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1944 Philadelphia Eagles season

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1944 Philadelphia Eagles season
OwnerAlexis Thompson
General managerHarry Thayer
Head coachGreasy Neale
Home fieldShibe Park
Results
Record7–1–2
Division place2nd NFL Eastern
Playoff finishDid not qualify

The 1944 Philadelphia Eagles season was their 12th in the league. The team improved on their previous output of 5–4–1, winning seven games.[1] The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the 12th consecutive season.

Rookie Mel Bleeker broke was the NFL’s top receiver, as he played 9 games for the Eagles, starting three of them.[2] He was second in the NFL in long reception (75), third in touchdowns (8; still the team's all-time rookie record) and yards/rushing attempt (5.3), fourth in yards from scrimmage (614), and sixth in points scored (48).[3][2] He led the Eagles in touchdowns and scoring, despite having been primarily a blocking back in college.[4]

Off season

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NFL draft

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The 1944 NFL draft was held on April 19, 1944. The draft would be for 32 rounds. Again in round 2 and 4 only the 5 lowest wins teams from the 1943 season would pick. The Eagles would alternate with the Pittsburgh Steelers in picking either 4th or 9th in each round.

Player selections

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The table shows the Eagles selections and what picks they had that were traded away and the team that ended up with that pick. It is possible the Eagles' pick ended up with this team via another team that the Eagles made a trade with. Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.

= Pro Bowler [5] = Hall of Famer
Rd Pick Player Position School Rd Pick Player Position School
1 5 Steve Van Buren Halfback LSU 2 15 No Pick
3 20 Loren LaPrade Guard Stanford 4 31 No Pick
5 36 Joe Parker End Texas 6 52 Hillary Horne Tackle Mississippi State
7 58 Vic Kulbitski Back Minnesota 8 74 George Phillips Back UCLA
9 80 Paul Sarringhaus Back Ohio State 10 96 John Perko Guard Minnesota
11 102 Elliott Ormsbee Back Bradley 12 118 Earle Parsons Back USC
13 124 Bob Hanzlik End Wisconsin 14 140 Jim Talley Center Louisiana State
15 146 Dom Fusci Tackle South Carolina 16 162 Johnny Green End Tulsa
17 168 Jackie Freeman Back William & Mary 18 184 Joe Kane Back Pennsylvania
19 190 Tony Schiro Guard Santa Clara 20 206 Norm Michael Back Syracuse
21 212 Eddie Kulakowski Tackle West Virginia 22 228 Al Postus Back Villanova
23 234 Milt Smith End UCLA 24 250 Earl Klapstein Tackle Pacific
25 256 Bob Frisbee Back Stanford 26 272 Edmund Eiden Back Scranton
27 278 Barney Burdick End Creighton 28 294 Nick Daukas Tackle Dartmouth
29 300 Pasquale Darone Guard Boston College 30 316 Bill Clark Tackle Colorado College
31 322 Pete Pasko End East Stroudsburg 32 328 Myron Majewski Tackle American International

Schedule

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Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 Bye
2 September 26 at Boston Yanks W 28–7 1–0 Fenway Park 25,061
3 Bye
4 October 8 Washington Redskins T 31–31 1–0–1 Shibe Park 32,549
3 October 22 Boston Yanks W 38–0 2–0–1 Shibe Park 24,638
4 October 29 at New York Giants W 24–17 3–0–1 Polo Grounds 42,639
5 November 5 at Brooklyn Tigers W 21–7 4–0–1 Ebbets Field 15,289
6 November 12 New York Giants T 21–21 4–0–2 Shibe Park 33,248
7 November 19 at Washington Redskins W 37–7 5–0–2 Griffith Stadium 35,540
8 November 26 Chicago Bears L 7–28 5–1–2 Shibe Park 34,035
9 December 3 Brooklyn Tigers W 34–0 6–1–2 Shibe Park 13,467
10 December 10 Cleveland Rams W 26–13 7–1–2 Shibe Park 24,123
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

