An entire USAFL game without a sack
By "Skip Kitwaller"

Regular Season 2079 (Philadelphia) - With nearly all the USAFL fans watching the .500 teams battle it out over the remaining playoff spots, the dismal Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles combined efforts to put their names into the record book after their week three 31-30 game. What heroic and herculean feat occurred during their high scoring affair? Neither team notched a sack.

Nearly seventy years ago the USAFL's competition committee published the now famous rule changes that spawned the six scheme world we've all have grown accustomed to. Since then defensive coaches have had to employ various zone blocking techniques to keep as many lanes covered as possible. Before that rule change the league was decidedly a defensive game where defensive linemen held the game's outcome in their hands. Now their contributions are practically even with linebackers and defensive backs.

Where the sack standard before 2010 was 50+, this modern era's superstar standard has been 30+. Only four or five players have been able to surpass the 30 sack level.

Given all the parameters in place to keep the linemen from taking over the game, a 'zero-sack' game has been a very rare occurance.

The Cowboys/Eagles week three performance was a totally offensive playground where both QBs threw for 250+yds and 2 TDs, both starting HBs rushed for 100+yds, and Cowboy WR Rafferty Hicks had 14 catches for 219yds. Eagles dimeback Carnell Habib had the lone defensive hallmark by ending the Cowboys' very first possession of the game with an interception.

The last time the league has seen a 'zero-sack' game was ten years ago in a week 12 game between New England and Pittsburgh. The Patriots won 27,13. That game lacked the offensive numbers of the DAL/PHI 2079 performance, which may explain the low attendance numbers reported by the Steelers front office.

In the league's modern era, 79 seasons, there has been just 14 games where both teams have failed to produce a sack.

USAFL's 'Zero-Sack' games:

2079 week 3: Philadelphia 31, Dallas 30
2069 week 12: New England 27, Pittsburgh 13
2066 week 12: Houston 31, Detroit 17
2061 week 13: Arizona 17, Cleveland 0
2060 week 11: Tennessee 49, Pittsburgh 11
2055 week 3: Baltimore 10, Cleveland 0
2054 week 6: Pittsburgh 35, Tennessee 28
2053 week 9: New York Giants 28, Washington 13
2051 week 1: Miami 24, Baltimore 20
2045 week 4: Miami 27, Washington 17
2042 week 6: Dallas 27, Arizona 19
2037 week 10: Philadelpia 24, Washington 14
2032 week 4: Tennessee 10, Oakland 7
2022 week 3: New York Giants 41, Detroit 3