1960 SRFL Super Bowl

The end is near. Not fatalistically speaking but rather the end of the inaugural 1960 SRFL season has reached the Super Bowl. The Missouri Arrows tied for the best record in the league at 11-3. Coach Dale Van Devens Arrows have followed their Quarterback Milt Plum all season long and they'll hope to continue that in the Super Bowl. Missouri's path in the playoffs has not been an easy one. Their first game versus the Detroit Independents was a tour de force for the Arrows defense as they corralled the vaunted Detroit running game allowing just 67 yards on the ground. Forced into the air the Independents faired no better as the passing game only netted 82 yards. Yet with all that success on defense the game was still in doubt to the end, as the Arrows won a close one 23-17. The next week they took on their old nemesis the St.Louis Saints in the battle of Missouri. Even the Arrows couldn't shut down Jim Brown as he had 129 yards rushing for the Saints. Missouri was in position to win the game late but Milt Plum would have none of that. A touchdown pass to Jon Arnett in the last minute of the contest pushed Missouri into the Super Bowl via a heart-stopping, come from behind 23-21 victory.

The Cleveland Rams were 10-4 on the season guided by Head Coach Anthony DiNardo. In their playoff run they were powered by the running tandem of Paul Lowe & Dan Lewis. However the secret sauce for the Rams was their opportunistic defense. Six interceptions, two fumble recoveries and nine sacks equals one Super Bowl ticket. In the first playoff game against the Huntley Hawkeyes, Lowe and Lewis combined for 4 rushing touchdowns. Meanwhile the Hawkeyes Quarterback Johnny Unitas was beseiged by the Rams pass rush. Cleveland managed to accrue 7 sacks on Johnny "U" and that was just too much for Huntley to overcome in a 38-14 final. One week later Cleveland locked up with the Lakewood VooDoo, in a game that was in doubt into the 4th Quarter. In this contest Lakewood was able to move the ball with great success. For Lakewood QB BIlly Wade was airing it out to WR R.C. Owens, meanwhile John David Crow was running hard averaging 7.9 yards per carry. As a whole the VooDoo totalled 430 yards of offense. However with elimination staring them in the face Cleveland scored 4 consecutive times in the final two quarters to earn a 37-28 win. The Rams defense produced 4 interceptions including 2 in the final two minutes of the game.

What to expect in the Super Bowl? I would assume that what has worked in the 16 previous games is what the coaches will lean on. These two teams actually did play each other back in Week 9. In that game Missouri prevailed by a score of 27-14. For Cleveland Paul Lowe scored the games first and last touchdowns. However everything in between was going the Missouri Arrows way. Cleveland cannot let Milt Plum go wild with his game-breaking targets Jim Phillips and Gail Cogdill. If you don't controll that aspect of the offense you have no chance. In the playoffs the Rams showed that their defense can be a lethal weapon with sacks and interceptions and Cleveland certainly hopes that continues at least one more week. When the Cleveland offense has the ball they will be riding Paul Lowe and Dan Lewis. Focus solely on those two and Jim Colclough and Jimmy Orr can do serious damage with their receiving skills. Missouri is the "Show Me" state and you'll have to prove to them that Milt Plum can be stopped. Be careful here as the Arrows actually has a very solid running game. 20 rushing touchdowns on the season was the 4th most in the league. Also you cannot ignore the Arrows Offensive Line, as a unit they only allowed a microscopic 4 sacks on the season! Then when it comes to a field goal the Arrows Gene Mingo is the gold standard with his 93% conversion rate. One final stat indicating the closeness of these two teams.

Points For - Points Against
Missouri 309 -223
Cleveland 309 - 243

It should be a good one, I've got my popcorn ready.

SRFL Playoffs round 1 previews

SRFL Playoffs Round 1
AFC
#4 Oldsmar (8-5-1) @ #1 St. Louis (11-3)
#3 Missouri (11-3) @ #2 Detroit (10-3-1)
NFC
#4 Huntley (8-5-1) @ #1 Cleveland (10-4)
#3 Riverbottom (9-4-1) @ #2 Lakewood (9-5)

These two teams did not meet in the regular season. The Bob Gough led Saints were formed around the SRFL's first draft pick Jim Brown and for the most part ran roughshod through the schedule with just a few minor hiccups on the way to winning the AFC East. St.Louis completed their regular season with three consecutive tough games in preparation for the playoffs. The Saints won a close game over Canton, lost a nail-biter to VII Hills and then closing out the schedule with a win over another playoff team Missouri to clinch the Division championship.

