On Monday Night Football, the Bills and Patriots squared off in a game defined by the elements. The temperature was 36 degrees at kickoff, with heavy winds and some mix of rain and snow. There was a 15-yard punt by the Patriots going into the wind in the 1st quarter, and a 71-yard punt by New England kicking with the wind in the 4th quarter. New England opted for a 2-point conversion try after the team’s only touchdown of the game. But by far the most meaningful impact came in the Patriots pass/run run ratio: New England wound up passing on just three of 49 plays! That’s a 6.1% pass ratio, highlighted by a stretch of 32 consecutive runs in the middle of the game. Bill Belichick will be remembered as coming up with a great game plan in poor weather, asking almost nothing out of his rookie quarterback Mac Jones.
Since 1950, that made this just the fifth game where a team ran on at least 93% of its plays. Let’s review the the other four now:
In 1978, the Saints and 49ers faced off in a game that featured… normal weather. New Orleans quarterback Archie Manning was dealing with broken ribs, so a run-heavy game plan was the goal if the game script would allow it. Fortunately for the Saints, it did. On the 49ers first drive of the game, Steve DeBerg was sacked and fumbled, setting the 49ers up at the 2-yard line for an easy touchdown. The 49ers followed that up with a 3-and-out, 3-and-out, a 3-and-out that culminated in another strip sack turnover, another drive that ended in a fumble, a 6-play drive that gained 12 yards, a 3-and-out, and an interception. In the first half, the 49ers had 4 turnovers and 49 net yards of offense on 33 plays, and things didn’t get much better in the second half.
New Orleans passed 3 times in the first half against 27 runs for 77 yards; the Saints then attempted just one pass (incomplete) against 28 runs in the second half. The New Orleans defense dominated the day, and if not for missed field goals from 22 yards (off the left upright), 23 yards (blocked), and 42 yards (blocked), the game would have been a bigger blowout. Even without much from Manning.
In a wild game in 1974, the weather in Buffalo was even worse than it was this week. Neither team completed a pass in the first 58 minutes of the game. The elements put the Jets and Joe Namath were at a big disadvantage against O.J. Simpson and the Bills. With heavy wind and torrential rain, neither team was able to do much in the passing or kicking games — both teams actually failed to even get off extra point tries due to bad snaps or poor holds.
In the first half, the Jets intercepted Buffalo’s Joe Ferguson twice, but both were called back due to penalties; Ferguson finished the half 0/1, while Namath went 0/7 with an interception. The Bills had 8 rushing first downs and 4 first downs via penalty in the first half, giving them a 10-6 lead (the Jets scored an easy touchdown after a Buffalo fumble). With some effective running in the third quarter and a 38-yard punt return, the Jets kicked a pair of field goals to take a 12-10 lead into the final frame. But in the 4th quarter, the Bills — kicking with the wind at their backs — flipped the field with a great punt followed by a poor Jets punt, and wound up putting together a 50-yard touchdown drive on 8 runs. In the final two minutes, Namath went 2-for-9 for 33 yards with 2 interceptions, as the Jets hopelessly tried to mount a comeback.
Emerson Boozer and John Riggins rushed 32 times but for only 106 yards and five first downs, while Namath wound up dropping back to pass 18 times. Meanwhile, Ferguson would throw just one official pass in each half, letting the running game and the special teams (when aided by the wind) carry the day. In the rematch, Namath threw two touchdown passes in a win in December.
A hallmark game from the Hank Stram era days was this coaching gem from the Hall of Famer. The Chiefs were down two of their top three wideouts for the game against the rival Raiders. Star Otis Taylor and Gloster Richardson would miss the game due to injury, and Kansas City’s other top wideout (Frank Pitts) was playing through injury. But with three talented running backs (Mike Garrett, Robert Holmes, and Wendell Hayes), Stram employed a 3-RB, 2-TE (Fred Arbanas and Reggie Carolan), 0 WR offense known as the Straight T.
And it worked remarkably. In the first half, Garrett (14 for 88), Hayes (7 for 58) and Holmes (9 for 58) rushed 30 times for 204 yards and 12 first downs! Dawson passed just twice, gaining 12 yards on a 2nd-and-11 to Arbanas, and throwing incomplete to Arbansas on a third-and-12. In the second half, the Chiefs opened with a run to Garrett for four yards, a Dawson pass to Garrett for four yards, and then … did not throw another pass the rest of the game. Kansas City finished with 60 carries for 294 yards against just three Dawson pass plays. Of course, the Chiefs defense also did their part, limiting the Raiders to only 222 yards, 10 first downs, and 10 points (with the first points coming once Kansas City was up 24-0), while forcing two turnovers. But this game will be remembered for the remarkable effectiveness of Stram’s Straight T offense in the first half. As is often the case, necessity is the mother of invention.
What about the least pass-happy game ever? There are two versions of what happened on this day. The first one is infinitely more interesting. In the late 1940s, the Cleveland Browns were the best team in pro football but did not even play in the NFL. The Browns dominated the AAFC, while the Philadelphia Eagles won back-to-back NFL championships in 1948 and 1949. When the AAFC and NFL merged in 1950, the schedule had Philadelphia and Cleveland face off on opening day on a Saturday in Philadelphia.
And the Browns slaughtered them. It was a 35-10 win for Paul Brown’s club, with quarterback Otto Graham stealing the show. Graham threw for 346 yards and made the Philadelphia pass defense look weak; it was a masterful display of passing that only served to show where the game was heading. Philadelphia’s own legendary head coach, Greasy Neale, was not a big fan of how Cleveland approached offense. Prior to the game, he mused that Brown would be better suited as a basketball coach, because “all he does is put the ball in the air.”
So what would Brown do after proving that his aerial method of passing could blow out the defending NFL champions? Well, in the December rematch, to prove that the Browns weren’t just playing basketball on cleats, Brown called nothing but runs in Cleveland’s 13-7 win over Philadelphia. That’s right: Cleveland finished the game without a single pass, and Brown’s team still won the game.
The other version of the story is less romantic. Playing on a cold and rainy day, on a muddy field, the Browns scored a touchdown on a pick six on the third play of the game. After that, Cleveland’s offense went into a shell, so much so that Cleveland started punting on third downs to win the field position battle (the Browns finished with 12 punts on the day). The Eagles committed four turnovers and neither team was able to get anything going on the ground. Oh, and Graham? He actually did throw one pass, but it was called back due to a motion penalty.