1949 Philadelphia Eagles season

1949 Philadelphia Eagles season
Head coach	Greasy Neale
Owner	Happy Hundred
Home field	Shibe Park
Results
Record	11–1
Division place	1st NFL Eastern
Playoff finish	Won NFL Championship

The 1949 Philadelphia Eagles season was their 17th in the National Football League. The Eagles won their second-consecutive NFL championship.

Off season

The Eagles hold training camp for the 1st time at UM North Central Agriculture school in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

NFL Draft

The 1949 NFL draft was held on December 21, 1948. It would be 25 rounds long. The Eagles had the Lottery Bonus Pick in the draft and picked 1st. The Eagles would choose 26 players total during this draft. They had the last pick in each round as all teams picked in exery round. The All-America Football Conference was still a rival league and signing some of the NFL cast offs and draft picks. With the bonus and 1st pick overall, the Eagles took a local hero from the University of Pennsylvania, a center and linebacker, Chuck Bednarik. Along with him, the other future NFL Hall of Famers picked this year were Norm Van Brocklin, George Blanda, and Doak Walker.

Player selections

The table shows the Eagles selections and what picks they had that were traded away and the team that ended up with that pick. It is possible the Eagles' pick ended up with this team via another team that the Eagles made a trade with. Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.

= Pro Bowler [1]

= Hall of Famer

Rd	Pick	Player	Position	School
1	1	Chuck Bednarik ^(Lottery bonus pick)	Center	Pennsylvania
1	9	Frank Tripucka	Quarterback	Notre Dame
2	19	Frank Burns	Back	Rutgers
3	29	Frank Ziegler	Back	Georgia Tech
4	41	Don Panciera	Back	San Francisco
5	51	Terry Brennan	Back	Notre Dame
6	58	Warren Huey	End	Michigan State
7	71	Frank Gillespie	Guard	Clemson
8	81	Bob Dean	Back	Cornell
9	91	Jonathan Jenkins	Tackle	Dartmouth
10	101	Roy Lester	End	West Virginia
11	111	Bobby Wilson	Back	Mississippi
12	121	Dale Armstrong	End	Dartmouth
13	131	Lyle Button	Tackle	Illinois
14	141	Bobby Lund	Back	Tennessee
15	151	Carl Copp	Tackle	Vanderbilt
16	161	Frank Reno	End	West Virginia
17	171	Leo Skladany	End	Pittsburgh
18	181	Russ Strait	Back	Muhlenberg
19	191	Paul Odom	Guard	Rollins
20	201	Lloyd Brinkman	Back	Missouri
21	211	Lou Futrell	Back	USC
22	221	Harvey Kingry	Back	Colorado Mines
23	231	Hank Kalver	Tackle	Oklahoma City
24	241	Fred Leon	Tackle	Nevada-Reno
25	251	John "Bull" Schweder[2]	Guard	Pennsylvania

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 22, 1949	at New York Bulldogs	W 7–0	4,355
2	October 3, 1949	at Detroit Lions	W 22–14	20,163
3	October 8, 1949	Chicago Cardinals	W 28–3	33,716
4	October 16, 1949	at Chicago Bears	L 38–21	47,248
5	October 23, 1949	Washington Redskins	W 49–14	28,602
6	October 30, 1949	at Pittsburgh Steelers	W 38–7	37,840
7	November 6, 1949	Los Angeles Rams	W 38–14	38,230
8	November 13, 1949	at Washington Redskins	W 44–21	31,170
9	November 20, 1949	New York Bulldogs	W 42–0	22,165
10	November 27, 1949	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 34–17	22,191
11	December 4, 1949	at New York Giants	W 24–3	25,446
12	December 11, 1949	New York Giants	W 17–3	21,022

Game Recaps

Week 4 at Chi Bears

The Eagles get the only loss of the season against the Chicago Bears in a game played at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The last points of the game were made by 22 years 29 days old George Blanda. Blanda would score his last points against Philadelphia in is career 22 years and 1 day later on October 17, 1971. Also a placekicker, Blanda had one of the longest pro football careers, a total of 26 years.