You're not going to have success against the Saints unless you find a way to slow down Brown. Notice that I didn't say stop him as that's a near impossibility. The man led the leagues in rushes with 286 attempts and in yardage with 1426 yards. Then you tack on his 31 catches and yeah he also ran back kicks so let's face it the ball is going to be in his hands a lot!. The veteran Bobby Layne calls the plays and he has a couple of big targets in Buddy Dial and Kyle Rote. This team can come at you in multiple ways besides just running Brown, Hugh McElhenny and Tom Moore down your throat. Here's what is so unfair about the Saints. There defense is probably batter than their offense! St.Louis has three different players among the league leaders in sacks with Dick Chorovich leading the league with his 10 sacks, "Big Daddy" Lipscomb with 9 and Doug Atkins with 8. The Saints 43 sacks is 7 more than the next highest team total. In addition they allowed the least rushing yards in the league so how do you beat that?

Oldsmar snuck into the playoffs by virtue of Canton's loss to Detroit in the final game of the season. Coach Mike Roses relied mostly on good fortune to have a winning season. John Brodie took the team about as far as they could go this season but on paper they don't seem to have the talent level of some of the other playoff squads. The offense is pretty average, there is no workhorse resembling Jim Brown. The receivers are decent but there isn't a Raymond Berry or Don Maynard threat. The offensive line is average and the running backs are a collectivve of platoon guys. On defense it's more of the same. You have some decent players like Darris McCord, Rosey Grier & Goose Gonsoulin surrounded by other yeomen. As a unit the defense performed about to their maximum just to finish a few games over .500. The special teams also lack impact players so it will take a large bit of luck for the Ospreys to advance anywhere in the playoffs. I don't know what the over-under line is for this game but I have to think that the smart money is all going on St.Louis.

S.R.F.L.

The SRFL was started in 2023 based on the AFL-NFL rosters of 1960. 20 SRFL teams began drafting from the 21 existing professional football franchises. A lottery was drawn to determine draft positions and a serpentine style draft was implemented to stock the 20 new SRFL franchises. Let's take a look at the inaugural first round draft for the league.The top picks were not surprises as they represented the cream of the NFL in passing and rushing. The strategy for the rest of the league coaches would begin to flesh out as the drafting progressed.

1	St. Louis	Jim Brown, Cleveland - FB
2	Rich East	Jim Taylor, Green Bay - RB
3	Richmond	Bart Starr, Green Bay - QB
4	Huntley	Johnny Unitas, Baltimore - QB
5	VII Hills	Len Dawson, Cleveland - QB
6	Oldsmar	John Brodie, S.F. - QB
7	Canton	Sonny Jurgensen, Philadelphia - QB
8	Minnesota	Joe Schmidt, Detroit - MLB
9	Missouri	Milt Plum, Cleveland - QB
10	Cleveland	Paul Lowe, San Diego - RB
11	Dracut	Don Maynard, NY Titans - WR
12	Detroit	Abner Haynes, Dallas (AFL) - RB
13	South Beach	Y. A. Tittle, S.F. - QB
14	Michigan	Bobby Mitchell, Cleveland - RB
15	Baja	Willie Wood, GB - S
16	Lakewood	Billy Wade, LA Rams - QB
17	Maine	Jim Otto, Oakland - C
18	Riverbottom	Alex Karras, Detroit - DT
19	Decatur	Ray Nitschke, Green Bay - MLB
20	St. Paul	Forrest Gregg, Green Bay - OT

How valuable are the Quarterback and Running back spots? Of the first 16 picks 13 players shared these two skill positions. While these can provide short term success, some other areas of football can provide more longevity. In 4-5 seasons we might see a turnover in the strength of teams as the "skill" position players begin to show the wear and tear of football.

Now, thanks to the effort of our intrepid Commissioner Rob DiNardo (pictured above), we are able to enjoy the merger of the two leagues 10 years ahead of schedule.