Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

From Chris Willis' book The NFL's 60-Minute Men , page80: "...Lewellen punted 84 times in 1929. The breakdown was: 1st down (24 times); 2nd down (8); 3rd down (27); and 4th down (25)." That gives us some idea of the ration of punts/down during the time in which punting was used to establi...

Is it known roughly when teams began punting for purposes like what we are used to seeing in more recent decades? It was a gradual process, without an obvious break, but I'd say the change took place from maybe 1933-48 or so -- and especially during the 1940s, as more and more teams switched from t...

Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t punting in the 1930’s used very differently than it is now? Oh, yeah. It was often used as an offensive weapon, because in those days field position could be more important than possession of the ball. The football itself was bigger and harder to handle, so fumbl...

Very true. Congrats to those 32 Packers then on overseeing 167 opposing punts then; 50 more than the 84 Raiders. However on this site I have been told that punts in the first 25-30 years of the league’s history were done with a different strategy than more recent generations. Also true. For example...

The Sports Encyclopedia: Pro Football, using numbers compiled from play-by-play accounts of each game in the Green Bay Press-Gazette, shows that the Packers' opponents punted 153 times in 1929, 129 in 1931, and 167 in 1932. And they never played more than 14 games in any of those seasons. Take that,...

I didn't know, so I looked it up and found Hunt --- but also going way back -- Doug Russell --- but seems like he's the one. Yes, he's the one I was thinking of. To be honest, I can't name the rushing leaders for any recent seasons. But for some reasons I can remember almost all of them from before...

Brian wolf wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20, 2024 10:32 pm I can't confirm UPI, or other All-Pro teams/votes but rushing leader Kareem Hunt wasn't voted AP All-Pro in 2017.

Ha! You're right -- and he wasn't named by the Sporting News or Pro Football Weekly either. So the guy I have in mind was not the only one. Very interesting.

This is something I just thought of today. What NFL rushing leader failed to show up on a single all-pro first or second team for the season when he topped the league?

Admittedly, I haven't checked every single season, so it's possible that more than player qualifies here, but I doubt it.

Interesting. Where did you find these unofficial rushing leaders? And does that source have accounts for passing and receiving? Not sure if this was the source of the previous post, but there's a Coffin Corner article on this site that covers the rushing, receiving and passing leaders for 1920-31, ...

Doing some 'research' on old RBs, and noticed a discrepancy with Cliff Battles rushing totals. In my Neft/Cohen encyclopedia, it lists Battles with 511 yards in 1934 and 310 yards in 1935. Pro Football Refence shows Battles with 480 yards in 1934 and 230 in 1935. Which is correct? And why is there ...