1959 Detroit Lions (NFL) |
| 5th place Western Conference 3-8-1 .273 |
| Head Coach: George Wilson |
| Bob Dove | Ends |
| Aldo Forte | Line |
| Ray McLean | Offensive Backs |
| Bob Nussbaumer | Coaches Assistant |
| Buster Ramsey | Defense |
| SCORES | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day | Date | Opponent | Score | Location | Venue | Attendance | |||
| Sat | 8/8/1959 | N | Los Angeles Rams | 20-20 | T | Boulder, CO | Folsom Stadium | 18742 | |
| Sat | 8/15/1959 | B | Chicago Cardinals | 21-19 | W | Norman, OK | Oklahoma Memorial Stadium | 40000 | |
| Sat | 8/22/1959 | A | Cleveland Browns | 9-3 | W | Akron, OH | Rubber Bowl | 22654 | |
| Sat | 8/29/1959 | H | New York Giants | 0-38 | L | Detroit, MI | Briggs Stadium | 28679 | |
| Thu | 9/3/1959 | N | Philadelphia Eagles | 35-24 | W | Toledo, OH | Glass Bowl | 9500 | |
| Sun | 9/13/1959 | H | Cleveland Browns | 31-28 | W | Detroit, MI | Briggs Stadium | 33435 | |
| Sat | 9/19/1959 | H | Washington Redskins | 52-14 | W | Detroit, MI | Briggs Stadium | 28245 | |
| Sun | 9/27/1959 | A | Baltimore Colts | 9-21 | L | Baltimore, MD | Memorial Stadium | 55588 | |
| Sun | 10/4/1959 | A | Green Bay Packers | 10-28 | L | Green Bay, WI | City Stadium | 32150 | |
| Sun | 10/11/1959 | H | Baltimore Colts | 24-31 | L | Detroit, MI | Briggs Stadium | 54197 | |
| Sun | 10/18/1959 | H | San Francisco 49ers | 13-34 | L | Detroit, MI | Briggs Stadium | 52585 | |
| Sun | 10/25/1959 | A | Los Angeles Rams | 17-7 | W | Los Angeles, CA | Memorial Coliseum | 74288 | |
| Sun | 11/1/1959 | A | San Francisco 49ers | 7-33 | L | San Francisco, CA | Kezar Stadium | 59064 | |
| Sun | 11/8/1959 | A | Pittsburgh Steelers | 10-10 | T | Pittsburgh, PA | Forbes Field | 24619 | |
| Sun | 11/15/1959 | H | Los Angeles Rams | 23-17 | W | Detroit, MI | Briggs Stadium | 52271 | |
| Sun | 11/22/1959 | H | Chicago Bears | 14-24 | L | Detroit, MI | Briggs Stadium | 54059 | |
| Thu | 11/26/1959 | H | Green Bay Packers | 17-24 | L | Detroit, MI | Briggs Stadium | 49221 | |
| Sun | 12/6/1959 | H | Chicago Cardinals | 45-21 | W | Detroit, MI | Briggs Stadium | 45811 | |
| Sun | 12/13/1959 | A | Chicago Bears | 14-25 | L | Chicago, IL | Wrigley Field | 40890 | |
Exhibition game. Playoff game. A=Away game. H=Home game. N=Neutral site game. W=Win. L=Loss. T=Tie. OT=Overtime.
Click on Date to see boxscore.
| ROSTER | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Player | Pos | Ht | Wt | Age | College | GP | GS |
| 50 | Charlie Ane | C | 6-2 | 260 | 28 | Compton JC; Southern California | 11 | 11 |
| 41 | Terry Barr | RDH-ROH | 6-0 | 189 | 24 | Michigan | 11 | 8 |
| 40 | Howard Cassady | LOH | 5-10 | 183 | 25 | Ohio State | 12 | 12 |
| 88 | Gene Cook | OE | 6-3 | 215 | 27 | Toledo | 1 | 0 |
| 76 | Lou Creekmur | LOT | 6-4 | 246 | 32 | William & Mary | 8 | 8 |
| 85 | Gene Cronin | RDE-RLB | 6-2 | 229 | 26 | Sacramento CC; Pacific | 12 | 0 |
| 25 | Jimmy David | LDH | 5-10 | 178 | 32 | Colorado State | 12 | 12 |
| 83 | Jim Doran | ROE | 6-2 | 201 | 32 | Iowa State | 10 | 0 |
| 80 | Jim Gibbons | ROE-LOE | 6-2 | 220 | 23 | Iowa | 12 | 11 |
| 53 | Bill Glass | RDE-C | 6-5 | 252 | 24 | Baylor | 12 | 12 |
| 75 | John Gordy | ROG-LOT | 6-3 | 248 | 24 | Tennessee | 12 | 11 |
| 60 | Bob Grottkau | ROG-LOG | 6-4 | 228 | 22 | Oregon | 12 | 8 |
| 35 | John Henry Johnson | FB-ROH | 6-2 | 210 | 30 | St. Mary's (California); Arizona State | 10 | 2 |
| 88 | Steve Junker | ROE | 6-3 | 217 | 24 | Xavier (Ohio) | 6 | 3 |
| 71 | Alex Karras | LDT | 6-2 | 248 | 24 | Iowa | 12 | 12 |
| 28 | Yale Lary | RDH-RS | 6-0 | 187 | 29 | Texas A&M | 10 | 10 |
| 24 | Dick LeBeau | RS | 6-0 | 185 | 22 | Ohio State | 6 | 6 |
| 45 | Danny Lewis | ROH | 6-1 | 199 | 23 | Wisconsin | 11 | 10 |
| 86 | Bob Long | LLB | 6-3 | 232 | 25 | UCLA | 12 | 12 |
