Playoff Bowl Part II

From the Desk of Eagles Outsider Barry Bowe

POOR DRAFT

The NFL and AFL were still separate entities in 1961, and the two leagues conducted separate drafts. The NFL draft consisted of 20 rounds. While some teams were taking the likes of Mike Ditka, Bob Lilly, Billy Kilmer, and Herb Adderly, the Eagles “plucked” running back Art Baker out of Syracuse with the team’s first pick.

But Baker scorned the Eagles and signed with the Buffalo Bills – where he gained exactly 507 yards in 17 games over two seasons. The only memorable names drafted by the Birds that year were Irv Cross and Wayne Fontes – and Fontes is better remembered for coaching than playing defensive back in a total of nine games with the AFL’s New York Titans.

So it was essentially the same team back for the 1961 season as it had been in the 1960 championship season – with the following notable exceptions:

Sonny Jurgensen was replacing Norm Van Brocklin at quarterback. Sonny wasn’t as experienced as Van Brocklin, but he was no slouch. Jurgensen passed for 3,723 yards and 32 TDs in that first season as a starter.
Chuck Bednarik – at the age of 36 – would be restricted to one-way duty as the starting center.
Pro Bowl cornerback Tom Brookshier would suffer a compound leg fracture while tackling Willie Galimore in a 16-14 victory over the Bears in Game 8. That win put the Eagles in a first-place tie with the New York Giants. Both teams sported 7-1 records.

Brookshier was replaced by rookie Irv Cross. Whereas Cross would become a better defensive back than Brookshier down the line, he was still learning the position as a rookie fill-in. In any case, the Eagles lost their next two games after Brookshier went down:

Losing 38-21 to the Giants at Yankee Stadium in New York.
Losing 45-24 to the Browns at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland.

The Eagles then bounced back with back-to-back victories:

Beating the Dallas Cowboys 35-13 at Franklin Field.
Beating the Steelers 35-24 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

Over that same stretch, the Giants also went two-and–two. So the Eagles and Giants were deadlocked for first place with 9-3 records after 12 games. As a reminder, this was the first year the NFL expanded its schedule from 12 to 14 games. So two more games remained, and the next game was a rematch with the Giants in front of a full house at Franklin Field.

The temperature was 30 degrees with a wind chill of 23.

The Giants drew first blood on a 46-yard pass from Y. A. Tittle to Del Shofner and Pat Summerall converted to make it 7-0 early in the first period. But the Eagles bounced back with the next two scores:

26-yard field goal by Bobby Walston.
52-yard pass from Sonny Jurgensen to Tommy McDonald and Bobby Walston converted to put the Eagles on top 10-7 at the end of the first quarter.

For some reason, Giants’ head coach Allie Sherman was unhappy with the play of Y. A. Tittle – despite the fact that Tittle was 7-for-12 for 82 yards and one TD without an INT. So Sherman replaced Tittle with 40-year-old backup Charlie Conerly.

And Sherman’s move paid off:

Conerly hit Joe Walton from 35 yards out before the half ended.
And Conerly connected with Del Shofner from 26 yards out in the third quarter.
Summerall converted both PATs and the Giants led 21-10 after three quarters.

Sonny Jurgensen rallied the Eagles in the fourth quarter. He hit Tommy McDonald with a 30-yard TD pass and Walston converted to cut the deficit to 21-17.

The momentum had definitely shifted.

After the ensuing kickoff, the Eagles defense stiffened and forced the Giants to punt. But the Eagles were guilty of roughing punter Don Chandler. The penalty gave the Giants a first down and renewed life, and Charlie Conerly took advantage of the situation and hit Del Shofner for an 11-yard TD. Summerall converted to extend the Giants lead to 28-17 with time starting to run out.

That was Shofner’s third touchdown reception of the game and also Conerly’s third TD pass.

Jurgensen then connected with Pete Rezlaff for a 61-yard TD to cut the deficit to 28-24. But it was too little, too late, and time ran out.

The loss dropped the Eagles into second place, one game behind the Giants, with one to play.

