Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published with a focus on stats that go beyond the numbers.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Houston Texans remained undefeated with a 31-25 win over the Denver Broncos last week. The Texans’ defense, who had given up only one field goal and one touchdown in their first two games, allowed three Denver field goals and two fourth quarter TD passes in the victory over the Broncos.

The Texans “D” has stopped the opposition from scoring in 29 of the 36 possessions in the first three games of the season, an 80.6 STOP Factor, tops in the NFL. The Texans are one of only four NFL teams to keep their opponents from scoring in 70 percent or more of their offensive possessions.

At the other end of the rankings are the Carolina Panthers who have stopped their opponents from scoring only 12 times n 27 possessions, a STOP Factor of only 41.4 percent.

(The STOP Factor is based on the premise that it is the defense’s job to stop their opponents from scoring on each possession. To get a team’s STOP Factor, you divide the number of times a defense stops the offense from scoring – offensive unit TD or field goal – by the number of total possessions by the opposition.)

Following is each teams’ STOP Factor. Listed is how many times each team stopped the opponents from scoring, the number of possessions their opponents had, and the percentage of possessions that each team prevented the other team from scoring (stats are through Week 3 games).

Team, Opponents’ scoreless possessions/opponents’ possessions, STOP percentage

1. Houston, 29 stops in 36 possessions: 80.6

2. Chicago, 26 stops in 35 possessions: 74.3

3. Atlanta, 22 stops in 30 possessions: 73.3

4. Seattle, 21 stops in 29 possessions: 72.4

5. San Diego, 21 stops in 30 possessions: 70.0

6. Green Bay, 22 stops in 32 possessions: 68.8

7. Arizona, 24 stops in 35 possessions: 68.6

8. Dallas, 19 stops in 28 possessions: 67.9

9. Philadelphia, 25 stops in 37 possessions: 67.6

10. New York Giants, 19 stops in 29 possessions: 65.5

11. Miami, 24 stops in 37 possessions: 64.9

12. Cleveland, 22 stops in 34 possessions: 64.7

13. San Francisco, 18 stops in 29 possessions: 62.1

14. Baltimore, 21 stops in 34 possessions: 61.8

15tie. New England, 19 stops in 31 possessions: 61.3

15tie. St. Louis, 19 stops in 31 possessions: 61.3

17. Jacksonville, 21 stops in 35 possessions: 60.0

18. Washington, 22 stops in 37 possessions: 59.5

19. Tampa Bay, 20 stops in 34 possessions: 58.8

20. Minnesota, 18 stops in 31 possessions: 58.1

21tie. Buffalo, 17 stops in 30 possessions: 56.7

21tie. New York Jets, 17 stops in 30 possessions: 56.7

23. Denver, 18 stops in 32 possessions: 56.3

24. Pittsburgh, 14 stops in 26 possessions: 53.8

25tie. Cincinnati, 17 stops in 33 possessions: 51.5

25tie. Kansas City, 17 stops in 33 possessions: 51.5

27. Indianapolis, 16 stops in 32 possessions: 50.0

28. New Orleans, 18 stops in 37 possessions: 48.6

29. Oakland, 15 stops in 31 possessions: 48.4

30. Detroit, 13 stops in 27 possessions: 48.1

31. Tennessee, 15 stops in 33 possessions: 45.5

32. Carolina, 12 stops in 27 possessions: 41.4

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Philip Rivers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published with a focus on stats that go beyond the numbers.

When San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers connects on a pass (or more) for 27 yards in Sunday’s game at Kansas City, he will reach a couple of milestones in his career.

First, Rivers will become the 63rd QB in NFL history to amass 25,000 or more yards passing. Since he will (has) accumulated those 25,000-plus yards with only the Chargers, Rivers will become the 37th QB in NFL history to pass for 25,000 or more yards with one franchise.

In addition, Rivers will become the third Charger QB to reach the 25,000-yards passing milestone with the club, joining Dan Fouts and John Hadl. The trio of Rivers, Fouts and Hadl will make the Chargers only the third franchise in the league to have three QBs reach the 25,000-mark in passing yards with their franchise.

Following are the NFL franchises that have had the most QBs throw for 25,000 or more yards for their team.

Number of QBs with 25,000-plus passing yards, Team, quarterbacks

3: New England (Tom Brady, Steve Grogan, Drew Bledsoe); San Francisco (Joe Montana, Steve Young, John Brodie)

2: Buffalo (Jim Kelly, Joe Ferguson); Cincinnati (Ken Anderson, Boomer Esiason); Indianapolis (Peyton Manning, Johnny Unitas); Miami (Dan Marino, Bob Griese); New York Giants (Phil Simms, Eli Manning); Philadelphia (Donovan McNabb, Ron Jaworski); Pittsburgh (Terry Bradshaw, Ben Roethlisberger); San Diego (Dan Fouts, John Hadl); Seattle (Dave Krieg, Matt Hasselbeck); Tennessee (Warren Moon, Steve McNair).

