@@b-zoneonroku2020 Graham superior to the other 3 because he was a great play maker & ball carrier & they were not which means only he was above everyone else.
My uncle told me my grandfather bought a tv for the family for Christmas that December. In the early 50’s my hometown installed cable for the whole town and it went in to operation earlier that year. The first thing he remembers watching was the 1955 NFL Championship Game, he said Grandpa had that day off work so they watched together. From 1955 through the Super Bowl in January 1980, my grandfather and uncle watched every NFL, AFL and Super Bowl Championship games together.
My great uncle JD Bud Ison was an All American at Baylor in 1949, draft pick 149 by the Cardinals in 1950, but also drafted by Uncle Sam to play football for the troops in Germany.
@@sneakerfacevids441 not strictly true. Cable TV or CATV as it was often known initially started in the 1940s for remote regions that, because of topographic reasons, could not otherwise get satisfactory over the air reception. Decades later it became something of a luxury, instead of the only option in CERTAIN areas.
Interesting story about Don Colo, DT for Cleveland. In the 1949-50 academic year, my mother worked at the library at Brown. She told me several times about this big lineman named Don Colo who would play several years for Cleveland. She also told me about the QB, a wiry Italian kid from Brooklyn ... some guy named Joe Paterno.
At the time, the rules stated that "The ball is dead immediately when the ball carrier touches the ground with any part of his body except his hands or feet while in the grasp of an opponent." As enforced, it meant that the defensive player not only had to have the runner down, but had to have him in his grasp or control, i.e. if you hit him and knock him down, but don't have him in your grasp, he can continue to run. In highlights from this era, you'll often see a runner get up and run if the defender doesn't have him ahold of him and have him in his control.
@@88mike42 A support on the upright allowed the crossbar to be on the goal line while the uprights themselves were a couple of yards back. This was standard until the introduction of the single-post, curved upright (called the slingshot or goose-necked goalpost) was introduced in 1967. Incidentally, these modern goalposts were first used not in the NFL, but in the Canadian Football League.
Although no longer mentioned amongst the greatest qbs ever, Otto Graham is the only qb to ever play in a pro football championship game, every season that he played. Pretty remarkable
Graham coached the Coast Guard Academy's football team for a couple of years and when that job was over, he had a yard sale at his house in Connecticut before he moved. My father went over and came back with two NFL footballs autographed by Graham, one for me and one for my brother. We were probably 10 and 11. One evening he drives home from work and finds us with our friends in a field playing football. He walks over and asks what football we're playing with and we told him one of those footballs you got from that old coach!
These Browns teams are very under rated in NFL history. Don Shula & Chuck Knoll both played for Paul Brown...as did Walt Michaels, who coached the Jets in the 70s
But, he never once faced the pass rush that exists nowadays, as there was nobody close to an Aaron Donald, and even the average modern linebacker, or even safety or cornerback--all of whom are stronger and faster and more violent than anyone of those days.
Those were the days when the Browns and Lions were powerhouses. goes to show how much of a cycle the sport is. The teams that are on the bottom now may rise to success late and vice versa. What I like is the uniforms of the Rams. They should bring that back now that they've returned to LA.
Love those Browns old and new. And I am a Packer fan die hard, the Brown & Packers played so many good games over the years you have to love them both.
A lot of these players I had only read about in my NFL record and fact book I got when I was a kid in the 1970s. I loved that book and read it cover-to-cover. Thanks for posting this.
Couple of interesting notes: This was Gillman's 1st season as HC of the Rams,was Graham's last game as Browns QB.Tank Younger Rams Rb didn't play due to injury that really hurt the Rams chances. Also this was the 1st nationally televised NFL championship game by NBC and it was played on a Monday afternoon! Norm Van Brocklin threw 6 INTS! 6🤯 Gillman never trusted Van Brocklin again gradually losing faith in him and trading him to the lowly Eagles who with Van Brocklin at QB beat the Packers in 1960 NFL championship game 17-13 the only playoff game Lombardi lost as GB HC and all because the relationhip soured between Gill&NVB because of this game. Strange sometimes how life works out. Gillman himself was fired by Rams Gm tex schramm after the 1959 season,Schramm in 1960 became Dallas Cowboys GM when former Rams publicity man Pete Rozelle who become NFL commissioner when Bert Bell died of a heart attack sitting in the stands of an Eagles game in 1959,recommended Schramm to new Owner Clint Murchison jr. Who in turn was awarded a new expansion franchise to compete with Lamar Hunt's AFL Dallas Texans. If you ever get a chance YT the documentary "Full Color football " it's done in 6 1hr episodes and its imo the greatest sports documentary ever!
i say the game as a thirteen year old and can say without a doubt " tank younger wouldn't have mattered in the outcome, Graham retired having one of his best seasons ever.
the first interception by van brocklin WAS A BAD OMEN!!!!!! that pass SHOULD HAVE BEEN CAUGHT !!!!!!!!the other INT'S are just poor decisions!!!!!!!!!,,,,,OOTO GRAHAM WAS TOM BRADY BEFORE TOM BRADY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,,,,,,,,my goodness: 8 turnovers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@robertperrella4194 Brady is nothing like the incomparable Graham who was a COMPLETE QB. Graham was a superb ball carrier & could make plays on his own which Brady, of course, could never do. Graham also had to endure physical punishment during his era of which Brady could only have nightmares about.
I was thirteen years old and a Giant fan and looked forward to the game with great anticipation. the following year i was in attendance at Yankee stadium for the bears and Giants. great memories and very few flags unlike today's game
My uncle was 12 in 1956 and a Bears fan at the time and he said that was his first big sports disappointment he saw on tv. He later became a Saints fan, they started the team right after he moved to Louisiana when his army service was done and since they were on tv all the time he started following them instead.
@@crowtservo I was fourteen when attending the world championship playoff game. the field was completely frozen when the Temperatures were near zero. after warmups the giant team raided a local sporting goods store and cleaned out their sneaker stock which gave them superior footing. that was the big difference in the outcome of a lopsided game. .. i accidentally spilled mustard from my hotdog to my program....it still frozen today. that's how cold it was
Always felt that those colors, gold orange with the blue numbers and white pants were the rams best. Also love the wide horns on the helmets. Classic style.
