1979 Chargers 34 - 1962 Dallas Texans 14

The 62 Texans are another old AFL powerhouse that I thought would do well. They did not. They have a couple of flaws, and the 79 Chargers explosed them pretty convincingly. Trouble started early for the Texans. After surrendering a FG on the Chargers opening drive, the Texans drove to the Charger 30. faced with 3rd and 2, the Texans went to a 2 TE formation, expecting, the Chargers to crowd the line of Scrimmage. Ths is exactly what SD did - and Len Dawson hit a wide open Tommy Brooker for 28 yards. Now, Tommy Brooker is a seldom used backup TE, and the Texans FG kicker - and I don't know if the pixilated Tommy Brooker got too excited or what, because in Danny Trevathon fashion he fumbled the ball at the two yard line. The Chargers drove 98 yards to score a TD. On the next Texans possession the Bolts blocked an Eddie Wilson punt and took possession at the Texans two. A quick off tackle gave the Chargers a 17 point lead. The Texans drove the field again, only to have Tommy Brooker flub a chip shot FG. Another Charger TD followed, and the game was in hand. The Texans have a ferocious running game, and dealy passing with Len Dawson - but they suffer from the one serious flaw of having awful pass blocking. This means that the offense will do well when they are running more often, and setting up their passing game - but, down by 24, the Chargers excellent pass rush just tee'd off on Dawson, sacking him five times and only allowing very short completions. The Texans runners got a lot of yardage against soft nickle defenses, but the Chargers were willing to surrender yardage in 7 yard chunks as long as the clock kept moving. As for the Texans defense, it excels versus the run, and is dangerous to pass against, because they rush and intercept well. They also tend to give up more than their share of long completions, and Dan Fouts et al. exploited them pretty mercilessly while mostly avoiding any bad plays of their own.

1962 Dallas AFL 14, 1979 San Diego 34
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	OT	Total
1962 Dallas AFL	0	0	14	0	0	14
1979 San Diego	3	21	7	3	0	34

Scoring Plays
Qtr	Clock	Poss	Scoring Description(Extra Point)	Score
1	8:42	1979 San Diego	M.Wood 25 yd. field goal	3-0 SDA
2	13:50	1979 San Diego	K.Winslow 9 yd. pass from D.Fouts (M.Wood kick)	10-0 SDA
2	11:36	1979 San Diego	A.Owens 2 yd. run (M.Wood kick)	17-0 SDA
2	4:35	1979 San Diego	K.Winslow 6 yd. pass from D.Fouts (M.Wood kick)	24-0 SDA
3	11:52	1962 Dallas AFL	C.McClinton 30 yd. run (T.Brooker kick)	24-7 SDA
3	7:45	1979 San Diego	J.Jefferson 25 yd. pass from D.Fouts (M.Wood kick)	31-7 SDA
3	4:38	1962 Dallas AFL	C.McClinton 9 yd. run (T.Brooker kick)	31-14 SDA
4	6:28	1979 San Diego	M.Wood 29 yd. field goal	34-14 SDA

Team Statistics
	1962 Dallas AFL	1979 San Diego
First Downs by Rush-Pass-Pen-Total	8-5-2-15	10-19-2-31
Third Down Efficiency	4-12-33%	5-9-56%
Fourth Down Efficiency	0-0-0%	0-0-0%
Red Zone Efficiency (pts-poss-pct)	7-7-100%	27-49-55%
Total Offense-Plays-Avg Yards Per Play	283-55-5.1	454-71-6.4
Total Net Yards Rushing	182	108
Total Rushes	26	36
Average Per Rush	7.0	3.0
Passes Completed/Attempted	12/24 (50.0%)	26/34 (76.5%)
Net Yards Passing	101	346
Avg Yards Per Pass	5.8	10.4
Sacked/Yards Lost	5/39	1/9
Punts/Average	5/31.4	2/37.5
Punts Received/Return Yardage	2/4	4/38
Kickoffs/Returns	6/141	3/60
Interceptions/Returns	1/11	1/0
Penalties/Yards	6/40	4/40
Total Fumbles/Fumbles Lost	2/2	3/2
Time of Possession	27 mins 30 secs	32 mins 30 secs
Average Drive Start	DAA 26	SDA 39

Passing Stats
	Att	Comp	Yds	Comp %	Yds/Att	TD	TD %	INT	INT %	Long	Sack	Rating
1962 Dallas AFL
Len Dawson	18	10	115	55.6	6.4	0	0	1	5.6	26	2/17	51.9
Eddie Wilson	6	2	25	33.3	4.2	0	0	0	0	16	3/22	47.2
1979 San Diego
Dan Fouts	32	25	342	78.1	10.7	3	9.4	1	3.1	56	0/0	129.4
James Harris	2	1	13	50.0	6.5	0	0	0	0	13	1/9	70.8

