All-America Football Conference playoffs: Difference between revisions

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|First Downs ||10 ||18

|First Downs ||10 ||18

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|Rush-Yards ||29-65||37-112

|Yards ||65||112

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|Yards per carry || 2.2 || 3.0

|Cmp-Att-Yd-TD-INT ||8-20-81-0-1 ||16-27-213-1-1

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|Passing yards ||81 ||213

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|Total Yards ||146 ||325

|Total Yards ||146 ||325

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|Fumbles-Lost ||2-1|| 3-0

|Fumbles-Lost ||||

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|Turnovers ||2 ||1

|Turnovers ||2 ||1

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|Penalties-Yards ||4-20 ||5-25

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All-America Football Conference playoffs

Modern rendition of league logo
Sport	American football
Founded	1944
First season	1946
Ceased	1949
No. of teams	2 (1946, 1947) 3 (1948) 4 (1949)
Country	United States
Last champion	Cleveland Browns (1946-1949)

The All-America Football Conference playoffs were the postseason games of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), an American football league which challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949.

From 1946 to 1948, the AAFC determined its champion in a title game between the winners of its two divisions. In 1948, a special playoff game was needed to break a first-place tie in one of the divisions. In 1949, the league contracted to a single division, so it determined its champion by a four-team single-elimination tournament.

Just five teams participated in the AAFC playoffs in four years: the Cleveland Browns (all four years), the New York Yankees (three times), the Buffalo Bills (twice), the Baltimore Colts, and the San Francisco 49ers. The Cleveland Browns won all four AAFC titles, however their domination and the lack of balance that it demonstrated ultimately hurt the league by diminishing attendance.^[1][2][3][4]

AAFC playoff records, as with AAFC records in general, are recognized by the Pro Football Hall of Fame but were not included in the NFL’s record book until 2025.^[5]

1946

1946 AAFC Championship Game

The two teams had met twice in the regular season, with Cleveland (12–2) defeating the Yankees (10–3–1) both times by scores of 24–7 on September 26 in Cleveland and 7–0 on October 12 at Yankee Stadium. On what was described as a chilly day of 29-degree weather, the Yankees nearly defied the expectations as 14-point underdogs to lead for most of the fourth quarter on the strength of making a field goal (while Cleveland went 0-for-4 with two kickers) and a touchdown run by Spec Sanders.^[6] With less than five minutes remaining in the game, the Browns were trailing 9-7 before Otto Graham led Cleveland to a 76-yard drive that culminated with a pass to Dante Lavelli that saw him catch it and run in from the six-yard line to the endzone to give them the lead with 4:13 remaining to give Cleveland the lead they would not relinquish. The Yankees tried to drive down the field, but Ace Parker was intercepted by Graham (playing safety) to clinch the championship for Cleveland.^[7]

This was the final game for Ace Parker, who retired after the game ended.

Individual shares for Cleveland players were $931. While the AAFC never instituted a trophy for winning the championship (instead giving a lapel pin), the Cleveland players pooled together to commission two trophies: one was given to team majority owner Arthur B. McBride and the other was given to minority owner Daniel Sherby; included was the names of all 38 players. These two trophies are the only ones of a Cleveland football championship to exist (the four NFL championships won by Cleveland were in the era where the trophy was given on a rotating basis; they had a replica trophy created for the 1964 championship decades later); one of the trophies was donated to the organization in 2013 after the grandson of Sherby discovered the trophy in a box in his garage in Raleigh, North Carolina.^[8][9]

Statistics

Statistics	New York	Cleveland
First Downs	10	18
Rushing Yards	65	112
Yards per carry	2.2	3.0
Passing yards	81	213
Total Yards	146	325
Fumbles-Lost	2–1	3–0
Turnovers	2	1
Penalties-Yards	4–20	5–25

Starting lineup

Note: Players often played both offense and defense in this period. Although free substitution existed from 1943, what are today considered defensive starters were categorized as “substitutes” in this era. Pro Football Reference lists Lloyd Cheatham as starting under the “BB position”, for example. Ace Parker was not listed as starter for the quarterback position but threw all but two passes in the game for New York.
Hall of Fame inductee

1947

1947 AAFC Championship Game

The two teams had met twice in the regular season: Cleveland (12–1–1) defeated New York (11–2–1) at home on October 5 by a score of 26–17 while the two teams tied in the November 23 matchup in New York.