Interesting to see what strategies are still utilized 70 years later and which aren’t. It actually look more like the modern game than I was expecting.
It’s definitely interesting to see. A lot of these guys didn’t have the benefits of the training, the medicine, the money, the nutrition or the rules to protect them. I have no doubt quite a few of these guys could play today if they were given these benefits. At the end of the day, it’s still football.
This is the best way to spend a day! Classic football games. For me, not born until 1967, I never saw these game, or this game until now. So this is a treat for me!! Thank you for your dedication and hard work making it possible for us to see these classic NFL games! Awesome content! And a great channel! You definitely have another Subscriber!
Pretty cool. Nice to see Don Paul score a TD for Cleveland. I met him about a year before he died. Sad ending to a nice guy. He was sent up to Eugene to write another book, don't think he wrote much. He played before my era and enjoyed his stories. RIP Don. He was a kind man.
There’s something about a good champion. They have that something special and carry themselves with respect. As a teenager, I remember talking to a few players from the Buffalo Bills at a scouting event in the mid 60s. They were big guys with funny stories and good insight.
LOVE all the unflagged late hits: 4:33. 5:14. 5:33. 7:52. 8:21. 8:48. 12:46. 14:11. etc REAL football, when the players were allowed to INJURE each other.
In those days you could still get up and advance the ball if you were knocked down. In order to be down you had to be "in the grasp" of the opponent on the ground and your forward progress stopped to be considered down. In some of these old videos you'll see guys crawling forward for touchdowns from the 1 or 2 yard line after being tackled, just like in Rugby. Thats why you're seeing guys pile on in the video. The down by contact rule was implemented the following year, 1956, to prevent piling on and injuries.
Those really look like the players just falling on the ball carrier to make sure he's down, not really a "hit", but I agree those definitely would've been flagged today.
I never understood why the NFL effectively wiped out the entire history of the league and started over with the Super Bowl era. Today when people talk about football championships, they only mention Super Bowls won. It's as if the whole history of the league before 1965 never happened.
The NBA acknowledges their championships and records before the ABA merger in the 70s. There was no world series until 1903, but the MLB acknowledges pennant wins and records all the way back from 1876, the inaugural year of the National League.
The NFL has pretty much made the marketing decision that pro football only truely became relivent with the NFL-AFL merger in 1966 and the birth of the modern Super Bowl era. Pre 1966 is treated like the Jurassic period. A lot of interesting things happened, but it was a whole other world that modern people can't relate to. The only real exception to that rule would be the Lombardi Packers of the 1960s because their 3 pre 1966 NFL titles are connected to their two Super Bowl Championships due to the same head coach and key players. So it's ok to invoke the 5 Lombardi championships talking about the modern Packers. Nobody wants to bring up the 4 AAFC titles of Cleveland or their 4 pre 1966 NFL titles. Nobody wants to talk about the Detroit Lions, Baltimore Colts,New York Giants, Washington Redskins,or Philadelphia Eagles pre 1966 greatness either. Sure, the NFL recognizes they happened, they just seemed to happen "elsewhere" and are not really connected to the modern teams. Even less attention goes to the pre 1966 AFL champs such as the 60-61 Oilers. The 1962 Texans. 1963 Chargers. And 1964-65 Buffalo Bills.
@@xylynthian753 The NBA-ABA merger was more akin to the 1950 NFL-AAFC merger than the 1966-1970 NFL-AFL merger in that one league absorbed a defunct league. The NFL-AFL merger was more like two leagues merging to form a brand new organization that just retained the name National Football League. Pro football essentially reset itself twice in 4 years. Once in 1966.And again in 1970. That's somewhat why the modern NFL doesn't seem to embrace the nostalgia for the pre 1970 teams outside of the Lombardi Packers while the NFL actively remembers the post merger championship teams of the 70s such as the Steelers, Cowboys, and Miami Dolphins.
Nice to see this. This was the first Championship after I was born. Ten years later I watched my first NFL game (Browns vs Giants) and the Browns were the champs then too. Amazing that Norm threw 6 interceptions in a Championship game!? And he still made the Hall of Fame!
So many years of glory heartbreak since 1933 when Bert Bell and Lud Wray bought the Frankford Yellow Jackets and moved them to Philadelphia. I hope the channel as the 1948 and 1949 championshios
I was born a few weeks before that Game in Cleveland. I watched 1964 Championship won by Cleveland. BUT in 1967 i became a RAIDERS Fan. Livin in Las Vegas since 2003.. Raiders arrived officially in 2020 [RN4Life]
I was 2 months old at the time. my first game was the browns vs eagles in 1963 an no surprise Lou Groza was still on the field kicked field goal to beat my eagles. my Dad laughed at old lou the whole game.
If I remember correctly, this was the first NFL game I ever saw on TV. I was seven. The TV was black and white with a whopping 19-inch screen. Back when pro football was a weekly feeble afterthought to the college games on Saturday.
I was surprised how much more advanced in offensive play this game was. I expected more 3 yards and a cloud of dust. That being said, the Browns were in love with the inside trap play.
@@williamjordan5554 This is not the west coast offense. PB developed that with the Bengals. PB did that because he lost his strong armed QB & had to compensate. Graham, of course, had a great arm.
1955 was the Browns 10th consecutive appearance in their league's Championship Game...4 straight in the AAFC and 6 straight in the NFL. The Browns won all 4 AAFC titles and 3 NFL Championships in that span. 7 out of 10.....That is INSANE!!! Maybe the greatest dynasty in pro football history. The New England Patriots won it all in 2001, 2003, and 2004 but then went another 10 years and won 3 more Championships...2014, 2016, and 2018. But I really think the league started scripting games in recent years so I'm not really sold on the Patriots. Championship Games weren't decided by the refs in the old days...they were decided by the players and coaches. I've seen bad officiating be instrumental in several important wins by the Pats in recent years so I'm not fully convinced that their dynasty is legit
@@robertthomas2001 Not even close. The 40s, 50s & to '66 Browns could not qualify for the title game unless they had the best regular season record in their half of the league. There were no small divisions or wild cards. Also, during the 50s the Browns were considered the invading enemy by the NFL owners who resented what they did to their league especially in the very 1st season when the beat TWO NFL champions (Eagles in 1st ever game). In their 1st 4 seasons the Browns were in the top 2 in penalties called on & no other team was even close to that. Certainly can't say any of these things about the Pats.