Week 4: Philadelphia Eagles (3–1) at Chicago Bears (3–1)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	7	7	7	0	21
Bears	7	14	7	10	38

at Wrigley Field on Grass,

• Date: October 16, 1949
• Game time: 1:00 p.m. EST
• Game weather: degrees, wind mph

Game information

1st quarter Bears – George Gulyanics 1 yard rush (Johnny Lujack kick), Bears 7 – 0 Eagles – Pete Pihos 16 yard pass from Tommy Thompson (Cliff Patton kick)Tied 7 – 7 2nd quarter Eagles – Steve Van Buren 50 yard pass from Tommy Thompson (Cliff Patton kick) Eagles 14 – 7 Bears – Ken Kavanaugh 32 yard pass from Johnny Lujack (Johnny Lujack kick) Tied 14 – 14 Bears – Johnny Lujack 1 yard rush (Johnny Lujack kick) Bears 21 – 14 3rd quarter Bears – Jim Keane 15 yard pass from Johnny Lujack (Johnny Lujack kick) Bears 28 – 14 Eagles – Jack Ferrante 64 yard pass from Tommy Thompson (Cliff Patton kick) Bears 28 – 21 4th quarter Bears – George McAfee 54 yard interception return (Johnny Lujack kick) Bears 35 – 21 Bears – George Blanda 20 yard field goal, Bears 38 – 21 Team Stats First downs – Phila 14 – Chi 28 Rush-yards-TDs – Phila 32–42–0 – Chi 45–200–2 Comp-Att-Yd-TD-INT – Phila 16–29–213–3–2 – Chi 16–26–257–2–1 Sacked-yards – Phila 0–0 – Chi 0–0 Net pass yards – Phila 213 – Chi 257 Total yards – Phila 255 – Chi 457 Fumbles-lost – Phila 0–0 – Chi 0–0 Turnovers – Phila 2 – Chi 1 Penalties-yards – Phila 4–38 – Chi 9–99 Eastern Division Standing Philadelphia Eagles(3–1–0) Pittsburgh Steelers (3–1–0) New York Giants (2–2–0) Washington Redskins (2–2–0) New York Bulldogs (0–4–0)

NFL Championship Game

Week	Date	Opponent	Result
Championship	December 18, 1949	at Los Angeles Rams	W 14–0

1949 NFL Championship: Philadelphia Eagles (11–1) at Los Angeles Rams (8–2–2)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	7	7	0	14
Rams	0-	0	0	0	0

at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on natural grass

• Date: December 18, 1949
• Game time: 1:30 p.m. PST
• Game weather: Heavy rain
• Game attendance: 27,980

Game information

1st quarter No Scoring 2nd quarter Eagles – Pete Pihos 31 yard pass from Tommy Thompson (Cliff Patton kick), Eagles 7 – 0 3rd quarter Eagles – Leo Skladany 2 yard blocked punt return (Cliff Patton kick), Eagles 14 – 0 4th quarter No Scoring Team Stats First downs – Phila 1 – LA 7 Rush-yards-TDs – Phila 61–274–0 – LA 24–21–0 Comp-Att-Yd-TD-INT – Phila 5–9–68–1–2 – Chi 10–27–98–0–1 Sacked-yards – Phila 0–0 – LA 1–10 Net pass yards – Phila 68 – LA 88 Total yards – Phila 342 – LA 109 Fumbles-lost – Phila 4–1 – LA 1–0 Turnovers – Phila 3 – LA 1 Penalties-yards – Phila 6–40 – LA 4–25

Standings

NFL Eastern Division
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	PF	PA	STK
Philadelphia Eagles	11	1	0	.917	8–0	364	134	W8
Pittsburgh Steelers	6	5	1	.545	4–4	224	214	W1
New York Giants	6	6	0	.500	3–5	287	298	L2
Washington Redskins	4	7	1	.364	3–4–1	268	339	L1
New York Bulldogs	1	10	1	.091	1–6–1	153	368	L5

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

1949 Roster

(All time List of Philadelphia Eagles players in franchise history)

= 1949 Pro Bowl [3]