Statistics

Statistics	Cleveland	New York
First Downs	15	13
Rush-Yds	33-172	33-123
Cmp-Att-Yds	14-21-137	7-18-112
Sack Yds Lost	25	23
Net Pass Yards	112	89
Total Yards	309	235
Fumbles-Lost	2-1	3-2
Turnovers	1	3
Penalties-Yards	7-45	3-21

1948

Division Playoff

The Bills and Colts were each tied for first in the Eastern Division with records of 7–7 due to the last game of the season, in which Baltimore defeated Buffalo 35–15 at Baltimore Municipal Stadium on December 5. One week later at the same venue, the Bills returned the favor and defeated Baltimore to reach the AAFC Championship Game, with George Ratterman tossing for two touchdowns in the span of three minutes to give Buffalo the lead after they trailed by ten to start the fourth. Buckets Hirsch closed the scoring with an interception return for a touchdown off Y. A. Tittle.^[10]

The Baltimore crowd was so unsatisfied by the calls of sideline judge Tommy Whelan that players and police were used to escort him to the dressing room when the game was over.^[11]

1948 AAFC Championship Game

Cleveland had beaten Buffalo in both of the regular season matchups: 42–13 in Buffalo on September 12 and 31–14 on October 17 in Cleveland. Miserable weather that had snow fall on and off for a good portion of the day leading up to the game, combined with rumors of a merger with the NFL, led to less than 25,000 people attending the game.^[12] Cleveland, nursing a record of 14–0, thoroughly dominated the Bills here to complete the first perfect season by a football team since the Los Angeles Bulldogs of the third rendition of the American Football League in 1937 and retroactively is considered the first perfect season by a major professional team.

Statistics

Statistics	Buffalo	Cleveland
First Downs	13	20
Rushes-Yard	33-63	40-215
Cmp-Att-Yd	11-36-104	11-26-118
Net Passing Yards	104	118
Total Yards	167	333
Fumbles-Lost	3-3	6-3
Turnovers	8	4
Penalties-Yards	7-27	9-90

1949

First-round Games

Cleveland Browns vs. Buffalo Bills

The 9–1–2 Browns had both of their ties come at the hands of the 5–5–2 Bills, one in Buffalo to start the season on September 5 and the other in Cleveland on November 13. As it turned out, this was the final game played by the Bills, who would not be voted in alongside the Browns, 49ers and Baltimore Colts to play in the NFL for 1950. Buffalo would have to wait until 1960 with the new Buffalo Bills in the American Football League for professional football.

San Francisco 49ers vs. New York Yankees

The matchup of the second-place 49ers (9–3) against the third-place Yankees (8–4) previously had seen the two teams split their regular season matchups: the Yankees beat the 49ers in New York on October 23 while the 49ers had defeated the Yankees on November 27 in San Francisco.

This was the final game played by the AAFC Yankees, who had been merged with the Brooklyn Dodgers for the 1949 season to keep afloat as the “Brooklyn-New York Yankees”. The Yankees players would be dispersed among the two National Football League teams in New York in the New York Giants and New York Bulldogs, who rebranded to become the “New York Yanks” in 1950.

1949 AAFC Championship Game

The two teams split their regular season matchups: The 49ers defeated the Browns 56–28 in San Francisco on October 9 while the Browns defeated the 49ers 30–28 in Cleveland on October 30.

Starting lineup

Hall of Fame inductee

Statistics

Statistics	49ers	Browns
First Downs	14	16
Rush-Yds	33-122	41-217
Cmp-Att-Yd	9-25-125	7-17-154
Sack Yds Lost	17	26
Net Pass Yards	108	128
Total Yards	247	371
Fumbles-Lost	2-0	0-0
Turnovers	0	0
Penalties-Yards	0-0	1-5

References

• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)