1961 Pittsburgh Steelers Statistics
National Football League (NFL)
Team Record: 6-8
Finishing 5th in the NFL's East Division
Coach: Buddy Parker (6-8)
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1961 Pittsburgh Steelers RosterTeam Record: 6-8
Finishing 5th in the NFL's East Division
Coach: Buddy Parker (6-8)
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1961 Pittsburgh Steelers Results
The Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League ended the 1961 season with a record of 6 wins and 8 losses, finishing fifth in the NFL's East Division.
The Steelers chalked up 295 points, and the defense conceded 287. John Johnson carried the ball for a team-best 787 yards for Pittsburgh.
Rudy Bukich passed for 1,253 yards, and Bobby Layne spent time under center, too. Buddy Dial grabbed 53 passes for 1,047 yards.
The opportunistic defense manufactured 45 turnovers. Johnny Sample intercepted 8 opponent throws.
Buddy Parker coached the team.
Click on column headings to sort.
Passing:
| Player | Att | Comp | Comp % | Yds | Yds/Att | TDs | TD % | Ints | Int % | Long | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rudy Bukich | 156 | 89 | 57.1 | 1253 | 8.0 | 11 | 7.1 | 16 | 10.3 | 88 | 67.0 |
| Bobby Layne | 149 | 75 | 50.3 | 1205 | 8.1 | 11 | 7.4 | 16 | 10.7 | 53 | 62.8 |
| Terry Nofsinger | 11 | 7 | 63.6 | 78 | 7.1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 23 | 84.7 |
| Tom Tracy | 12 | 4 | 33.3 | 73 | 6.1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 38 | 55.2 |
| Dick Hoak | 3 | 1 | 33.3 | 13 | 4.3 | 1 | 33.3 | 1 | 33.3 | 13 | 47.9 |
| Bobby Green | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 39.6 |
| John Johnson | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 50.0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Totals | 334 | 176 | 52.7 | 2622 | 7.9 | 23 | 6.9 | 34 | 10.2 | 88 |
Rushing:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Johnson | 213 | 787 | 3.7 | 44 | 6 |
| Tom Tracy | 147 | 402 | 2.7 | 26 | 2 |
| Dick Hoak | 85 | 302 | 3.6 | 22 | 0 |
| Charlie Scales | 50 | 184 | 3.7 | 27 | 0 |
| Bobby Green | 2 | 37 | 18.5 | 33 | 0 |
| Brady Keys | 6 | 14 | 2.3 | 11 | 0 |
| Bobby Layne | 8 | 11 | 1.4 | 9 | 0 |
| Preston Carpenter | 7 | 9 | 1.3 | 13 | 0 |
| Steve Meilinger | 1 | 6 | 6.0 | 6 | 0 |
| Buddy Dial | 3 | 6 | 2.0 | 15 | 0 |
| Terry Nofsinger | 6 | 6 | 1.0 | 3 | 0 |
| Rudy Bukich | 14 | 4 | 0.3 | 12 | 2 |
| Bob Coronado | 1 | -7 | -7.0 | -7 | 0 |
| Totals | 543 | 1761 | 3.2 | 44 | 10 |
Receiving:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buddy Dial | 53 | 1047 | 19.8 | 88 | 12 |
| Preston Carpenter | 33 | 460 | 13.9 | 40 | 4 |
| John Johnson | 24 | 262 | 10.9 | 51 | 1 |
| Bob Schnelker | 18 | 331 | 18.4 | 59 | 3 |
| Tom Tracy | 14 | 133 | 9.5 | 38 | 1 |
| Red Mack | 8 | 128 | 16.0 | 39 | 2 |
| Steve Meilinger | 8 | 103 | 12.9 | 17 | 0 |
| Charlie Scales | 7 | 43 | 6.1 | 16 | 0 |
| Henry Clement | 5 | 65 | 13.0 | 19 | 0 |
| Bob Coronado | 3 | 32 | 10.7 | 14 | 0 |
| Dick Hoak | 3 | 18 | 6.0 | 7 | 0 |
| Totals | 176 | 2622 | 14.9 | 88 | 23 |
Kicking:
| Player | X/CA | X/CM | X/CP % | FGA | FGM | FG % | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lou Michaels | 29 | 27 | 93.1 | 26 | 15 | 57.7 | 72 |
| Bobby Layne | 5 | 5 | 100.0 | 5 | |||
| Tom Tracy | 2 | 2 | 100.0 | 1 | 0.0 | 2 | |
| Bobby Green | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | ||||
| Totals | 36 | 34 | 94.4 | 28 | 15 | 53.6 | 79 |
Punting:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bobby Green | 73 | 3431 | 47.0 | 71 |
| Totals | 73 | 3431 | 47.0 | 71 |
Punt Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny Sample | 26 | 283 | 10.9 | 55 | 1 |
| Brady Keys | 9 | 135 | 15.0 | 66 | 0 |
| Preston Carpenter | 3 | 18 | 6.0 | 10 | 0 |
| Bill Butler | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 9 | 0 |
| Totals | 40 | 447 | 11.2 | 66 | 1 |
