark and Gene Michael could all switch hit.  Then a bit south of Cleveland in Cincinnati, Pete Rose was a switch hitter in addition to being the most hustling ballplayer around.  Pete only led the majors in batting average, so perhaps there was something to this switch hitting business.
   Could Richie Scheinblum be the answer to the Yankees dominance in switch hitting?   Why not? 
       But Richie got off to a horrible start with the Indians in 1969, going 0 for 34 to start the year.  He was terrible.  But if anything this only cemented my bond with him, because I was equally terrible.  I was in a slump of my own that year, and in fact went hitless the entire year.  In fact my slump would continue the rest of my adolescence, and it was not until my junior year in High School that I learned how to hit.  22 years later I would resume my hardball career playing in Japan, this time with moderate success, but that is another story.   But back to Richie.  I  suffered with him,  as he never did turn it around for the Indians, hitting only .186 with a single home run.  But I never gave up on him.  Never ever. 
      It crushed me when the Indians sent him down to the Minor Leagues.  Back then, they had a rule that once you had been back and forth a few times between the Minors and Majors, you had to stay in the Minors for an entire season.  At age 27, for Richie that represented the kiss of death.   

      But Richie starred again in the Minor Leagues and was ultimately traded to the Washington Senators.  Richie destroyed Triple-A, batting over .400 most of the year before ending up at .388.  Alas, he still could not succeed at the Major League level, once again hitting under .200 after a late season call-up.  Not even having Ted Williams as a manager could help him.  

       But then something weird happened.  He was traded to Kansas City and installed as the every day right fielder, and lo and behold he started to hit.  A lot.  In fact he was leading the league in hitting in June before getting injured, but still wound up at .300 for the year.  Then just to prove it was no fluke, he hit .307 the next year. After that he slumped and bounced around for a few years and eventually went to Japan where he had two excellent seasons as a power hitting rightfielder for the Hiroshima Carp.   An Achilles injury cut short his further adventures, but he was in the Bigs long enough to show that he belonged. 
    So Richie Scheinblum made it in the Major Leagues, though he did not revolutionize Cleveland baseball like I had expected. Maybe that is kind of symbolic in its own way.  His Cleveland experience was sheer agony, but he went on to great success elsewhere.  Cleveland sports fans would see that pattern repeated a few times over the years.  

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Epilogue     

    I had an analogous experience as a late blooming ballplayer, though at the amateur level of course.. I never felt that I played up to my ability in Pony League, mainly because I psyched myself out worrying, kind of like Richie in his early days.  So at age 39, 22 years after my last whiff in Pony League, I found myself in Japan  working as a research scientist.  I found out that they had hardball leagues for adults, which scarcely existed at that time in the US.  N Softball yes, but this was hardball in Japan.  Japanese people can not understand why grown adults would want to play soft-toss. Shouldn't that be for little children? 
      I was okay as a backup right fielder for the Sapporo O-Jays.  We were named after the music group, a favorite of my manager Kanno-san.  We played only like 10 games and I had fewer than 20 at bats.  But I got a few hits, and stole a few bases despite my ripe old age.  The next year I returned to Dayton and played two more years of amateur hardball, which was just starting up. I was not good but I did hit over .300.   

Sugoi Richie!  Richie starred for the Hiroshima Carp for two full seasons before an Achilles injury ended his career.   

I was not a big success in Japanese baseball.  But I felt like I belonged.  Note my Ichiro Suzuki "Blue Wave" cap.  Very stylish.  

     

The Cincinnati Reds, Joe Morgan and Reinventing the Second Batter

Four key cogs in the Big Red Machine:  Tony Perez, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan & Pete Rose.

Let's wind the clock back a few years to the late 1960s, when pitchers were dominant and home runs were a rarity.  1968, the Year of the Pitcher, stands out because Carl Yastrzemski was the only guy to hit .300 in the entire American League, while in the National League no one was able to hit 40 home runs (Willie McCovey was tops with 36) and only four guys hit 30 or more home runs.  That year the Los Angeles Dodgers had no one with more than 10 home runs. 

