1935 NFL season

1935 National Football League season
Regular season
Duration	September 13 – December 15, 1935
East Champions	New York Giants
West Champions	Detroit Lions
Championship Game
Champions	Detroit Lions

The 1935 NFL season was the 16th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended when the Detroit Lions defeated the New York Giants in the NFL Championship Game.

Were it not for a cancellation due to heavy snow, this would have been the first season where all NFL teams played the same number of games. This standardization was formalized the following year and has continued ever since, with the number of games being slowly increased to sixteen by 1978.

Major rule changes

The inbounds lines or hashmarks, introduced two years earlier in 1933, were moved closer to the center of the field, from 10 yards to 15 yards from the sidelines, or 70 feet apart.

This width lasted for ten seasons, through 1944. The hashmarks were moved to 20 yards from the sidelines (40 feet apart) in 1945, which lasted for 27 seasons. They were moved in to the width of the goalposts (18½ feet) in 1972.[1]

Division races

In the Eastern Division, the key game took place on Thanksgiving Day at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, as the 5–4 Dodgers hosted the 6–3 Giants. A Brooklyn win would have tied the teams at 6–4, but New York won, 21–0, eventually finishing at 9–3. The same Thanksgiving Day saw the Lions and the Cardinals both win, giving them records of 6–3–2 and 6–3–1 respectively; ties did not count at the time. Three days later on December 1, the Lions beat Brooklyn 28–0; the Cardinals were losing to the Bears before tying them 7–7, but Detroit finished its season at 7–3–2 while the Cardinals were at 6–3–2. The Cardinals needed a win in order to have a chance for a playoff, and faced the Bears again on December 8. This time, the Bears won 13–0, and the Lions were the division champs.

Had the current (post-1972) system of counting ties as half a win and half a loss been in place in 1935, Green Bay (8-4-0) would have required a playoff with the Lions for the Western Division, while the Bears would have finished third over the Cardinals after the December 8 win.

Final standings

P= Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

Note 1: The NFL did not officially count tie games in the standings until 1972

Note 2: The November 17 Boston at Philadelphia game was canceled due to rain and snow.

Team	P	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
Eastern Division
New York Giants	12	9	3	0	.750	180	96
Brooklyn Dodgers	12	5	6	1	.455	90	141
Pittsburgh Pirates	12	4	8	0	.333	100	209
Boston Redskins	11	2	8	1	.200	65	123
Philadelphia Eagles	11	2	9	0	.182	60	179

Team	P	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
Western Division
Detroit Lions	12	7	3	2	.700	191	111
Green Bay Packers	12	8	4	0	.667	181	96
Chicago Bears	12	6	4	2	.600	192	106
Chicago Cardinals	12	6	4	2	.600	99	97

NFL Championship Game

Detroit 26, N.Y. Giants 7, at University of Detroit Stadium, in Detroit, Michigan, on December 15.

League leaders

Statistic	Name	Team	Yards
Passing	Ed Danowski	New York	794
Rushing	Doug Russell	Chicago Cardinals	499
Receiving	Charley Malone	Boston	433

Coaching changes

Boston Redskins: William Dietz was replaced by Eddie Casey.
Brooklyn Dodgers: Cap McEwen was replaced by Paul J. Schissler.
Chicago Cardinals: Paul J. Schissler was replaced by Milan Creighton.
Pittsburgh Pirates: Luby DiMeolo was replaced by Joe Bach.

References

"Owners give offense big seven-yard boost". Rome News-Tribune. Georgia. Associated Press. March 24, 1972. p. 6A.

NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
NFL History 1931–1940 (Last accessed December 4, 2005)
Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)

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[ogobsybs-1] "Owners give offense big seven-yard boost". Rome News-Tribune. Georgia. Associated Press. March 24, 1972. p. 6A.