Interesting list. Here's mine. QB- Tom Brady, Joe Montana RB Emmitt Smith WR Jerry Rice TE Tony Gonzalez, Jason Witten OL-Larry Allen DL Reggie White LB Ray Lewis CB Deion Sanders S Ed Reed, Ronnie Lott Franchise- N E Patriots, G B Packers Coach- Bill Belichick, Bill Parcells, Bill Walsh, Don Shula, Tom Landry, Vince Lombardi
Here's my all time team at the offensive skill positions: QB Joe Montana RB Barry Sanders RB Jim Brown WR Jerry Rice WR Randy Moss TE Rob Gronkowski and heres my defense DT Joe Greene DT Bob Lilly DE Reggie White DE Bruce Smith OLB Lawrence Taylor OLB Jack Ham MLB Dick Butkus CB Mel Blount CB Night Train Lane S Ronnie Lott S Ed Reed. I would've put Deion Sanders at CB but he tackled like my grandmother
What a strange way to play football - no kneeling, no dancing each and every play, no helmet slapping each and every play, no idiotic taunting each and every play, handing the ball to the referee after each and every play instead of spinning the ball around. What a strange way to play football.
Did you notice: (1) No celebrations by the players after great plays or touchdowns. These players are all business! (2) No touchbacks on those kickoffs -- those return men bring it out every time, even when 7 yards deep in the end zone. (3) Some rare footage of someone other than all-time great Jim Brown wearing #32 for Cleveland!
1955 this is in color yet the 1958 game 3 yrs after only in b&w? This game was played on Monday afternoon as Xmas was the day before and was broadcast by the DuMont network.
The receiver for the Rams was tackled at the 2 or 3 yard line (at the 11:27 mark of the video) with only his momentum carrying him into the end zone as he bounced from the force of being tackled. And, he was credited with a touchdown. That would obviously not be a touchdown today. Because the receiver would have been ruled down where his knee hit the ground. So, clearly, the rule must have changed somewhere along the line in the intervening decades. Or, the official simply missed the call. I don't know. That was an odd touchdown for sure given how football is played today.
The ruling back then was that a runner had to be pinned and held to the ground directly by an opponent for the play to be whistled as over. If a runner was tripped but not pinned to the ground, the play was not over… again adjusted for safety reasons…
87,695 people attended this game. Thats pretty incredible. I wish I was alive during these days. Probably 97% of the people that attended this game are dead and gone now. I'm glad there are still recordings of these historic events. We were robbed of a lot of baseball film. I mean there are only a few small clips of babe Ruth playing or during batting practice. That seems kind of crazy to me. Its not like filming was all that uncommon; I guess people just didn't think people would be interested in seeing Babe Ruth play in later decades.
When the knees go down the ball is at about the One yardline. Interesting that no officials were close. Except for the one running in signaling Touchdown. A Challenge Flag would bring that back.
As a football historian i always had a dream that Graham was still qb for a few more years, as a 36 year old Otto Graham would team up with Jim Brown as a star rookie & form the greatest team of the 50's, 1957 world champs and Graham would come back for a swan song and play the 58 season as a 37 year old QB and defending champion and beat Johnny Unitas.
Would Jim have been available in '57, if Graham(one of the biggest WINNERS in the sport) was still playing, had the Browns had a better record in '56(7-5 for example giving them #10 overall)?Would The Colts have taken him at #8 and paired him with UNITAS?
Kinda like Super Bowl 40 when the refs gave that TD to Roethlisberger when he was CLEARLY short of the goal line. Really the refs gave that whole game to Pittsburgh. Big asterisk next to that one for the Steelers
Believe it or not, that touchdown was legal in 1955. The rule at that time said a tackled player MUST be in the GRASP of the defender. Merely knocking down a ball carrier was not enough. If you notice, there are a lot of plays here where the runner goes down and an additional tackler jumps on to complete the tackle.
Obviously with the Rams starting RB out, they didn't have a running game but I think I would have put the backup QB in for the 2nd half after Van Brocklin's 5 interceptions in the first half. I don't think the backup could have done any worse. But then again, this game was played before I was born so maybe it wouldn't have mattered.
Although one-sided, the Paul Brown-led Cleveland Browns continued their championship dominance in the NFL, defeating the team that left Cleveland after the 1945 season, the Rams. BTW, the Cleveland Rams defeated Sammy Baugh and Washington for the NFL title and moved to Los Angeles for the 1946 season.
Norm Van Brocklin would go on to smoke a ton of cigarettes, become a losing coach for the Vikings and Atlanta Falcons, and die at the age of 57 from smoking a ton of cigarettes. Otto Graham went on to play tennis and golf, and lived to the age of 82.
They must have had different rules for being ruled "down" back then. The Ram's first TD had it happened today would not have been a TD and he would have been down at the 1 yard line. I guess the rule was something like he isn't down until his momentum is stopped, which in this case happened after he crossed the goal line?
The Cleveland Browns Dominated the NFl East from their first year in the NFL in 1950 until this game in 1955 they did return in 1957 but this was the end of the Browns dominance is the New York football Giants who won the division 6 of the next 8 years
The last time the Rams would play in a championship game for 25 years (they did play in but lost four NFC championships in the mid 1970s) They had good teams during much of that time but couldn't win the big game. Too bad they didn't think of saving entire games back then but on the other hand film was quite expensive then. And who then thought of people having home video 25 years later?
@@normanacree1635 Yes a lot of the championship footage of that game survives. The game was credited for the networks giving football a closer look and eventually overtaking baseball as America's favorite sport.
