Post by TheShadow on Nov 30, 2003 12:35:08 GMT -5
www.bayarea.com
GARY PETERSON: TIMES COLUMNIST
YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD the questions. Or asked them. Or both.
When was the last time an NFL team played for the championship one year, and
had trouble winning a game the next? Has a reigning Most Valuable Player
even taken such a fall? What in the name of Al Davis' process server is
going on with the Oakland Raiders?
One answer: Nothing Y.A. Tittle hasn't seen before.
Thirty-nine years ago New York fans were asking the same questions about
Tittle and the Giants. Stop us when you feel like you've heard this before:
In 1963, a veteran Giants team led by a veteran MVP quarterback (Tittle),
went 11-3 and played in the NFL Championship game (the forefather of the
Super Bowl). They lost that game as Tittle threw five interceptions,
portending a disastrous 1964 season in which the team went 2-10-2.
Players hailed as experienced and wily in 1963 were criticized as doddering
relics in 1964. The '63 Giants scored more points than any team in NFL
history; the '64 Giants finished 13th in scoring in a 14-team league.
Tittle, who turned 37 during the '63 season, threw 36 touchdown passes in 13
games, a record that would stand for 21 years. He had a passer rating of
104.8. In '64 he turned 38, threw for 10 touchdowns, was intercepted 22
times, had a passer rating of 51.6 and, along with several teammates, was
asked by team management to retire at season's end.
"I was sort of bitter at the time," he recalled recently.
The bitterness has faded. The inability to fully explain the Giants'
first-to-worst collapse endures.
One thing Tittle knows: It didn't help that team management tinkered with a
winning formula.
"Management got rid of too many players," said Tittle, who at 77 remains
active in his South Bay insurance business. "I felt at the time that we
tried to clean house. We dumped too much of our talent at one time."
According to the team's 2003 information guide, the '64 Giants returned 17
of 23 starters (including kicker/punter Don Chandler) from the '63 team. Two
notable departures -- middle linebacker Sam Huff (traded to Washington) and
halfback Phil King (traded to Pittsburgh).
Huff made the Pro Bowl for the Redskins in 1964. "He was the team leader on
defense," Tittle said. King rushed for 631 yards in 1963; no Giants running
back came within 200 yards of that total in '64.
One theory Tittle doesn't buy -- not then, not now -- is that veteran
players can grow old overnight. Perhaps that's because he cheated the reaper
once himself. The 49ers traded Tittle, then 34, after the 1960 season,
believing he was too old. Whereupon Tittle led the Giants to the NFL
Championship game his first three seasons in New York, aided and abetted by
a group of football graybeards:
Running back Frank Gifford, in his second season after coming out of
retirement, caught 42 passes (seven for touchdowns) in 1963 at 33. Defensive
end Andy Robustelli, voted the Maxwell Club's league MVP in 1962, turned 38
in '63. Three-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman Jack Stroud was 35. Future
Hall of Famers Roosevelt Brown and Hugh McElhenny (a part-time running back
in '63) were north of 30.
"That was just an easy answer for the coaches," Tittle said. "If I was so
old, how could I average almost three touchdown passes a game (in '63) and
all of a sudden (the following) July, I'm done?"
The same could be asked by (and of) Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon. He was
the league's MVP last season, during which he turned 37 (same as Tittle). He
threw five interceptions in the Super Bowl (as Tittle did in the '63 NFL
Championship game). He struggled as reigning MVP (same as Tittle) before
suffering a season-ending injury.
The Raiders led the AFC in offense in '02; they rank 10th coming into
today's game against Denver. Oakland's defense has fallen from No. 6 to No.
14.
Future Hall of Famers Jerry Rice, Tim Brown and Rod Woodson, who were
catalysts in last year's Super Bowl run, have struggled this season. And,
just like the 1964 Giants, the Raiders have tried without success to
pinpoint the reason for their competitive free-fall.
"Mental attitude has a lot to do with it," Tittle said. "(But) I have no
idea why a football team just loses its touch."
Neither do the Raiders, who had better hope they figure out it in less time
than it took the '64 Giants. Who, as Tittle could tell you, wouldn't see the
postseason again for 17 years.
