Sammy Baugh: Thoroughly Modern Quarterback

A couple of years back Sports Illustrated did a great photo spread in its football-kickoff issue where it paired up current stars with former greats. The centerpiece was this wonderful picture of Sammy Baugh chatting up Peyton Manning at Baugh’s ranch in Texas. It was the perfect pairing in so many ways because Baugh was the model for the modern quarterback, and Manning was the model modern quarterback.

The thing people don’t get about Baugh, though, is why he’s the model for the modern quarterback. To do that we have to go to the numbers, and include league averages in addition to Baugh’s numbers.

Year	Cmp	LgAvg	Att	LgAvg	Cmp%	Lg Avg	Yds	LgAvg	TD	LgAvg	Yds/Cmp	LgAvg
1937+	81	69.7	171	181.5	47.4	38.4	1127	1023	8	9	13.9	14.7
1938*	63	82.4	128	203	49.2	40.6	853	1164	5	9.3	13.5	14.1
1939*	53	95.2	96	223.8	55.2	42.5	518	1417	6	9.9	9.8	14.9
1940*+	111	96.8	177	225.4	62.7	42.9	1367	1379	12	10	12.3	14.2
1941*	106	97.8	193	221	54.9	44.3	1236	1340	10	9.9	11.7	13.7
1942*+	132	98.6	225	224.9	58.7	43.8	1524	1361	16	10.8	11.5	13.8
1943+	133	76.9	239	173.2	55.6	44.4	1754	1131	23	11.4	13.2	14.7
1944	82	82.4	146	192.2	56.2	42.9	849	1175	4	10.6	10.4	14.3
1945	128	96.1	182	210.7	70.3	45.6	1669	1438	11	10.9	13.0	15.0
1946	87	104.9	161	234.1	54	44.8	1163	1574	8	12.6	13.4	15.0
1947	210	140.6	354	299.1	59.3	47	2938	2167	25	18.8	14.0	15.4
1948	185	149.8	315	311.6	58.7	48.1	2599	2087	22	19.6	14.0	13.9
1949	145	152.7	255	327.5	56.9	46.6	1903	1932	18	16.8	13.1	12.7
1950	90	154.5	166	331.3	54.2	46.6	1130	1989	10	16.9	12.6	12.9
1951*	67	150.8	154	323.4	43.5	354	1104	1953	7	16.7	16.5	13.0
1952	20	155.3	33	335.3	60.6	54.5	152	1919	2	18.2	7.6	12.4

The numbers show a very good record, but not exactly the record you might have expected for an epochal quarterback: five times leading the league in completions, four times leading in attempts, four times leading in yards, and twice leading in TD passes. Good, but Ken Anderson stuff, really.

Okay, now look at the completion percentage. Baugh led the league in completion percentage nine times. Now look at the yards per completion: Below the league average every year but two.

You get it now? Baugh, western-movie career notwithstanding, was not only not a gunslinger, he was the antithesis of a gunslinger. All the other top quarterbacks in the league through the Baugh years were gunslingers – Luckman, Herber, Waterfield, Van Brocklin – but Baugh was a game manager. Baugh ran an offense that was predicated on completing more shorter passes, going for doubles instead of home runs. It’s not that he was against the long ball or the TD pass; it was simply not the reason why he passed the ball. He passed because it was more effective than running – c.f., Peyton Manning.

This is the sort of stuff that gets buried. More has been made of the fact that Baugh is the only player to win a passing crown, a punting crown, and an interception title, but it’s a crackerjack record. Baugh won his interception title during the war years, when he was a glorified center fielder picking off the likes of Buss Warren, and balls were much easier to punt back then. It’s the passing that’s impressive, and it’s impressive because he was behind the league, not in front. Peyton Manning and every other purveyor of a pass-first ball-control offense ought to tip his hat in the direction of TCU before they take the field.