Rushing Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv	Fumbles/Lost
1962 Dallas AFL
Abner Haynes	10	64	6.4	15	0	0	0/0
Curtis McClinton	7	60	8.6	30	2	0	1/1
Jack Spikes	4	24	6.0	13	0	0	0/0
Len Dawson	3	23	7.7	15	0	0	0/0
Frank Jackson	2	11	5.5	6	0	0	0/0
1979 San Diego
Clarence Williams	18	59	3.3	9	0	0	1/0
Artie Owens	7	11	1.6	5	1	0	0/0
Mike Thomas	5	19	3.8	9	0	0	1/1
Bo Matthews	4	18	4.5	15	0	0	0/0
Lydell Mitchell	1	-3	-3.0	-3	0	0	0/0
Dan Fouts	1	4	4.0	4	0	0	0/0

Receiving Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv
1962 Dallas AFL
Chris Burford	3	29	9.7	15	0	0
Jack Spikes	2	12	6.0	7	0	0
Fred Arbanas	2	24	12.0	15	0	0
Bill J. Miller	2	16	8.0	8	0	0
Tommy Brooker	1	26	26.0	26	0	0
Curtis McClinton	1	17	17.0	17	0	0
Jimmy Saxton	1	16	16.0	16	0	0
1979 San Diego
Charlie Joiner	5	55	11.0	15	0	0
Bob Klein	5	59	11.8	17	0	0
John Jefferson	5	119	23.8	56	1	0
Kellen Winslow	4	43	10.8	15	2	0
Lydell Mitchell	4	44	11.0	20	0	0
Clarence Williams	2	22	11.0	23	0	0
Mike Thomas	1	13	13.0	13	0	0

Field Goals
	1-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	Totals	% Made
1962 Dallas AFL
Tommy Brooker	0/0	0/0	0/0	0/1	0/0	0/1	0.0
1979 San Diego
Mike Wood	0/0	2/2	0/0	0/0	0/0	2/2	100

Punting
	No	Avg	Net	Tb	Inside 20	Long	Blocked
1962 Dallas AFL
Eddie Wilson	4	39.3	29.8	0	0	48	1
1979 San Diego
Jeff West	2	37.5	35.5	0	0	38	0

Kickoff Returns
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1962 Dallas AFL
Dave Grayson	4	97	24.3	30	0
Frank Jackson	2	44	22.0	23	0
1979 San Diego
Artie Owens	3	60	20.0	22	0

Punt Returns
	Ret	FC	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1962 Dallas AFL
Abner Haynes	2	0	4	2.0	3	0
1979 San Diego
Mike Fuller	4	0	38	9.5	27	0

Individual Defense
	Tackles	Sacks	Fum Rec
1962 Dallas AFL
Sherrill Headrick	10	0	1
Duane Wood	9	0	0
Bobby Hunt	7	0	0
E.J. Holub	7	0	0
Curt Merz	6	0	0
Walt Corey	5	0	0
Johnny Robinson	4	0	0
Paul Rochester	4	0	0
Dave Grayson	4	0	1
Mel Branch	2	1	0
Bobby Ply	1	0	0
1979 San Diego
Mike H. Williams	8	0	1
Ray Preston	7	0	0
Bob Horn	7	0	0
Glen Edwards	4	0	0
Gary Johnson	4	2	0
Fred Dean	2	1	1
Wilbur Young	2	1	0
Willie Buchanon	2	0	0
Mike Fuller	2	1	0
Hal Stringert	1	0	0
John Lee	1	0	0
Woodrow Lowe	1	0	0
Doug Wilkerson	0	0	1

Interceptions
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1962 Dallas AFL
Dave Grayson	1	11	11.0	11	0
1979 San Diego
Willie Buchanon	1	0	0.0	0	0

Game Story

Dan Fouts had a great game as San Diego topped Dallas AFL by the score of 34 to 14. Fouts burned the Dallas AFL defense for 342 yards and 3 touchdowns. San Diego was in control on third down, converting on 5 of 9 opportunities. They won the air battle out-passing Dallas AFL 355 to 140 yards. The fans were brought to their feet by a pass to John Jefferson that covered 56 yards with 4:52 left in the 2nd quarter. San Diego led after three quarters 31 to 14. Dallas AFL out-rushed 0 182 to 108 yards.

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