DMN: Around the NFL - Sellout? Washington, Green Bay are two of a kind

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Around the NFL

Sellout? Washington, Green Bay are two of a kind

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/columnists/rgosselin/stories/091105dnspoaroundnfl.2661798.html

09:20 PM CDT on Saturday, September 10, 2005

By RICK GOSSELIN / The Dallas Morning News

The Washington Redskins drew a crowd of 48,208 for the 1965 season opener against the Cleveland Browns. Washington lost that day – the first of five consecutive defeats that doomed the Redskins to a 6-8 season.

But that game holds great significance in the history of Washington football: It's the last time the Redskins failed to sell out. That was 39 years and 299 games ago, easily the longest streak of regular-season sellouts in the NFL.

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What's impressive is that the streak started when the Redskins were playing in RFK Stadium and needed to sell only 50,000-plus tickets to fill all the seats. Since 1999, the Redskins have been playing at FedEx Field, the NFL's largest stadium (a capacity of 91,665). And still all the seats are sold.

The Redskins have led the NFL in home attendance for five consecutive seasons. They became the first team to draw more than 700,000 in a season (2004), setting a league record with 707,920 paid admissions.

But Washington has not posted a winning season since 1999. And although the seats are all sold, you see empties on a given Sunday. There are never any empties in Green Bay.

The Packers have sold out every seat at Lambeau Field – preseason, regular season, and postseason – since 1960. That's 317 games in a row. But the regular-season streak only stands at 231 because from 1960 through 1994, the Packers also played home dates in Milwaukee. So the 105 games there don't count among the Lambeau sellouts.

GET IN LINE FOR TICKETS

In all, 26 teams have sellout streaks longer than one season. Here's the list:

Team Streak Noteworthy

Washington 299 Every game for 39 seasons

Denver 269 Every game since 1970 opener

Pittsburgh 239 Every game since 1974 opener

NY Giants 232 Sold out all but 2 games since 1976

Green Bay 231 317 if you count pre and postseason

NY Jets 226 Dating to final game at Shea in 1978

San Francisco 181 Every game since 1981

Chicago 166 Every game since 1984

Dallas 112 Last non-sellout vs. Arizona in 1990

Kansas City 112 Every game since 1991 opener

New England 88 Every game since Bob Kraft bought team

St. Louis 81 Every game since moving to St. Louis

Baltimore 72 Every game since return to Baltimore

Tampa Bay 60 Streak began in 1997

Minnesota 56 Every game since 1998

Miami 53 Last non-sellout vs. St. Louis in 1998

Cleveland 48 Every game since return to Cleveland

Houston 48 Every game since return to Houston

Tennessee 48 Every seat already sold for 2005

Philadelphia 47 Every seat already sold for 2005

Detroit 25 Every seat already sold for 2005

Atlanta 24 Every seat already sold for 2005

Carolina 17 Every seat already sold for 2005

Seattle 16 Novelty of a new stadium has worn off

Indianapolis 14 New stadium in 2008 will help

Cincinnati 11 Novelty of a new stadium has worn off

Buffalo 4 When the Bills contend, they sell out

San Diego 3 Outdated baseball park from the 1960s

New Orleans 1 No true home games in 2005

Arizona 0 One winning season in last 20 years

Jacksonville 0 Reduced the seating capacity in 2005

Oakland 0 Outdated baseball park from the 1960s

OBSERVATION DECK

Recalling Lombardi

Last Monday was the 35th anniversary of the death of Vince Lombardi, the greatest coach in NFL history.

Define gambling

Speaking of the Lombardi Packers, Paul Hornung was suspended by the NFL for the 1963 season for gambling. My how times have changed. On the nfl.com web page there is a "Fantasy Football" program sponsored by the league. Now the NFL openly embraces gambling in the form of fantasy football, a multimillion-dollar industry. The league closes its eyes to point spreads but offers "expert analysis" to fantasy football players. Hypocritical? You bet. Gambling is gambling. But the NFL can make money off fantasy football. There was no money to be made off Hornung.

