NFL Quiz: 1) In the 1970s, two Philadelphia quarterbacks led the NFC in touchdown passes. Name ‘em. 2) Prior to Brett Favre, who was the last Green Bay QB to lead the NFC in TD passes? 3) Who am I? I tied for the NFC lead in receptions in 1983 with Roy Green and Earnest Gray and my initials are C.B. 4) Who am I? I led the AFC in 1977 with 10 interceptions and my initials are L.B. Answers below.
Correction: Last time I wrote the following.
“Does Drew Brees feel silly saying that he wasn\’t going to pull a Ted Williams and sit out the last game to ensure he finished with the NFL pass completion percentage record of 70.6% and then proceed to do just that? If Ted Williams still had his head would he have had something to say about this? [OK, of course New Orleans did the right thing.]”
Folks, just a very careless piece of writing on my part. I knew what I wanted to say, but failed to write it properly. As I’m well aware, Ted Williams in 1941 could have sat out a season-ending doubleheader and officially ended the year at .400. Going into that final day his average was .39955 so it would have been rounded up to .400. But Williams, ever the gamer, played both games, went 6-for-8, and ended the year at .4057, or the now famous .406.
Brees entered the final weekend with a completion percentage of 70.6, better than Ken Anderson’s record of 70.55%. But Brees publicly said he wanted to play, aware of the decision Williams made in a similar situation, but the Saints opted to hold him out to rest him for the playoffs. So I was right in saying Brees must feel silly because he kind of backed into the record but just got all tied up with the Williams angle. My apologies. Pete M. of the Pulitzer Prize Committee pointed this out to me and wins a six-pack of domestic.
Andre Dawson elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame
Unreal…how the heck does he get in? Dawson was a very good player with all the tools, no doubt, but let’s start with just one stat…on-base percentage. .323! The guy never walked more than 44 times in a single season during his overly long career. He had but two 100-run seasons. Only one truly great year, his MVP season.
But my man Bert Blyleven fell just five votes short, ensuring he’ll get in next time. [Yeah, every fan has their favorite that others don’t agree with and Blyleven is mine. It’s what makes for good Bar Chat.]
Separately, Roberto Alomar received 73.7% of the vote in his first year on the ballot so he’ll join the Dutchman in 2011, while the other high-profile first-timers were Barry Larkin (51.6%), Edgar Martinez (36.2%) and Fred McGriff (21.5%). Pretty solid start for Larkin, who doesn’t deserve to get in. As for Mark McGwire, in his fourth year on the ballot he is still stuck below 25% (23.7% this go ‘round). Some asshole writer actually voted for Pat Hentgen.
Gilbert Arenas, Part Trois
***5:30 pm…Wed. This just in…Arenas was suspended indefinitely by the NBA…very bold move. The following was written before this decision.***
Jemele Hill / ESPN.com…on the alleged gun play between Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton.
“(If) the Wizards and the NBA want to send a message to players that this behavior is unacceptable, here is what must be done once local and federal authorities finish investigating the matter.
“1. Arenas and Crittenton should be suspended for the rest of this season.
“2. The Wizards should use the morality clause to void the rest of Arenas’ $111 million contract, which after this season will tally $78 million.
“3. The Wizards should be fined considerably…for even allowing Arenas to store his guns at a public arena and league facility….
“I’m not against players’ owning guns because a number of players have been robbed or threatened, and considering their salaries are made public, the possibility that they’ll be victims of a crime is an unfortunate reality….
“If players want to protect themselves safely, legally and responsibly, that’s their right under American law. But when someone chooses to behave stupidly and irresponsibly with a gun, some of his rights deserve to be taken away.”
John Feinstein / Washington Post
“(Never) before last week has the public known that its players are showing up armed. Note that phrase: has the public known. The chances are pretty good that Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton aren’t the first players to show up at Verizon Center with guns.
“There is no point here in starting a shouting match about gun control….Congress clearly doesn’t have the stomach to take on the National Rifle Association and its lobbyists, so guns will continue to be readily available to those who want them.
“That seems to be especially true for wealthy athletes. When Plaxico Burress managed to shoot himself in the thigh in a New York nightclub 14 months ago, one of his explanations for (illegally) carrying the gun was that he didn’t feel completely safe going into the club. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had a succinct response to that: ‘If you don’t feel safe going someplace,’ he said, ‘you shouldn’t go there.’