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NFL Eastern Division
W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK
New York Giants 8 1 1 .889 6–1–1 206 75 W4
Philadelphia Eagles 7 1 2 .875 6–0–2 267 131 W2
Washington Redskins 6 3 1 .667 4–3–1 169 180 L2
Boston Yanks 2 8 0 .200 2–6 82 233 L2
Brooklyn Tigers 0 10 0 .000 0-8 69 166 L10
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Roster

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(All time List of Philadelphia Eagles players in franchise history)

= 1944 Pro All-Star[6]
  • + = 1st team All-Star
NO. Player AGE POS GP GS WT HT YRS College
Greasy Neale 53 Coach 1944
record

7–1–2
NFL-Eagles
Lifetime

16–22–4
4th West Virginia Wesleyan
Bruno Banducci 24 G 10 9 216 5–11 Rookie Stanford
Jack Banta 27 HB 7 2 191 5–11 3 USC
Mel Bleeker 24 HB 9 3 189 5–11 Rookie USC
Larry Cabrelli 27 E-DB 9 9 194 5–11 3 Colgate
Rocco Canale 27 T-G 9 1 240 5–11 1 Boston College
Enio Conti 31 G 8 5 204 5–11 3 Arkansas,
Bucknell
John Durko 30 E 6 0 235 6–4 Rookie Albright
Carl Fagiolo 27 G 2 0 200 6–0 Rookie none
Jack Ferrante 28 E-DE 10 4 197 6–1 3 none
Bob Friedman 23 T 10 8 215 6–2 Rookie Washington
Charlie Gauer 23 FB-E 7 4 213 6–2 1 Colgate
Jack Hinkle 27 B 10 7 195 6–0 4 Syracuse
Toimi Jarvi 24 HB 5 0 200 6–0 Rookie Northern Illinois
Bucko Kilroy 23 G-MG-T-DT 10 4 243 6–2 1 Notre Dame,
Temple
Ben Kish 27 B 10 10 207 6–0 4 Pittsburgh
Ted Laux 26 HB-DB 1 0 185 5–10 1 St. Joseph's (PA)
Vic Lindskog 30 C 7 4 203 6–1 Rookie Stanford
Art Macioszczyk 24 FB 10 0 208 6–0 Rookie Western Michigan
Mike Mandarino 23 T-C-G 8 0 240 5–11 Rookie La Salle
Bap Manzini 24 C 10 6 195 5–11 Rookie St. Vincent
Duke Maronic 23 G 9 0 209 5–9 Rookie none
Flip McDonald 23 E 5 0 200 6–2 Rookie Oklahoma
Eddie Michaels 30 G 10 6 205 5–11 8 Villanova
Tom Miller 26 DE-E 10 3 202 6–2 1 Hampden-Sydney
Walt Nowak 29 E 2 0 185 5–11 Rookie Villanova
Allie Sherman 21 QB 10 0 170 5–11 1 Brooklyn
Ernie Steele 27 HB-DB 9 2 187 6–0 2 Washington
Steve Van Buren+ 24 HB 9 6 200 6–0 Rookie LSU
Al Wistert+ 24 T-G-DT 8 7 214 6–1 1 Michigan
John Yovicsin 26 DE 1 0 195 6–3 Rookie Gettysburg
Roy Zimmerman 26 QB-WB-K 10 10 201 6–2 4 San Jose State
31 Players
Team Average
25.7 10 204.5 6–0.2 1.3

References

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  1. ^ 1944 Philadelphia Eagles
  2. ^ a b "Mel Bleeker Stats". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  3. ^ Kracz, Ed (January 30, 2018). "Eagles running back Corey Clement a true underdog". Bucks County Courier Times.
  4. ^ Haskell Cohen (October 11, 1946). "Bleeker Sees Game, Rejoins Eagles". Jewish Post.
  5. ^ Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro-Bowl at any time in their career.
  6. ^ Players are identified as a 1940 Pro All-Star.