Pro Football Reference has just rolled out some stats from the earliest years of the National Football League.
In a blog post, PFR announced that courtesy of a donation from legendary sports researcher David Neft, they’re now able to offer fairly reliable stats from the 1920-1931 seasons (and 1932, in some cases). That means we’re looking at numbers that predate the Packers’ presence in the NFL. For that matter, these numbers predate the NFL itself, since the league wasn’t officially born until 1922,
having operated as the American Pro Football Association prior to that.
The full writeup is worth your time, but let me draw out a few highlights that might pique your interest.
The Packers were one of the most successful teams in the NFL during the era these numbers come from (though they didn’t win their first title until 1929), and the stats show why.
Two of the most prolific passers from this era did most or all of their damage with the Packers: Red Dunn and Curly Lambeau. You’ll find a similar story among the most productive receivers; the first (Johnny Blood), second (Lavvie Dilweg), and third place (Charlie Mathys) pass catchers all spent the bulk of their productive years in Green Bay.
The Packers don’t have a huge number of productive rushers on the list, but the one who does make an appearance deserves special attention. According to these numbers, Verne Lewellen ran for at least 2,278 yards during his NFL career, and that’s barely scratching the surface on his impact.
The article from PFR describes Lewellen as a “glaring omission” from the Pro Football Hall of Fame (I agree), and these stats help show why. Not only was Lewellen a great rusher, he produced the most yards from scrimmage of any player during this era (beating out teammate Johnny Blood) and was a dominant punter.
A dominant punter? It’s true. Punting was a much different part of the game in the early days of pro football. With no hash marks on the field and inconsistent offensive power, punting well could swing a game; you really could pin a team in their own territory if you managed to stick the ball deep in a corner. And when it came to punting, Lewellen was the very best. His 25,895 punting yards more than double the output of the next most productive punter in PFR’s numbers. He might have a claim as the best punter of all time, at least relative to his peers.
Now, there are some disclaimers here. Pro Football Reference readily and openly admits that these stats are “pre-official” and come from a variety of sources of varying degrees of reliability. You shouldn’t necessarily take these stats to the bank, and I’m sure Packers historian Cliff Christl will be along in the relatively near future picking some of these numbers apart. And he should! Part of the process of “doing history” is having open and robust discussions about the provenance of historical data, and PFR just did us a great favor on that front. And some of their sources are truly remarkable, like this compilation of very early stats from the Packers themselves. (What I wouldn’t give to get my hands on that!)
But even with those disclaimers, this is a huge win for understanding the historical context of a whole bunch of great players. Even if the stats aren’t official, anything that showcases the achievements of some of the best to ever do it is a blessing for football fans.