“More often than not, safety is the reason given for athletes (and others) carrying guns. Here’s a question: How often are professional athletes shot outside the home? There aren’t a lot of them taking public transportation home late at night or walking the streets. Many, if not most, can afford a bodyguard if they think they’re in some kind of danger….
“The issue the Wizards must deal with right now is that of a superstar and a team run amok. Basketball players playing cards on chartered airplanes happens all the time. If you have ever been on an NBA charter you can walk to the back of the plane and see thousands of dollars in cash sitting in the pot….An argument over a card game is solved how? By threatening each other with guns?….
“There was a time when Arenas was the most popular athlete in this town. That time, sadly, has long passed. It is time for Gilbert – and his guns – to get out of town by sundown.”
Mitch Abramson / New York Daily News
“(Al Sharpton) urged NBA commissioner David Stern to come down hard on Arenas…. Arenas said Monday that removing the weapons from his locker was a ‘misguided effort to play a joke on a teammate.’ Sharpton, who spoke with Stern by phone Monday…was not in a laughing mood.
“ ‘The NBA needs to stand up and send a strong message by dealing with this situation,’ Sharpton told the Daily News. He also chided black leadership groups for not speaking out about the ‘culture of violence being perpetuated in professional sports.’….
“Sharpton believes the reaction over reports that Arenas allegedly drew a gun on (Crittenton) has been tempered because the players involved are black.
“ ‘If it had been a white player pointing a gun at a black player, there would have been much more of an uproar,’ he said. ‘It’s almost as if people are saying, ‘Well, we don’t expect anything better from our black athletes.’’
Michael Wilbon / Washington Post…[Wilbon, incidentally, thinks Peter Vecsey’s initial reporting on the incident is an exaggeration.]
“Sharpton’s absolutely right, in that a player of one race pointing a gun at a player of another would have created huge outrage, not that anybody has pointed a gun at anybody, from what we can tell. But black leaders have had every opportunity over the past 25 years, starting with Sharpton, to take misbehaving black athletes to task, and have, for the most part, taken a pass.
“But yes, better late than never. Devin Harris…said he believes 75 percent of NBA players own guns. Whatever the actual percentage is, NFL players can’t be far behind. Some feel the guns are necessary to protect themselves….
“What’s different about the Arenas episode is having the guns in the locker room, which is where Sharpton is right about Stern having to impose a harsh penalty….
“Where black leaders and professional sports unions have to do a better job is in demanding, angrily if necessary, that young men who make $100 million with very little education and sometimes even less maturity understand that they are businesses, not just athletes. In some cases they’ll have to behave better than whatever circumstances produced them, or face serious consequences that could include suspension or legal punishment.
“That kind of zero-tolerance insistence on accountability by black folks, black leaders if you will, has been rare. Sharpton, on this point, is right on the money. This is the kind of policing that has to start when kids with Arenas’ talent are identified as star athletes, celebrities in most of our communities, by the time they’re 12 years old. Usually, especially in basketball, the best and brightest are told or at the very least allowed to think that they can do whatever they want without consequence, or that their actions can be excused or explained away.”
Peter Vecsey / New York Post
“Meanwhile, David Stern continues to employ the time-tested tactic of ‘Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There’ in regards to the production of Le Cage aux Firearms. Which is kinda weird considering fines and sentences are quickly meted out on a regular basis for ‘crimes’ a tad less acute….
“Waiting for the judicial system to do its work in no way changes the fact Arenas is, at the very least, guilty of committing the league’s most flagrant faux pas: ‘Keep Your Lugar Out of the Locker.’ Had Arenas brought guns to school, hid them in his locker and showed them to other students while intimidating, err, fooling around with another student with whom he had a beef, he would’ve been expelled immediately, or at least suspended for the rest of the semester….
“Had Arena brought guns to any other work place and pulled the same stupid stunts, he would’ve been fired immediately and cops would’ve put him in cuffs.”
“Gilbert Arenas turns 28 Wednesday, and for a present he gave himself more trouble.
“Speaking after he scored 19 points on 6-for-15 shooting in a 104-97 win over the Philadelphia 76ers Tuesday night, Arenas was his usually unfiltered self. He clamored for an apology from the media for ‘slandering’ his name and said he was more afraid of David Stern’s wrath than the federal and local authorities who are currently investigating him, calling the NBA commissioner ‘mean.’