They were a helluva lot tougher then! No face masks, full padding on legs and knees, big clunky shoulder pads, no sissy GLOVES or arm skid tapes, no war paint, no mouth guards, heavy black shoes (no color) helmets just covered the head and ears (lucky to have chin straps) and definitely NO long hair! Todays Rams and Browns could not and WOULD NOT play like that! Yearly, teams wear old style uniforms but only in colors! Crazy Legs Hersch...with a name like that, you had to be tuff!
Many of them fought in WW2, or many grew up poor in the great depression= it aged them faster; and, you will notice that THE QBACKS were in their primes and the backups were former or future starters on other teams. The players you watched here did not grow up in cushy suburban neighborhoods with food available at the snap of a phonecall, or by an internet transaction; nor grew up with had two to four cars in their garages, nor recreation full of expensive videogames, nor had no need for offseason jobs. The roster sizes then were 33 men, not 53, too. They mayn't have had 365 12 months, 7 days a week sports training, but they were more polished and rarely committed stupid penalties because if a player did, he wasn't making a team, or staying in the league very long. There were 12 teams not 32..twas much more difficult to make a squad back then. Players did not jump in as rookies, because they had to wait for a much deeper depth, if not in numbers but in pro experienced talent of players in front of them, before those younger players got their chance to start. They learned the pro game sitting on the bench, not playing and screwing up on the field. In short, athleticism does not equal football professional polish. They might look like older faced players, but back then, they were more seasoned with the average age higher, and the polish much shinier than the NFL rosters today which are 85 percent composed of 3 OR 4 years, or younger, in player experience participants, all of that thanks to the SALARY CAP. They have to play up speed and athleticism today because the fundamentals of the moderns are so poor. The lack of proper technique execution due to lack of practice and hitting with pads, and the greenish hue of most starters and subs benches gives us an inferior product, as does the lack of senior year skill players from colleges, again forcing the prized draftees to learn more about the game of football, on the field, not at colleges and universities, and/or..on the bench. The NFL today is just like the modern NBA= all flash and no substance. Yep, older looking and older, period, and maybe not as athletic, but far more polished as players, with very little attention on what their favorite singer thought about them, or what they thought about that singer = substance over flash.
Because most of them fought in WW2 and Korea, so they where older when they entered the league, and they held full time jobs outside of football to support there families the Greatest Generation
Well said. It was a different world back then. The following year the Browns drafted Jim Brown. Brown dominated the NFL for nine years. Became it’s greatest player in NFL history. I was ten years old when this game was played. Watched it with my dad. We lived in Troy, Ohio at the time.
Otto Graham
Played 10 Years
Played in 10 Championships
Won 7 Rings
G.O.A.T.
Graham, Luckman, Starr, Brady, then everyone else.
@@b-zoneonroku2020 Graham superior to the other 3 because he was a great play maker & ball carrier & they were not which means only he was above everyone else.
G O A T
Defense wins championships
@@nobodyaskedbut You ever watch him pass? High school maybe.
My uncle told me my grandfather bought a tv for the family for Christmas that December. In the early 50’s my hometown installed cable for the whole town and it went in to operation earlier that year. The first thing he remembers watching was the 1955 NFL Championship Game, he said Grandpa had that day off work so they watched together. From 1955 through the Super Bowl in January 1980, my grandfather and uncle watched every NFL, AFL and Super Bowl Championship games together.
Thank you for sharing those memories. And thanks for viewing.
My great uncle JD Bud Ison was an All American at Baylor in 1949, draft pick 149 by the Cardinals in 1950, but also drafted by Uncle Sam to play football for the troops in Germany.
Football is family :)
? There was no cable in the 50s ! That was like 30 years later.
@@sneakerfacevids441 not strictly true. Cable TV or CATV as it was often known initially started in the 1940s for remote regions that, because of topographic reasons, could not otherwise get satisfactory over the air reception. Decades later it became something of a luxury, instead of the only option in CERTAIN areas.
Interesting story about Don Colo, DT for Cleveland. In the 1949-50 academic year, my mother worked at the library at Brown. She told me several times about this big lineman named Don Colo who would play several years for Cleveland.
She also told me about the QB, a wiry Italian kid from Brooklyn ... some guy named Joe Paterno.
I loved that bounced-in TD by the Rams’ receiver. No such thing as “down by contact” in 1955 apparently. 😂
My thoughts exactly.
That of course was the rule but the refs sucked
They've moved the goal posts a couple of yards back from the goal line.
At the time, the rules stated that "The ball is dead immediately when the ball carrier touches the ground with any part of his body except his hands or feet while in the grasp of an opponent." As enforced, it meant that the defensive player not only had to have the runner down, but had to have him in his grasp or control, i.e. if you hit him and knock him down, but don't have him in your grasp, he can continue to run. In highlights from this era, you'll often see a runner get up and run if the defender doesn't have him ahold of him and have him in his control.
@@88mike42 A support on the upright allowed the crossbar to be on the goal line while the uprights themselves were a couple of yards back. This was standard until the introduction of the single-post, curved upright (called the slingshot or goose-necked goalpost) was introduced in 1967. Incidentally, these modern goalposts were first used not in the NFL, but in the Canadian Football League.
Although no longer mentioned amongst the greatest qbs ever, Otto Graham is the only qb to ever play in a pro football championship game, every season that he played. Pretty remarkable
My father, born in 1925, saw the NFL until 1997. Even after seeing that many years of football, he always thought Graham was Top 5.
Graham coached the Coast Guard Academy's football team for a couple of years and when that job was over, he had a yard sale at his house in Connecticut before he moved. My father went over and came back with two NFL footballs autographed by Graham, one for me and one for my brother. We were probably 10 and 11. One evening he drives home from work and finds us with our friends in a field playing football. He walks over and asks what football we're playing with and we told him one of those footballs you got from that old coach!
@@martinzaehringer1697 nice, lol
These Browns teams are very under rated in NFL history. Don Shula & Chuck Knoll both played for Paul Brown...as did Walt Michaels, who coached the Jets in the 70s
But, he never once faced the pass rush that exists nowadays, as there was nobody close to an Aaron Donald, and even the average modern linebacker, or even safety or cornerback--all of whom are stronger and faster and more violent than anyone of those days.
I watched this game with my dad on tv. Still remember
What great memories you must have.
