1964: Lenny Moore Reaches 20 TDs as Colts Beat Redskins

During the spring and summer of 1964, the Baltimore Colts looked to see what sort of trade they could make for HB Lenny Moore. Moore, who had been drafted out of Penn State in the first round in 1956, had been a key player in winning back-to-back championships in 1958 and ’59. As a halfback who posted gaudy yards-per-attempt averages on his occasional runs from scrimmage and was perhaps even more dangerous as a receiver out of the backfield (often lining up at flanker), he was named to the Pro Bowl in five consecutive seasons and was a consensus first-team All-NFL selection from 1958 thru ‘61.

But injuries had dramatically reduced his effectiveness in 1962 and ’63. He fractured his kneecap in ’62 and went down with a rib injury in the 1963 preseason. Two days before the opening game of the ’63 season, he underwent an appendectomy. Returning to action for the third game of the year, new Head Coach Don Shula moved him to split end because of an injury to another of the offense’s stalwarts, Raymond Berry. After five games he was shifted back to halfback, but a week later suffered a head injury that cost him the remainder of the season (he had also suffered a head injury in 1961). Along the way, Moore got into feuds with both the Colts front office and Head Coach Weeb Ewbank (prior to his departure following the 1962 season).

Appearing in 10 games in 1962, Moore played more as a halfback than a flanker and accumulated over a hundred carries for the first time in his career (106) but also caught the fewest passes (18) since his rookie season. In ’63, making it into just seven games, he gained only 136 yards on 27 rushing attempts and caught 21 passes. At age 30, and with the younger Tom Matte showing promise at halfback, it appeared that he was on the way out.

However, while the Colts came close to dealing Moore to the Giants and Cowboys, they couldn’t get the price they wanted and the halfback remained with the team. On December 13, 1964 against Washington, Moore capped an amazing comeback by becoming the first player in NFL history to score 20 touchdowns in a season.

It had not looked promising for Moore when he started the ’64 season on the bench, with Matte in the starting lineup, in a loss to the Vikings. However, he did get into the game and scored twice, including his one pass reception of the day that covered 70 yards. Moore was back in the starting lineup the following week, and scored two more TDs in a 21-20 win over Green Bay. By the season finale against the Redskins, he had scored 18 touchdowns, putting him one short of Jim Taylor’s league record of 19 set two years earlier with the Packers. He also, counting the last three games that he appeared in during the ’63 season, had scored at least one TD in an NFL-record 16 straight games.

The Colts were doing well, too. After the opening game loss to Minnesota, they weren’t beaten again until the previous week against the Lions, giving them a record of 11-2. In combination with fullbacks Tony Lorick and Jerry Hill, Moore gave the club a potent running attack, thus improving the effectiveness of the passing game which, with star QB Johnny Unitas at the helm, was already formidable.

Washington, under Head Coach Bill McPeak, had an outstanding quarterback of its own in Sonny Jurgensen, a great receiver in flanker Bobby Mitchell, and exciting rookie halfback Charley Taylor. But there were too many holes, especially on the offensive line, and the Redskins were 6-7 entering the game at Baltimore.

Conditions were foggy at Memorial Stadium, and some of the 60,213 fans in attendance had difficulty seeing the action on the field. The Redskins scored first on a 17-yard run by HB Pervis Atkins thanks to a Baltimore fumble on the opening kickoff. Baltimore came back with a 25-yard Lou Michaels field goal and took the lead in the second quarter on a 30-yard pass play from Unitas to Berry.

Play was sloppy throughout as the Colts, no doubt looking ahead to the title game in Cleveland, fumbled the ball away four times. Moore coughed the ball up once, at his own 11, but Washington fumbled it back as DE Gino Marchetti recovered at the 20. However, Unitas fumbled and the Redskins’ Jim Martin kicked a 25-yard field goal to tie the contest at 10-10 at the half.

Baltimore took command in the second half. First, safety Jerry Logan recovered a Washington fumble at the Redskins’ 40, leading to a seven-yard Jerry Hill TD run. While Washington responded with a two-yard scoring run by Jurgensen, Unitas threw another TD pass, this time of 22 yards to TE John Mackey. It was all Colts the rest of the way as they outscored the Redskins in the second half by 35-7.

