Terrific research by PFRA member Brian Marshall

          A tip of the blogger’s cap to Brian Marshall, a fellow member of the Pro Football Researchers Association, for his outstanding research into the career yardage of legendary running back Jim Brown.

          While researching Jim Brown’s career statistics as a whole, Marshall went through the official play-by-play sheets from the Cleveland Browns’ 1962 season. He detected that Jim Brown’s totals were slightly inaccurate in five games that year.

          Marshall’s research shows that Jim Brown actually rushed for 1,016 yards that season. He is officially credited with 996.

          The matter is covered in the current edition of The Coffin Corner, the official publication of the PFRA. Marshall’s article is titled, Rushing to Judgment: Recovering Jim Brown’s Lost Yardage.

          If you follow sports history, this is a must read.

          Interestingly, 10 years later, the Miami Dolphins asked the NFL to review halfback Mercury Morris’ rushing yardage for the 1972 season. The league discovered a play in which Morris was credited with a loss when the yardage should properly have been subtracted from someone else’s total. The result was that Morris was officially credited with exactly 1,000 yards gained rushing that year, giving the Dolphins two rushers with at least that many yards. The other 1,000-yard Dolphin rusher was Larry Czonka.

          Correcting Brown’s official totals for the 1962 season should be something the league can do, assuming the league looks into the question and agrees with Marshall.

          More information on the PFRA, including how to join and become a subscriber to The Coffin Corner is available at www.profootballresearchers.org.

          Thanks for reading.