| 43 | Gary Lowe | LS | 5-11 | 196 | 25 | Michigan State | 12 | 12 |
| 72 | Gil Mains | RDT-RDE | 6-2 | 243 | 30 | Murray State | 12 | 12 |
| 47 | Jim Martin | RLB-K | 6-2 | 227 | 35 | Notre Dame | 12 | 8 |
| 78 | Darris McCord | LDE | 6-4 | 250 | 26 | Tennessee | 12 | 12 |
| 84 | Dave Middleton | LOE-LOH | 6-1 | 194 | 26 | Auburn | 12 | 10 |
| 14 | Earl Morrall | QB-P | 6-2 | 205 | 25 | Michigan State | 12 | 6 |
| 77 | Ben Paolucci | LDT | 6-2 | 240 | 22 | Wayne State (Michigan) | 4 | 0 |
| 79 | Gerry Perry | RDT-LDE-K | 6-4 | 237 | 29 | Pepperdine; Compton JC; California | 10 | 0 |
| 33 | Nick Pietrosante | FB | 6-2 | 225 | 22 | Notre Dame | 10 | 6 |
| 64 | Mike Rabold | ROG-LOG | 6-2 | 239 | 21 | Indiana | 12 | 0 |
| 87 | Jerry Reichow | QB-LOH-LOE | 6-2 | 217 | 25 | Iowa | 9 | 0 |
| 18 | Tobin Rote | QB | 6-3 | 211 | 31 | Rice | 10 | 6 |
| 73 | Ken Russell | LOT-ROT | 6-3 | 253 | 24 | Bowling Green State | 4 | 0 |
| 56 | Joe Schmidt | MLB | 6-1 | 220 | 27 | Pittsburgh | 12 | 12 |
| 66 | Harley Sewell | LOG | 6-1 | 230 | 28 | Texas | 11 | 10 |
| 76 | Ollie Spencer | ROT | 6-2 | 245 | 28 | Kansas | 12 | 11 |
| 20 | Jim Steffen | RDH | 6-0 | 196 | 23 | Santa Ana JC; UCLA | 9 | 1 |
| 55 | Wayne Walker | RLB-K | 6-2 | 225 | 23 | Idaho | 9 | 4 |
| 74 | Jim Weatherall | RDT | 6-4 | 245 | 30 | Oklahoma | 8 | 1 |
| 34 | Ken Webb | FB | 5-11 | 207 | 24 | Presbyterian | 12 | 3 |
| 23 | Dave Whitsell | RS | 6-0 | 189 | 23 | Indiana | 12 | 2 |
| DRAFT LIST | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round | Overall | Player | Pos | College |
| 1 | 6 | Nick Pietrosante | B | Notre Dame |
| 2 | 18 | Charley Horton | G | Baylor |
| 2 | 19 | Mike Rabold | T | Indiana |
| 3 | 30 | Ronnie Koes | C | North Carolina |
| 3 | 36 | Ron Luciano | T | Syracuse |
| 4 | 42 | Art Brandriff | B | Virginia Military Institute |
| 4 | 46 | Bob Grottkau | G | Oregon |
| 6 | 67 | Dick Guesman | T | West Virginia |
| 7 | 77 | Ben Donnell | C | Vanderbilt |
| 8 | 88 | Jim Linden | T | Oregon |
| 9 | 101 | Carl Smith | B | Tennessee |
| 10 | 112 | Jack Laraway | B | Purdue |
| 11 | 125 | Harry Jacobs | G | Bradley |
| 12 | 136 | Ron Stehouwer | T | Colorado State |
| 13 | 149 | Jim Steffen | B | UCLA |
| 14 | 160 | Jim Baldwin | C | McMurry |
| 15 | 173 | Bruce Maher | B | Detroit Mercy |
| 16 | 184 | George McGee | T | Southern University |
| 17 | 197 | Jack Rudolph | E | Georgia Tech |
| 18 | 208 | Dave Holden | T | Los Angeles State |
| 19 | 221 | Rufus Granderson | T | Prairie View A&M |
| 20 | 232 | Dan McGrew | C | Purdue |
| 21 | 245 | Buddy Davis | B | Richmond |
| 22 | 256 | LeBron Shields | T | Tennessee |
| 23 | 269 | Sal Cesario | T | Denver |
| 24 | 280 | Fred Riddle | B | Pittsburgh |
| 25 | 293 | Dan Chamberlain | E | Sacramento State |
| 26 | 304 | Jim Bradley | B | Lincoln (Missouri) |
| 27 | 317 | Bill Jerry | T | South Carolina |
| 28 | 328 | Vince Matthews | B | Texas |
| 29 | 341 | Dave Sime | E | Duke |
| 30 | 352 | Ron Stover | E | Oregon |
| SCORING BY QUARTERS | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | OT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Totals | 40 | 65 | 51 | 47 | |
| Opponents Totals | 68 | 81 | 43 | 83 |
| TEAM STATS | TOP | 1st Downs | FDR | FDP | FDX | 3rd Down Efficiency | 4th Down Efficiency | PEN | PENY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Totals | 198 | 90 | 87 | 21 | / % | / % | 65 | 496 | |
| Opponents Totals | 196 | 79 | 103 | 14 | / % | / % | 64 | 603 |
| SCORING | TD | X1 | X1A | PCT | FG | FGA | PCT | SAF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Howard Cassady | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | ||
| Gerry Perry | 0 | 18 | 18 | 100.0 | 3 | 6 | 50.0 | 0 | 27 |
| Jim Martin | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 | 7 | 17 | 41.2 | 0 | 21 |
