Cincinnati Reds

First Game Played September 17, 1933 Last Game Played November 6, 1934

1933: The NFL’s modern era begins as a number of rule changes begin to make the game take a more familiar form. The forward pass is now legal up to the line of scrimmage, previously a passer needed to be five yards behind the line of scrimmage. Hash marks are added to the field with all plays starting on a between the hash marks set ten yards from the sidelines. It would also be the year of the first official NFL Championship Game along with divisional play, and the first year official statistics were kept by the league. The season also saw three new teams enter the league, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds, the NFL’s second team in Cincinnati would face the Portsmouth Spartans in their first game, losing 21-0 on September 17th. Playing their home games at Crosley Field, the team also shared the name of the stadium’s baseball landlords. Scoring was hard for the expansion Reds, as they managed just one Field Goal in their first six games, with a lone scoreless tie against the Pirates the only glimpse of light among five losses. The Reds first win would come on November 12th as they beat the Chicago Cardinals 12-9. Including the win over Cardinals, the Reds would show sign of significant improvement, winning three of their last four games. The Reds would post a record of 3-6-1 on the season despite scoring just 38 total points on the season as they set records for setting records in futility for fewest yards, passing attempts, pass completions and passing touchdowns in a season.

1934: In their second season the Reds coached by Algy Clark, set new standards for futility as they again were the worst offense in the NFL, managing just ten points in eight games. The Reds defense may have been even worse, as they surrender a record 6.40 rushing yards per attempt, no other team has allowed more than five points per carry. As the season dragged on things got uglier for the Reds as they suffered losses of 41-0 to the Green Bay Packers, followed by a 41-7 loss to the Green Bay Packers. Coming home things did not get better as they were blanked by the Detroit Lions 38-0. A week later they would suffer a 64-0 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on November 6th. It would be the final game ever played by the Reds as the team was suspended after failing to meet payroll at 0-8. The Reds final three games would be played by the St. Louis Gunners who joined the league after competing as an independent team. Cincinnati would not get another Professional team for 34 years with the expansion Cincinnati Bengals joined the AFL in 1968.

©MMXV Tank Productions. Stats researched by Frank Fleming, all information, and team names are property of the National Football League. This site is not affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds or the NFL. This site is maintained for research purposes only. All logos used on this page were from Chris Creamer’s Sports Logos Page.
Page created on March 4, 2015. Last updated on March 4, 2015 at 9:55 pm ET.