First game I remember watching. Not many details after this long but remember the final score. And Modzelewski running.
Wow that’s awesome
I was nine years old and still remember !
Those were the days when the Browns and Lions were powerhouses. goes to show how much of a cycle the sport is. The teams that are on the bottom now may rise to success late and vice versa. What I like is the uniforms of the Rams. They should bring that back now that they've returned to LA.
I was seven. First football game I definitely remember watching. None the details but remember the final score. And Modzelewski.
My father graduated high school in 57 in northeast Ohio. Loved his Browns.
Love those Browns old and new. And I am a Packer fan die hard, the Brown & Packers played so many good games over the years you have to love them both.
Bengals, Bears ,Raiders❤
A lot of these players I had only read about in my NFL record and fact book I got when I was a kid in the 1970s. I loved that book and read it cover-to-cover. Thanks for posting this.
I did something similar, I think around 1971.
Couple of interesting notes: This was Gillman's 1st season as HC of the Rams,was Graham's last game as Browns QB.Tank Younger Rams Rb didn't play due to injury that really hurt the Rams chances.
Also this was the 1st nationally televised NFL championship game by NBC and it was played on a Monday afternoon!
Norm Van Brocklin threw 6 INTS! 6🤯
Gillman never trusted Van Brocklin again gradually losing faith in him and trading him to the lowly Eagles who with Van Brocklin at QB beat the Packers in 1960 NFL championship game 17-13 the only playoff game Lombardi lost as GB HC and all because the relationhip soured between Gill&NVB because of this game.
Strange sometimes how life works out.
Gillman himself was fired by Rams Gm tex schramm after the 1959 season,Schramm in 1960 became Dallas Cowboys GM when former Rams publicity man Pete Rozelle who become NFL commissioner when Bert Bell died of a heart attack sitting in the stands of an Eagles game in 1959,recommended Schramm to new Owner Clint Murchison jr. Who in turn was awarded a new expansion franchise to compete with Lamar Hunt's AFL Dallas Texans.
If you ever get a chance YT the documentary "Full Color football " it's done in 6 1hr episodes and its imo the greatest sports documentary ever!
i say the game as a thirteen year old and can say without a doubt " tank younger wouldn't have mattered in the outcome, Graham retired having one of his best seasons ever.
This was also the last championship the great Paul Brown ever won
the first interception by van brocklin WAS A BAD OMEN!!!!!! that pass SHOULD HAVE BEEN CAUGHT !!!!!!!!the other INT'S are just poor decisions!!!!!!!!!,,,,,OOTO GRAHAM WAS TOM BRADY BEFORE TOM BRADY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,,,,,,,,my goodness: 8 turnovers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@robertperrella4194 Brady is nothing like the incomparable Graham who was a COMPLETE QB. Graham was a superb ball carrier & could make plays on his own which Brady, of course, could never do. Graham also had to endure physical punishment during his era of which Brady could only have nightmares about.
@@nobodyaskedbut otto graham truly is special and i agree with you 100% !!!!!
I was thirteen years old and a Giant fan and looked forward to the game with great anticipation. the following year i was in attendance at Yankee stadium for the bears and Giants. great memories and very few flags unlike today's game
Thanks for sharing that memory
My uncle was 12 in 1956 and a Bears fan at the time and he said that was his first big sports disappointment he saw on tv. He later became a Saints fan, they started the team right after he moved to Louisiana when his army service was done and since they were on tv all the time he started following them instead.
@@crowtservo I was fourteen when attending the world championship playoff game. the field was completely frozen when the Temperatures were near zero. after warmups the giant team raided a local sporting goods store and cleaned out their sneaker stock which gave them superior footing. that was the big difference in the outcome of a lopsided game. .. i accidentally spilled mustard from my hotdog to my program....it still frozen today. that's how cold it was
Those were the good days, miss you Dad
Always felt that those colors, gold orange with the blue numbers and white pants were the rams best. Also love the wide horns on the helmets. Classic style.
Interesting to see what strategies are still utilized 70 years later and which aren’t. It actually look more like the modern game than I was expecting.
It’s definitely interesting to see. A lot of these guys didn’t have the benefits of the training, the medicine, the money, the nutrition or the rules to protect them. I have no doubt quite a few of these guys could play today if they were given these benefits. At the end of the day, it’s still football.
Man, that’s some NFL history right there. Cool to see Norm Van Brocklin, Otto Graham, and Tom Fears in their playing days before they became coaches.
Don Paul too.
This is when football was real football, Lou Groza kicks off and runs down to cover the kick and makes the tackle
This is the best way to spend a day! Classic football games. For me, not born until 1967, I never saw these game, or this game until now. So this is a treat for me!! Thank you for your dedication and hard work making it possible for us to see these classic NFL games! Awesome content! And a great channel! You definitely have another Subscriber!
Pretty cool. Nice to see Don Paul score a TD for Cleveland. I met him about a year before he died. Sad ending to a nice guy. He was sent up to Eugene to write another book, don't think he wrote much. He played before my era and enjoyed his stories. RIP Don. He was a kind man.
There’s something about a good champion. They have that something special and carry themselves with respect. As a teenager, I remember talking to a few players from the Buffalo Bills at a scouting event in the mid 60s. They were big guys with funny stories and good insight.
The number of legends playing in that game is insane
NFL& college schedules are way too long, today,
LOVE all the unflagged late hits: 4:33. 5:14. 5:33. 7:52. 8:21. 8:48. 12:46. 14:11. etc
REAL football, when the players were allowed to INJURE each other.
In those days you could still get up and advance the ball if you were knocked down. In order to be down you had to be "in the grasp" of the opponent on the ground and your forward progress stopped to be considered down. In some of these old videos you'll see guys crawling forward for touchdowns from the 1 or 2 yard line after being tackled, just like in Rugby. Thats why you're seeing guys pile on in the video. The down by contact rule was implemented the following year, 1956, to prevent piling on and injuries.
Those really look like the players just falling on the ball carrier to make sure he's down, not really a "hit", but I agree those definitely would've been flagged today.
Love those Ram unis. Vivid color in a drab time.