| John Henry Johnson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | ||
| Nick Pietrosante | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | ||
| Jim Doran | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | ||
| Danny Lewis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | ||
| Dave Middleton | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | ||
| Tobin Rote | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | ||
| Ken Webb | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | ||
| Terry Barr | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Jim Gibbons | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Yale Lary | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Jerry Reichow | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Wayne Walker | 0 | 5 | 6 | 83.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| Team Totals | 25 | 23 | 25 | 92.0 | 10 | 23 | 43.5 | 0 | 203 |
| Opponents Totals | 34 | 34 | 34 | 100.0 | 11 | 21 | 52.4 | 2 | 275 |
| FIELD GOALS | MADE | ATT | PCT | BL | LG | 1-19 | 20-29 | 30-39 | 40-49 | 50+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Martin | 7 | 17 | 41.2 | 1 | 50 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 2/3 | 2/6 | 1/4 |
| Gerry Perry | 3 | 6 | 50.0 | 1 | 22 | 2/4 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 |
| Team Totals | 10 | 23 | 43.5 | 2 | 50 | 3/6 | 2/4 | 2/4 | 2/6 | 1/4 |
| Opponents Totals | 11 | 21 | 52.4 | 6/ | 2/ | 3/ | 0/ | 0/ |
| RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | LG | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Pietrosante | 76 | 447 | 5.9 | 37 | 3 |
| John Henry Johnson | 82 | 270 | 3.3 | 39 | 2 |
| Ken Webb | 60 | 222 | 3.7 | 29 | 2 |
| Howard Cassady | 52 | 203 | 3.9 | 18 | 1 |
| Danny Lewis | 49 | 199 | 4.1 | 20 | 2 |
| Tobin Rote | 35 | 156 | 4.5 | 21 | 2 |
| Earl Morrall | 26 | 112 | 4.3 | 22 | 0 |
| Jerry Reichow | 13 | 98 | 7.5 | 46 | 0 |
| Terry Barr | 5 | 57 | 11.4 | 37 | 1 |
| Yale Lary | 1 | 18 | 18.0 | 18 | 0 |
| Charlie Ane | 0 | 10 | 10L | 0 | |
| Team Totals | 399 | 1792 | 4.5 | 46 | 13 |
| Opponents Totals | 403 | 1562 | 3.9 | 13 |
| PASSING | ATT | COM | PCT | INC | YDS | Y/ATT | Y/COM | LG | TD | TD% | INT | INT% | TS | YL | NYP | RTG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earl Morrall | 137 | 65 | 47.4 | 66 | 1102 | 8.0 | 17.0 | 79t | 5 | 3.6 | 6 | 4.4 | 228 | 874 | 69.1 | |
| Tobin Rote | 162 | 62 | 38.3 | 81 | 861 | 5.3 | 13.9 | 59 | 5 | 3.1 | 19 | 11.7 | 232 | 629 | 26.8 | |
| Jerry Reichow | 27 | 9 | 33.3 | 16 | 168 | 6.2 | 18.7 | 41 | 0 | 0.0 | 2 | 7.4 | 7 | 161 | 24.9 | |
| Terry Barr | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39.6 | ||
| Yale Lary | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39.6 | ||
| Team Totals | 328 | 136 | 41.5 | 165 | 2131 | 6.5 | 15.7 | 79t | 10 | 3.0 | 27 | 8.2 | 467 | 1664 | 39.6 | |
| Opponents Totals | 288 | 147 | 51.0 | 127 | 2340 | 8.1 | 15.9 | 19 | 6.6 | 14 | 4.9 | 246 | 2094 | 80.2 |
| RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | LG | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Gibbons | 31 | 431 | 13.9 | 38 | 1 |
| Dave Middleton | 18 | 402 | 22.3 | 79t | 2 |
| Nick Pietrosante | 16 | 140 | 8.8 | 20 | 0 |
| Howard Cassady | 15 | 316 | 21.1 | 59t | 4 |
| Jim Doran | 14 | 191 | 13.6 | 25 | 1 |
| Ken Webb | 12 | 201 | 16.8 | 67 | 0 |
| Terry Barr | 10 | 180 | 18.0 | 45 | 0 |
| Jerry Reichow | 7 | 118 | 16.9 | 32 | 1 |
| John Henry Johnson | 7 | 34 | 4.9 | 18 | 1 |
| Danny Lewis | 5 | 75 | 15.0 | 30 | 0 |
| Gene Cook | 1 | 43 | 43.0 | 43 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 136 | 2131 | 15.7 | 79t | 10 |
| Opponents Totals | 147 | 2340 | 15.9 | 19 |
