Thursday, December 25, 2008

Grounded, NFL-Style

The Cincinnati Bengals attempted only 9 passes in last week's game against the Browns. This is only the 14th time since passing rules were liberalized in 1978 that an NFL team has attempted fewer than 10 passes in a game. Needless to say, most of these games were played in poor conditions and/or featured terrible quarterbacks.

At least two NFL teams did not attempt an official pass in a game - the Steelers against the Los Angeles Rams on November 13, 1949 (with the players "wallowing like water buffalos in mud as thick as paste" [New York Times]) and the Browns against the Eagles on December 3, 1950 (played in a hard rain). The Browns actually completed a pass, but it was nullified by an illegal motion penalty.

Fewest team pass attempts in a game, NFL, 1978-2008:

TeamDateCompAttYardsTDIntSacked-LostOpponentResultPossible reason
New Orleans10/15/19782431100-0San FranciscoW, 14-7
New England
12/12/19822513010-0MiamiW, 3-0"Snow Plow" game
San Diego12/19/20044685101-2ClevelandW, 21-030 mph wind, snow
Houston Oilers10/4/1981163001-7CincinnatiW, 17-10
Carolina12/24/20064732103-21AtlantaW, 10-3Chris Weinke
Chicago11/26/19784762011-12Tampa BayW, 14-3
Chicago10/7/19794822001-4BuffaloW, 7-0
Chicago10/19/198058172111-1DetroitW, 24-7
Dallas12/10/20005889003-17WashingtonW, 32-13Troy Aikman concussed
New England12/28/20086
8
78
0
0
1-5
Buffalo
W, 13-0
35-55 mph winds
Green Bay
9/3/19783931000-0DetroitW, 13-7
New York Giants10/25/19925994101-9SeattleW, 23-10Ray Handley
Cleveland11/24/198559102100-0CincinnatiW, 24-6
Buffalo10/29/198969123102-9MiamiW, 31-17
Houston Texans
10/23/20056948115-42IndianapolisL, 20-38David Carr
Cincinnati12/21/20085955100-0ClevelandW, 14-026 mph wind, Ryan Fitzpatrick

Comments on "Grounded, NFL-Style"

 

Blogger bud selig said ... (5:08 PM, December 27, 2008) : 

Please post an article about any pro or college teams who went entire games without a run or, failing that(I can't imagine an NFL team ever didn't run), teams with the fewest runs

 

Blogger Tom said ... (10:34 PM, December 27, 2008) : 

Awesome work, Travis, thanks.

 

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