I never understood why the NFL effectively wiped out the entire history of the league and started over with the Super Bowl era. Today when people talk about football championships, they only mention Super Bowls won. It's as if the whole history of the league before 1965 never happened.
The NBA acknowledges their championships and records before the ABA merger in the 70s. There was no world series until 1903, but the MLB acknowledges pennant wins and records all the way back from 1876, the inaugural year of the National League.
NFL-AFL.
The NFL has pretty much made the marketing decision that pro football only truely became relivent with the NFL-AFL merger in 1966 and the
birth of the modern Super Bowl era. Pre 1966 is treated like the Jurassic period. A lot of interesting things happened, but it was a whole other world
that modern people can't relate to.
The only real exception to that rule would be the Lombardi Packers of the 1960s because their 3 pre 1966 NFL titles are connected to their
two Super Bowl Championships due to the same head coach and key players. So it's ok to invoke the 5 Lombardi championships talking about
the modern Packers.
Nobody wants to bring up the 4 AAFC titles of Cleveland or their 4 pre 1966 NFL titles. Nobody wants to talk about the Detroit Lions,
Baltimore Colts,New York Giants, Washington Redskins,or Philadelphia Eagles pre 1966 greatness either. Sure, the NFL recognizes they
happened, they just seemed to happen "elsewhere" and are not really connected to the modern teams. Even less attention goes to the
pre 1966 AFL champs such as the 60-61 Oilers. The 1962 Texans. 1963 Chargers. And 1964-65 Buffalo Bills.
@@xylynthian753
The NBA-ABA merger was more akin to the 1950 NFL-AAFC merger than the 1966-1970 NFL-AFL merger in that one league absorbed
a defunct league. The NFL-AFL merger was more like two leagues merging to form a brand new organization that just retained the
name National Football League. Pro football essentially reset itself twice in 4 years. Once in 1966.And again in 1970.
That's somewhat why the modern NFL doesn't seem to embrace the nostalgia for the pre 1970 teams outside of the Lombardi Packers
while the NFL actively remembers the post merger championship teams of the 70s such as the Steelers, Cowboys, and Miami Dolphins.
It was a different game before free agency. Many players would be on the same team in their first years and their later years.
Nice to see this. This was the first Championship after I was born. Ten years later I watched my first NFL game (Browns vs Giants) and the Browns were the champs then too. Amazing that Norm threw 6 interceptions in a Championship game!? And he still made the Hall of Fame!
@11:27 : Nowadays, Graham -> Quinlan would be spotted at the 1. Back then, a play was spotted at the point where forward progress was stopped.
So many years of glory heartbreak since 1933 when Bert Bell and Lud Wray bought the Frankford Yellow Jackets and moved them to Philadelphia. I hope the channel as the 1948 and 1949 championshios
I have both. I also have the 1960 NFL Championship. Where the Eagles best Green Bay.
Thanks for posting.
I was born a few weeks before that Game in Cleveland. I watched 1964 Championship won by Cleveland. BUT in 1967 i became a RAIDERS Fan. Livin in Las Vegas since 2003.. Raiders arrived officially in 2020 [RN4Life]
I'm a Rams fan, but Quinlan was down before the end zone on that long bomb play.
Different rules?
@@erestube 11:27
I was 2 months old at the time. my first game was the browns vs eagles in 1963 an no surprise Lou Groza was still on the field kicked field goal to beat my eagles. my Dad laughed at old lou the whole game.
Those uniforms are dope as hell
It's amazing how much the play improved in only a few short years from here!
I am surprised how advanced the play was then. I expected 60 minutes of running plays
@@martinzaehringer1697 That would be the 70s.
It’s amazing to me how many interceptions they threw back in the day. Even Unitas seemed to throw two or three a game.
If I remember correctly, this was the first NFL game I ever saw on TV. I was seven. The TV was black and white with a whopping 19-inch screen. Back when pro football was a weekly feeble afterthought to the college games on Saturday.
Fantastic posting!!
I was surprised how much more advanced in offensive play this game was. I expected more 3 yards and a cloud of dust. That being said, the Browns were in love with the inside trap play.
Paul Brown invented the forerunner of the West Coast Offense.
@@williamjordan5554 This is not the west coast offense. PB developed that with the Bengals. PB did that because he lost his strong armed QB & had to compensate. Graham, of course, had a great arm.
1955 was the Browns 10th consecutive appearance in their league's Championship Game...4 straight in the AAFC and 6 straight in the NFL. The Browns won all 4 AAFC titles and 3 NFL Championships in that span. 7 out of 10.....That is INSANE!!! Maybe the greatest dynasty in pro football history. The New England Patriots won it all in 2001, 2003, and 2004 but then went another 10 years and won 3 more Championships...2014, 2016, and 2018. But I really think the league started scripting games in recent years so I'm not really sold on the Patriots. Championship Games weren't decided by the refs in the old days...they were decided by the players and coaches. I've seen bad officiating be instrumental in several important wins by the Pats in recent years so I'm not fully convinced that their dynasty is legit
bad officiating goes both ways. nonsense. Pat are like the old clevelend browns of yesteryear.
Between 1950-1969, the Cleveland Browns or NY Giants were in 17 of the 20 NFL Championships played.
They was gambling back then too
@@robertthomas2001 Not even close. The 40s, 50s & to '66 Browns could not qualify for the title game unless they had the best regular season record in their half of the league. There were no small divisions or wild cards. Also, during the 50s the Browns were considered the invading enemy by the NFL owners who resented what they did to their league especially in the very 1st season when the beat TWO NFL champions (Eagles in 1st ever game). In their 1st 4 seasons the Browns were in the top 2 in penalties called on & no other team was even close to that. Certainly can't say any of these things about the Pats.
Bottom line: If you CHEAT IS DOES NOT COUNT & the players/coaches/refs etc... have to lie and live with that FOREVER
Thanks NFL films for the complet game film!!!
Greatest coach. PAUL BROWN
greatest. Quarterback
OTTO GRAHAM
greatest running back. EVEEEEEER J I M B R O E N
Interesting list.
Here's mine.