LAST GAME

On the last day of the season, the (9-4) Eagles could tie the (10-3) Giants and force a playoff if both of two things happened:

The Eagles had to beat the (8-4-1) Lions at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
The Giants had to lose to the (8-4-1) Cleveland Browns. And this was possible because the Browns were a formidable team featuring Jim Brown, Bobby Mitchell, and Milt Plum.

It wasn’t easy for the Eagles:

Bobby Walston kicked a 21-yard field goal to take the lead at 3-0.
Jim Martin tied the score 3-3 with a 49-yard field goal before the first quarter ended.
Sonny Jurgensen hit Tommy McDonald with a 1-yard TD pass in the second quarter. Walston converted to make it 10-3 Eagles at the half.
In the third quarter, Jim Ninowski and Gail Cogdill connected on a monster 84-yard TD pass. Martin converted to tie the score 10-10.
Sonny Jurgensen answered with an 11-yard TD pass to Pete Retzlaff and the Eagles took back the lead 17-10 at the end of three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, Jim Ninowski dropped back to pass, couldn’t find a receiver, and ran into the end zone from 14 yards out. Martin’s conversion tied the game 17-17.
The Eagles went three-and-out.
Nick Pietrosante then capped a long drive for the Lions from plunging into the end zone from a yard out. Martin converted and the Lions led 24-17 with time starting to run out.
The Eagles moved the ball quickly downfield. Jurgensen connected with Dick Lucas for a 16-yard TD and Walston converted to tie the game 24-24.
The Eagles kicked off and held. Jurgensen drove the ball down the field and Bobby Walston kicked a 10-yard field goal to win the game 27-24.

MEANWHILE AT YANKEE STADIUM

The Giants took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a seven-yard Y. A. Tittle-to-Joel Wells pass and a Pat Summerall conversion.

The Browns tied the game at 7-7 in the third quarter when Milt Plum hit Leon Clarke from 35 yards out and Lou Groza converted.

Inside the two-minute warning, with the score still 7-7, the Browns forced a punt. But Don Chandler pinned the Browns inside the ten. From there, the Browns couldn’t move the ball and the game ended in a 7-7 tie. That tie saved the season for the Giants but ruined it for the Eagles.

Both the Giants and the Eagles finished the season with 10 wins. But that tie with the Browns sent the (10-3-1) Giants into the championship game and left the (10-4) Eagles in the lurch.

The Giants were tremendously over-matched in the championship game and the (11-3) Packers boat-raced them 37-0 to win the NFL title.

PLAYOFF BOWL

For the ten years between 1960 and 1969 – hoping to gain a competitive edge with more TV exposure over the upstart AFL – the NFL played a consolation game to decide the third-best team in the league. In that game, the second-place finishers in the two NFL divisions played each other.

The game was officially called the Bert Bell Benefit Bowl – after Eagles founder and former NFL commissioner who died in 1959. The game was played in Miami’s Orange Bowl every year and the moneys generated were funneled into the newly-formed players’ pension fund.

Vince Lombardi’s Packers played in two Playoff Bowls and he hated those games:

“It should be called the Shit Bowl . . . It’s a losers’ bowl for losers . . . It’s a hinky-dink football game, held in a hinky-dink town, played by hinky-dink players. That’s all second place is – hinky-dink.” – Vince Lombardi

By finishing second in 1961, the Eagles went to the Playoff Bowl to face the Detroit Lions on January 6, 1962. As just discussed, the Eagles had defeated the Lions 27-24 just three weeks earlier on the last week of the season.

To most teams and players, the Playoff Bowl was an after-thought and an interruption that delayed the off-season. PLayers on the winning teams earned $1,200 while players on the losing teams pocketed $500. As a result, many players spent more time partying in Miami than preparing for the game. That must’ve been the case with the Eagles that season because they were shellacked 38-10 by the Lions.

Rubbing salt into the wounds, several Eagles players were injured – including quarterback Sonny Jurgensen and right tackle J. D. Smith.

The Eagles played in two Playoff Bowls: