Claudie Minor & Intentional Safeties

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Claudie Minor & Intentional Safeties
Started by Bryan, Sep 03 2014 10:54 AM

10 replies to this topic

#1 Bryan
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Posted 03 September 2014 - 10:54 AM
Two questions:
1) Claudie Minor's salary in 1980 was one of the tops in the NFL at $230,000. Why was his salary so high? Was he still working off of an old WFL contract?
2) When did teams start taking intentional safeties? When Griese took his in the 1973 MNF game against the Steelers, the announcers were completely perplexed and then after the game it came out that Jake Scott was the person who actually thought of taking an intentional safety, not Shula. I remember a few years later Rusty Jackson elected to take a safety at the end of the Rams-Cowboys 1976 playoff instead of getting yet another punt blocked by Charlie Waters. Were there instances prior to 1973 of teams taking intentional safeties?

#2 Mark L. Ford
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Posted 03 September 2014 - 12:32 PM
Looking over the linescores and game summaries that we have, I see that Giants' quarterback Charlie Conerly did it twice in his career. The first time was inexplicable, since the Giants were ahead of Cleveland 21-7 when he stepped out from a punt formation (10/14/56). Four years later (September 25, 1960), the Giants were ahead of the 49ers, 21-17, after a goal line stand in the closing minutes. Rather than risk a turnover, Conerly backed up and out of his own end zone for a 21-19 final.

The strategy was revived in a preseason game in 1967, after Jim Bakken suggested it to Coach Winner in order to buy some time for the Cardinals, who were pinned on their goal line and ahead of the Colts, 9-3, and he explained afterward that "we figured it would take a touchdown to beat us, either way". The only other instance I found before 1973 was Oakland against San Diego (11/21/71), where the Raiders had a 34-31 lead with a minute left, and punter Jerry DePoyster stepped out of the end zone, apparently to prevent a blocked punt from turning into a Chargers' touchdown.

#3 conace21
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Posted 03 September 2014 - 03:20 PM
One of the most unique international safeties came in a 1997 Jets-Colts game. NY led 16-10 in the 4th. Neil O'Donnell backed up from the line and when the rush started to get close, he rifled a beautiful pass through his own goal posts for a safety.

#4 luckyshow
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Posted 03 September 2014 - 03:28 PM
I believe the intentional safety is a far older strategy. For bad teams it made for a free kick from a better position on the field.

In addition in the very early game, the safety was just that, a safe way to reposition the kick. It didn't even carry any point total at first.

#5 Mark L. Ford
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Posted 03 September 2014 - 04:31 PM
Safeties did carry a negative value not long after the scrimmage system was adopted by the colleges. Hard as it may to be believed now, there were no point values but there was a priority for which plays were worth more than others different plays (originally, "a match shall be decided by a majority of touchdowns; a goal shall be equal to four touchdowns; but in case of a tie, a goal kicked from a touchdown shall take precedence over four touchdowns"). In 1881, safeties first got mentioned-- as you point out, they were pretty common-- and counted in rare situations ("If the game still remains a tie the side which makes four or more safeties less than their opponents shall win the game").

In the 1882 rule changes, four touchdowns took precedence over a field goal, but two safeties had the same value as a touchdown. Finally, in 1883, the safety was worth 1 point, the touchdown worth 2, the goal after touchdown worth 4, and a field goal 5. For 1884, the TD was 4 points, and a safety was what it is today "two points, to be added to the score of the opposing team".

It was common strategy in the 19th century for teams to punt the ball downfield, even right after kickoff, with the aim of recovering a turnover of the football (which was much rounder and much more difficult to hang on to), and to get better field position. It may well have been that the negative point value was assigned to safeties early on in order to discourage free kicks. Certainly, nobody would have wanted to intentionally give points to the other side, given that there was little scoring to begin with.

#6 Mark L. Ford
Administrators
Posted 03 September 2014 - 04:45 PM
Bryan, on 03 Sept 2014 - 10:54 AM, said:
Two questions:

1) Claudie Minor's salary in 1980 was one of the tops in the NFL at $230,000. Why was his salary so high? Was he still working off of an old WFL contract?

The first question was interesting as well. I was surprised that Claudie Minor made that much (the figure comes from a New York Times story in 1981, and Minor was listed as the highest paid offensive lineman in the league in 1980. His teammate, Randy Gradishar, was the best paid linebacker, at $271,000 so it may be that the Broncos were more generous than most -- did Minor even play in a Pro Bowl during his career? Top salary in 1980 was for Walter Payton ($475,000). The year after that, Archie Manning set a new record at $600K a year.

As far as I know, he didn't sign with the World Football League. Claude Watts was a big star for the WFL, and probably had a generous contract as well.

#7 BD Sullivan
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Posted 03 September 2014 - 06:29 PM
Some others:

12/13/1953: In the regular season finale against the Giants (Steve Owen's last game as HC), Yale Lary intentionally stepped out with less than five minutes to go and the Lions holding a 20-14 advantage.