Low scoring, and low power numbers resulted in a much different game than today's game.  Late 1960s baseball featured much more emphasis on stolen bases and bunts.  Consequently, the second batter in the lineup was often the team's best bunter.  For example, Cincinnati's Pete Rose was a very good leadoff hitter and the Reds liked to have light hitting Tommy Helms batting behind Rose in order to bunt him over or run the hit-and-run. 

This all changed when the Reds made a huge trade before the 1972 season, giving up Helms and slugger Lee May for  Joe Morgan, pitcher Jack Billingham and outfielder Cesar Geronimo.  Now they had a guy who stood 5'6" with a tiny strike zone and excellent discipline at the plate, so he got on base as often as Rose plus Joe was a prolific base stealer.  They experimented with Joe at leadoff, second and third in the order, although Pete greatly preferred batting leadoff.   Little Joe wasn't very big, so in his early career the thought was that he should be a contact hitter,  hit to the opposite field, bunt and move the runner along. In other words, his career trajectory was more or less similar to Tommy Helms, with the added dimension that Joe could steal bases and get on base via walks.  

The Reds' brain trust, with Manager Sparky Anderson  and Hitting Coach Ted Kluczewski, settled on an unorthodox strategy.  Rose would bat leadoff rather than the faster Morgan, but instead of trying to steal bases, he was to stay put on first base.  That opens up the right side of the infield as the second baseman has to cheat over a little anticipating the steal attempt and the first baseman has to hold the runner on.  Forget about the bunt, let's move Mr. Rose along with a base hit, shall we?  Joe, a left-handed batter, was going to look to PULL the ball and bat Rose over to third base or even drive him in with extra bases.  In other words, the second position in the order was going to do damage rather than giving himself up most of the time.  After Morgan, the Reds were going to come at you with the likes of Bobby Tolan, Johnny Bench, and Tony Perez.

My guess is that Klu and Sparky were not primarily thinking of Morgan as a power hitter.  They were thinking that was going to lead the National League in batting average by hitting line drives through the hole in the right side of the infield and walk 100 times a year.   The home run power was a bit of an unexpected bonus.  

Probably the Reds were not the only team to consciously reinvent the role of the #2 batter, but they were among the most obvious practitioners and benefactors. They won the pennant in 1972 after going 82-80 the previous year.  It may surprise you to be reminded that the 1972 Reds didn't hit that many home runs, but they were second in the league in runs scored because of their super productive front end of the batting order.  At that time, Dave Concepcion hadn't learned to hit, and so the 6-7-8 batters were Dennis Menke,  Cesar Geronimo and Concepcion, none of whom distinguished themselves offensively that year.  

The Woman Who Replaced Hammerin' Hank Aaron

BELIEVE IT! Toni Stone played  second base in the Negro Leagues, replacing a young prospect whose contract had been sold to the Milwaukee Braves, one Henry Aaron. 

    Some people have wondered whether a woman could play professional baseball against men, and in recent years a few players have done so:  Eri Yoshida and Ila Borders come to mind. But it's not really a new phenomenon. 

     Back in 1952, the Indianapolis Clowns were a professional baseball team in the Negro American League.  As their name implies, they were partly sports and partly entertainment, a little like the basketball Harlem Globetrotters.  However, they were serious enough about baseball to play well enough to to win  Pennant, led by a star shortstop named Henry Aaron.   The shortstop caught the attention of the Major Leagues, and it wasn't long before he was signed by the Milwaukee Braves.  

   So who replaced Henry Aaron on the Clowns?  Believe it or not, Henry was replaced by Toni Stone, a young woman who had played on men's semi-pro teams as a teenager.  It was mor0e than a gimmick, as she hit a respectable batting average (.243) including a hit against the legendary Satchel Paige.   Her contract was eventually sold to the Kansas City Monarchs

    Nor was Toni the only female player and maybe not the best.  Mamie "Peanut" Johnson managed win with 33 games versus 8 defeats for the Clowns.  She was joined by Connie Morgan, who like Toni played second base.  She is shown below with former Negro League star Jackie Robinson.

Second Lieutenant Jackie Robinson gives a few batting tips to Connie Morgan of the Indianapolis Clowns.  

    I remember years ago, someone asked Hammerin' Hank if he thought a woman would ever play Major League Baseball, and he replied that he thought a woman might be able to play second base.  I thought that was a curious comment...until now I can put two and two together and know that three women actually did play baseball in the Negro Leagues.  

