Joe Namath vs. Johnny Unitas

[sport historian]

ESPN Classic is showing a 1972 Jets-Colts "NFL Game Of The Week" at 8am ET Tuesday morning May 31. In this game Namath and Unitas combined for 872 yards, with 496 and 6 TD passes for Namath. This game was 2 weeks before Unitas was replaced as Colt QB.


One of the TD passes was a short pass to John Riggins who went 80 yards with it.This play shows how much speed Riggins had.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

sport historian, I saw that one a while back, and it's sad that Unitas was replaced. Namath wasn't good but for a couple more years, and then he was replaced. Your right about Riggins. He was fast, and doesn't get enough credit for his speed. I think the media tried to put him into the box of "bruisers" because of how he played late in his career, without ackowledging his speed. This is just one example of a cover-up by the caste system's willing accomplices in the media.

 

[Don Wassall]

I remember reading many years ago that Riggins ran a 9.6 100 (yard dash). For someone of his size that was really motoring.

 

[sport historian]

A few years ago, I saw a film of Riggins running 69 yards for a TD against Oklahoma in a 1970 game. I was amazed at how fast he was. I have a paperback book about Riggins titled Riggins In Motion (1985) by Denis Harrington, the only bio of John Riggins ever written. The author never gives any clockings of Riggins's speed.The main theme of the book is his off-field eccentricities.


From seeing films of both, I believe Riggins was faster than Franco Harris and ran harder as well. It's interesting to speculate on what John Riggins would have done if he had been drafted by the Steelers instead of the Jets in 1971. Could being on the 70's Steelers have motivated him to play with the intensity he did with the Redskins in the 80's?

 

[Don Wassall]

I've ripped on Franco being the "Father of the Run-Out-Of-Bounds" lengthen my career at all costs ployinstead of gaining the maximum yardage out of each play as a runner and team player should, but when he first joined the Steelers he was an awesome runner. He was a huge "reach" as a first round pick out of Penn State, where he was the fullback who played second fiddle to Lydell Mitchell. Being half Italian half black made it really cool for both sides of the racial divide when he came to Pittsburgh.


His first few years he not only had the elusiveness that most people remember him for, he also ran people over. He was a tank. Which makes his scamper out of bounds move rather ironic.


Harris and Riggins were comparable backs, all-time greats from the same time period.

 

[surfsider]

Riggins still holds the 100 and 220 records for his high school, Centralia, KS. 9.8 for the 100 and 21.7 for the 220. He also won two state 100 titles.Edited by: surfsider

 

[sport historian]

Yes, Franco ran harder early in his career as Don says. I remember reading an article on pro prospects in 1971 where a scout was quoted as saying, "We used to like Franco Harris better than Lydell Mitchell." In 1971, Joe Paterno gave Mitchell most of the carries for Penn State and Lydell got over 1500 yards and nearly 30 TD's. As I remember in Roy Blount's book, Chuck Noll is supposed to have wanted Robert Newhouse, but his scouts insisted that he take Franco.


As I wrote in a post a few months ago, Franco Harris was considered the key man for the Steeler offense from 1972-75. Terry Bradshaw become more dominant in the late 70's.