Days of the off tackle

Has tackling become a lost art? When's the last time you saw a defensive back or a kick coverman actually wrap his arms around a ball carrier and bring him down with a textbook tackle? It seems like every tackle downfield involves 1) a defensive back hurling his body at the legs of a ball carrier; or 2) a defender launching his shoulder and/or helmet above the jersey numbers of a ball carrier looking for a kill shot. There'd be fewer injuries and fewer fines if today's defenders learned how to tackle the proper way.

Better catch it

I get the feeling the Jets are unsettled at wide receiver. They claimed four wideouts on waivers last weekend and were awarded one, Dante Ridgeway. After Laveranues Coles and Justin McCariens, the Jets are paper thin on the flank. And this is a team that needs to throw to help protect the 32-year-old legs of running back Curtis Martin.

There's an interesting clash of streaks Sunday in Miami. The visiting Broncos have the NFL's longest current winning streak in season openers, having won four in a row. But the Broncos also have never won in Miami. Denver is 0-6 at Miami and 3-9-1 all-time against the Dolphins. The first four losses came at the Orange Bowl. The last two came in Joe Robbie Stadium, which has since been renamed Dolphins Stadium. Miami will have emotion on its side as Nick Saban makes his NFL head coaching debut. But Denver has the better team. The Broncos have been to the playoffs each of the last two years and beat the Dolphins in their last meeting last December in Denver, 20-17. Surprisingly, five others have never won in Miami: Green Bay is 0-6, Detroit 0-4, Washington 0-4, New Orleans 0-3 and Carolina 0-1.

QB WATCH

Kyle Orton will enter an exclusive club Sunday that also includes John Elway, Troy Aikman and Peyton Manning. Orton will become just the 12th quarterback since 1980 to start the first game of his NFL career when he takes snaps for the Chicago Bears on opening day against the Washington Redskins.

Orton inherited the position when incumbent Rex Grossman broke an ankle in preseason. He draws one of the league's top-five defenses in his first assignment.

His fellow rookie starters posted a 4-7 opening-day record since 1980. Elway won his Denver debut against Pittsburgh in 1983, as did Houston's David Carr against Dallas in 2002. The other two winners were, surprisingly, Ryan Leaf (1998) and Chris Weinke (2001).

Starting is nothing new to Orton, a fourth-round draft pick by the Bears. He started the last three years at Purdue and won 19 of 36 games. He threw 1,336 passes in college for 9,337 yards and 63 touchdowns.

Don't look for Washington's sellout crowd of 90,000 to rattle Orton, either – not after playing in front of 100,000 at places such as Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State.

CONFERENCE CALLS

NFC

Mike Williams, the 10th overall pick of the 2005 draft by the Lions, will open as the No. 4 wide receiver behind Roy Williams, Charles Rogers and Kevin Johnson. "He's getting better," Lions coach Steve Mariucci said. "But he has to earn it. He came in late and missed a year. He's got some catching up to do. He needs to get in football shape, fine-tune his skills and learn what we're doing. Kevin Johnson has been in the league for six or seven years and is just a pro." ... Tampa Bay will be the first team to face Minnesota in the post-Randy Moss era. Don't assume that'll mean an easier day for the Buccaneers defensive backs, however. "They still have Daunte Culpepper," cornerback Brian Kelly said. "He didn't lose any strength in his arm, and he's still a big-time passer. They have a lot of guys who can make big plays over there on offense."

AFC

If the Patriots are to three-peat, the NFL has decided to make them earn it. How about four road trips in the next five games against Super Bowl aspirants Carolina, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Denver? ... Chris Perry could do little last December while fellow rookie running backs Steven Jackson, Kevin Jones and Julius Jones were lighting up the NFL with 100-yard games. Perry, a first-round pick of the Bengals, was limited to two games in 2004 because of a sports hernia. But Perry underwent off-season surgery, then had a superb camp and pre-season this summer. He'll back up Rudi Johnson at halfback and be the third-down back. "You always compare yourself to the people you came out with," Perry said. "They're all flourishing in the NFL, and I'm happy for them. I want to be there myself. I'm anxious to get to their level."

FLIER OF THE WEEK

Already the season looks bleak for the Chicago Bears. They haven't lined up for the opening kickoff yet but are already down to their second quarterback. And he's a rookie (Kyle Orton).

