1929 NFL season

1929 National Football League season
Regular season
Duration September 22 – December 15, 1929
Champions Green Bay Packers

The 1929 NFL season was the tenth regular season of the National Football League. The league increased back to 12 teams with the addition of the Staten Island Stapletons, Orange Tornadoes and Minneapolis Red Jackets and the re-entry of the Buffalo Bisons. The Pottsville Maroons became the Boston Bulldogs and the New York Yankees and Detroit Wolverines folded.

On November 3, the Chicago Cardinals at Providence Steam Roller match became the first NFL game to be played at night under floodlights. Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers were named the NFL champions after finishing the season with the best record.

Rule changes

The NFL added the Field Judge as the fourth game official.[1]

Championship race

Neither the Green Bay Packers nor the New York Giants lost a game during the first nine weeks of the season. When they met at New York's Polo Grounds on November 24, 1929, the Packers were 9–0–0 and Giants were 8–0–1.[2] "Whether New York or Green Bay, Wis., will hoist the 1929 National Professional Football league pennant to the top of the flagstaff will probably be determined here Sunday when the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers, both undefeated teams, meet," an Associated Press report noted, adding "Although both the Packers and the Giants play other games before the end of the season, past performances indicated that tomorrow's game will be the crucial contest for the league's standings."[3]

Verne Lewellen's pass to Herdis McCrary, and Bo Molenda's extra point, gave Green Bay a 7–0 lead in the first quarter. A pass from Benny Friedman to Tony Plansky gave the Giants a chance to tie in the third quarter, but the point after failed, and New York trailed 7–6. Green Bay added two touchdowns in the last quarter to win the game, 20–6 to take a one-game lead.[4][5] Neither team lost their remaining games; the Packers finished at 12–0–1, the Giants at 13–1–1, giving coach Curly Lambeau and the Packers their first league title.[6]

The NFL introduced a scheduled championship game four years later, in 1933. An unscheduled extra game was played the previous season in 1932, but as a tiebreaker game that counted in the final standings; it was played indoors on a modified field.

Standings

NFL standings
W L T PCT PF PA STK
Green Bay Packers 12 0 1 1.000 198 22 W2
New York Giants 13 1 1 .929 312 86 W4
Frankford Yellow Jackets 9 4 5 .692 129 128 W1
Chicago Cardinals 6 6 1 .500 154 83 W1
Boston Bulldogs 4 4 0 .500 98 73 L1
Staten Island Stapletons 3 4 3 .429 89 65 L2
Orange Tornadoes 3 4 4 .429 35 80 L1
Providence Steam Roller 4 6 2 .400 107 117 L1
Chicago Bears 4 9 2 .308 119 227 L1
Buffalo Bisons 1 7 1 .125 48 142 W1
Minneapolis Red Jackets 1 9 0 .100 48 185 L7
Dayton Triangles 0 6 0 .000 7 136 L6

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

References

  1. ↑ Strickler, George (February 20, 1965). "Sixth N.F.L. official to watch scramblers, clock". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 2.
  2. ↑ "Packers play N.Y. Giants for national grid title". Milwaukee Journal. November 24, 1929. p. 6, part 2.
  3. ↑ "Packers Play N.Y. Giants For Pro Grid Flag Today". Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin). November 23, 1929. p. B-1.
  4. ↑ Darrow, Edward M. (November 25, 1929). "Packers crush N.Y. Giants, 20 to 6". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 12.
  5. ↑ Gannon, A.D. (November 25, 1929). "Packers hand N.Y. Giants decisive defeat, 20 to 6". Milwaukee Journal. p. 2, part 2.
  6. ↑ McGlynn, Stoney (December 9, 1929). "Bays defeat Bears, capture title". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 13.
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