QB- Tom Brady, Joe Montana
RB Emmitt Smith
WR Jerry Rice
TE Tony Gonzalez, Jason Witten
OL-Larry Allen
DL Reggie White
LB Ray Lewis
CB Deion Sanders
S Ed Reed, Ronnie Lott
Franchise- N E Patriots, G B Packers
Coach- Bill Belichick, Bill Parcells, Bill Walsh, Don Shula, Tom Landry, Vince Lombardi
Happy 100 seasons
Here's my all time team at the offensive skill positions: QB Joe Montana RB Barry Sanders RB Jim Brown WR Jerry Rice WR Randy Moss TE Rob Gronkowski and heres my defense DT Joe Greene DT Bob Lilly DE Reggie White DE Bruce Smith OLB Lawrence Taylor OLB Jack Ham MLB Dick Butkus CB Mel Blount CB Night Train Lane S Ronnie Lott S Ed Reed. I would've put Deion Sanders at CB but he tackled like my grandmother
@@jstube36 too weighted towards recency. Not good!
You mis-spelled the HBs name . Corrected to - Gale Sayers.
ABSOLUTELY GOLDEN!!! 😎😃
What a strange way to play football - no kneeling, no dancing each and every play, no helmet slapping each and every play, no idiotic taunting each and every play, handing the ball to the referee after each and every play instead of spinning the ball around. What a strange way to play football.
Did you notice: (1) No celebrations by the players after great plays or touchdowns. These players are all business! (2) No touchbacks on those kickoffs -- those return men bring it out every time, even when 7 yards deep in the end zone. (3) Some rare footage of someone other than all-time great Jim Brown wearing #32 for Cleveland!
“Starting quarterback and punter extraordinaire Norman van Brocklin attempts a forward pass. The crowd erupts”. LMAO how times have changed.
Intersting just 17 y before Rams played in Cleveland where they where fond.
1955 this is in color yet the 1958 game 3 yrs after only in b&w?
This game was played on Monday afternoon as Xmas was the day before and was broadcast by the DuMont network.
14:36: Old footage but a massive looking hit via the Mississippi high / low shot. That guy seems out cold.
Those Rams uniforms are iconic!
I was told when I was a wee lad that my Mothers side of family was related to Johnny Lujack! That would be AWESOME!
One of my favorite DJs!
Way to go Cleveland!
The receiver for the Rams was tackled at the 2 or 3 yard line (at the 11:27 mark of the video) with only his momentum carrying him into the end zone as he bounced from the force of being tackled. And, he was credited with a touchdown. That would obviously not be a touchdown today. Because the receiver would have been ruled down where his knee hit the ground. So, clearly, the rule must have changed somewhere along the line in the intervening decades. Or, the official simply missed the call. I don't know. That was an odd touchdown for sure given how football is played today.
The ruling back then was that a runner had to be pinned and held to the ground directly by an opponent for the play to be whistled as over. If a runner was tripped but not pinned to the ground, the play was not over… again adjusted for safety reasons…
87,695 people attended this game. Thats pretty incredible. I wish I was alive during these days. Probably 97% of the people that attended this game are dead and gone now. I'm glad there are still recordings of these historic events. We were robbed of a lot of baseball film. I mean there are only a few small clips of babe Ruth playing or during batting practice. That seems kind of crazy to me. Its not like filming was all that uncommon; I guess people just didn't think people would be interested in seeing Babe Ruth play in later decades.
11:26 Upon further review....
When the knees go down the ball is at about the One yardline. Interesting that no officials were close. Except for the one running in signaling Touchdown. A Challenge Flag would bring that back.
One thing of note. None of the Browns were protesting much
Watched this live. Didn't remember any of the details. But a muddy field at the Coliseum?
The Rams lost in NFC title game against the Minnesota Vikings in a rain storm at the Coliseum in the early 70s. Muddy field and a half.
Damn big contracts back than. Qb $10000 with $ 3000 garenteed
BERT BELL RIP. Also forget how great Otto was,saw interview with George Blanda,asked the best QB,in his view: OTTO GRAHAM.
Great history
Automatic Otto, great vid
As a fiery coach later in his life, Van Brocklin would have fired his younger self at the half. Five interceptions! All hail Otto Graham!
As a football historian i always had a dream that Graham was still qb for a few more years, as a 36 year old Otto Graham would team up with Jim Brown as a star rookie & form the greatest team of the 50's, 1957 world champs and Graham would come back for a swan song and play the 58 season as a 37 year old QB and defending champion and beat Johnny Unitas.
Would Jim have been available in '57, if Graham(one of the biggest WINNERS in the sport) was still playing, had the Browns had a better record in '56(7-5 for example giving them #10 overall)?Would The Colts have taken him at #8 and paired him with UNITAS?
Former Cleveland Rams vs Current Cleveland Browns
Year old when this game was played
What's most interesting is the field. Notice how far apart the hash marks are. That among many other field differences is interesting
Two things. At least in these highlights, the tackling was really good. I wonder how much Van Brocklin had on the game. 😁
They sure did a lot of passing compared to what you read about that era. Ten picks total in the game, though!
I see the refs were blind back then too. On the Rams first score, the guy was clearly tackled short of the goal line.
Kinda like Super Bowl 40 when the refs gave that TD to Roethlisberger when he was CLEARLY short of the goal line. Really the refs gave that whole game to Pittsburgh. Big asterisk next to that one for the Steelers
Believe it or not, that touchdown was legal in 1955. The rule at that time said a tackled player MUST be in the GRASP of the defender. Merely knocking down a ball carrier was not enough. If you notice, there are a lot of plays here where the runner goes down and an additional tackler jumps on to complete the tackle.
Horse collar tackles and late hits out of bounds were par for the course for these WWII vet real men! No kneeling then!
@@randymiller2233 That rules still holds in rugby.
@@randymiller2233, nope, the "pindown" rule ended in 1954.
In this game in '55, the ref blew the early tdown call.
Obviously with the Rams starting RB out, they didn't have a running game but I think I would have put the backup QB in for the 2nd half after Van Brocklin's 5 interceptions in the first half. I don't think the backup could have done any worse. But then again, this game was played before I was born so maybe it wouldn't have mattered.
Wow, 8 LA turnovers. That has to be some sort of playoff record.