GARY PETERSON: TIMES COLUMNIST
YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD the questions. Or asked them. Or both.
When was the last time an NFL team played for the championship one year, and
had trouble winning a game the next? Has a reigning Most Valuable Player
even taken such a fall? What in the name of Al Davis' process server is
going on with the Oakland Raiders?
One answer: Nothing Y.A. Tittle hasn't seen before.
Thirty-nine years ago New York fans were asking the same questions about
Tittle and the Giants. Stop us when you feel like you've heard this before:
In 1963, a veteran Giants team led by a veteran MVP quarterback (Tittle),
went 11-3 and played in the NFL Championship game (the forefather of the
Super Bowl). They lost that game as Tittle threw five interceptions,
portending a disastrous 1964 season in which the team went 2-10-2.
Players hailed as experienced and wily in 1963 were criticized as doddering
relics in 1964. The '63 Giants scored more points than any team in NFL
history; the '64 Giants finished 13th in scoring in a 14-team league.
Tittle, who turned 37 during the '63 season, threw 36 touchdown passes in 13
games, a record that would stand for 21 years. He had a passer rating of
104.8. In '64 he turned 38, threw for 10 touchdowns, was intercepted 22
times, had a passer rating of 51.6 and, along with several teammates, was
asked by team management to retire at season's end.
"I was sort of bitter at the time," he recalled recently.
The bitterness has faded. The inability to fully explain the Giants'
first-to-worst collapse endures.
One thing Tittle knows: It didn't help that team management tinkered with a
winning formula.
"Management got rid of too many players," said Tittle, who at 77 remains
active in his South Bay insurance business. "I felt at the time that we
tried to clean house. We dumped too much of our talent at one time."
According to the team's 2003 information guide, the '64 Giants returned 17
of 23 starters (including kicker/punter Don Chandler) from the '63 team. Two
notable departures -- middle linebacker Sam Huff (traded to Washington) and
halfback Phil King (traded to Pittsburgh).
Huff made the Pro Bowl for the Redskins in 1964. "He was the team leader on
defense," Tittle said. King rushed for 631 yards in 1963; no Giants running
back came within 200 yards of that total in '64.
One theory Tittle doesn't buy -- not then, not now -- is that veteran
players can grow old overnight. Perhaps that's because he cheated the reaper
once himself. The 49ers traded Tittle, then 34, after the 1960 season,
believing he was too old. Whereupon Tittle led the Giants to the NFL
Championship game his first three seasons in New York, aided and abetted by
a group of football graybeards:
Running back Frank Gifford, in his second season after coming out of
retirement, caught 42 passes (seven for touchdowns) in 1963 at 33. Defensive
end Andy Robustelli, voted the Maxwell Club's league MVP in 1962, turned 38
in '63. Three-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman Jack Stroud was 35. Future
Hall of Famers Roosevelt Brown and Hugh McElhenny (a part-time running back
in '63) were north of 30.
"That was just an easy answer for the coaches," Tittle said. "If I was so
old, how could I average almost three touchdown passes a game (in '63) and
all of a sudden (the following) July, I'm done?"
The same could be asked by (and of) Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon. He was
the league's MVP last season, during which he turned 37 (same as Tittle). He
threw five interceptions in the Super Bowl (as Tittle did in the '63 NFL
Championship game). He struggled as reigning MVP (same as Tittle) before
suffering a season-ending injury.
The Raiders led the AFC in offense in '02; they rank 10th coming into
today's game against Denver. Oakland's defense has fallen from No. 6 to No.
14.
Future Hall of Famers Jerry Rice, Tim Brown and Rod Woodson, who were
catalysts in last year's Super Bowl run, have struggled this season. And,
just like the 1964 Giants, the Raiders have tried without success to
pinpoint the reason for their competitive free-fall.
"Mental attitude has a lot to do with it," Tittle said. "(But) I have no
idea why a football team just loses its touch."
Neither do the Raiders, who had better hope they figure out it in less time
than it took the '64 Giants. Who, as Tittle could tell you, wouldn't see the
postseason again for 17 years.