11/11/1956: Trailing the Redskins 13-10, the Lions' Lary again intentionally steps out of the end zone with about 3-4 minutes left. However, the strategy fails, when Washington kicks a FG with less than two minutes to go to clinch it, although the Lions score a TD with 1:20 to cut the final margin to one, 18-17. The loss ends Detroit's undefeated season.

9/6/1958: In an exhibition game at Seattle, the Cardinals lead the Rams 27-24 with 1:15 left and are backed up against their own goal line. Bobby Gordon takes the intentional safety and the Cards win by a point.

11/2/1958: NOT taking an intentional safety cost the Cardinals a win against the Eagles. With a little more than a minute to go, the Cardinals were leading 21-14 and were set to punt from their goal line. Gordon was told to move back into the end zone, but after taking a few steps back, he saw some daylight and started running. Needing to get to the Cardinal 25, he only made it to the 21, and Norm Van Brocklin led the Eagles to the tying score.

9/21/1969: In Vince Lombardi's first game as Redskins' coach, the Saints (trailing 24-20) took an intentional safety in the closing minutes to try and get the ball back in decent field position. Billy Kilmer's Hail Mary pass at the gun failed.

#8 Wendell021
PFRA Member
Posted 04 September 2014 - 08:10 PM
The earliest intentional safety I could find in the NFL was by Shorty Barr of the Racine Legion against the Chicago Cardinals on November 25, 1923. With the Legion leading 10-2, Barr took the safety late in the game to make the final score 10-4. The Milwaukee Sentinel reported:

"Shorty Barr, in addition to running up six of the Racine points on a neat touchdown around the end of the impregnable Card line in the third period, made up the four points of the Chicago eleven, being downed for two safeties. The latter of the two safeties was a deliberate one on the third play before the end of the game in the fourth period, when Racine preferred to hold possession of the ball at all times, even if doing this meant points for the opponent."

#9 rhickok1109
PFRA Member
Posted 05 September 2014 - 09:34 AM
Mark L. Ford, on 03 Sept 2014 - 4:31 PM, said:
Safeties did carry a negative value not long after the scrimmage system was adopted by the colleges. Hard as it may to be believed now, there were no point values but there was a priority for which plays were worth more than others different plays (originally, "a match shall be decided by a majority of touchdowns; a goal shall be equal to four touchdowns; but in case of a tie, a goal kicked from a touchdown shall take precedence over four touchdowns"). In 1881, safeties first got mentioned-- as you point out, they were pretty common-- and counted in rare situations ("If the game still remains a tie the side which makes four or more safeties less than their opponents shall win the game").

In the 1882 rule changes, four touchdowns took precedence over a field goal, but two safeties had the same value as a touchdown. Finally, in 1883, the safety was worth 1 point, the touchdown worth 2, the goal after touchdown worth 4, and a field goal 5. For 1884, the TD was 4 points, and a safety was what it is today "two points, to be added to the score of the opposing team".

It was common strategy in the 19th century for teams to punt the ball downfield, even right after kickoff, with the aim of recovering a turnover of the football (which was much rounder and much more difficult to hang on to), and to get better field position. It may well have been that the negative point value was assigned to safeties early on in order to discourage free kicks. Certainly, nobody would have wanted to intentionally give points to the other side, given that there was little scoring to begin with.
The reason it's called a safety is that, in the early days, it was similar to a safety shot in straight pool. A team backed up near its own goal-line could down the ball behind the goal line, and they were then rewarded by being given at the ball at their own 25-yard line. This was a feature of the "block game," in which teams would settle for a scoreless tie rather than risking defeat. Typically, one team would control the ball for the entire first half without attempting to score and the other team would do the same for the entire second half.
The block game was eliminated in 1882, when a rule was passed requiring the offensive team to give up the ball if it coudn't gain 5 yards in three downs.

#10 oldecapecod 11
PFRA Member
Posted 05 September 2014 - 11:52 AM
But, in the NBA, 68 years later on Wednesday, November 22, 1950
Fort Wayne Pistons 19-18 v. Minneapolis Lakers
at Minneapolis Auditorium in Minneapolis, Minnesota w/ 7,021 attending
(I think George Mikan had most of the Lakers' points.)

#11 Mark L. Ford
Administrators
Posted 05 September 2014 - 02:51 PM
rhickok1109, on 05 Sept 2014 - 09:34 AM, said:
The reason it's called a safety is that, in the early days, it was similar to a safety shot in straight pool. A team backed up near its own goal-line could down the ball behind the goal line, and they were then rewarded by being given at the ball at their own 25-yard line. This was a feature of the "block game," in which teams would settle for a scoreless tie rather than risking defeat. Typically, one team would control the ball for the entire first half without attempting to score and the other team would do the same for the entire second half.
The block game was eliminated in 1882, when a rule was passed requiring the offensive team to give up the ball if it coudn't gain 5 yards in three downs.

That's interesting-- I never knew why it was called a safety, since it usually involved a costly accident on the part of the offense....