LeBron James, the Next NBA Player Coach?

Would LeBron Agree to be the Player Coach of the Cavaliers?  I think they should find out, and Tyronn Lue is on his way out anyway.  

     I believe LeBron is gone from Cleveland and hated owner Dan Gilbert.  He can get any amount of money he wants from any team in the NBA, so I don't really care who he signs with.  If there is any chance of keeping him in Cleveland I would do it.  But we don't have that great of a team to offer him.  Kevin Love and Larry Nance Junior are okay, but not superstars like Durant or Hardin or guys like that.  But what if we made him the Player Coach?  Maybe that would be appealing enough that he might consider it.   

   There have been several player coaches in the NBA, with Bill Russell being by far the most successful, winning two world championships.  Other notables include Lenny Wilkins, Dave Cowens and Bob Cousy.   

    So why not LeBron?  Lost in his athletic greatness is the fact that he has an incredible basketball mind, with near total recall in breaking down a game that he has just played in.  For that reason, he is incredible to listen to when he is interviewed.  

    Part of the reason that Tyronn Lue is getting criticized is that LeBron had too much power, so no one would listen to the Coach.  That problem gets fixed if LeBron is the Coach.  In any case, Lue could not get his team to play acceptable defense.  Maybe LeBron could exert better control on the players.   

    I think the Cavs' recruiting pbolems are due to uncertainty surrounding LeBron.  If he were definitely going to play, the team should have no problem in recruiting star players to join the team.  That's going to happen as players will descend on Cleveland in the off-season, hoping to have a shot at playing with and for LeBron.  

    What have we got to lose?

     LeBron for Player Coach.  Fire Lue.    

What about Super Bowl III did you not get? Kansas City Chiefs Destroy Vikes in SB IV.

 

Hank Stram and the Kansas City Chiefs were miles ahead of the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV.  

     Did the NFL learn anything from its ignominious defeat in Super Bowl III?  Not really, and neither did the sporting world, judging by the 14 point spread favoring the Minnesota Vikings over the Kansas City Chiefs for Super Bowl IV after the 1969 season.
    I continue to be amazed at how many people still make excuses for Baltimore even to this day. 
    Well, it was that washed up old man Earl Morrall's fault. Really?  The NFL Man of the Year, who later would earn 3 Super Bowl rings?  He's the reason the Colts lost?
      Well, the Colts would have won if they had started Johnny Unitas.  So you're 18 point favorites and you have the NFL MVP at quarterback, but you want to bench him for the Super Bowl and start a guy who had 11 completions on the year?  Really?  
    Be that as it may, the sporting world pretty much regarded Super Bowl III as a fluke. Maybe  Joe Namath was a sorcerer and cast a spell on Baltimore.  But this would all be rectified by the Minnesota Vikings, who--this time--really were the greatest team of all time, or so went the narrative.  Hence, the Vikings, aka the Purple People Eaters,  were installed as 14 point favorites over the Kansas City Chiefs.   

    The 1968 Colts had set several defensive NFL records.  But all those records were broken by the Purple People Eaters, led by a front four of Alan Page, Jim Marshall, Carl Eller and Gary Larson.  All four made the Pro Bowl along with safety Paul Krause. They gave up the fewest points in history, even fewer than the Colts, fewer than 10 points per game.  Incredibly, they were the number one defense versus the run, AND the number one defense versus the pass, and it wasn't close.  They also let the NFL with 30 INTs. 

     Quarterback Joe Kapp, who had come to the Vikings from the Canadian Football League, also made the Pro Bowl along with receiver Gene Washington, as the Vikings also led the NFL in points scored.  

