[EDIT 11/30/2023: Introducing the "football" label]
[EDIT 1/3/2024: Small adjustments to the first entry, plus a late addition]
Fifty years ago, the playoffs went into January at a time of
14-game seasons and only one wild card. These days, the champion team isn't
decided until a month later.
The Miami Dolphins defend their title by beating
the Minnesota Vikings 24-7 at Super Bowl VIII. Larry Csonka runs
for 145 yards on 33 carries and scores both Miami touchdowns. As was the case last time, the Dolphins never lose the lead, and the other team's only score is
in the fourth quarter.
With a record-setting 2,003 rushing yards (including 250 in the first game of the season Sept. 16), O.J. Simpson of
the Buffalo Bills is the consensus MVP of the NFL. Simpson's mark is 140 yards better
than Jim Brown's 1963 record, and each man was playing in a 14-game
season. The record will last until 1984, by which time there will be 16 games
in a season.
LATE ADDITION 1-3-24, 6:19-20 p.m.: Alan
Page,
the Vikings' All-Pro tackle, is named best defensive player in a Newspaper
Enterprise Association poll. He won that award and the AP's version in 1971, but for
'73, the AP instead chooses Dolphins safety Dick Anderson.
The AP Offensive Rookie of the Year and the league's Rookie
of the Year as selected by Pro Football Weekly is the Vikings' Chuck Foreman,
who goes 801 yards on 182 carries and gets 362 yards on 37 receptions.
The UPI Coach of the Year for the NFC is Chuck Knox,
who brings the Los Angeles Rams from 6-7-1 to 12-2 in his first year
with the team. For the AFC, it's John Ralston of the Denver Broncos,
a second-year coach who brings his team from 5-9 to 7-5-2.
Roger Staubach of the Dallas Cowboys is the
leader in quarterback rating for the year of its introduction with 94.6. The
Vikings' Fran Tarkenton is second with 93.2. Roman Gabriel of the
Philadelphia Eagles -- who leads the NFL with 3,219 passing yards and
ties with Staubach for the passing touchdowns lead -- is fifth with 86.3.
Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler has an
.862 completion percentage in a game against the Baltimore Colts,
breaking the single-game record .857 Sammy Baugh set in '45.
Staubach's .626 completion percentage for the season is, and
will be, his personal best.
The receptions leader is Harold Carmichael of the
Eagles with 67 for 1,116 yards.
Offensive guards launching Hall of Fame careers this year: John
Hannah of the New England Patriots and Joe DeLamielleure of
the Bills. Wide receivers doing the same: Cliff Branch of the Raiders
and Drew Pearson of the Cowboys.
Johnny Unitas, quarterback for the San Diego
Chargers this season only, wraps up his great career. His 471 passing yards
give him a total of 40,239. Unitas' final completion is a seven-yard pass, his
only one of a game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Meanwhile on the Chargers, new quarterback and future Hall
of Famer Dan Fouts makes his debut.
New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath misses
eight games, seven in a row due to a separated shoulder. In the 1974 offseason,
a commercial for Beautymist Panty Hose with him modeling said wares is
broadcast on television.
Ray Guy of the Raiders punts 3,127 yards in 69
attempts to begin his career as the century's best punter.
Don Maynard, a former Jets receiver now with the St.
Louis Cardinals and playing his final season, makes an 18-yard reception Sept.
16 at Veterans Stadium. This is the 663rd catch for him, and his total is
brought to 11,834 yards. Both are records at this point. He makes no receptions
in his only other game.
Paul Warfield of the Dolphins scores four touchdowns
in the final game of the regular season Dec. 15. He gets six passes for 103
yards at home against the Detroit Lions. His 11 TDs this season are
among 29 receptions.
John Brodie finishes his career with 31,548 passing
yards and 214 passing touchdowns. For now, he can be considered the second-best
quarterback the San Francisco 49ers have ever had, with Y.A. Tittle
being the first.
Fred Dryer forces two safeties for the Rams in a game
against the Green Bay Packers Oct. 21.
Besides Unitas and Maynard, other retiring players who will
make it to the Hall of Fame one day are Bob Brown, Dick Butkus, Gene
Hickerson, and Leroy Kelly. This is also Weeb Ewbank's last
year coaching.
Extensive renovations of Yankee Stadium begin, and progress
on the new stadium in New Jersey hasn't gotten far past the groundbreaking, so
the New York Giants play part of this season and all of the next at the
Yale Bowl. Their final game in the Bronx is a 23-23 tie with the Eagles Sept.
23, and their first New Haven home game of the regular season is a 16-14 loss
to the Packers Oct. 7.
Rich Stadium, home of the Bills, opens Aug. 17 to a crowd of
80,020. The Bills lose the preseason game to the Washington Redskins
37-21 at this new stadium just outside of Buffalo.
George Burman, Redskin center, claims a third of his
team is on amphetamines.
At the Pro Bowl in Kansas City, Mo., Garo Yepremian
of the Dolphins kicks five field goals for all of the AFC's 15 points. The NFC
scores the game's only touchdown, but the blue conference comes up two points
short.
This is the first season in which first-down markers have
rubber caps at the bottom instead of metal points. Some call this the Bubba
Smith Rule after the Colts defensive end who was injured by getting caught
in the chains at a 1972 preseason game in Tampa and missed the subsequent
season because of it.
Pete Gent's North Dallas Forty is published.
The novel is a fictionalized, autobiographical account of being an NFL player.
Starting this 1973 season, there are no blackouts for games
that sell out 72 hours before kickoff. Although there are 63 percent more
no-shows in '73 than in '72, it reportedly isn't as bad for the NFL as
Commissioner Pete Rozelle will continue to say it is.
Two days after a post-season owners' meeting in Florida Feb.
25 in which Rozelle announces a four-year deal worth $60 million a year with
the networks, the commissioner gets a ten-year extension on his contract and is
given power to arbitrate.
For Super Bowl VIII, the least expensive ticket at Rice
Stadium is $15. It will set someone back at least $20 to be at Tulane Stadium
for Super Bowl IX.
Stevens Wright, whose wife works for NFL Properties,
designs a new logo for the Bills, one whose stripe is what some see as a potent
suggestion of the bison's movement. The team will begin to use it in 1974.
Hockey entry, including some minor-league material,
coming Dec. 8
Dedicated to the
memory of Steven H. Miles, 1960-2023; "I'm gonna be like you, Dad"
