Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Top 50 NFL Quarterbacks: # 24 - Sammy Baugh


Sammy Baugh

Sammy Baugh is by far the oldest quarterback to make it into this countdown, and while his statistics don't look eye-popping by today's standards, he was easily the top QB of his era, and is often credited as the person who first popularized the forward pass as a standard football play.

Baugh was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the first round in 1937, at a time when quarterback wasn't even considered a position. He started out as a tailback, but back then the ball was snapped to anyone in the backfield, and as a rookie he set a league record for completions in a season, with 81, and led the league with 1127 yards, 300 yards more than his nearest competition.

Not only did he introduce the league to true passing that year, he also led the Redskins to the Eastern Division title, which earned them a berth in the championship game. They played that game against the Chicago Bears at Wrigley Field, and Baugh threw for 335 yards and 3 touchdowns to lead Washington to an upset victory, 28-21. His 335 yards remained the playoff rookie record until 2012, when Russell Wilson broke it, a run of 75 years.

The Redskins finished in second place the next two years, which kept them out of the title game, but they made it back in 1940, as Baugh led the league again with 1367 yards and 12 touchdowns, getting them into the title game against Chicago again. It didn't go as well as it had before, with the Bears scoring the biggest win in league history, 73-0. Washington threw 8 interceptions altogether in that game, 2 coming from Baugh.

They again met the Bears in the 1942 and 1943 title games, winning the first and losing the second, giving him 2 titles in 4 tries during his first 7 seasons. Then in 1945, he set a new league record for completion percentage, at 70.3%, which would remain the record for 37 years, and is still the fourth-highest in league history. They lost to the Cleveland Browns 15-14 in that season's title game, his fifth appearance in the big game.

By the time he retired in 1952, he had led the league in passing yards 4 times, touchdowns twice, and completion percentage 9 times. He threw for nearly 3000 yards in 1947, went to 5 title games, and won two championships. He was also one of the original 17 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His numbers don't look incredible compared to some of today's QB's, but he was a winner, an innovator, and far ahead of his time.

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