    So, what about the AFL?  Well, frankly they were considered to be 14 points worse than the NFL, a scant four points better than the underdog Jets of Super Bowl III.  But there would be no Namath to create a miracle for the Kansas City Chiefs.  The Chiefs were led by two-time NFL reject Len Dawson at quarterback, who had been traded by Pittsburgh and then cut by the Cleveland Browns.  Dawson was another guy who had stats that look silly by today's yardstick, with 9 TDs and 13 INTs.  That get's you benched today, but it got Dawson to the AFL Pro Bowl (actually referred to as the AFL All Star game at that time).   Weirdly, backup Mike Livingston also made the AFL All Star game after subbing admirably for an injured Dawson for about half the season.  Fullback Robert Holmes, who plowed forward for 612 yards, also made the All Star game, even though  halfback Mike Garrett actually led the team with 732 rushing yards and another 432 receiving yards.  They also had Otis Taylor and Frank Pitts at WR. Defenders who made the All Star game included LBs Willie Lanier and Bobby Bell, CB Jim Marsalis, and S Bobby Bell. Yet despite that impressive list, there was not much question in the minds of most observers that the Chiefs did not match up against the Vikings.  Nor for that matter, did any of the other NFL teams.  The Vikings were just too good and could not be challenged by any other team on earth.  Any hope for another Joe Namath miracle evaporated when the Chiefs beat them in the AFL playoffs.  Hence, there could be no stopping the Vikings in Super Bowl IV. 
     There is only one slight problem with the narrative.  The Vikings did not blow away the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Instead, the Chiefs took the Vikings behind the tool shed and beat them up, much worse than the Jets had beaten Baltimore the previous year.  And just like the previous year, the NFL turned the ball over repeatedly against the zone defense.  Was it just bad luck? Well, how do you explain the utter humiliation of the Vikings Front Four?  Remember, all  four made the NFL Pro Bowl, but the Chiefs rang up 151 yards on 42 carries. 42 carries?  That is an insane total.  In 1969, I doubt if there was any team that lost an NFL game with 42 carries.       For those who want to blame Super Bowl III on Earl Morrall or Johnny Unitas, neither of those two star players was in Super Bowl IV.  
   Once again, the AFL won without an aerial bombardment.  QB Len Dawson was ruthlessly efficient, but never challenged and did not have to throw much.  He threw the ball only 17 times all game long, because the Chiefs were so thoroughly dominant there was no great need. 

Hi Mr. Kapp.  Please meet Buck Buchanan and Curly Culp.   

   One of the great things about this game was that Coach Hank Stram was wired for sound, and he is hilariously funny yet also insightful.   Some of the best quotes, 

"Just keep matriculating the ball down the field, boys!"


 "Kassulke (Viking SS Karl Kassulke) was running around there like it was a (foreign) fire drill. They didn't know where Mike (Garrett) was. Didn't know where he was! They look like they're flat as hell."

" Nice going, baby! The mentor! 65 toss power trap! I tell ya that thing was there, yes sir boys!"


In addition to providing entertainment for us fans, Stram's mike conveys the obvious truth that the Vikings could not cope with the Chief's playbook.  Dawson would later write, "It was obvious that their offense had never seen a defense like ours.(Len Dawson, "Super Bowl IV," Super Bowl: The Game of Their Lives, Danny Peary, editor. Macmillan, 1997. ISBN 0-02-860841-0)"  There were a huge number of innovations that the AFL had, that the NFL was only starting to recognize by 1969.  They first of all had the zone defense with the bump and run press coverage.  It wasn't really a secret by that time, but the Vikings were not used to playing against it, whereas all of the Chiefs' games used it.  The AFL had the hot read, in which the receivers would shorten their routes in the event of a blitz. 
      Stram had a very complex "Offense of the Future" which used multiple formations, shifts and unorthodox plays.  Stram loved to call reverses on overagressive defenses, and speedy Frank PItts ran three of them against the Vikings.  It's not so bad if they catch you once with a reverse.  But if you get caught three times, that usually means you are slow learners. Stram was able to read the brute-force Vikings like a textbook, whereas the Vikings were still trying to progress from DC Comics to Marvel.
   The final score was 23-7, and it could have been much worse.  Just like the Jets the previous year, there was little reason to throw the ball, and for the most part Kansas City was willing to grind it out on the ground.  So that's what they did.
     At some point, you have to admit that the AFL was not so weak after all.  One game might be a fluke.  But the Jets gained 142 yards on the ground, and the Chiefs gained 151.  Thus, these games were won in the trenches, not due to some flukey quarterback play.  It would be fair to say that two years in a row, the NFL got  pounded into submission.  Had the situation demanded more throwing, the AFL passing game would have probably made the statistical difference even worse. John Madden used to say, "the best team really does win the Super Bowl," and I believe he was right.  The Chiefs really were that good.  Over two games, the NFL had been favored by 32 points, and they lost by 25.  That's a 57 point swing in two games.  I mean, come on, you have to realize at some point that something was up.  In my opinion this probably represents the worst failure of Las Vegas oddsmakers to handicap football games. One game might be a statistical fluke, but two upsets in a row with a combined 57 point swing?   They were incredibly off.  
   In this observer's mind at least, the Jets and Chiefs were playing with significantly better playbooks, and that has a lot to do with their dominant wins in the Super Bowl.  Their advantage was lost to some extent in the 1970 off-season, as the leagues merged, and NFL Coordinators were at last obliged to figure out what was in the AFL playbooks.  In 1970, the merged leagues saw the old NFL teams generally outplay their AFL counterparts, though the new American Football Conference won the Super Bowl again, with Baltimore now residing in the AFC.  Ironically, this time Johnny Unitas started but got injured, and Earl Morrall came in and rang up 10 unanswered points as the Colts eked out a 16-13 victory over the Cowboys, who like the Vikings were an expansion team beginning to flex their muscles.   Youth was being served, both inside the NFL as well as the AFL.  