| INTERCEPTIONS | INT | YDS | AVG | LG | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Lowe | 5 | 130 | 26.0 | 42 | 0 |
| Yale Lary | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim Martin | 2 | 33 | 16.5 | 19 | 0 |
| Jimmy David | 2 | 7 | 3.5 | 7 | 0 |
| Terry Barr | 1 | 29 | 29.0 | 29 | 0 |
| Joe Schmidt | 1 | 17 | 17.0 | 17 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 14 | 216 | 15.4 | 42 | 0 |
| Opponents Totals | 27 | 370 | 13.7 | 1 |
| PUNTING | NO | YDS | AVG | LG | BL | TB | I20 | RYDS | NYDS | NET |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yale Lary | 45 | 2121 | 47.1 | 67 | 0 | |||||
| Earl Morrall | 11 | 481 | 43.7 | 66 | 0 | |||||
| Team Totals | 56 | 2602 | 46.5 | 67 | 0 | 230 | 42.4 | |||
| Opponents Totals | 69 | 3013 | 43.7 | 197 |
| PUNT RETURNS | NO | FC | YDS | AVG | LG | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terry Barr | 16 | 102 | 6.4 | 24 | 0 | |
| Yale Lary | 21 | 43 | 2.0 | 12 | 0 | |
| Gary Lowe | 6 | 8 | 1.3 | 8 | 0 | |
| Dave Middleton | 3 | 30 | 10.0 | 21 | 0 | |
| Jim Steffen | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Howard Cassady | 1 | 14 | 14.0 | 14 | 0 | |
| Team Totals | 50 | 197 | 3.9 | 24 | 0 | |
| Opponents Totals | 36 | 230 | 6.4 | 0 |
| KICKOFF RETURNS | NO | FC | YDS | AVG | LG | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ken Webb | 16 | 352 | 22.0 | 45 | 0 | |
| Terry Barr | 9 | 224 | 24.9 | 33 | 0 | |
| Howard Cassady | 8 | 163 | 20.4 | 34 | 0 | |
| Nick Pietrosante | 5 | 98 | 19.6 | 24 | 0 | |
| Danny Lewis | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 9 | 0 | |
| Jim Martin | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mike Rabold | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ken Russell | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Team Totals | 42 | 846 | 20.1 | 45 | 0 | |
| Opponents Totals | 37 | 774 | 20.9 | 0 |
| FUMBLES | NO | LOST | OWN | OPP | REC | YDS | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlie Ane | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 0 |
| Terry Barr | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Howard Cassady | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Gene Cronin | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 0 |
| Jim Doran | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Jim Gibbons | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bill Glass | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| John Henry Johnson | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Alex Karras | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Yale Lary | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 38 | 1 | |
| Dick LeBeau | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Danny Lewis | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bob Long | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Gary Lowe | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 0 | |
| Gil Mains | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 0 | |
| Jim Martin | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Dave Middleton | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Earl Morrall | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Gerry Perry | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Nick Pietrosante | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Tobin Rote | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Joe Schmidt | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 41 | 0 | |
| Ollie Spencer | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim Steffen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Ken Webb | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Team Totals | 36 | 19 | 17 | 19 | 36 | 115 | 2 |
| Opponents Totals | 31 | 19 | 12 | 19 | 31 | 1 |
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