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1963 Pittsburgh Steelers season

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1963 Pittsburgh Steelers season
Head coachBuddy Parker
Home fieldForbes Field (four games)
Pitt Stadium (three games)
Results
Record7–4–3
Division place4th NFL Eastern
Playoff finishDid not qualify

The 1963 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the team's 31st in the National Football League (NFL). The Steelers won seven games, lost four, and tied three to finish fourth in the Eastern Conference. It was also their final season of splitting home games between Forbes Field and Pitt Stadium before moving all of their home games to the latter for the next six seasons.

In the second game of the season, the Steelers shut out the New York Giants 31–0 in the home opener at Pitt Stadium.[1] The Giants had won the conference title the previous two seasons and four of the last five, but were without hall of fame quarterback Y. A. Tittle.[1]

Because tie games were not included in NFL standings at the time (for winning percentage), the Steelers had a chance to win the conference title and advance to their first-ever NFL Championship Game. They needed to defeat the Giants at Yankee Stadium in the season finale,[2] but lost 33–17 and fell to fourth;[3][4] it was their last winning season until 1972.

This year marked the debut of the Steelers' trademark black helmets with their logo on one side of the helmet. They had used the logo previously on yellow helmets, but 1963 was the first season in which their now-signature look was used full-time in the regular season.[5]

Prior to the season in May, defensive tackle Big Daddy Lipscomb died of an overdose of heroin at age 31;[6][7][8][9] his final game was the Pro Bowl in January 1963, in which he was named the lineman of the game.[10][11]

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Record
1 September 15 at Philadelphia Eagles T 21–21 0–0–1
2 September 22 New York Giants W 31–0 1–0–1
3 September 29 St. Louis Cardinals W 23–10 2–0–1
4 October 5 at Cleveland Browns L 23–35 2–1–1
5 October 13 at St. Louis Cardinals L 23–24 2–2–1
6 October 20 Washington Redskins W 38–27 3–2–1
7 October 27 Dallas Cowboys W 27–21 4–2–1
8 November 3 at Green Bay Packers L 14–33 4–3–1
9 November 10 Cleveland Browns W 9–7 5–3–1
10 November 17 at Washington Redskins W 34–28 6–3–1
11 November 24 Chicago Bears T 17–17 6–3–2
12 December 1 Philadelphia Eagles T 20–20 6–3–3
13 December 8 at Dallas Cowboys W 24–19 7–3–3
14 December 15 at New York Giants L 17–33 7–4–3

Game summaries

Week 1 (Sunday September 15, 1963): Philadelphia Eagles

1 2 3 4 Total
Steelers 0 6 0 15 21
Eagles 7 0 7 7 21

at Franklin Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 58,205
  • Referee: Bill Downes
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

  • Philadelphia – McDonald 13 pass from Jurgensen (Clark kick)
  • Pittsburgh – FG Michaels 38
  • Pittsburgh – FG Michaels 50
  • Philadelphia – Smith 6 pass from Jurgensen (Clark kick)
  • Pittsburgh – FG Michaels 17
  • Pittsburgh – Johnson 1 run (kick failed)
  • Philadelphia – McDonald 75 pass from Jurgensen (Clark kick)
  • Pittsburgh – Johnson 11 pass from Brown (kick failed)

Week 2 (Sunday September 22, 1963): New York Giants

1 2 3 4 Total
Giants 0 0 0 0 0
Steelers 0 10 0 21 31

at Pitt Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 46,068
  • Referee:
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

Week 3 (Sunday September 29, 1963): St. Louis Cardinals

1 2 3 4 Total
Cardinals 7 0 3 0 10
Steelers 3 3 0 17 23

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 28,225
  • Referee:
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

Week 4 (Saturday October 5, 1963): Cleveland Browns

1 2 3 4 Total
Steelers 3 17 3 0 23
Browns 7 7 7 21 42

at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 84,684
  • Referee:
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