Kick Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny Sample | 23 | 532 | 23.1 | 59 | 0 |
| Dick Haley | 13 | 278 | 21.4 | 50 | 0 |
| Bill Butler | 6 | 117 | 19.5 | 25 | 0 |
| Brady Keys | 2 | 41 | 20.5 | 23 | 0 |
| Charlie Scales | 3 | 41 | 13.7 | 15 | 0 |
| John Johnson | 1 | 11 | 11.0 | 11 | 0 |
| Bob Schmitz | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 49 | 1020 | 20.8 | 59 | 0 |
Interceptions:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny Sample | 8 | 141 | 17.6 | 42 | 1 |
| Bill Butler | 3 | 103 | 34.3 | 71 | 1 |
| Willie Daniel | 3 | 76 | 25.3 | 41 | 0 |
| Jackie Simpson | 2 | 46 | 23.0 | 27 | 0 |
| Myron Pottios | 2 | 40 | 20.0 | 22 | 0 |
| Brady Keys | 2 | 21 | 10.5 | 12 | 0 |
| Lou Michaels | 1 | 30 | 30.0 | 30 | 0 |
| John Reger | 1 | 17 | 17.0 | 17 | 0 |
| George Tarasovic | 1 | 16 | 16.0 | 16 | 0 |
| Mike Henry | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 8 | 0 |
| Dick Haley | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 25 | 498 | 19.9 | 71 | 2 |
Defense and Fumbles:
| Player | Tackle | Brup | Fum | FRec | FYds | FTD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ernie Stautner | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Joe Krupa | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| John Johnson | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Rudy Bukich | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Mike Henry | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ron Stehouwer | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Johnny Sample | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Bobby Layne | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| John Kapele | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| John Reger | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Willie Daniel | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Charlie Bradshaw | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Bill Butler | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Jackie Simpson | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | |
| John Nisby | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Brady Keys | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Red Mack | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Myron Pottios | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| George Tarasovic | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Charlie Scales | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Preston Carpenter | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Buddy Dial | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Dick Hoak | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Tom Tracy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 34 | 31 | 14 | 0 | 0 |
Total Scoring:
| Touchdowns | Other | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rush | Rec | Punt | Kick | MFG | Int | Fum | Other | FG | X/C | Single | 2Pt | Saf | Points |
| Lou Michaels | 0 | 15 | 27 | 0 | 72 | |||||||||
| Buddy Dial | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 72 | ||||||||
| John Johnson | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42 | |||||||
| Preston Carpenter | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | |||||||
| Tom Tracy | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20 | ||||||||
| Bob Schnelker | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | |||||||||
| Red Mack | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||||
| Rudy Bukich | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||||
| Johnny Sample | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||
| Bill Butler | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||
| Bobby Layne | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | |||||||||
| Totals | 10 | 23 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 295 |
