NFL Defenses of 1977

[SeahawkFever]

The 1977 NFL season was the final season before the implementation of the Mel Blount rule which impacted both coverage and blocking, and on paper it looks like it was quite a year for defense in the NFL.

In that season, every single team listed below had a defense that allowed under 17 points per game on average.

The teams and their opposing point totals are as follows:

Atlanta Falcons: 129
Los Angeles Rams: 146
Denver Broncos: 148
Washington Redskins: 189
Miami Dolphins: 197
San Diego Chargers: 205
Philadelphia Eagles: 207
Dallas Cowboys: 212
New England Patriots: 217
Green Bay Packers: 219
Baltimore Colts: 221
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 223
Minnesota Vikings: 227
Oakland Raiders: 230
Houston Oilers: 230
Cincinnati Bengals: 235

A number of things I notice:

1. There are six teams that allowed under 200 points; the most of any season with a 14 game schedule.

2. By my count that’s 16 teams that allowed 17 points per game or less on average out of 28, so a majority of the league. If there is another year where that large a share of the teams allowed that few points per game, then I have yet to come across it.

The closest potential parallel I’ve found is 1942 when five of the ten teams allowed less than 17 points per game, but that was when the season was three games shorter.

3. According to a StatMuse search I did, there were 24 different shutouts in the regular season of 1977; the most of any season of at least 14 games; including the 1976 season when the Steelers defense had five shutouts by themselves.

All told in 1977, 18 different teams recorded at least one shutout, with the Rams recording three (including one against a 12th ranked offense in the Browns), the Falcons, Redskins, Bears, and Oilers each getting two, and 13 other teams had one each, including the Lions and Steelers who both allowed more than 17 points per game.

4. I notice that the Steelers aren’t among these teams. They gave up 17.4 points per game, and finished 17th on defense and simultaneously were only a year removed from being the best defense in the league in 1976, and were only a year away from being the best defense in the league the following season. Did they have injuries?

5. Obviously the Bucs were an expansion team with a historically awful offense who got shut out six times, and the Seahawks were once too (though they ranked solidly offensively) but that still leaves 17 other shutouts league-wide. The Bucs may explain the shutout record, but I don’t think they’d necessarily explain everything, let alone all the league wide averages of the teams listed above.

Any explanations for why the defenses league wide played this well as a collective?

6. How about this for passing stats:

There were only six quarterbacks (Bob Griese, Ken Stabler, Roger Staubach, Bert Jones, Craig Morton, and Pat Haden) who threw as many as ten or more touchdowns, and didn’t throw more interceptions than touchdowns, and this includes a season of 20 touchdowns and 20 picks by Stabler. Griese led the league in passing touchdowns with 22.

Also, only five quarterbacks threw for 2,500 passing yards (Joe Ferguson, Jones, Staubach, Jim Hart, and Terry Bradshaw).

7. How about this for the players from scrimmage:

Walter Payton had an incredible season where he rushed for 1,852 yards, led the league in rushing touchdowns with 14, and in yards per carry with 5.5. He also led in yards from scrimmage with 2,121, and won himself an MVP in potentially one of the best running back seasons ever.

After him though, a look at the league as a whole will reveal that only two other players rushed for 1,200 yards, only three players reached as many as 800 receiving yards, and only five players including Payton scored as many as ten touchdowns from scrimmage; the latter is the fewest of any year from 1970-1977 (the eight years between the merger and Mel Blount rule), and in that range only 1974 has as few players with 800 receiving yards, but at least that year had two 1,000 yard receivers.

Admittedly some of it could be the way the teams chose to use their players in their offenses, but regardless those offensive totals sound kind of underwhelming even for that era for players near the top of the leaderboards. Correct me if I’m wrong?

8. In the 1977 playoffs, the losing team was held to 17 points or less in five of the seven playoff games; including both conference championship games and the Super Bowl. Though only once, in the divisional round matchup between the Vikings and Rams (that was the Mud Bowl correct me if I’m wrong?) did the winning team not score 17 points.