“Meanwhile, his teammate Ja-Vale McGee, to whom Arenas allegedly lost $60,000 in a card game aboard a flight on Dec. 19, told the Daily News that Arenas never lost money to him in a card game.
“McGee’s winnings allegedly prompted another teammate, Javaris Crittenton, to lend Arenas money.”
Fans in Philly on Tuesday night chanted “Pull the trigger Gilbert” and “Don’t shoot” throughout the contest. Ya gotta love it.
–Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post reported on the firing of Redskins coach Jim Zorn, as in boy did the players abandon him in no time.
“According to several players, the Redskins lack discipline. They miss too many practices that tougher players gut out. They skip meetings and break curfew. They don’t study as hard as winners and don’t force themselves to practice enough.”
Pitiful. You’re paid big bucks to do a job. Just do it. But it was the two highest-paid players, Clinton Portis and Albert Haynesworth, who were called out by teammates for being bad apples.
So now it will be up to former Denver coach Mike Shanahan, who agreed to a deal that will pay him $7 million a year for five seasons. In his time in Denver, aside from two Super Bowl triumphs, Shanahan had a record of 154-103. But can he work with owner Daniel Snyder?
–How bad were the Giants this year? The defense gave up 427 points, allowing five opponents to score 40+, including losing the final two by a combined 85-16 tally. Only two teams gave up more than the Giants, Detroit and St. Louis. It was the most points given up by a Giants defense since 1966, when they allowed 501 in 14 games on their way to a 1-12-1 mark. [Boy that sucked.] By comparison, the Jets, who led the NFL in scoring defense (and overall \’D\’), gave up just 236 points, or almost 200 fewer.
–Next season the Jets and Giants move into their new digs and for now it’s being called New Meadowlands Stadium, owing to the fact no one has stepped up for the naming rights. A lot has changed since Citigroup in late 2006 agreed to pony up $400 million over 20 years to name the Mets’ new ballpark Citi Field, while Barclays is committed to the Nets’ new facility in Brooklyn (slated to open in 2012).
But as Richard Sandomir of the New York Times points out, the Jets and Giants aren’t alone, what with Cowboys Stadiums and Nationals Park also out there looking for extra cash in return for the outfit’s name in lights.
Actually, Allianz was prepared to step up in the Meadowlands but the proposed move was criticized because of its Nazi past.
“Bar Chat Stadium” has a nice ring. “Hey, Joe. Whaddya doin’ tomorrow?” “I’m goin’ to The Bar, Chico!” “Really. The Bar? Wish I knew someone taking me to The Bar.”
Six national championships, 14 conference titles, 323 victories, 29 bowl appearances, three unbeaten seasons.
“Perhaps equally impressive is this: Nearly three decades after his death, Bryant still touches the lives of the players who helped make the houndstooth-loving coach an Alabama icon.”
I didn’t realize just how much Bryant lives on in part because of a scholarship fund he established in the 1970s, “earmarked to benefit the sons and daughters of everyone who ever suited up for the coach during a 25-season run…that ended in Dec. 1982, a month before he died from a heart attack.”
Get this… “More than 700 children of former Tide players have attended their fathers’ alma mater on a Bryant Scholarship.” All they do is apply and, upon admission, are awarded as much as $4,000 a year, which can come in handy. “This is true…whether their father was an All-American linebacker or a fourth-string long snapper….If their father has died, they get a full ride.”
—Boise State, 17-10 winners over TCU to become just the second school to go 14-0, returns 21 of 22 starters next season. So as Pete Thamel of the New York Times brings up, this sets in motion legitimate talk of a national title down the road. To do so, Boise State will have to defeat Virginia Tech, slated for Labor Day weekend and probably at a neutral site, as well as Oregon State, and if they won those two and obviously the rest, it will be very tough to deny them a spot in the title game.
The problem is the Broncos need to be ranked high in the preseason poll, say top 10. Much beyond that it will be tough to move up to top two.
—AP Men’s Basketball Poll
9. North Carolina…prior to…well, see below
10. Michigan State
[Wake is 30 and 36 in the two major polls if you extended the rankings, exactly where we should be.]
