Two great TD performances on the same day happened during the 2021 NFL season. The 1965 NFL season also saw two great TD performances on the same day. This short post is just a fun fact that I thought you all might enjoy.
What do Gale Sayers and Paul Hornung have in common with Jonathan Taylor and Austin Ekeler? Big TD games on the same day.
Jonathan Taylor 5 TDs and Austin Ekeler 4 TDs
Austin Ekeler and Jonathan Taylor totaled nine touchdowns together on November 21, 2021.
I watched Austin Ekeler score his fourth touchdown of the game on Sunday Night Football against the Steelers. That reminded me of a fact stored deep in the football history memory bank. His four touchdowns on the same day that the Colts Jonathan Taylor scored five touchdowns wasn’t the first time in NFL history that two running backs had huge touchdown totals on the same day.
Gale Sayers 6 TDs and Paul Hornung 5 TDs
Gale Sayers and Paul Hornung totaled 11 touchdowns together on December 12, 1965
Gale Sayers scored six touchdowns against the 49ers on December 12, 1965. He is one of only four players in NFL history to score six touchdowns in one NFL game. Paul Hornung scored five touchdowns against the Colts on that same day — December 12, 1965. That totaled 11 touchdowns between the two players! Interestingly enough, both Hall of Fame running backs scored 50-yard touchdowns on that day as well: Sayers had a 50-yard rushing TD; Hornung caught a 50-yard TD pass.
Gale Sayers wowed with another big touchdown performance in 1965. He scored four touchdowns in one game against Minnesota on October 17, 1965. All of them came in the second half — three in the fourth quarter!
The 30 points that Paul Hornung scored against the Colts in his five TD performance weren’t the most points he scored in a single game in his career. He scored 33 points against the Colts in a 1961 game! Hornung spent part of the 1961 season in the U.S. Army, along with two of his Packer teammates.
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