9. For the record, the following players were the AP’s all-pro selections in 1977:

1st Team:

DE: Harvey Martin
DE: Lyle Alzado
DT: Cleveland Elam
DT: Joe Greene
LB: Jack Ham
LB: Randy Gradishar
LB: Tom Jackson
CB: Rolland Lawrence
CB: Roger Wehrli
FS: Cliff Harris
SS: Bill Thompson

2nd Team:
DE: Claude Humphrey
DE: Jack Youngblood
DT: Louie Kelcher
DT: Rubin Carter
LB: Bill Bergey
LB: Isiah Robertson
LB: Robert Brazille
CB: Monte Jackson
CB: Mike Haynes
SS: Charlie Waters
FS: Lyle Blackwood

Baseball Historians have labeled 1968 the year of the pitcher. Well in the NFL, could 1977 be the year of NFL defense if there is one?

[Brian wolf]

Though Griese led the league in TD passes, he had six of those in one game. Chuck Noll complained about the rules changes, saying it made mediocre receivers suddenly become good. I wonder which receivers he thought as "mediocre"?

[SeahawkFever]

Though Griese led the league in TD passes, he had six of those in one game. Chuck Noll complained about the rules changes, saying it made mediocre receivers suddenly become good. I wonder which receivers he thought as "mediocre"?

Very true, Griese had six touchdowns in one game, and a number of one and two touchdown performances; all told he threw at least one touchdown in 11 games in 1977. Ken Stabler who was the only other quarterback to throw 20 touchdowns that year also had at least one in 11 games.

Roger Staubach who had 18 touchdowns and finished third had 12 games where he threw at least one touchdown pass.

[Jay Z]

Just like in baseball in the 1960s, 1977 was a culmination of strategic and rule changes.

As much as some people here love the 1970s, the 1950s and 1960s were recognizable two platoon football as well, with higher scoring, more successful passing than you had in 1977. If the NFL was trying to get back to that standard, I do not blame them at all.

Too many games up through 1977 were humdrum with QBs and receivers that had no chance to get anything ignited. I prefer a game where a "B" quarterback like Earl Morrall or Dave Krieg can get a hot hand and score some points, win some games. By 1977 that was basically never going to happen, it was all attrition football, the teams with the big defenses and depth won every single time. It was a bad game IMO on both the pro and college level, and I'm glad steps were taken to loosen it up.

[SeahawkFever]

Just like in baseball in the 1960s, 1977 was a culmination of strategic and rule changes.

As much as some people here love the 1970s, the 1950s and 1960s were recognizable two platoon football as well, with higher scoring, more successful passing than you had in 1977. If the NFL was trying to get back to that standard, I do not blame them at all.

Too many games up through 1977 were humdrum with QBs and receivers that had no chance to get anything ignited. I prefer a game where a "B" quarterback like Earl Morrall or Dave Krieg can get a hot hand and score some points, win some games. By 1977 that was basically never going to happen, it was all attrition football, the teams with the big defenses and depth won every single time. It was a bad game IMO on both the pro and college level, and I'm glad steps were taken to loosen it up.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking the Mel Blount rule or any rule changes that followed. I’d agree that the league probably would be too low scoring, and I could see why quarterbacks who weren’t among the best would be less likely to make an impact.

I just saw a year in the league where it looked like NFL defenses dominated as a collective and was just curious as to what reasons people would give to why that specific year was so low scoring.

Also by “attrition football” do you mean smashmouth?

And given the reply, I’d take it that it could be fair to say that 1977 is to the NFL what 1968 is to the MLB: A very low scoring year even by the standards of its era that led to rule changes to increase scoring?

To clarify: I like a good amount of scoring (certainly more than what happened then anyway), and I favor the rule changes they’ve made in general (the Mel Blount rule at that time made perfect sense), but conversely I also can’t help but wonder what kind of stats a secondary like the Legion of Boom Seahawks or some others that played years later could have put up if they played under the rules of 1970-1977.