And then there was Monday night’s contest pitting North Carolina vs. College of Charleston, the latter coached by the legendary Bobby Cremins. The Tar Heels were up by 11 with 4 minutes to go and blew it, with Charleston getting a 3-pointer with two seconds left to send the game into overtime. Charleston had 13 from downtown for the game while UNC had just one.
–Talk about a mess, how about the USC athletic program these days. The NCAA is investigating allegations involving former players Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo, as well as current running back Joe McKnight, and on Monday the school imposed sanctions on itself and the b-ball team for recruiting violations involving Mayo, including a ban on postseason play. Mayo allegedly received improper payments and gifts. The school is also giving up its 21 victories in the 2007-08 season. [I always thought this last bit was stupid.]
Former coach Tim Floyd was forced to resign last June amid allegations he gave $1,000 to a USC booster, Rodney Guillory, who proved to be poison. Guillory steered Mayo to USC. Another guy, Louis Johnson, alleges Guillory received hundreds of thousands of dollars from a sports agency that he then partially funneled to Mayo. Mayo plays for the Memphis Grizzlies after his one-and-done stint.
But everyone in L.A. knows who really deserves the blame, yet somehow keeps escaping it; that being Athletic Director Mike Garrett, the former Heisman Trophy winner who conveniently shut his eyes to the scandals going on around him. Garrett said, “USC takes allegations of NCAA rules violations very seriously.” It was Garrett, though, who heard all the stories about how bad Guillory was and chose to ignore them.
—Boston College lost to Maine the other day at home. Earlier in the year BC lost to Harvard at home as well. Very, very embarrassing, mused the editor whose Demon Deacons lost at home to William & Mary.
—AP Women’s Basketball Poll
6. Ohio State
10. Texas A&M
–The Mets introduced Jason Bay to their fan base. With all the cold weather in these parts, I’m more anxious for spring training than normal, though I hasten to add I’m really not in the least bit optimistic about my Metsies.
And regarding my note last time on Mets tickets sales, Johnny Mac had a typical angle from an old friend who has had a Saturday ticket plan since 1984, but after getting jerked around on the new Citi Field location, let alone a huge price jack, he called it quits after 25 years. As I’ve noted, Johnny’s friend also didn’t feel like Citi Field is about the game, but rather, like many of the new parks, about the “experience.” One thing was for sure when it came to Shea Stadium, there was nothing to do except watch the game (as well as trying to avoid using the restrooms…the world’s absolute worst…but I digress).
–The St. Louis Cardinals signed the other big outfielder in the free agent market, Matt Holliday, to a seven-year, $120 million contract. Good gawd. I mean this is a guy who spent the lion’s share of his career at Coors Field, hitting .351 home, .284 away. But, to his credit, when he came over to St. Louis from Oakland last year, in 63 games with the Cards he hit .353 with 13 home runs and 55 RBI.
Meanwhile, after 22 seasons, 303 victories and 4,875 strikeouts, the great Randy Johnson retired.
–I have nothing to say on the death of Casey Johnson, only that I feel sorry for her father, Woody Johnson, the owner of the Jets. Suffice it to say Casey was a mess.
“The head of Kenya’s wildlife conservation agency says poachers have killed a rare southern white rhino.”
“The attack occurred about a week after four of the world’s last eight known northern white rhinos were brought to Kenya, where officials hope they will reproduce and save their subspecies.”
I still maintain one of my best ideas was to form a mercenary force of ex-U.S., French, British, Canadian, etc. army types, paid for by the U.N., who would go after the poachers. Protecting wildlife? You just know a certain type would love a job like this.
While there are still a lot of rhinos in Africa, there are just 850 left in Kenya; down from tens of thousands in 1973 before poachers decimated the population.
–Phil W. first passed on this exchange from “Fox News Sunday” involving Brit Hume, who was asked by Chris Wallace to predict the biggest sports story of 2010. Hume said:
“Tiger Woods will recover as a golfer. Whether he can recover as a person I think is a very open question, and it’s a tragic situation for him. I think he’s lost his family, it’s not clear to me if he’ll be able to have a relationship with his children, but the Tiger Woods that emerges once the news value dies out of this scandal – the extent to which he can recover – seems to me to depend on his faith. He’s said to be a Buddhist; I don’t think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So my message to Tiger would be, ‘Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.’”
