As I stated on my Sportz Redskins Journal…I attended the Bengals-Browns 58-48 scoring fest. Simply amazing. Both teams created huge plays offensively and defensively in route to the second highest scoring game in history. I had no idea that that I just watched the highest scoring game since 1966. It wasn’t until I got home and saw the highlights on NFL Primetime that I was informed of that.
I have always known that my beloved Redskins were involved in the highest scoring game in NFL history. Thirty-eight years and one day ago, on November 27 1966, my Skins beat the New York Giants 72-41. The 72 points scored by Washington is still a regular season record [we did get trounced 73-0 by the Bears in the 1940 NFL Championship Game]. Before Sunday…that 113 point record was 14 points better than the second place mark….99 by the Seahawks and Chiefs in 1983.…and that was an overtime affair.
So, this was a memorable day, I guess. I mean, the Mid American Conference….which houses nearby Miami-OH Redhawks and the Ohio Bobcats…are used to scores like this. Some WAC games turn out worse than this. What makes this a rarity is that BOTH teams are doing this. Cleveland was just a point shy of tying the record for most points scored by a losing team. In the NFL, teams that are pouring on the scoring tend to call of the dogs when the outcome is no longer in doubt. I mean, the Chiefs beat the Falcons 56-10 earlier this year…and could have beaten them worse. But, this game was in doubt. The Bengals led, pretty much the entire game. The Browns fought back and took a brief 48-44 lead midway in the fourth quarter. Cincy marched down the field and scored a TD to gain back the lead, 51-48. Then, as the Browns were driving under 2:00 left in the game, Kelly Holcomb threw a pass out in the flat that was picked off by Deltha O’Neal and ran back for the game clinching TD.
And that ended the 2nd highest scoring game in NFL history.
Later that night….the New Jersey Nets led the Portland Trailblazers 10-9.…..at the end of the FIRST QUARTER!!!! Portland led 30-25 at the half…which matched the lowest combined point total at halftime….IN NBA HISTORY!!! Earlier this season, the two teams played to a 64-60 Blazer victory.
Honestly….neither situation is good. Definitely no one wants to see low scoring games like that Nets-Blazer barnburner. If they did…then soccer would actually have a US fan base and people would be clamoring for the NHL to get back on the ice. Neither is happening. But, these freakish scores aren’t healthy either. I didn’t add up to championship rings when the Denver Nuggets were running and gunning in the early 1980s.
Unlike the NBA, these scoring anomalies aren’t really “trends”. As we said….it has been almost 40 years since teams scored like that. Of the next three highest scoring totals by a single team …all were done during 1949-1950. A 0-0 tie happened frequently in the early days of the NFL. But none since World War II.
I have no idea what you’d chalk up this game to. I mean, Jeff Garcia, Lee Suggs and Kellen Winslow were out for Cleveland. Carson Palmer entered the game as a question mark with a minor injury…and Chad Johnson suffered a concussion early on.
I enjoyed it. Especially since I kept looking at the scoreboard to see my Skins put up a pathetic 7 points against the Steelers. So, THIS is what offense looks like, huh??
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