he Green Bay Packers had one of their most dominant performances during their best season when they crushed the Philadelphia Eagles 49-0 in Philadelphia back in 1962. The win improved the Packers record to 9-0-0 on the season while the Eagles dropped to 1-7-1.
Bart Starr was extremely efficient, completing 15-of-20 passes for 274 yards. The only touchdown pass of the game was thrown by halfback Tom Moore who tossed a 25-yard touchdown toss to Boyd Dowler in the Packers 28-point second quarter. Moore threw three halfback option passes and completed one while Paul Hornung completed both of his passing attempts in this game for 31 yards.
Jim Taylor was the most dominant player on the Green Bay offense. The Hall of Fame fullback carried the ball 25 times for 141 yards and four touchdowns which was his career-high. Moore ran for 49 yards on 14 carries and added two touchdown runs of his own.
“It’s a team game, and I was just doing my job,” Taylor said in a 2011 interview.
Dowler and Max McGee both gained more than 100 yards receiving with Dowler catching seven passes for 101 yards while McGee snagged seven balls for a career-high 174 yards.
The Packers offense set a new NFL record by picking up 37 first downs in this game. It remains the franchise record 58 years later. The Packers attack was balanced, gaining 294 rushing yards and 330 through the air for a total of 624 yards.
The Pack’s six rushing touchdowns also tied a team record that still stands to this day.
How good was the Packers offense? In addition to the 624 total yards, they scored on seven straight drives. The shortest of those drives was 65 yards, the longest went for 89. Simply put, the Packers just kept marching down the field and there was nothing the Eagles could do to slow them down.
The defense was just as dominant, holding the Eagles to just three first downs all game and allowing just 54 total yards. The Packers defense sacked Eagles quarterbacks Sonny Jurgensen and King Hill four times. Jurgensen finished the game with four completions in 13 attempts for 35 yards. Hill was 5-of-12 for 21 yards. The Eagles didn’t pick up a first down until the final minute of the first half and they didn’t cross midfield until late in the fourth quarter.
The score could have been worse but the Packers lost the turnover battle, losing one fumble while Starr was picked off by future NFL Today co-host Irv Cross. Willie Wood picked off Jurgensen to give the Packers their only takeaway of the game.
“I think this is the best game we played this year,” Starr said after the game. “Just about everything we did went right. It makes it awfully easy, awfully nice.”
The Packers had five games left on their schedule but were trying to deflect discussion of a perfect season. “We don’t think about being undefeated,” Lombardi told reporters. “I think that it’s highly improbable that we could. Every time we go out there, we have just one thing in mind: win.”
Eagles head coach Nick Skorich was impressed with the Packers performance. “It’s definitely my worst day since I’ve been playing or coaching. It’s very embarrassing. No National Football League team should dominate another like that. I can’t even remember a team like theirs. They have great blocking and execution.”
The Packers had plenty of incentive in this game as they tried to get some measure of revenge for the 1960 NFL Championship Game which the Packers had lost to the Eagles on this same field 17-13. Taylor was stopped on that day by Chuck Bednarik nine yards short of the end zone as time expired.
“It was a nice victory for us over the Eagles after the loss in 1960…We were a team on a mission to win a second championship.” Cite JS On LINE
Halfback Paul Hornung expressed just how confident the Packers were after this victory. “We’re the greatest team in the history of the National Football League—up till now.”
The Packers continued to dominate all season with their only loss coming on Thanksgiving Day to the Lions in Detroit. Green Bay finished the season with a 13-1-0 mark and outscored their opponents 415 to 148 or an average score per game of nearly 30-11. The Packers defeated the Giants 16-7 at a windy and cold Yankee Stadium to win their second straight NFL title under Lombardi.
The Packers have had many one-sided wins in their 100-plus year history, but this may have been the most impressive game ever.
Follow Gil Martin on Twitter @GilPackers
Click here for more great Packers coverage
Visit my website for all things Gil Martin
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
