This Day in Chiefs History - December 22, 1985

[FloridaMan88]

WR Stephone Paige set an NFL single game record with 309 yards receiving against San Diego (this record was later broken by Flipper Anderson).

Original article in the LA Times the day after Paige's record breaking game:


http://articles.latimes.com/1985-12-...ch-don-coryell

Paige Sets Record in Win Over Chargers

December 23, 1985|MARC APPLEMAN | Times Staff Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It has been quite a while since the Rams' Jim Benton set the NFL single-game record of 303 yards receiving against the Detroit Lions. The Chicago Cubs had just gone to the World Series and the Rams still considered Cleveland their home.

That was 1945.

Just more than 40 years later, Benton's record finally fell as Kansas City wide receiver Stephone Paige caught eight passes for 309 yards in the Chiefs' 38-34 victory over the Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium.

"I was talking to my coach, Richard Williamson, before the game and told him I wanted to go out with a bang," Paige said. "It's nice. I wasn't even around when it was set."

Said Chief Coach John Mackovic: "It was a super performance. He hustles and runs hard and is one of the greatest practice players we have. Today when they gave him single coverage, he ran through them and our quarterbacks found him time and again."

Paige had six catches for 258 yards, including touchdown receptions of 56 and 84 yards in the first half. He was knocked out in the third quarter of Sunday's game, but he returned minutes later. He wasn't going to let this day end early.

"It wasn't just to go for a record," Paige said. "I'm the kind of guy that's going to play until they break my leg."

Paige broke Benton's record when he caught a 12-yard pass from Bill Kenney with less than six minutes to play.

Sunday's game was a microcosm of the Charger season.

Charger Coach Don Coryell's halftime speech was as explosive as his offense's second half performance.

"He got kind of hyper at halftime," wide receiver Trumaine Johnson said. "He was feeling some kind of pressure. I was kind of surprised because I never saw him that hyper before."

Said running back Lionel James: "He came in and told us we weren't playing our style of football. Any head coach down 30 points is not going to speak too softly."

San Diego looked lifeless and trailed last-place Kansas City at halftime, 35-6. Coryell was only too aware that Charger owner Alex Spanos is scheduled to make a decision regarding his future today.

Last Wednesday, Spanos hinted to the press that he would bring back Coryell for at least the final year of his contract, which expires at the end of the 1986 season.

Spanos said he would be "satisfied with an 8-8 season."

Despite scoring 21 straight points in the final quarter, San Diego fell short and finished 8-8. The Chargers finished in fourth place in the AFC West and did not gain its first winning season in three years.

As has been his custom throughout the second part of the season, Coryell would not comment on the status of his job. He also did not want to discuss what took place in the Charger clubhouse at halftime.

"No," he screamed, "I don't believe the players quit. We just played poorly. There's not a quitter on this team.

"We screwed it up offensively and defensively in the first half. But the guys came back even though it seemed hopeless."

Until the final 10 minutes of the game, when San Diego scored three touchdowns to make it close, the Charger highlight was a record-setting performance by James.

He gained 242 yards to set an NFL single-season all-purpose yardage record of 2,535. The 5-foot 6-inch running back returned the second-half kickoff 21 yards to break Terry Metcalf's mark of 2,462 yards set while he was with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1975.

"It is a great individual honor," James said. "It is something to be proud of and something I'll be able to look back on and say I did."

A lot of people won't be able to say they saw James and Paige set their records.

On a sunny and 45-degree day, a season-low crowd of 18,178 came to 78,097-seat Arrowhead Stadium. There were 14,544 no-shows.

When two women in the stands were asked why they had come to Sunday's game, Marsha Lutz said: "I had no choice. My husband David plays for the Chiefs. And Debbie is my loyal friend."

There were probably a lot more folks shopping at Crown Center than watching the Chiefs and Chargers combine for 968 yards.

Using a hurry-up, no-huddle offense throughout much of the second half and taking the short passes and runs that the Chief defense basically gave them, the Chargers narrowed the gap to 38-34 on three touchdowns passes by Mark Herrmann and a two-yard run by Tim Spencer.

"We knew they would lay back and not come after us and not play the run," tight end Kellen Winslow said. "We'd take the short stuff, work it down the field and not panic."

Running back Gary Anderson's slashing cuts and darting moves paced the San Diego offense in the second half. He caught 9 passes for 91 yards and gained 72 yards on 12 carries.

"Gary is a tremendous athlete and you want to get him the ball as much as you can," Herrmann said.

Like the offense, the Charger defense played one terrible half and one good one.

Nick Lowery's 34-yard field goal late in the third quarter was Kansas City's only score in the second half.

"In the first half we weren't really there mentally," safety Gill Byrd said. "We had a lot of mental errors."

[Hydrae]

I forgot that the Rams were initially from Cleveland.

Nice piece of history, thanks for posting!

[KCTitus]

...On a sunny and 45-degree day, a season-low crowd of 18,178 came to 78,097-seat Arrowhead Stadium. There were 14,544 no-shows...

I remember those days well...they'd close the upper deck and make you sit in the lower bowl regardless of your ticketed seat.

[Dartgod]

My brother and I were there. Just an amazing performance by Paige.

[BlackHelicopters]

Great history find.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Why were they playing on a Tuesday ?

[seclark]

Originally Posted by Hog Farmer

Why were they playing on a Tuesday ?

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by KCTitus

I remember those days well...they'd close the upper deck and make you sit in the lower bowl regardless of your ticketed seat.

"Either take the field pass or we're going to kick you out."

I vaguely remember watching the Paige game. I was a big Paige fan, but it was kind of surprising to see him run wild like that. I always viewed him more as a good possession receiver.

A look at his game logs is kind of funny. Some key stats:

In 9 seasons with the Chiefs, he had 11 games of 100+ yards. (One of the seasons was only 3 games at the end of his career.)

The 309 yard game was the first 100+ yard game of his career, in the final game of his third season.

He caught a pass in 14 games in 1985, and the 309-yard game was 1/3 of his season total. He had 943 yards that season, which was his second-best year of his career.

While he only had 11 games of 100+ yards, he did occasionally break out. He had the 309 yard game in 1985, a 206 yard game in 1990, a 163 yard game in 1989, and a 151 yard game in 1990.

[TLO]

And 10 years later, Li'l Smokey was born.

Coincidence? I think not.