     

Um, don't look at this, kids.  Maybe the key to the Super Bowl was to have a nice cigarette at halftime (this photo is actually from SB#1).   



 

Cleveland Browns Acquired Team Guys on Offense

Jeff Janis has only 17 catches in his career but is a special teams ace and valued backup.  

Drew Stanton's numbers are not exciting.  But he is a backup QB that has a habit of winning games.  

     The Browns have gone out of their way to obtain guys who are good leaders in the clubhouse, paying a steep price for "character guys" in each position group on offense, including quarterback Drew Stanton, OL Donald Stephenson, WR Jeff Janis.  These guys are not the necessarily the best available players but do stabilize an offensive unit that was essentially devoid of veteran leadership when Josh McCown was sent packing and Joe Thomas wound up on IR. You can see a plan emerging.  The team will have at least one sane voice in each meeting room during the week. 

Stanton, Stephenson and Janis do not have eye-popping scouting reports from Pro Football Focus, and in fact are each considered below average,  but they are all Coach-on-the-field type guys that will act as a bridge between the coaching staff and the young Browns players. None of these guys figure to be starters, but they are going to establish the right kind of leadership.

     Janis may be particularly important because the Browns' best receivers are not considered quite the bedrock of stabilty, with off-suspended Josh Gordon and protege Antonio Calloway.  Corey Coleman has also generated some minor off season drama with an alleged off-the-field altercation as well being called out for inadequate conditioning in 2016.  Hopefully Janis can help to stabilize these talented but possible troubled players.     

    The Cleveland Browns contemptuously trashed their veteran leadership last year.  Unquestionably the leader of the offense was Josh McCown, a guy who would do anything for the team, and supported the other quarterbacks no matter what.   No less an authority than the Browns' bad boy Johnny Manziel explained it thusly on Twitter: 

   "Draft a QB in the first round and put him into a toxic Quarterback room vs. what it was like my second year with [Josh] McCown,” Manziel said. “COMPLETELY different situation. It’s all about the right fit and mine in Cleveland wasn’t right. That’s just the facts. I also have nobody to blame but myself.”   

     Manziel's tweet was probably a bit ill advised, as even the mildest of controversy is not what his career needs right now, but nevertheless the salient point is that he articulated very well the need for sanity in the quarterbacks' meeting room. Josh McCown created a much better environment for the other quarterbacks as they tried to assimilate the complexities of the Browns' offense.  The quarterback room is like a war room, where plans are made up and plays are created and modified. Most of the burden falls on the Coaching Staff, but the players are part of that process also.  

     Browns GM Sashi Brown, on the other hand seemed determined to eliminate veteran leadership, for reasons that are not clear.  Perhaps he thought he could help to mold a new cadre of loyal Browns by relying on younger minds.  In any case, McCown was sent packing as well as the unquestioned leader of the defense in Joe Haden. Also sent packing were star linebacker DeMario Davis, S Jordan Poyer, CB Tramon Williams and other guys who have been around the league for a while.  

