Throwback Thursday: NFL/AAFC All-Decade Team Of The 1940s

I brought back my combined AFL/NFL All-Decade Team of the 1960s last week. It got me thinking about doing the same thing with a combined NFL/AAFC All-Decade Team of the 1940s. NFL history has treated the AFL much better than it's treated AAFC. I guess that happens when the NFL absorbs the AFL in it's entirety and takes only three from the AAFC. And one of those three didn't last long. It also probably doesn't help that the Cleveland Browns started slapping around NFL teams from the first game.

NFL/AAFC All-Decade Team Of The 1940s. It's a single platoon team. That's how the game was played back then.

Quarterback
Otto Graham, Cleveland Browns
Sammy Baugh, Washington Redskins

I simply can't pick one over the other. Quite frankly I have no interest in doing so.

Halfback
Steve Van Buren, Philadelphia Eagles
Spec Sanders, New York Yankees/New York Yanks

I bumped the likes of Bill Dudley and George McAfee for Spec Sanders for no other reason than more people should know about him. Sanders' 1947 season was one of the best and most most stat-filled in professional football history. 1432 yards and 18 TDs rushing, 1442 yards and 14 TDs passing, a 27.3 yard punt return average, 27 yard kick return average with a TD, 3 interceptions on defense, and a 42.1 punting average. He did so much and did it all exceedingly well. Knee issues forced him to retire after the 1948 season. He came back for a single NFL season in 1950. He only played defense due to his knees but led the league in interceptions with 13. A four-year career, three in the AAFC, is the only reason that he's not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Fullback
Marion Motley, Cleveland Browns

This is probably the easiest choice of the team.

Ends
Dante Lavelli, Cleveland Browns
Mac Speedie, Cleveland Browns

All Browns. Mac Speedie not being in Canton is one of the greatest misfires of the Hall of Fame voters.

Tackles
Al Wistert, Philadelphia Eagles
Arnie Weinmeister, New York Yankees

Wistert is another great misfire of the Hall of Fame voters. Speedie and Wistert deserve their due recognition. Both have waited far too long. And Terrell Owens is pissy about three years.

Guards
Bill Willis, Cleveland Browns
Bruno Banducci, Philadelphia Eagles/San Francisco 49ers

Center
Clyde "Bulldog" Turner, Chicago Bears

Bulldog vs Alex Wojciechowicz was nearly as challenging as Graham vs Baugh.

***

Tally
NFL: 4
AAFC: 8
Cleveland Browns: 5

1940s professional football is a tough decade to judge. World War II threw the first half into disarray. Two separate leagues cloud the second half. Paul Brown's Cleveland Browns were simply brilliant. It would've been fun to see them square off against the 1948 and 1949 Philadelphia Eagles. If their games of the 1950s are any indication the Browns had the edge. Many say that the AAFC was the Browns and then the rest. It really wasn't. The New York Yankees and San Francisco 49ers would've been competitive in the NFL. Despite the 1940s being a jumbled decade there was some terrific football. The Chicago Bears in the early part of the decade, the Eagles and Chicago Cardinals in the latter part of the decade, Sammy Baugh throughout, the Browns, Spec Sanders, Al Wistert, Mac Speedie, etc. Fun times. Fun football. A fun decade if one can ignore a World War.