Was this noted sportscaster Bob Wolf's commentary and call in this presentation?
Although one-sided, the Paul Brown-led Cleveland Browns continued their championship dominance in the NFL, defeating the team that left Cleveland after the 1945 season, the Rams. BTW, the Cleveland Rams defeated Sammy Baugh and Washington for the NFL title and moved to Los Angeles for the 1946 season.
The nfl championship was until the 1970 season. The 1969 Vikings being the last team win the nfl championship
Norm Van Brocklin would go on to smoke a ton of cigarettes, become a losing coach for the Vikings and Atlanta Falcons, and die at the age of 57 from smoking a ton of cigarettes. Otto Graham went on to play tennis and golf, and lived to the age of 82.
Dont forget to drink your ovaltine
They must have had different rules for being ruled "down" back then. The Ram's first TD had it happened today would not have been a TD and he would have been down at the 1 yard line. I guess the rule was something like he isn't down until his momentum is stopped, which in this case happened after he crossed the goal line?
3:01: Check out the cheerleaders. WOW!!!
I swear I saw ankle!
2 things, where was Elroy crazy legs Hirsch? and Norm Van Brocklin stunk up the joint!
Those browns are probably going to win many more championships after this.
probably
They might have won more than 1 in 1964 if they had a FB that wasn't too important to block anyone.
Why, at the beginning of watching this, I was looking for the yellow first makers?... Lol 😂
The Cleveland Browns Dominated the NFl East from their first year in the NFL in 1950 until this game in 1955 they did return in 1957 but this was the end of the Browns dominance is the New York football Giants who won the division 6 of the next 8 years
Both teams started in Cleveland.
The team from Ohio beat the crap out of the California team, in California. A good day, indeed.
The year I was born!
back then they had to watch out for goalposts
Curious to know if they knew how to grow grass in the 50's?
How many INT’s were thrown in this game? 🤦🏽♂️
The rams started out in Cleveland.
@1:15 The Sofi back in the Day
The last time the Rams would play in a championship game for 25 years (they did play in but lost four NFC championships in the mid 1970s) They had good teams during much of that time but couldn't win the big game.
Too bad they didn't think of saving entire games back then but on the other hand film was quite expensive then. And who then thought of people having home video 25 years later?
The greatest game ever played (Colts - Giants 1958) wasn't even filmed, was it?
@@normanacree1635 Yes a lot of the championship footage of that game survives. The game was credited for the networks giving football a closer look and eventually overtaking baseball as America's favorite sport.
Classic Rams unis. Last time they wore those was during the 1994 season as a throw back uniform.
The Browns won that title quite fairly.
Didnt know Rams wore mustard yellow jerseys back then
4:56 i thought he was about to take off.
They were a helluva lot tougher then! No face masks, full padding on legs and knees, big clunky shoulder pads, no sissy GLOVES or arm skid tapes, no war paint, no mouth guards, heavy black shoes (no color) helmets just covered the head and ears (lucky to have chin straps) and definitely NO long hair! Todays Rams and Browns could not and WOULD NOT play like that! Yearly, teams wear old style uniforms but only in colors! Crazy Legs Hersch...with a name like that, you had to be tuff!
4:25: "The Toe"
It's odd to see a Cleveland running back wearing #32--and it's not Jim Brown.
CBS must have been the game carrier.
According to another commenter, it was NBC.
NBC covered the NFL Championship Game from 1955-1963. CBS took over and showed the title game from 1964-69 (before the NFL-AFL merger).
Why do all the players look over 40 years old?
Many of them fought in WW2, or many grew up poor in the great depression= it aged them faster; and, you will notice that THE QBACKS were in their primes and the backups were former or future starters on other teams.
The players you watched here did not grow up in cushy suburban neighborhoods with food available at the snap of a phonecall, or by an internet transaction; nor grew up with had two to four cars in their garages, nor recreation full of expensive videogames, nor had no need for offseason jobs.
The roster sizes then were 33 men, not 53, too.
They mayn't have had 365 12 months, 7 days a week sports training, but they were more polished and rarely committed stupid penalties because if a player did, he wasn't making a team, or staying in the league very long.
There were 12 teams not 32..twas much more difficult to make a squad back then. Players did not jump in as rookies, because they had to wait for a much deeper depth, if not in numbers but in pro experienced talent of players in front of them, before those younger players got their chance to start. They learned the pro game sitting on the bench, not playing and screwing up on the field.
In short, athleticism does not equal football professional polish.
They might look like older faced players, but back then, they were more seasoned with the average age higher, and the polish much shinier than the NFL rosters today which are 85 percent composed of 3 OR 4 years, or younger, in player experience participants, all of that thanks to the SALARY CAP.
They have to play up speed and athleticism today because the fundamentals of the moderns are so poor.
The lack of proper technique execution due to lack of practice and hitting with pads, and the greenish hue of most starters and subs benches gives us an inferior product, as does the lack of senior year skill players from colleges, again forcing the prized draftees to learn more about the game of football, on the field, not at colleges and universities, and/or..on the bench.
The NFL today is just like the modern NBA= all flash and no substance.
Yep, older looking and older, period, and maybe not as athletic, but far more polished as players, with very little attention on what their favorite singer thought about them, or what they thought about that singer = substance over flash.
Because most of them fought in WW2 and Korea, so they where older when they entered the league, and they held full time jobs outside of football to support there families the Greatest Generation
@@davidkuharich9269 So, in other words and dispensing with the political correctness.....they sucked. Am I missing something?
Well said. It was a different world back then. The following year the Browns drafted Jim Brown. Brown dominated the NFL for nine years. Became it’s greatest player in NFL history. I was ten years old when this game was played. Watched it with my dad. We lived in Troy, Ohio at the time.
great footage, except for the campy college band music they included back then.
And then Browns drafted Jim Brown the following season...wow!?
Not correct. He was drafted in the 1957 draft. God help the NFL if Otto Graham stayed around until he arrived 😳
announcer says, Paul Brown runs out to congratulate Rams coach Sid Gillman, why? he lost
Lou "The Toe" Groza!
are you commenting my comment... it doesn't follow