[JohnTurney]

the Mel Blount rule

Interesting note the phrase "Mel Blount rule" never showed up in print until 1990.

he was part of it but Chuck Noll actually said the rule was going to help Blount and his fellow
Steelers CBs because they couldn't be penalized for "riding" receivers within 5 yards.

Maybe he was being facetious because I think he opposed the rules.

Sorry, that had nothing to do with your post --- just thought that was interesting ...
the rules on bump zone had roots back to 1973 with what Dolphins did to Isaac Curtis in '73 playoffs --
paul brown has things to say about that at the 74 league meetings.

As to your larger point, the NFL's "dead ball era" has been talked about I think back to the days of
"The Hidden Game" roughly refers to 1971/72 through 1977 being "dead ball" with 1977 being the culmination. I think peak sack year was 1976.


There were books in the 1980s, maybe "Football by the Numbers" that also addressed it ... plus
magazines and things, so you're right in line for what was written then ... defense was dominating
and you outline the facts very well.

The change in hashes made both sides closer to even, Cover-2 could be used more often. That is also when teams began
to use 5 DBs more and more, third down rushers. Teams putting in 3-4 and most that did it would go 3-4 on run downs and
then 4-2-5 on pass downs and offenses didn't have the answers. There have been quite a few things posited as reasons.

My best guess it it was several things at once, hitting critical mass, causing the rule changes.

[Brian wolf]

In most respects, artificial turf helped create the 1970's dead ball era. With Allen in Washington, Carson in Pittsburgh, Arnsparger in Miami and other quality coaches bringing in sophisticated zone defenses and cover-two coverages, offenses had to move patiently to score points and the hard defensive hits, along with hitting the hard cement surfaces, took a toll on many skill positions. Players had to feel relieved or ready to regroup when playing following games on grass fields.

[Bryan]

Just like in baseball in the 1960s, 1977 was a culmination of strategic and rule changes.

As much as some people here love the 1970s, the 1950s and 1960s were recognizable two platoon football as well, with higher scoring, more successful passing than you had in 1977. If the NFL was trying to get back to that standard, I do not blame them at all.

Too many games up through 1977 were humdrum with QBs and receivers that had no chance to get anything ignited. I prefer a game where a "B" quarterback like Earl Morrall or Dave Krieg can get a hot hand and score some points, win some games. By 1977 that was basically never going to happen, it was all attrition football, the teams with the big defenses and depth won every single time. It was a bad game IMO on both the pro and college level, and I'm glad steps were taken to loosen it up.

I think some of it is that many of the HCs in the NFL at that time had defensive backgrounds and tended to be conservative. George Allen's Redskins went 9-5 despite scoring less than 200 points. It is kind of like the 'negative soccer' that infected the EPL back in the Chelsea/Jose Mourhino days, when teams played for 0-0 draws and the priority was to waste time. Guys like Bill Walsh couldn't find employment, and Coryell got fired.

Two stat tidbits that I find interesting. I read that the WR with the most receptions from 1975 - 1977 was....Bob Chandler. Weird. And the 1977 Raiders averaged 49 rushing attempts per game....when will anyone approach that mark in today's NFL?

[JohnH19]

The movement of the hashmarks in 1972 was intended to open up the passing game. It was a huge miscalculation which immediately led to the passing game becoming an afterthought as offences quickly discovered that having two wide sides of the field to work with was much more beneficial to the running game. This created the need for the 1978 rule changes regarding pass blocking and pass coverage which eventually led to the video game brand of football we have today.

[Jay Z]

One factor that finally tipped the balance in 1977 is likely that many teams couldn't even run the ball particularly well any more. The rushing average was 4.1 in 1976, in 1977 it was 3.8, despite more carries. Defenses knew year over year they didn't need to respect the pass, teams tried to run, defenses then stopped the run and there was nowhere to go. A lot of the rushing statistics, particularly in the NFC, are fairly dismal for the weaker teams. Something had to change.