Moore scored twice in a five minute period in the fourth quarter. The first touchdown, a run of three yards, tied Taylor’s record for TDs and extended his streak. The second, from a yard out, was the record-setting 20th. Moore received a huge ovation from the home crowd after the record-breaking TD. With the game safely out of reach for the Redskins, Shula was able to rest most of his starters for the remainder of the game that the Colts won by a final score of 45-17.

Jerry Hill was the running star for the Colts – used effectively on trap plays in the second half, he scored one touchdown and set up another with a 56-yard run as he totaled 90 yards on 8 carries. Before backup Gary Cuozzo entered the game to mop up, Johnny Unitas completed 13 of 20 passes for 226 yards with two touchdowns against one interception. Also of note, Raymond Berry, by catching 5 passes for 89 yards, passed Billy Howton to become the NFL’s all-time career pass receiving leader (506, to Howton’s 503; Berry would eventually end up with 631).

The Colts ended up with the league’s best record at 12-2, but were upset by the Browns in the NFL Championship game. Washington finished at 6-8, tied with the Eagles for third in the Eastern Conference.

Other than setting the touchdown record, Lenny Moore had a rather ordinary day against Washington, running for just 22 yards on 13 carries. But there was no question as to his value to the Colts throughout the year, and he received the Jim Thorpe trophy as league MVP from the Newspaper Enterprise Association (Unitas was the consensus MVP choice, however) and was a consensus first-team All-NFL selection and Pro Bowl choice. Utilized more as a runner than a receiver, he scored 16 of the 20 touchdowns on the ground and gained 584 yards on a career-high 157 carries (he also scored one TD on a fumble recovery). To be sure, he was still an effective pass receiver and averaged 22.5 yards-per-catch on 21 receptions for 472 yards with three TDs. Moore was the NFL’s leading scorer with 120 points and his 1056 total yards from scrimmage ranked eighth.

Moore’s consecutive game touchdown streak finally ended at 19, in the second week of the 1965 season (it was eventually tied by the Chargers’ LaDainian Tomlinson in 2005). At the time of his retirement following the 1967 season, he ranked second to only Jim Brown in career touchdowns with 113. It is a testament to his versatility that 63 of those TDs came on the ground while 48 came through the air (in fact, from 1959 thru ’63, most of his touchdowns had come via pass receptions). He also scored on a kickoff return and the aforementioned fumble recovery.

The 6’1”, 190-pound Moore gained 5174 yards on 1069 carries (4.8 avg.) and 6039 yards on 363 pass receptions (16.6 avg.), making him the first player to gain 5000 yards both rushing and receiving. His versatility made him invaluable to the Colts, and their decision to not give him away in 1964 proved to be a good one. The five consensus first-team All-Pro selections and seven Pro Bowls attest to that value. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1975.

1964: Tarkenton’s Heroics Lead Vikings to First-Ever Win Over Packers

The Minnesota Vikings had endured the typical growing pains of an NFL expansion team in the first three years of existence (1961-63). Under Head Coach Norm Van Brocklin, there was reason for optimism entering the 1964 season that the pieces were coming together. They had gone 5-8-1 in ’63 and nearly upset the Bears and Colts – two of the most powerful teams in the Western Conference – along the way (they fought the eventual-champion Bears to a late-season tie).

24-year-old QB Fran Tarkenton had grown along with the team and, while his propensity for scrambling away from the pocket grated on Van Brocklin, it made him one of the most exciting quarterbacks in the league as well as one of the most promising. The running back tandem of HB Tommy Mason and FB Bill Brown was a good one, and split end Paul Flatley was coming off of an outstanding rookie season. The offensive line was anchored by C Mick Tingelhoff and OT Grady Alderman. The defense contained some good players, including DE Jim Marshall, DT Paul Dickson, and linebackers Bill Jobko and Rip Hawkins, and they were being joined by first draft choice DE Carl Eller.

The Vikings beat Baltimore in the opening game but were coming off losses to the Bears and Rams as they prepared to take on the Green Bay Packers at City Stadium on October 4, a club they had never beaten in six tries.

After winning the Western Conference title three straight years, including NFL Championships in 1961 and ’62, Head Coach Vince Lombardi’s team had barely lost out to the Bears in 1963. They were 2-1 and the only loss had come by one point against the Colts. However, the Packers were missing star FB Jim Taylor due to a shoulder injury; Tom Moore, normally a halfback, took his place in the lineup. Also out were two more future Hall of Famers, CB Herb Adderley and DT Henry Jordan.

