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How the heck did Don Hutson catch that many TDs?


Apparition

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99 over an 11-year career, spanning from 1935 to 1945. 

Like, literally how? In the years his career spanned, he caught three times as many TDs as the next guy (Jim Benton with 33). 

In 1942, he caught 17 TD passes, a record that stood for 42 years. That year there were 108 TD receptions in the entire NFL. So he was responsible for almost 16% of all TD catches that season. And yes, it was a much smaller league back then, but there were still 135 eligible players to log at least 1 catch that year.

So how did he do it? Was he just THAT much better than everyone else? 

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He was that much better.  Need to remember the era and timeline for his career though:  Back then football was not nearly as popular and wasn't really a great source of income for a lot of players, and 1942 was the beginning of the USA's involvement in WW2, thus a lot of the population that would have been playing might have been called up.  Up until a few decades ago the service academies actually produced a lot of the best college football players because it was pretty prestigious, and again for most people the military would probably be a better source of income over a lifetime.  The NFL, and particularly the passing game was in it's infancy, so if he had certain physical attributes that hadn't really been seen or his systematic approach was slightly different or better, then it can have a massive impact on results.  Think of chess, the gap between a grandmaster and a master is going to be much smaller than a gap between an intermediate player and an advanced player. 

Also, I hope this doesn't go against the rules of this site, but there has to be a huge asterisk for this time period due to lack of integration.  There were several black players in the league prior to 1933, but due to efforts from owners like George Marshall of the redskins black players were essentially forced out of the league.  I don't think it's irony that his teams name changed from Braves to Redskins.  There were no black players in the league again until 1946.  99% of starting cornerbacks from the modern NFL era would have been forced out of the league if they wanted to play in this era.

Edited by Jotun_Fan
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11 hours ago, Starless said:

So how did he do it? Was he just THAT much better than everyone else? 

Don Hutson revolutionized the entire league by being the first player to actually try to catch passes with his hands, rather than his taint.

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He pretty much invented the WR position. Guys didn't know how to cover him, they never saw actual routes being ran before. And when guys did catch on to the routes he was running, he incorporate a new route or something different to confuse the defender. 

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2 hours ago, Jotun_Fan said:

Also, I hope this doesn't go against the rules of this site, but there has to be a huge asterisk for this time period due to lack of integration. 

excellent post above, thx for writing it
One asterisk for your asterisk. All of the other NFL WR's had the same advantages as Hutson during that time frame -  so while it wouldn't be a fair comparison to post-integration TD records, it is fair vs his contemporaries.
Bolstering that claim is the fact that his record stood for decades, from 1942 until 1984.
So even 38 years post- integration, he was still The King.

Edited by Shanedorf
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I get Hutson’s stats are an anomaly relative to his peers, but I hold more reverence for the equally talented players who came before him (for reasons stated prior in this thread). Guy Chamberlain’s football resume is jaw-dropping unbelievable, and Jim Thorpe’s general resume speaks for itself. I’m kind of surprised Hutson pops up in conversations about the best players of all-time when guys like these don’t.

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31 minutes ago, Shanedorf said:

excellent post above, thx for writing it
One asterisk for your asterisk. All of the other NFL WR's had the same advantages as Hutson during that time frame -  so while it wouldn't be a fair comparison to post-integration TD records, it is fair vs his contemporaries.
Bolstering that claim is the fact that his record stood for decades, from 1942 until 1984.
So even 38 years post- integration, he was still The King.

I don't discount how great a player he was, he was certainly far and away the best wide receiver of his time.  I just think it's easier to be a big fish in a small pond than a big fish in a big pond, even if his contemporaries had the same advantages.  He was an all time great player, I just think the numerical statistical difference between him and his contemporaries may have been inflated due to the circumstances surrounding the NFL and USA from 1935-1945.  I'm not sure how bad it was for 1942, but some teams really struggled to field players for the 43 season, one team canceled their season and some teams merged.  Any steagles or carpets fans here?

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28 minutes ago, Jotun_Fan said:

I just think the numerical statistical difference between him and his contemporaries may have been inflated due to the circumstances surrounding the NFL and USA from 1935-1945.

That surely played a role and '42 was his best season with 17 TDs in an 11 game season.
So you're saying Hutson racked up big TD numbers during the war years and that TD inflation pushed him way ahead vs others  ?
That seems fair.

If we normalize his TDs at 9/season, he'd have 88 instead of 99 and his record would have been surpassed earlier
Here's an article from team historian on the 6 times he "retired" from football, with only the 6th one sticking

https://www.packers.com/news/hutson-put-favre-to-shame-when-it-came-to-retirement-talk-20556866

 

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1 hour ago, Shanedorf said:

That surely played a role and '42 was his best season with 17 TDs in an 11 game season.
So you're saying Hutson racked up big TD numbers during the war years and that TD inflation pushed him way ahead vs others  ?
That seems fair.

If we normalize his TDs at 9/season, he'd have 88 instead of 99 and his record would have been surpassed earlier
Here's an article from team historian on the 6 times he "retired" from football, with only the 6th one sticking

https://www.packers.com/news/hutson-put-favre-to-shame-when-it-came-to-retirement-talk-20556866

 

We can tell from his stats that he dominated, I just think the farther back in time you go the harder it is to compare stats. He retired 6 years before the oldest current NFL coach was born. Most coaches parents were too young to have seen him play.

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2 hours ago, dwaye50327 said:

He pretty much invented the WR position. Guys didn't know how to cover him, they never saw actual routes being ran before. And when guys did catch on to the routes he was running, he incorporate a new route or something different to confuse the defender. 

This.

Having a good QB helped, obviously, and coach who was willing to throw when the running attack was all. 

J

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6 hours ago, Danger said:

Same way Wilt Chamberlain put up the numbers he did. He played against relatively unathletic individuals in a time where the game was a shell of what it is now.

Poor example. NBA in the 1960s was much further along than NFL in the 40s. Wilt is still in the conversation as GOAT, but Hudson is not.

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