     This year, the Browns again ejected all quarterbacks including DeShone Kizer, Cody Kessler, Kevin Hogan.  But most importantly, future Hall of Fame lineman Joe Thomas is retired.  This presented the Browns with a leadership vacuum among the players if not a talent vacuum and that is probably why the Browns brought in Janis, Stanton and Stephenson.  Having veteran starters like Tyrod Taylor and Carlos Hyde is going to help also.      

       

     Veteran defensive starters Jason McCourty, Jamar Taylor, and Danny Shelton are also gone this year, despite seeming to have played well last year. In their place are E. J. Gaines, Demarious Randall and T. J. Curry. The Browns have addtional veteran presence on defense with former All Pro Jamie Collins, Jamie Meder, Chris Kirksey and perhaps Tank Carder, so on that side of the ball they were better off than the offense. 
     The Browns seem to have pursued a plan of acquiring not just talent but leadership on the offensive side of the ball.   My guess is that even if the box score doesn't mention guys like Stanton, Janis and Stephenson, their presence is going to be felt by the rest of the team. 

Browns WRs in 2017 Struggled. How Bad was It?

Corey Coleman had a shot to keep the Browns' last drive alive last year, but came up short, sending them to their 16th loss of the season. 

      Looking back on the infamous 2017 Cleveland Browns season, one of the most painful subjects is the wide receivers.  I'm actually an optimist about the Browns.  You might not have recognized that last year when I had the audacity to suggest that they were only a four win team, much of it due to weakness at the wide receiver position.  

   "Four wins?  Kennel, have you flipped your lid?  Hey, they signed Kenny Britt!  Plus young prospects like speedy Corey Coleman, Ricardo Louis and Hollywood Higgins!  Victories are assured!"   
   Well, that's not what happened.  They were even worse than I imagined.  Corey Coleman broke the same hand he injured last year, and never showed an ability to catch the ball, though he is fast and elusive with the ball. 
    The table provides a few stats about how bad they were, but in reality does not begin to tell the full story.

Wide Receivers Catch Percentage and PFF Ranking.  

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    In terms of catch percentage (balls caught divided by targets), they were epic underperformers. The Browns did have Hollywood Higgins catching more than half his chances, but all the other wideouts were under 50 percent. Frankly this is incredible. The table shows their rank according to percentile both for Catch percentage as well as their overall ranking by Pro Football Focus.  Not that PFF is always right, and I doubt whether the Browns get the same level of attention as other teams, but at least they made the effort. 

  PFF's ranking is based on 116 WRs in the NFL which is essentially three starters per team, plus 20 extra top extra wide receivers.
   The catch percentage stat is based on a different pool from Pro Football Reference, because they include tight ends and running backs, resulting in a total pool of 212 players.  So I used a percentile basis.  So, for example, PFF ranks Josh Gordon as 83rd percentile meaning that 83% of the group is not as good as him.  Conversely, his catch percentage 2.8 percentile means only 2.8% of the group was worse. 
     Josh did see a lot of double coverage and did not have a very accurate qb throwing passes his way, but I wonder if his ranking by PFF might be a bit generous. How could you be 83rd percentile in overall performance if you're one of the poorest performers at catching the ball?   
     But no matter how you slice it, the rest of the Browns wide receivers struggled to catch the ball, and the guys at PFF were not very impressed.  It would be very hard to conceive that a guy ranked 12th percentile (i.e., Corey Coleman) could be an NFL starter.  Catching fewer than 40% of the balls thrown his way is just an amazing stat and not in a good way.  Corey will either improve or a new starter will be found.  
     You can blame some of the problem on young quarterback DeShone Kizer, but tight ends David Njoku and Seth DeValve plus halfback/slot Duke Johnson had respectable stats with the same quarterback.  Wide receivers just really did have a difficult time in 2017.  
     Kenny Britt actually was sent away last year, but it would not be surprising to see the other Browns receivers pushed for their jobs in 2018.   
     

Hooray for Hollywood!  Rashard Higgins caught a few footballs in 2018 but is considered by PFF to be in the bottom 5% of the NFL.  Ouch.