Tarkenton utilized his scrambling ability throughout the game to keep the Packers defense off balance and complete key passes. In their second possession, the Vikings covered 67 yards in 10 plays, highlighted by passes of 25 and 32 yards to end Tom Hall. Bill Brown went straight ahead for a TD on the first play of the second quarter to give Minnesota the early lead.

The Packers bounced back as QB Bart Starr connected with flanker Boyd Dowler on a 50-yard pass play for a TD that featured Dowler leaping high and bouncing off of two Vikings defenders. However, the extra point attempt by Paul Hornung was blocked by Rip Hawkins.

Minnesota responded with a 14-play, 78-yard drive that again ended with a short carry by Brown for the touchdown. Tarkenton set up the score with a 12-yard run. Green Bay again came back to score, with Hornung diving in for a TD and successfully converting the PAT attempt with 43 seconds left in the half. The Vikings led 14-13 at halftime.

Green Bay got a break on the first play from scrimmage of the third quarter when Brown fumbled and safety Willie Wood recovered at the Minnesota 32. The Packers took advantage as Starr hit Dowler for a second TD pass completion, this time covering 32 yards. Hornung’s point after was good and Green Bay was ahead for the first time, 20-14.

The Vikings were subsequently able to keep the Packers pinned deep in their own territory thanks to good punts. Later in the third quarter, Hornung fumbled at the end of a nine-yard run on the Green Bay 19 and Bill Jobko recovered for the Vikings. Five plays later, from the six yard line, Tarkenton scrambled all the way back to the 20 before connecting with Hall for a touchdown.

In the fourth quarter and down by a point, Starr directed the Green Bay offense on a drive that finally stalled at the Minnesota 10. Hornung booted a 20-yard field goal with 4:52 left to play and the Packers were once again in the lead at 23-21.

Green Bay appeared to have the win sewn up when the Vikings, in the ensuing possession, faced a fourth-and-22 situation at their own 36 yard line with under a minute remaining on the clock. At that point, the biggest play of the game occurred when Tarkenton, seeing no receivers open, scrambled for time and barely eluded the grasp of DE Willie Davis to complete a 43-yard pass to TE Gordon Smith down to the Green Bay 21. Shortly thereafter, Fred Cox kicked a 27-yard field goal and the Vikings were the winners by a score of 24-23.

The statistics reflected the closely-fought nature of the game. Minnesota had slight edges in total yards (332 to 325), rushing yards (179 to 128), and first downs (21 to 17). Each team surrendered three sacks and turned the ball over once.

Fran Tarkenton completed 11 of 16 passes for 177 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions; he also ran for 49 yards on six carries. Tom Hall led the receivers with 6 catches for 97 yards and a TD. Bill Brown (pictured below) was the top runner with 67 yards on 24 carries and the two short touchdowns while HB Tom Michel, playing in place of the injured Tommy Mason, added another 55 yards on 16 attempts.


For Green Bay, Bart Starr was successful on 11 of 21 passes for 216 yards and two TDs against no interceptions. Boyd Dowler grabbed 6 passes for 128 yards and two scores. Tom Moore, in place of Jim Taylor, gained 68 yards on 12 carries and Paul Hornung was right behind at 60 yards, also on 12 attempts, with a touchdown but also the one costly fumble.

It was the second one-point loss of the season for the Packers, and in both instances a missed extra point attempt by Hornung had made the difference in the final score. Hornung had missed the 1963 season due to a suspension by the commissioner for gambling, and while he was still a capable halfback, his kicking woes were a nagging issue throughout the year – he didn’t miss any further extra points, but he was good on only 12 of 38 field goal attempts.

However, on this day, as the Vikings defeated the Packers for the first time, the bigger story was Tarkenton’s performance. Vince Lombardi expressed admiration for the young quarterback, talking about “fantastic catches on passes other quarterbacks wouldn’t even throw…That Tarkenton is a tough little guy.” Willie Davis added, “You think you have him and he just gets away.”

His own coach, Van Brocklin, said, “We try to keep him in the pocket, but his ability to get away sure is a plus for him.” On this day, The Dutchman could not complain.

The Packers turned the tables on the Vikings four weeks later in Minnesota by a convincing 42-13 margin. But overall, both teams ended up tied for second place in the Western Conference with 8-5-1 records. For Green Bay, it was a disappointing season, but for the Vikings it was the first winning record in franchise history and a sign of progress (a fleeting sign, however, as they dropped to 7-7 in ’65 and didn’t post another tally over .500 until 1968, in Bud Grant’s second year as head coach).