= Hall of Famer

NO.	Player	AGE	POS	GP	GS	WT	HT	YRS	College
[4]	Greasy Neale	58	Coach	1949 record 11–1	Lifetime 57–37–5			9th	West Virginia Wesleyan
	Neill Armstrong	23	E-DB	12	4	189	6–2	2	Oklahoma State
	Walt Barnes	31	G	12	0	238	6–1	1	LSU
60	Chuck Bednarik	24	LB-C	10	7	233	6–3	Rookie	Pennsylvania
	Russ Craft	30	DB-HB	10	2	178	5–9	3	Alabama
	Otis Douglas	38	T	2	0	224	6–1	3	William & Mary
	Jack Ferrante	33	E-DE	12	7	197	6–1	8	none
	Mario Giannelli	29	MG-G	10	1	265	6–0	1	Boston College
	John Green	28	DE-E	7	2	192	6–1	2	Tulsa
	Dick Humbert	31	E-DE	11	0	179	6–1	8	Richmond
	Mike Jarmoluk	27	DT-T-MG	9	0	232	6–5	3	Temple
	Bucko Kilroy	28	G-MG-T-DT	12	12	243	6–2	6	Notre Dame, Temple
	Ben Kish	32	B	7	0	207	6–0	9	Pittsburgh
	Vic Lindskog	35	C	5	4	203	6–1	5	Stanford
	Jay MacDowell	30	T-DE	8	1	217	6–2	3	Washington
	Bill Mackrides	24	QB	7	0	182	5–11	2	Nevada-Reno
	John Magee	26	G	12	3	220	5–10	1	La-Lafayette, Rice
	Duke Maronic	28	G	11	2	209	5–9	5	none
	Pat McHugh	30	DB-HB	12	0	166	5–11	2	Georgia Tech
	Joe Muha	28	FB-LB	12	11	205	6–1	3	VMI
	Jack Myers	25	FB-QB-LB	12	3	200	6–2	1	UCLA
	Jim Parmer	23	FB-HB	12	1	193	6–0	1	Oklahoma State, Texas A&M
	Cliff Patton	26	G-LB	12	7	243	6–2	3	TCU
	Pete Pihos+	26	E-DE	11	9	210	6–1	2	Indiana
	Hal Prescott	29	E	3	0	199	6–1	3	Hardin-Simmons
	Bosh Pritchard	30	HB	8	7	164	5–11	7	Georgia Tech, VMI
	Frank Reagan	30	B	12	0	182	5–11	8	Pennsylvania
	George Savitsky	25	T	12	0	244	6–2	1	Pennsylvania
	Clyde Scott	25	HB-DB	8	2	174	6–0	Rookie	Arkansas, Navy
	Vic Sears	31	T-DT	11	11	223	6–3	8	Oregon State
	Leo Skladany	22	E	3	1	210	6–1	Rookie	Pittsburgh
	Tommy Thompson	33	QB	12	9	192	6–1	9	Tulsa
15	Steve Van Buren+	29	HB	12	10	200	6–0	5	LSU
	Al Wistert	29	T-G-DT	12	11	214	6–1	6	Michigan
	Alex Wojciechowicz	34	C-LB-E	12	1	217	5–11	11	Fordham
	Frank Ziegler	26	HB-DB	10	4	175	5–11	Rookie	Georgia Tech
	35 Players Team Average	28.5		12		206.3	6–0.6	3.8

Postseason

The NFL and the AAFC agree to form one league as the NFL. The Philadelphia Eagles are scheduled to meet the AAFC 4 time Champion Cleveland Browns on the 1950 opening weekend in Philadelphia.

Awards and Honors

All-Star Selections

• Pete Pihos is selected as 1st team End – Defensive End.
• Steve Van Buren is selected as 1st team Halfback

League Leaders^[5]

• Eagles Lead NFL as Overall Offensive Team.
• Eagles Lead NFL as Overall Defensive Team.
• Tommy Thompson finishes 2nd in Pass Completion Pct. with a .542 (214 attempts/116 completions)
• Tommy Thompson leads in Passer Rating with an 84.4 rating
• Steve Van Buren leads Rushing Attempts with 263
• Steve Van Buren leads Rushing Yardage with 1,146 at the time a NFL record for season.
• Bosh Pritchard leads in Rushing Yards per Attempts Avg. with 6.0 (84 rushes/506 yards 3 td, )
• Steve Van Buren leads Rushing Touchdowns with 11
• Cliff Patton leads league with Field Goals with 9 (on 18 attempts)
• Cliff Patton finishes 2nd in league on Field Goal Attempts with 18
• Frank Reagan and Clyde Scott are 2nd in Punt Returns for TDs with 1 each.
• Pat Mchugh and Joe Muha finishes 2nd in Interceptions Returned for TD with 1 each.

References

1. Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro-Bowl at any time in their career.
2. This last selection is commonly referred to as Mr. Irrelevant.
3. Players are identified as a 1949 All-Star.
4. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/NealGr0.htm
5. http://www.databasefootball.com/leagues/leagueyear.htm?lg=nfl&yr=1949

• Eagles on Pro Football Reference
• Eagles on jt-sw.com
• Eagles on Eagles.net