Also, the running back who was supposed to resurrect the running game to Walter Payton heights (No. 1 draft pick Cedric Benson) missed all of training camp in a contract holdout. So his contribution figures to be minimal in the opening month.

Little wonder the Bears are one of the biggest underdogs of the opening weekend. Washington is a six-point favorite at home against Chicago.

But the Bears are a franchise that plays good defense, and now it's a healthy defense. Missing sizable chunks of the 2004 season were FS Mike Brown (14 games), CB Charles Tillman (eight), MLB Brian Urlacher (seven) and pass rusher Adewale Ogunleye (four). All are back.

The Redskins finished 30th in offense a year ago but did little to improve the skill positions. This will be a low-scoring game. So let's go with the Bears in Week 1.

DRAFT WATCH: TIGHT ENDS

The NFL is no longer looking for pass catchers at tight end. The hunt is on for rebounders. Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates were power forwards in college basketball who have developed into the NFL's two premier tight ends. Gonzalez set an NFL record for the position with 102 catches in 2004, and Gates set a record with 13 TD receptions.

So the NFL will give strong consideration to UCLA's Marcedes Lewis, Purdue's Charles Davis and Central Florida's Darcy Johnson next April. Davis plays basketball and football at Purdue, averaging 2.9 points and 3.1 rebounds off the bench last winter. Lewis (California) and Johnson (Florida) are former all-state high school basketball players. Lewis also was one of three finalists for the Mackey Award in 2004. Heading into the fall, here are the top tight end prospects for the 2006 draft:

Tight end School Ht. Wt.

Tom Day Oregon 6-3 265

David Thomas Texas 6-2 ½ 238

Dominique Byrd So. Cal 6-2 ½ 260

Matt Herian Nebraska 6-4 240

Marcedes Lewis UCLA 6-5 ½ 255

Cooper Wallace Auburn 6-3 262

Troy Bienemann Wash. St. 6-4 ½ 259

Charles Davis Purdue 6-5 263

Joe Klopfenstein Colo. 6-5 245

T.J. Williams N. Caro. St. 6-2 250

Owen Daniels Wis. 6-3 247

Darcy Johnson C. Florida 6-5 255

Ryan Hamby Ohio St. 6-5 255

Tim Massaquoi Mich. 6-4 248

Erik Gill Pitt 6-5 275

[bubba9497]

The Redskins finished 30th in offense a year ago but did little to improve the skill positions. This will be a low-scoring game. So let's go with the Bears in Week 1.

:doh: no one understands football..... it ain't about the "skill" positions... we have plenty already, winning is about 2 things, a good defense <check>, and a solid, great OL

That was all the improvement we needed after adding speed at WR

[Cdowwe]

:doh: no one understands football..... it ain't about the "skill" positions... we have plenty already, winning is about 2 things, a good defense <check>, and a solid, great OL

That was all the improvement we needed after adding speed at WR

Exactly what I was thinking. That was a good read with some interesting stats.

[SkinsNatsFan]

What's impressive is that the streak started when the Redskins were playing in RFK Stadium and needed to sell only 50,000-plus tickets to fill all the seats. Since 1999, the Redskins have been playing at FedEx Field, the NFL's largest stadium (a capacity of 91,665). And still all the seats are sold.

What I've always found impressive is that the streak began at a time when the team had been a perennial loser for about 20 years.

[JoeKnowsBest]

The funniest thing I saw was that they said don't expect the sell out crowd to rattle orton. :lol What was that again?! LOL

But Washington has not posted a winning season since 1999. And although the seats are all sold, you see empties on a given Sunday. There are never any empties in Green Bay.

The reason for that is because of all these dam scalping corperations. They buy all these tickets and jack the price up til no one can afford them. Then the fans who want to go never get to get a ticket, and there are still emtpy seats in the stadium.

The first time I tried going to a game was a couple years ago. All I wanted was a single game ticket. So I called the stadium and they said they only sold season tickets (wich is on a waiting list) and nothing else. So tell me how a honest modest living fan is suposed to get a ticket in this town???