For the year, Fran Tarkenton ranked second in the league in yards per attempt (8.2), completion percentage (55.9), and percentage of touchdown passes (7.2), third in passing (91.8 rating) and TD passes (22), and fourth with 2506 passing yards.

1964: Eagles Trade Tommy McDonald to Cowboys

Following the 1963 NFL season, the Philadelphia Eagles were a team in transition. They had a new owner, 36-year-old Jerry Wolman, and a new head coach/general manager, Joe Kuharich. Having finished in last place in the Eastern Conference in both 1962 and ’63, Kuharich decided a makeover of the team was in order, and he made several significant trades. The first major deal, on March 20, 1964, sent star flanker Tommy McDonald to the Dallas Cowboys for all-purpose kicker Sam Baker, DT John Meyers, and offensive lineman Lynn Hoyem.

The trade certainly generated plenty of controversy among Eagles fans. Since joining the club in 1957 as a third round draft choice out of Oklahoma, McDonald had become one of the most potent deep threats in the NFL. His statistics were formidable – 287 receptions for 5499 yards (a 19.2-yard average) with 66 touchdowns, including two thousand-yard seasons and four consecutive in which he scored at least 10 TDs. He was selected to five Pro Bowls and had received first or second team All-Pro recognition on four occasions.

Moreover, he was charismatic with an effervescent personality and had become a fan favorite. At 5’9” and 178 pounds, he was generally considered to be the smallest player in the NFL during his career, yet he was an intimidating force as he raced past opposing defenders while often making spectacular catches. When hit, he had a habit of bouncing up quickly, showing toughness and a lack of fear. Few receivers were more effective at running crossing routes.

Trading McDonald was a bitter pill for the fans, and it wasn’t helped that many questioned whether the Eagles had received equal value for the 29-year-old receiver (he would be 30 by the start of the ’64 season). Sam Baker was the best-known of the three players Philadelphia received from the Cowboys. Both a placekicker and punter, he had played under Kuharich when he was head coach at Washington and had led the league in field goals kicked in 1956 (17) and scoring in ’57 (77 points). After two years in Cleveland, Baker had moved on to Dallas for two years, where it was reported that his off-field carousing had worn out his welcome with Head Coach Tom Landry. A proven performer at age 35, with nine years of NFL experience, he had been twice selected to the Pro Bowl (1956 and ’63).

John Meyers, a 6’6”, 275-pound defensive tackle, was 24 years old and had been with the Cowboys for two years. He was considered to be a quality reserve. 25-year-old Lynn Hoyem, at 6’4” and 253 pounds, had backed up at center and guard and was expected to do the same for the Eagles.

All three players filled clear needs that the team had, and contributed. Baker stayed for six seasons and made the Pro Bowl twice while also leading the NFL in field goal percentage in 1966 (72.0 %, on 18 of 25 attempts). Meyers moved into the starting lineup and played for four years. Hoyem also stayed for four seasons in his utility role on the offensive line.

As for McDonald, the Cowboys moved him from flanker to split end. While Dallas already had an outstanding flanker in Frank Clarke, veteran split end Billy Howton had retired following the ’63 season. In upgrading the receiving corps for young QB Don Meredith, they also traded with Pittsburgh for another veteran deep threat, Buddy Dial. McDonald went on to have what, for him, was a rather mediocre season as he caught 46 passes for 612 yards (just 13.3 yards-per-reception) with only two touchdowns (one of them coming against the Eagles in Philadelphia).

With speedy rookie Bob Hayes joining the Cowboys in 1965, McDonald was traded to the Rams where he caught a career-high 67 passes for 1036 yards and nine TDs. He was selected to the Pro Bowl one last time and, after another year in Los Angeles followed by brief stints in Atlanta and Cleveland, McDonald retired after the 1968 season.

The McDonald deal to Dallas was arguably not the most controversial of the trades swung by Joe Kuharich in the 1963-64 offseason; the one made a few days later that sent QB Sonny Jurgensen to Washington for QB Norm Snead raised even more eyebrows and generated fierce debate long afterward. McDonald was something of a disappointment in Dallas, although he proved with the Rams that he still could be an effective receiver. But none of the players received could replace the excitement and spirit that he had provided the Eagles and their fans.