Err, cue the Homer Simpson blank eyes among Hume’s fellow panelists. There was an awkward silence. Then Bill Kristol offered, “Well, Brit’s concerned about Tiger’s soul, which is admirable, but I just made a more straightforward sports prediction, which was that he’ll come back and win the Masters.”
Actually, the way Tiger has been hiding I’m beginning to question if he’ll come back at all this year. The talks he’s having with himself can’t be pretty. “You’re a dirtball.” “I know. I can’t believe I’ve blown it all.”
I was thinking of Tiger’s ‘friends’ the other day. They need to get on with their own lives as well. Why wouldn’t they abandon him? And Tiger’s celebrity friends? At a certain point does a Derek Jeter or Michael Jordan want to really hang out with him and take on even more paparazzi garbage?
Oh, and those rumors he was hiding out at Trump’s place? Now he’s supposed to be in Africa somewhere. Maybe he’s been going to Nets games? No one would see him there.
–From Parade Magazine, “Is It Better To Be Barefoot?” The article by Christopher McDougall says six out of 10 runners are estimated to get injured every year, despite the $millions poured into research on running shoes.
So these two researchers at Harvard and the University of Utah argue that humans have been engaged in running for two million years and for 99.99% of that time we’ve been running sans Nikes. Another chap, a leading sports podiatrist, said “We’ve gone too far with cushioning and arbitrary shoe designs.”
Well this is one runner who will continue to wear shoes, of all kinds, especially when the wind chill is freakin’ zero! I’d also recommend you wear shoes during job interviews these days.
–Speaking of exercise, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 36% of U.S. adults didn’t engage in any leisure-time physical activity in 2008. But a slew of new studies confirm the benefits, with the Harvard Medical School looking at 60 studies in recent years that taken together suggest women who exercise regularly can expect a 20% to 30% reduction in the chance of getting breast cancer compared with women who don’t exercise.
As noted in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, the American College of Sports Medicine cites studies that show regular exercise lowers the risk of stroke by 27%, can lower the risk of colon cancer by over 60%, and can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s by approximately 40%.
So OK, people. Off your duff. [Pssst…I haven’t done a lick of exercise since my half-marathon. Not a big exerciser in the cold, know what I’m sayin’? Incidentally, a study out of Appalachian State University’s Human Performance Lab recommends walking briskly for 45 minutes, five days a week. Then treat yourself to a few domestics.]
–I’ve been meaning to include a few quotes from legendary golfer Lee Trevino from the Dec. 2009 issue of Golf Digest.
Trevino, who turned 70 on Dec. 1, said he’s going to be cremated and that wife Claudia has orders to spread them pretty much anywhere, though he’d prefer St. Andrews. I’ll go with Lahinch in County Clare, Ireland.
Trevino: I don’t think so. I could drink for seven straight days and then not touch a drink for weeks. I remember Albert Salinas [former business associate] traveling with me, and I was drinking scotch and soda, and every night we’d have two or three or four, get a little buzz on, and I’d go to bed. Never bothered me because I ran a lot to stay in shape – usually three miles at an eight-minute pace – although I might have had three beers right after, so in a way I ran to drink.
Trevino: That was an accident. That was when Gatorade first came out, and they put a case of it in my room. I was right there by the ninth green. And we were having a party Saturday night, and they were mixing tequila with this stuff, and it was pretty good. And they had all this Gatorade in the refrigerator in a big pot. I went to bed early, because I was in the hunt, only a stroke or two off the lead, and I got up thirsty about 3 in the morning. And I saw this pot of Gatorade in the refrigerator, and I started chug-a-lugging, not knowing there was tequila in it. I woke up blind drunk. It was a scorching-hot day, and I don’t know if I ever felt so bad on a golf course. I think I shot 76.
–And from Golf Week about six weeks ago came the tale of the demise of MacGregor Golf. MacGregor began making clubs in 1897 and pioneered many of the advances in golf equipment, being the top maker of forged blades back in the day. As Adam Schupak of Golf Week wrote:
“There was a time when the MacGregor name carried clout. It said, Byron Nelson once won 11 tournaments in a row with me. It said, Johnny Miller shot a U.S. Open-record 63 with me. It said, 59 major championships were won with me. Its place as part of the very foundation of the sport in this country seemed to be drawn in indelible ink.”