Week 5 (Sunday October 13, 1963): St. Louis Cardinals

1 2 3 4 Total
Steelers 3 17 3 0 23
Cardinals 3 0 7 14 24

at Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 23,715
  • Referee:
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

Week 6 (Sunday October 20, 1963): Washington Redskins

1 2 3 4 Total
Redskins 3 14 7 3 27
Steelers 7 10 7 14 38

at Pitt Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 41,987
  • Referee:
  • TV announcers:
  • Pittsburgh – Brown 1 run (Michaels kick)
  • Washington – FG Khayat 49
  • Pittsburgh – Hoak 8 run (Michaels kick)
  • Pittsburgh – FG Michaels 9
  • Washington – Snead 1 run (Khayat kick)
  • Washington – James 36 pass from Snead (Khayat kick)
  • Washington – James 5 run (Khayat kick)
  • Pittsburgh – Hoak 1 run (Michaels kick)
  • Washington – FG Khayat 15
  • Pittsburgh – Haley 24 interception return (Michaels kick)
  • Pittsburgh – Dial 4 pass from Brown (Michaels kick)

Week 7 (Sunday October 27, 1963): Dallas Cowboys

1 2 3 4 Total
Cowboys 7 7 7 0 21
Steelers 0 6 7 14 27

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 19,047
  • Referee:
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

  • Dallas – Clarke 5 pass from Meredith (Baker kick)
  • Dallas – Folkins 35 pass from Meredith (Baker kick)
  • Pittsburgh – Dial 83 pass from Browns (kick failed)
  • Dallas – Howton 13 pass from Meredith (Baker kick)
  • Pittsburgh – Dial 25 pass from Brown (Tracy kick)
  • Pittsburgh – Dial 14 pass from Brown (Tracy kick)
  • Pittsburgh – Mack 85 pass from Brown (Michaels kick)[12]

Week 8 (Sunday November 3, 1963): Green Bay Packers

1 2 3 4 Total
Steelers 7 0 0 7 14
Packers 3 6 14 10 33

at Milwaukee County Stadium, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance:
  • Referee:
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

  • Pittsburgh – Hoak 2 run (Michaels kick)
  • Green Bay – FG Kramer 23
  • Green Bay – FG Kramer 36
  • Green Bay – FG Kramer 12
  • Green Bay – Taylor 1 run (Kramer kick)
  • Green Bay – Pitts 2 run (Kramer kick)
  • Green Bay – FG Kramer 37
  • Pittsburgh – Mack 33 pass from Brown (Michaels kick)
  • Green Bay – Pitts 1 run (Kramer kick)

Week 9 (Sunday November 10, 1963): Cleveland Browns

1 2 3 4 Total
Browns 0 7 0 0 7
Steelers 0 0 2 7 9

at Pitt Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 54,497
  • Referee:
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

Week 10 (Sunday November 17, 1963): Washington Redskins

1 2 3 4 Total
Steelers 7 7 10 10 34
Redskins 7 7 0 14 28

at D.C. Stadium, Washington, DC

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 42,219
  • Referee:
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

Week 11 (Sunday November 24, 1963): Chicago Bears

1 2 3 4 Total
Bears 7 7 0 3 17
Steelers 0 14 0 3 17

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 36,465
  • Referee:
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

  • Chicago – Galimore 1 run (Jencks kick)
  • Pittsburgh – Hoak 6 run (Michaels kick)
  • Chicago – Bull 1 run (Jencks kick)
  • Pittsburgh – Curry 31 pass from Brown (Michaels kick)
  • Pittsburgh – FG Michaels 11
  • Chicago – FG Leclerc 18

Week 12 (Sunday December 1, 1963): Philadelphia Eagles

1 2 3 4 Total
Eagles 0 14 3 3 20
Steelers 0 3 0 17 20

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 15,721
  • Referee:
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

