posted under: Ahman Green, Brett Favre, LaDainian Tomlinson, Packers, Paul Hornung
Some Records Were Broken And Some Were Just Scratched
They say that records are made to be broken, and that is something I would certainly agree to when we’re talking about anything that features Kenny G, Styx, or Justin Timberlake.
Actually there were a few milestones set in the Packers win over the Lions yesterday, not the least of which was Brett Favre reaching 4,974 pass completions to break Dan Marino’s record of 4,967. Unfortunately No. 4 didn’t manage to make any headway in the chase to 420 career touchdown passes, which he only needs seven more to match Marino’s all-time mark.
Ahman Green also reached a milestone, becoming only the second Packer to gain 8,000 career rushing yards. His 79-yards on 22 carries put the veteran at 8,049 yards, second only to Jim Taylor. Green also needs to gain just 54 yards in the final two games of the season to reach 1,000 yards for the sixth time in his career, which would match a milestone also set by Taylor.
And speaking of Hall of Fame players from the Lombardi era, the story out there is that LaDainian Tomlinson broke Paul Hornung’s single season scoring record of 176 points. The San Diego running back scored two touchdowns against the Chiefs Sunday night, giving him a total of 186 points scored for the season.
Now scoring 31 TDs in a season is impressive any way you cut it, but I do think the Golden Boy is somehow getting the raw end of the deal in recognizing this as a “record.” When Hornung set the mark back in 1960, he did so in a 12-game season; Tomlinson needed 14 games to exceed the record. The NFL doesn’t make any distinction in their record books, I know, and I’ll confess that my opinion is driven in part by extreme homerism, but I am inclined to think that Tomlinson’s achievement should have some sort of footnote.
Even if the league doesn’t make a distinction in the length of seasons, maybe in the record book on Packers.com they can include an asterisk or notation that explains the significance of Hornung’s 176-point season. And while they’re at it, can someone please correct the “Est. 1921″ in the header logo? The Packers were formed in 1919, just read the history section on the site.
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December 19th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
As much as I love being a homer, one note on the Hornung record:
He was also a kicker. Getting 41 pts via XP is a nice way to pad scoring.
Not saying Paul wasn’t a great player, not at all, he’s one of the best.
If a kicker had broken the record, the cry would have been that Paul scored TDs and actually “played”. LT played and did it spectacularly; he is deserving of the title.