A year ago MacGregor closed up and sold its inventory, passing off its intellectual property to Golfsmith in May for just $1.75 million….MacGregor reduced to a store’s house brand.
What happened? “The brand changed hands many times, with each new owner switching strategies so often that, before long, the innovator became the imposter.”
Back in 1964, Tom Weiskopf signed with the company for $1,500. In the 1975 Masters, Weiskopf, Nicklaus, Miller and Watson all played MacGregor.
The tradition went back to Tommy Armour, The Silver Scot, “who stamped the soles of his personal MacGregor woods ‘L.F.F.,’ an abbreviation of his motto: ‘Let the f—er fly.’”
And talk about a bargain, MacGregor signed Jimmy Demaret, Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan for a combined $5,000, “arguably the best bargain in golf history.”
But by the 1990s, MacGregor was fumbling three golf-club innovations: the advent of investment-cast irons, metal drivers and oversized titanium drivers. In particular it refused to acknowledge the metal woods revolution. Nicklaus, who had gained a controlling stake in the company, sold 80 percent of his interest in 1986 for a reported $30 million, dumping the rest in 1992.
Today, MacGregor will be sold exclusively in Golfsmith’s 74 stores and through its catalogs as well as online.
“19 Pythons Challenge Firefighters”
St. George, Utah – “Crews responding to a trailer fire in southern Utah had another factor to contend with, snakes.
“Kristeen Checketts (I’m assuming no relation to former Madison Square Garden executive Dave Checketts), the animal control officer in St. George, says there were about 19 pet pythons in the trailer when it caught fire Thursday morning….
“Once the fire was put down, Checketts and firefighters began pulling out snake after snake, most in cages and some up to 18 feet long.”
Good lord! Why that’s three point guards long.
“Checketts says 11 survived. The snakes’ owner tried to revive another by massaging it and blowing into its mouth through a plastic pipe.”
Brad K. wonders if the owner was using the official python tube as once sold by Billy Mays. Brad always turns down the offer of a second one free, “just pay postage and handling.”
–Attention all guys. The Shady Lady Ranch in Nevada is offering a new menu of services marketed directly at women. Male prostitutes will charge an estimated $300 an hour. It’s a first for Nevada, having just been approved.
“With so many male revues going on in Las Vegas, we thought it was time to give this a try,” said Bobbi Davis, proprietor of the ranch. So far she has received 150 candidates.
Of course if you want to earn more than $300 in a day, you, err, you know, guys, need to be able to perform fairly regularly. Maybe take a break for Sports Center and then go right back at it.
–As for the ladies, 43-year-old Cindy Crawford told Britain’s GQ magazine, “[MILF] is a word I absolutely love.” Huh.
–I’m ready for ‘24,’ but also looking forward to HBO’s “The Pacific” (March 14). The Pacific is the companion to “Band of Brothers.”
Top 3 songs for the week 1/6/73: #1 “You’re So Vain” (Carly Simon) #2 “Clair” (Gilbert O’Sullivan) #3 “Me And Mrs. Jones” (Billy Paul…classic)…and…#4 “Superstition” (Stevie Wonder) #5 “Funny Face” (Donna Fargo) #6 “It Never Rains In Southern California” (Albert Hammond…how many remembered he did this one? I didn’t…killed that brain cell while quaffing domestic) #7 “Rockin’ Pneumonia – Boogie Woogie Flu” (Johnny Rivers) #8 “Your Mama Don’t Dance” (Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina) #9 “Superfly” (Curtis Mayfield…Curtis, my man!) #10 “You Ought To Be With Me” (Al Green…the one and only)
NFL Quiz Answers: 1) Roman Gabriel, led Philly in TD passes in 1973 with 23 (tied with Roger Staubach), while in 1977 it was Ron Jaworski with 18 (also tying Staubach). I just thought you might have forgotten Gabriel. He led the league with the Rams in 1969. 2) Prior to Brett Favre, Lynn Dickey threw 32 TD passes in 1983 to lead the NFC. 3) Washington’s Charlie Brown tied for the NFC lead in receptions in 1983 with 78. 4) Baltimore’s Lyle Blackwood led the AFC in interceptions in 1977 with 10.
