A WEEK IN HISTORY
Week 4 is already upon us and much like the locomotive in the Jamie Lee Curtis deep cut, Terror Train, we are full steam ahead. It’s the start of the spookiest month of the year, so let’s take a page out of Clarice Stirling’s book by putting on our night vision goggles and illuminate some NFL moments that are hiding in the dark of the past. Much like putting a picture on the ofrenda to remember loved ones, we are going to reminisce on Se7en historic moments in NFL history from 10/1-10/7. Who wants to play a game?
*Games not played in the fourth week of that season but between 10/1-10/8 as a result of the schedule changing over time.
#7* Oct. 1, 1955: Alan Amenche is first rookie to rush for consecutive 100-yard games. Alan “the Horse” Amenche made an immediate impact for the Baltimore Colts in his rookie debut against the Chicago Bears where he ran for 194 yards. He followed that performance up with a 153-yard game over the Detroit Lions. At the end of his rookie season, he had the most rushing touchdowns with 9, most rushing yards with 906 and most scrimmage yards with 1102. He is part of the Pro Football hall of Fame’s all decade team for the 1950s and most importantly, in 1958, he scored the winning touchdown in “the Greatest Game Ever Played.”
#6 Oct. 2, 2005: First NFL game outside the US. In a game between the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers, Arizona won with a score of 31-14. The teams played this game in the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico which was called "NFL Fútbol Americano." It was the first game to cross borders in a series of games referred to as NFL International Series. This game drew in the NFL’s highest viewer count at the time with over 100,000 people watching the game. This game helped establish that the NFL could be a global brand and led to more games in Mexico City as well as London, England.
#5* Oct. 3, 1989: Art Shell becomes first black coach in modern era. After a dismal 1-3 start to the season, Al Davis had seen enough and decided to replace Mike Shanahan at the head coach position. Davis chose Shell to be that man, making him the first black coach in the NFL since Fritz Pollard at the inception of the league. Shell went on to win 7 of the next ten games but barely missed the playoffs that year. The following year, the raiders went 12-4 which is not a bad record for this vicinity only losing to the Bills in the AFC Championship game. Shell paved the way for many coaches like Dennis Green, Tony Dungy, Mike Tomlin and many others. In the same year he became coach, he was inducted into the hall of fame as a tackle and is well regarded as one of the best offensive lineman of all time.
#4 Oct. 4, 1987: First “Scab” game in NFL. Due in part to the expiration of the 1982 Collective Bargaining Agreement, many players were on strike which resulted in replacement players filling in for many teams. Unlike Keanu Reeves in The Replacements, things didn’t really work out for the actual replacement players. Within two weeks, they were all gone, and the NFL went back to normal. Much like the parents in any Nightmare on Elm Street film, everyone promptly ignored that nightmare and treated it as if it never happened. A similar event happened in 2012 with replacement refs and led to a pretty similar disastrous result much to the chagrin of many Packers fans in particular.
#3* Oct. 5, 1986: Eric Dickerson runs for 42-yard TD in overtime. Dickerson’s run set an overtime record at the time and led the LA Rams to. 26-20 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa Stadium. This record has since been broken and currently, Garrison Hearst holds the record with a 96-yard touchdown in a 1998 overtime game between the San Francisco 49ers and New York Jets. Dickerson is a hall of famer and ranks 9th overall in rushing yards with 13,259 yards.
#2* Oct. 6, 1983: Jets announce move to the Meadowlands. In a move that shocked the tri state area so much Dr. Doofenshmirtz would be proud, Jets owner Leon Hess went forward with his threat to move the team. Upset over the inaction of New York city mayor, Ed Koch, in regard to building a new stadium, Hess decided to move the team to the New Jersey stadium that already housed the New York Giants. The Jets are still the stadium with the Giants and are one of two cities that has two NFL teams playing at the same stadium. The other is Los Angeles with both the Rams and Chargers playing at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
#1* Oct. 7, 2012: Drew Brees breaks Johhny Unitas’ consecutive games w/TD record. The New Orleans Saints quarterback and future hall of famer threw for his 48th consecutive game with a touchdown pass, pushing past Unitas’ record of 47 that had lasted for over 50 years. Brees has the record at 54 games followed by another hall of famer in Tom Brady with 52. In the first quarter of a game between the Saints and San Diego Chargers, Brees threw to Devery Henderson for his 48th consecutive game with a TD pass. The Saints would go on to win that game 31-24 but would ultimately go 7-9 that season. Brees’ record came to an end on a rough Thursday night game against the Atlanta Falcons where he threw five interceptions.
