1956 Detroit Lions Statistics
National Football League (NFL)
Team Record: 9-3
Finishing 2nd in the NFL's West Division
Coach: Buddy Parker (9-3)
Location: Detroit, Michigan
1956 Detroit Lions RosterTeam Record: 9-3
Finishing 2nd in the NFL's West Division
Coach: Buddy Parker (9-3)
Location: Detroit, Michigan
1956 Detroit Lions Results
The Detroit Lions of the National Football League ended the 1956 season with a record of 9 wins and 3 losses, finishing second in the NFL's West Division. 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 | Bobby Layne | 244 | 129 | 52.9 | 1909 | 7.8 | 9 | 3.7 | 17 | 7.0 | 70 | 62.0 | Harry Gilmer | 46 | 27 | 58.7 | 303 | 6.6 | 4 | 8.7 | 3 | 6.5 | 41 | 80.3 | Jug Girard | 1 | 1 | 100.0 | 19 | 19.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 19 | 118.8 | Jerry Reichow | 6 | 3 | 50.0 | 19 | 3.2 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 16.7 | 14 | 17.4 | Don McIlhenny | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 39.6 | Howard Cassady | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 50.0 | 0 | 0.0 | Bill Stits | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 100.0 | 0 | 0.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 301 | 160 | 53.2 | 2250 | 7.5 | 13 | 4.3 | 23 | 7.6 | 70 |
Rushing:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs | Gene Gedman | 135 | 479 | 3.5 | 33 | 7 | Howard Cassady | 97 | 413 | 4.3 | 33 | 0 | Don McIlhenny | 87 | 372 | 4.3 | 30 | 3 | Leon Hart | 76 | 348 | 4.6 | 46 | 5 | Bobby Layne | 46 | 169 | 3.7 | 20 | 5 | Bill Bowman | 20 | 84 | 4.2 | 13 | 1 | Jug Girard | 17 | 67 | 3.9 | 11 | 0 | Tom Tracy | 12 | 32 | 2.7 | 9 | 0 | Harry Gilmer | 8 | 19 | 2.4 | 6 | 0 | Yale Lary | 1 | 10 | 10.0 | 10 | 0 | Dave Middleton | 3 | 9 | 3.0 | 10 | 0 | Dorne Dibble | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 8 | 0 | Jerry Reichow | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | Bill Stits | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 6 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 507 | 2011 | 4.0 | 46 | 21 |
Receiving:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs | Dave Middleton | 39 | 606 | 15.5 | 56 | 5 | Dorne Dibble | 32 | 597 | 18.7 | 56 | 2 | Jim Doran | 25 | 448 | 17.9 | 31 | 0 | Gene Gedman | 15 | 142 | 9.5 | 43 | 1 | Leon Hart | 14 | 116 | 8.3 | 29 | 1 | Howard Cassady | 9 | 83 | 9.2 | 21 | 0 | Don McIlhenny | 8 | 70 | 8.8 | 21 | 2 | Bill Bowman | 5 | 34 | 6.8 | 18 | 1 | Jerry Reichow | 4 | 63 | 15.8 | 41 | 1 | Bill Stits | 3 | 52 | 17.3 | 27 | 0 | Jug Girard | 3 | 33 | 11.0 | 16 | 0 | Tom Tracy | 3 | 6 | 2.0 | 5 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 160 | 2250 | 14.1 | 56 | 13 |
Kicking:
| Player | X/CA | X/CM | X/CP % | FGA | FGM | FG % | Pts. | Bobby Layne | 33 | 33 | 100.0 | 15 | 12 | 80.0 | 69 | Jim Martin | 3 | 3 | 100.0 | 10 | 4 | 40.0 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 36 | 36 | 100.0 | 25 | 16 | 64.0 | 84 |
Punting:
Punt Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs | Howard Cassady | 13 | 83 | 6.4 | 34 | 0 | Jack Christiansen | 6 | 73 | 12.2 | 66 | 1 | Yale Lary | 22 | 70 | 3.2 | 38 | 0 | Jug Girard | 2 | 7 | 3.5 | 5 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 43 | 233 | 5.4 | 66 | 1 |
Kick Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs | Howard Cassady | 16 | 382 | 23.9 | 42 | 0 | Jack Christiansen | 6 | 116 | 19.3 | 22 | 0 | Yale Lary | 4 | 76 | 19.0 | 29 | 0 | Bill Stits | 3 | 48 | 16.0 | 19 | 0 | Bill Bowman | 1 | 24 | 24.0 | 24 | 0 | Charlie Ane | 1 | 19 | 19.0 | 19 | 0 | Jim Salsbury | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 13 | 0 | Jerry Reichow | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 9 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 33 | 687 | 20.8 | 42 | 0 |
Interceptions:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs | Yale Lary | 8 | 182 | 22.8 | 73 | 1 | Jack Christiansen | 8 | 109 | 13.6 | 33 | 0 | Jim David | 7 | 4 | 0.6 | 3 | 0 | Bob Long | 2 | 47 | 23.5 | 40 | 0 | Bill Stits | 1 | 11 | 11.0 | 11 | 0 | Joe Schmidt | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 7 | 0 | Carl Karilivacz | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 28 | 360 | 12.9 | 73 | 1 |
Defense and Fumbles:
| Player | Tackle | Brup | Fum | FRec | FYds | FTD | FF | Ray Krouse | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bob Long | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Gene Gedman | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Carl Karilivacz | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Sonny Gandee | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Yale Lary | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Bill Stits | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bob Miller | 0 | 1 | 23 | 0 | 0 | Gil Mains | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Howard Cassady | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Leon Hart | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Harry Gilmer | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Jim Doran | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Tom Tracy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bobby Layne | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 14 | 15 | 23 | 0 | 0 |
Total Scoring:
| Touchdowns | Other | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rush | Rec | Punt | Kick | MFG | Int | Fum | Other | FG | X/C | Single | 2Pt | Saf | Points | Bobby Layne | 5 | 12 | 33 | 0 | 99 | Gene Gedman | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | Leon Hart | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | Don McIlhenny | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | Dave Middleton | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | Jim Martin | 4 | 3 | 0 | 15 | Dorne Dibble | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | Bill Bowman | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | Yale Lary | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | Jerry Reichow | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | Jack Christiansen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Totals | 21 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 300 |
