Sonny Jurgensen, Billy Kilmer, the Commanders and the Giants have been in the news this week.
Boy, does THAT bring back memories.
Similarly to this 2022 season, Washington in 1972 was coming into the road game against the Giants feeling really good about themselves. After an early season 24-23 loss at the Patriots, George Allen had reinserted Sonny Jurgensen as his starting quarterback. Washington had defeated the Eagles 14-0 and romped the Cardinals in St Louis 33-3.
In Sonny’s third start, the offense started slowly against Dallas, falling behind 13-0 and 20-7, but then Sonny, Larry Brown and Charley Harraway played key roles in a terrific come-from-behind 24-20 victory in front of a frenzied home crowd at RFK.
After the great comeback win over Dallas, Sonny led the Burgundy and Gold (5-1) to New York to face the Giants (4-2). In those days, the Giants played their games on the grass field of Yankee Stadium. Unlike modern-day field accommodations, the Yankees had played 81 games on the field, and the Giants would play half of their six exhibition games on the field and seven regular season games. There was no time for the field to recover, and the NFL season was thus very destructive to a grass field.
In the first quarter, Jurgensen on a drop back went untouched; however, he stepped in an uneven spot on the turf and tore his Achilles tendon. Billy Kilmer took over, and Washington would lead by as much as 23-9, winning 23-16 for their fourth straight win.
Kilmer had taken over for Jurgensen, and George Allen’s best team (1972) would go on to win nine consecutive games, the NFC East at 11-3, and the NFC Championship before losing to the undefeated Dolphins in Super Bowl VII.
George Allen created his own narrative, and Jurgensen was treated unfairly as if he himself was divisive. Allen went as far to prohibit Jurgensen from the sideline during the Super Bowl, though Kilmer desired Jurgensen’s help.
Kilmer more than once defended Sonny, stating the two actually remained good friends and that Jurgensen was always attempting to help Kilmer as quarterback, wanting the team to win. George Allen was sometimes paranoid, but that is another story for another day.
This week we learned the present organizational leadership apparently knows little to nothing of this past bond between Kilmer and Jurgensen. Kilmer told Thom Loverro he would love to be a part of Sonny’s No. 9 being retired on Jan. 8, 2023, in the season finale against Dallas. “Nobody has said anything to me about what’s going on. I want to come up.”
After playing for Washington from 1964-74, Sonny was part of the radio broadcast team from 1981-2018.
Sorry, but I have to ask, will the organization understand that Frank Herzog, Larry Michael and Chris Cooley need to be there as well?