Quick starts NFL season has had great opening-day performances Click here for more on this story Posted: Sunday September 12, 1999 12:16 AM   Flowin': O.J. Simpson rushed for 250 of his 2,003 yards in 1973 in the season opener. AP By Jon A. Dolezar, CNN/SI Opening night has always brought out some amazing performances, no matter what form of entertainment you're talking about. From Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes' three opening-day homers for the Cubs in 1994, to Pavorotti bringing down the house at the Met for the premiere of a new opera, to "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" smashing opening-night box office records. The world of professional football reserves the first game of the season for some memorable performances as well. Easily the most amazing season-opening performance was Norm Van Brocklin's 554 passing yards against the New York Yankees -- yes, the Yankees -- on Sept. 29, 1951. Passing Fancy Best opening-game passing totals Player Team Opp. Date Yds Norm Van Brocklin Dan Marino Drew Bledsoe Glenn Foley Pete Beathard Rams MIA NE NYJ HOU NYY* NE MIA SF KC 9/28/52 9/4/94 9/4/94 9/6/98 9/9/68 554 473 421 415 413 Since 1933; NYY=New York Yankees   Van Brocklin completed 27-of-41 passes for 554 yards and five touchdowns. However, "The Dutchman" threw for only 1,725 yards and 13 touchdowns during the 12-game 1951 season, meaning 32 percent of his yards for the season came in that opener. His performance was 27 yards more than the second-best single-game total in NFL history -- Warren Moon's 527-yard game against Kansas City on Dec. 16, 1990. Interestingly, the next two entries occurred in the same season-opening game, when the Miami faced New England to open the '94 season. The Dolphins' Dan Marino and the Patriots' Drew Bledsoe combined to throw 93 passes, totalling almost 900 yards of passing offense. Marino threw for 473 yards and five touchdowns, while Bledsoe threw for 421 yards with four touchdowns. For the record, Miami won this shootout, 39-35.   Catching On Best opening-game receiving totals Player Team Opp. Date Yds Frank Clarke Hugh Taylor Lance Alworth Irving Fryar Wes Chandler DAL WAS SD MIA NO WAS PHI DEN NE ATL 9/16/62 9/28/47 9/11/65 9/4/94 9/2/79 241 212 211 211 205 Since 1933 You may be somewhat surprised to learn that in this day of the high-powered West Coast offense, only one of the top five season-opening receiving performances occurred in the '90's. In fact, the top three all came before the AFL-NFL merger. Frank Clarke holds down the top spot on this list, with his 10-catch, 241-yard, three-touchdown outing on Sept. 16, 1962. This amazing performance kicked off Clarke's career season, in which he caught 47 passes for 1,043 yards and 14 touchdowns. The top single-game rushing performance to begin a season is held by O.J. Simpson, who ran for 250 yards on 29 carries to open the '73 season against New England. Running Wild Best opening-game rushing totals Player Team Opp. Date Yds O.J. Simpson Eddie George George Rogers Gerald Riggs Norm Bulaich BUF TEN NO ATL BAL* NE OAK Rams NO NYJ 9/16/73 8/31/97 9/4/83 9/2/84 9/19/71 250 216 206 202 198 Since 1933; * Baltimore Colts   "The Juice" squeezed the Pats' defense for two touchdowns, including an 80-yard burst. The 250-yard opener was just a precursor of things to come for Simpson. He who went on to rush for 2,003 yards on 332 carries, an impressive 6.0 yards-per-carry average.   Related information Stories Statitudes Mailbag Preseason success rarely leads to Super season Mailbag: Ask Statitudes Multimedia Visit Multimedia Central for the latest audio and video Search our site Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.

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