Post by Lithfan on Sept 17, 2015 5:50:00 GMT -5
Sept 17, 1960
In their history, the Jets/Titans franchise has lost 451 football games. They have lost more to the Buffalo Bills than any other franchise, with a 51-57 record against Buffalo. They are only slightly better, at 52-56 against the New England/Boston Patriots. Out of all of those losses, the very first one came on this day, September 17, 1960 as the Titans hosted the Boston Patriots at the Polo Grounds.
The game seemed to foreshadow what was to come in the Patriots - Jets rivalry. The Titans jumped out to a big lead and lost in heartbreaking fashion. And it even involved a controversial ending including allegations that the Pats were caught cheating and the Titans had the video evidence to prove it. Can’t make this stuff up.
The game was evenly contested, with the Titans dominating play early, and the Patriots coming back late. Both teams had about 300 yards of offense, but a critical , controversial special teams play decided this one late.
The Patriots jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on a first quarter TD run by Walt Livingston, but the Titans responded and took control in the 2nd quarter. After a 23 yard Bill Shockley field goal closed the gap, the Titans took the led on 2 Al Dorow TD passes to his backs, the first an 8-yarder to Dewey Bohling and the 2nd was a 16-yarder to Ted Wegert to give NY a 17-7 halftime lead.
Photo is of 2nd Pats-Titans contest in Boston later in the 1960 season.
The Titans extended their lead in 3rd quarter as Dorow connected with WR Thurlow Cooper for 38 yards to give NY a seemingly comfortable 24-7 lead. After two Patriot scoring drives closed the gap to 24-21, with 1:50 left, the Titans recovered an onside kick and appeared to be headed to victory. The Titans had the ball and were trying to run out the clock when all hell broke loose. They were stopped on 4th down with about 30 seconds left in the game and the clock running, but they would still need to get one last play off before the game ended.
Coach Sammy Baugh sent the punt team on and the ball was snapped with 7 seconds left on the clock. The ball hit Punter Rick Sapienza in the hands, but he dropped it. As he bent to pick up the ball, he accidentally kicked it away from himself. In the madness that ensued, several players from both teams attempted to recover the ball, but it was eventually kicked out of the scrum and picked up by Boston DE Chuck Shonta and returned 52 yards for a game winning TD as time ran out.
Sapienza would later describe what happened, “You know when you bent to pick something up and your foot gets in the way and you accidentally kick it away from yourself? People have done that a lot of times, but not in a football game.”
Titan Coach, Sammy Baugh and owner Harry Wismer were furious. Wismer claimed that the Jets had video that showed Patriots LB Tony Sardisco intentionally kicking the ball to keep it alive prior to the recovery. By rule the ball should have been whistled dead when it was kicked. The Titans filed a protest with the league office. Bob Austin, the AFL supervisor of officials flew out to NY to view the Titans tape of the game. “The Titans have a legitimate beef,” he said. AFL commissioner Joe Foss admitted a mistake was made, but did not want to set a precedent by changing the outcome of a game.
Titans LB Larry Grantham recalled the ending in an interview with the NY Daily News many years later, “They couldn't beat us any other way. The punter dropped the damn ball. His name was Rick Sapienza. I'll never forget that. It was a good snap. It was right to him. He just dropped it. If he'd just fallen on it, the game would have been over. He was cut in the locker room right after the game," Grantham remembers. "Harry Wismer came in there and said, 'Rick Sapienza.' He stood up and Wismer said, 'get your (s----) and get out of here.'"
So the Jets fell to 1-1 and the Patriots got their first AFL victory in a controversial ending involving videotape and allegations of cheating.
In their history, the Jets/Titans franchise has lost 451 football games. They have lost more to the Buffalo Bills than any other franchise, with a 51-57 record against Buffalo. They are only slightly better, at 52-56 against the New England/Boston Patriots. Out of all of those losses, the very first one came on this day, September 17, 1960 as the Titans hosted the Boston Patriots at the Polo Grounds.
The game seemed to foreshadow what was to come in the Patriots - Jets rivalry. The Titans jumped out to a big lead and lost in heartbreaking fashion. And it even involved a controversial ending including allegations that the Pats were caught cheating and the Titans had the video evidence to prove it. Can’t make this stuff up.
The game was evenly contested, with the Titans dominating play early, and the Patriots coming back late. Both teams had about 300 yards of offense, but a critical , controversial special teams play decided this one late.
The Patriots jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on a first quarter TD run by Walt Livingston, but the Titans responded and took control in the 2nd quarter. After a 23 yard Bill Shockley field goal closed the gap, the Titans took the led on 2 Al Dorow TD passes to his backs, the first an 8-yarder to Dewey Bohling and the 2nd was a 16-yarder to Ted Wegert to give NY a 17-7 halftime lead.
Photo is of 2nd Pats-Titans contest in Boston later in the 1960 season.
The Titans extended their lead in 3rd quarter as Dorow connected with WR Thurlow Cooper for 38 yards to give NY a seemingly comfortable 24-7 lead. After two Patriot scoring drives closed the gap to 24-21, with 1:50 left, the Titans recovered an onside kick and appeared to be headed to victory. The Titans had the ball and were trying to run out the clock when all hell broke loose. They were stopped on 4th down with about 30 seconds left in the game and the clock running, but they would still need to get one last play off before the game ended.
Coach Sammy Baugh sent the punt team on and the ball was snapped with 7 seconds left on the clock. The ball hit Punter Rick Sapienza in the hands, but he dropped it. As he bent to pick up the ball, he accidentally kicked it away from himself. In the madness that ensued, several players from both teams attempted to recover the ball, but it was eventually kicked out of the scrum and picked up by Boston DE Chuck Shonta and returned 52 yards for a game winning TD as time ran out.
Sapienza would later describe what happened, “You know when you bent to pick something up and your foot gets in the way and you accidentally kick it away from yourself? People have done that a lot of times, but not in a football game.”
Titan Coach, Sammy Baugh and owner Harry Wismer were furious. Wismer claimed that the Jets had video that showed Patriots LB Tony Sardisco intentionally kicking the ball to keep it alive prior to the recovery. By rule the ball should have been whistled dead when it was kicked. The Titans filed a protest with the league office. Bob Austin, the AFL supervisor of officials flew out to NY to view the Titans tape of the game. “The Titans have a legitimate beef,” he said. AFL commissioner Joe Foss admitted a mistake was made, but did not want to set a precedent by changing the outcome of a game.
Titans LB Larry Grantham recalled the ending in an interview with the NY Daily News many years later, “They couldn't beat us any other way. The punter dropped the damn ball. His name was Rick Sapienza. I'll never forget that. It was a good snap. It was right to him. He just dropped it. If he'd just fallen on it, the game would have been over. He was cut in the locker room right after the game," Grantham remembers. "Harry Wismer came in there and said, 'Rick Sapienza.' He stood up and Wismer said, 'get your (s----) and get out of here.'"
So the Jets fell to 1-1 and the Patriots got their first AFL victory in a controversial ending involving videotape and allegations of cheating.