  • Pittsburgh – FG Michaels 10
  • Philadelphia – Retzlaff 24 pass from Hill (Clark kick)
  • Philadelphia – Brown 14 run (Clark kick)
  • Philadelphia – FG Clark 23
  • Pittsburgh – Ballman 57 pass from Brown (Michaels kick)
  • Philadelphia – FG Clark 40
  • Pittsburgh – Ballman 8 pass from Brown (Michaels kick)
  • Pittsburgh – FG Michaels 24

Week 13 (Sunday December 8, 1963): Dallas Cowboys

1 2 3 4 Total
Steelers 0 17 0 7 24
Cowboys 9 0 10 0 19

at Cotton Bowl, Dallas, Texas

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 24,136
  • Referee:
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

  • Dallas – FG Baker 53
  • Dallas – Meredith 2 run (kick failed)
  • Pittsburgh – Dial 55 pass from Brown (Michaels kick)
  • Pittsburgh – Carpenter 28 pass from Brown (Michaels kick)
  • Pittsburgh – FG Michaels 24
  • Dallas – FG Baker 46
  • Dallas – Meredith 4 run (Baker kick)
  • Pittsburgh – Sapp 24 run (Michaels kick)

Week 14 (December 15, 1963): New York Giants

1 2 3 4 Total
Steelers 0 3 14 0 17
Giants 9 7 14 3 33

at Yankee Stadium, The Bronx, New York

  • Game time:
  • Game weather:
  • Game attendance: 63,240
  • Referee:
  • TV announcers:

Scoring Drives:

  • New York Giants – FG Chandler 34
  • New York Giants – Shotner 41 pass from Tittle (kick failed)
  • New York Giants – Morrison 3 pass from Tittle (Chandler kick)
  • Pittsburgh – FG Michaels 27
  • Pittsburgh – Ballman 21 pass from Brown (Michaels kick)
  • New York Giants – Morrison 22 pass from Tittle (Chandler kick)
  • New York Giants – Morrison 1 run (Chandler kick)
  • Pittsburgh – Dial 40 pass from Brown (Michaels kick)
  • New York Giants – FG Chandler 41

Standings

NFL Eastern Conference
W L T PCT CONF PF PA STK
New York Giants 11 3 0 .786 9–3 448 280 W3
Cleveland Browns 10 4 0 .714 9–3 343 262 W1
St. Louis Cardinals 9 5 0 .643 8–4 341 283 L1
Pittsburgh Steelers 7 4 3 .636 7–3–2 321 295 L1
Dallas Cowboys 4 10 0 .286 3–9 305 378 W1
Washington Redskins 3 11 0 .214 2–10 279 398 L3
Philadelphia Eagles 2 10 2 .167 2–8–2 242 381 L2
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

References

  1. ^ a b Sell, Jack (September 23, 1963). "Steelers shut out Giants, 31-0". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 1.
  2. ^ Livingston, Pat (December 15, 1963). "Steelers battle Giants for title". Pittsburgh Press. p. 1, sports.
  3. ^ Sell, Jack (December 16, 1963). "Giants end Steeler hopes, 33-17". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 1.
  4. ^ Livingston, Pat (December 16, 1963). "Gifford turns tide for Giants". Pittsburgh Press. p. 35.
  5. ^ "1963 NFL season at Gridiron Uniform Database". Archived from the original on 2013-10-16. Retrieved 2013-11-10.
  6. ^ "Grid star Lipscomb dies, narcotics use suspected". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. May 11, 1963. p. 1.
  7. ^ "Lipscomb dies under mysterious circumstances". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. May 10, 1963. p. 2B.
  8. ^ "Heroin caused Lipscomb death". Pittsburgh Press. UPI. May 15, 1963. p. 1.
  9. ^ "New law may result in freedom". Baltimore Afro-American. (Maryland). July 27, 1963. p. 1.
  10. ^ "East stars score 30-20 upset in Pro Bowl". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. January 14, 1963. p. 22.
  11. ^ "Jim Brown helps Sherman defeat Lombardi". Reading Eagle. (Pennsylvania). UPI. January 14, 1963. p. 14.
  12. ^ Dallas Cowboys at Pittsburgh Steelers - October 27th, 1963
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