Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-10-31
SEGH AT LARGE
Todoy's Possers
Guido Bough Era
By MORRIS sIEGEE

FIGURES CAN BE interesting as any boulevardier
knows but last night no occasion for bouevaroerng
in our watered downtown SO the time was spent IN more
academic pursuit: Comparing pro football statistics
They turned out to be nowhere fascinating as
the other form of research development Drew Pear
son easily could have predicted There were few reVea-
TONS however Nothing earth-shattering nothing that
could change the of Sundays Yankee Stadium pitch
andcatch game which why this all started IN the first
= place.
Would it surprise you to know NFL teams are actually
passing less today but gaining more? 1t dd me- parcu
1arly in view of Y A. Titles tantalzng performance the
/ other day.
~ MIR. TITLE PASSING So per cent of the time the
Giants had the ball. rewrote few statistical chapters
against the Redskins, whose Norman Snead was not ex
acty idle himself Norman kept the ball in the air 81 per
cent of the time his team owned the football although not
near as effectively Mr. little flung it.
The final overall effects of their aerial conformation
10 passing attempts between em-wont be known until
all the 1862 figures fed into the NILS counting ma
chimes All have to on to support the evidence that
the passing pappeS of the Snead and Titles took to the
air more often the records already compiled
Let's use last years and compare EN- to the final
countdowns Of 1947 when Baugh, Luckman, Christman
-Waterfeld and few other journeymen pitchmasters
still around In the 1861 NIL the IA dues pay
ing members of Commissioner Pete Rozees lodge aver
aged 26 passes game In 1947 with the Baughs etc, in
command the 10-team NFL lineup Tipped the ball about
20 times every outing.
HE O1ftEftE BETWEEN Cnen ana now, however,
is what is interesting They're scoring touchdowns
nowadays throwing than running That's because the pass
Ing generally speaking is accurate and getting bet
ter each Sunday, or so 1t seems.
Kick these figures 1947 when blockbusters
like Van Buren, Dudley Trppi Canadeo and other foot
soldiers charging the deenses only so per cent Of the
scoring passing Last year. with Hornung, Brown
and Taylor comprising the bulk of the infantry passes
accounted for Ct per cent of the touchdowns
In the Baugh the FINGERS averaging slightly
more than yards pitch, about yard than the
current flock Of sapshooters The difference however is
that Is they passed to set UP the touchdown
run, today they run to set up the touchdown pass.
sN %
WITH HALF OF THE 1862 season already accounted
for 10 Of the IS teams have scored IS per cent Of their
touchdowns passing as conrased to the even break
down of Is years ago.
It isn't suggested here that the Titles Sneads and Le-
Barons are better than the Baughs Luckmans and Water
fields just that there are more Of EN- currently Only four
Fingers IN 1947 completed so cent of their passes Last
year there were IL Of the top 16 quarrbaks in the league
on target so per cent or more times
The modern rlemen last year completed SO per cent
q Their efforts compared to the Az per cent rating scored
III ls4Z Another comparison The teams that threw the
ball % times Is seasons ago also found time for IS
running plays Last year there were so running plays on
the average BY the teams that took to the air times
The best yardstick of al the statistical gobbledy-
COOK this In 194 passes accounted for is tbs per game
on the average Currently the air arm clicks for two g.
pointers -,
1t adds up to this: When the Giants come to Washing
ton November rs it would behoove the Redskins to adj
wise Mr. little Of the law OF averages otherwise they'll
likely suffer another bombardment.