A WEEK IN HISTORY
We are entering week three of the season and what a historical week this has been… in history. Even though time is irrelevant, according to quantum physics, it’s a pretty big deal for this article, so once more, we shall saunter boldly forth into the crucible that is crossing the plain of time and space in this week’s edition of: A WEEK IN HISTORY! In this week’s installment, I’ll be wrapping up the spectacular month of September by going over the monumental moments and exciting entries in NFL history from 9/24-9/30. Onward we march!
*Games not played in the third week of that season but between 9/24-9/30 as a result of the schedule changing over time.
#7* Sep. 24, 1967: Jim Bakken attempts nine field goals in a game. In a record setting performance that still holds to this day, Bakken attempted nine field goals against the Pittsburgh Steelers in a win of 28-14. He made seven of those kicks, which was also a record until Rob Bironas broke it in 2007 with eight. Bakken is one of the few kickers in the hall of fame and rightfully so. He never missed a game with the Cardinals between 1963 and 1978, he made four pro bowls, and made the all decade team twice in both the ‘60s and ‘70s. The Big Ten’s best kicker trophy is also co-named after him, so he had a pretty special career that any player could aspire to.
#6* Sep. 25, 1975: Matt Hasselbeck is born. Apparently, this was a pretty slow news day in terms of NFL history, so whenever that happens, I will focus on a famous player who was born on this day. There’s no better entry for this day than Mr. “We want the ball and we’re going to score.” An actual person said this at the coin toss of a playoff game and much like Gilderoy Lockhart losing his memory after taking credit for other people’s achievements, Hasselbeck’s words came back to haunt him. In his first playoff appearance, Hasselbeck threw a pick six in overtime that cost his team, the Seahawks, to lose the game to his former team of the Packers in a moment so ironic, it puts Eiron to shame. Hasselbeck was basically a career journeyman who had his best year in 2005, when he ultimately lost to the Steelers in the Superbowl but has since been an analyst for ESPN, so not a bad career overall for the Norfolk native.
#5* Sep. 26, 1977: Cleveland Browns play their first overtime game. In a game where they won 30-27 against the New England Patriots and their first Monday night game since 1973, the Browns hosted a sold-out Cleveland Stadium where Don Crockett kicked a 35-yard field goal to win the game with just over ten minutes left to play in overtime. Famous Monday Night Football announcer Howard Cosell described it as “one of the most exciting finishes to a Monday night game” he had ever witnessed.
#4* Sep 27, 1942: New York Giants get no first downs but still win. In a matchup against NFC East rival Washington Redskins (at the time), the Giants won 14-7 while never earning a new set of downs in a drive. Only five games have had a team score no first downs in a game, with the first being in 1933, also by the Giants. Surprisingly, the majority of those teams won their games with the Giants doing it in both 1933 and 1942 and the Pittsburgh Pirates doing it also in 1933. The two teams to lose their games, as they should have, were the Philadelphia Eagles in 1935 and the Denver Broncos in 1966.
#3 Sep 28, 1936: Brooklyn and Boston play a penalty free game. Either the refs were payed off to look the other way or both teams were just that disciplined, but this game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Redskins had zero penalties called. It is only one of four games where this has occurred, and the Dodgers played in two of them. Their team must have been made of monks because they embody the definition of control. This may have also led to their eventual dismantling which came in 1945, but who knows. The other three games were between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates in 1934, the Cleveland Rams vs the Chicago Bears in 1938, and the Pittsburgh Steelers vs the Philadelphia Eagles in 1940. On the flip side of this, the game with the most penalties between two teams happened in a contest between the Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears in 1951 with 37 total penalties. That game must have been officiated by Frank Drebbin; it’s the only explanation that makes sense.
#2* Sep. 29,1985: Warren Moon gets sacked 12 times. To say the Houston Oilers hall of fame quarterback had a rough day against the Dallas Cowboys would be an understatement. In a record tying effort, the Cowboys sacked Moon a dozen times which has only been done thrice in NFL history. The first time it happened was when the St. Louis Cardinals opened up a can of whoopass on Bert Jones of the Baltimore Colts, and the last time it happened was when the Giants arrived, raised hell and left Donovan McNabb broken and bruised in 2007. As surprising as it may sound, all three of those teams that got sacked 12 times lost those games. Who would’ve guessed? Likewise, none of those teams finished above .500 for that season, so hopefully they got high draft picks to completely replace their o-lines the following seasons.
#1* Sep. 30, 1983: Adam “Pacman” Jones is born. Adam Jones made his NFL debut as the 6th overall pick and first defensive pick in the 2005 draft being taken by the Tennessee Titans. He only spent two years with the Titans before being traded to Dallas. He spent the majority of his career with the Cincinnati Bengals before officially retiring in 2019. Much of his moving around was due to off the field issues where he dealt with the law on numerous occasions. He also did a short publicity stunt with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling or TNA in 2007 where he and Ron Killings (R-Truth) won the TNA World Tag Team Championships. During his career, he perhaps wasn’t the best player on the field, but he certainly had one of the most interesting personalities the NFL has ever seen.