1: Arizona (Jim Hart); Dallas (Troy Aikman); Denver (John Elway); Green Bay (Brett Favre); Jacksonville (Mark Brunell); Kansas City (Len Dawson); Minnesota (Fran Tarkenton); New Orleans (Drew Brees); New York Jets (Joe Namath); Washington (Joe Theismann).

0: Atlanta, Baltimore, Carolina, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Oakland, St. Louis, Tampa Bay.

As mentioned above, Rivers will become the 37th QB to throw for 25,000-plus yards for a franchise. There are an additional 26 quarterbacks who have accumulated 25,000 or more passing yards in their career, but have done it with two or more teams and have not (or did not) reach the 25,000-mark with one team. Those 26 quarterbacks are:

George Blanda, Chris Chandler, Kerry Collins, Randall Cunningham, Steve DeBerg,  Jim Everett, Roman Gabriel, Rich Gannon, Jeff Garcia, Jeff George, Trent Green, Jim Harbaugh, Brad Johnson, Sonny Jurgensen, Jon Kitna, Bobby Layne, Craig Morton, Ken O’Brien, Carson Palmer, Jake Plummer, Jim Plunkett, Norm Snead, Kenny Stabler, Vinny Testaverde, Y.A. Tittle, Kurt Warner.

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Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published with a focus on stats that go beyond the numbers.

Following is a look at this week’s NFL schedule and some historical stats on the head-to-head matchups.

Carolina vs. Atlanta: Atlanta is ahead in the series, 22-12. The Falcons have won the last four contests in the series, all by scoring 31 points in each game. Atlanta has won the last four games played in Atlanta. The Falcons have won six of the last eight in the series.

New England vs. Buffalo: The Patriots have won 16 of the last 17 against the Bills. The Bills did win last year’s game in Buffalo, 34-31. New England is 10-2 in Buffalo since 2000.

Minnesota vs. Detroit: The Vikes hold a 66-33-2 lead in the series. The Lions have won the last three matchups between the two teams. The Lions are 3-2 in the last five games in Detroit. The last three games between the two teams were decided by a total of 16 points.

Tennessee vs. Houston: The Titans have a 14-6 advantage in the series. They have spilt the last eight games and have split the last four games played in Houston. Four of the last six games between the two were decided by three points or less.

San Diego vs. Kansas City: The Chiefs have a slight advantage in the series with a record of 52-51-1 against the Chargers. San Diego has won seven of the last nine. The two teams split the last six games played in Kansas City dating back to 2005. Last year both games in this series were decided by a field goal with each team winning on their home field.

San Francisco vs. New York Jets: The 49ers are 9-2 in the series. The Jets won the last time the two teams played in New York, a 22-14 win. San Francisco has won five of the six games played in New York.

Seattle vs. St. Louis: Seattle has won the last three meetings. The last six games were each decided by 10 points or more. Seattle has won six of the last seven in St. Louis. The Seahawks have won 13 of the last 14 in the series.

Miami vs. Arizona: The two teams have faced each other 10 times with the Dolphins winning the first eight games and the Cardinals winning the last two contests. The teams last played in 2008 with the Cards winning 31-10 at home. The teams have split the only two games played in Arizona.

Cincinnati vs. Jacksonville: The Jaguars lead the series, 11-7. Cincinnati has won the last two games. Three of the last five meetings have been decided by four points or less. Jacksonville has won seven of the last eight games played in Jacksonville.

Oakland vs. Denver: The Raiders have won the last four games played in Denver. Oakland has won four of the last five games in the series. In the 24 games played in the series since 2000, Denver has won 14. The two teams have split the last 12 games played in Denver.

New Orleans vs. Green Bay: Green Bay is ahead in the series 15-7. The Pack has won three of the last four games played in Green Bay. The two teams have played 10 times since 1986 with each team winning five games.

Washington vs. Tampa Bay: Tampa Bay has a one-game advantage in the series, 10-9. The Bucs have won three of the last four. Tampa Bay has won seven of the last eight games played in Tampa Bay. The Bucs only loss at home to the Redskins was in a 2005 playoff game.

New York Giants vs. Philadelphia: The Eagles have won seven of the last eight games between the two teams. They have split the last six games played in Philadelphia. The Eagles have won 16 of the 24 games played in the series since 2001.

Chicago vs. Dallas: Dallas leads the series 13-9. The Cowboys have won three of the last four played in Dallas. The Bears won the last game played in Dallas between the two teams, a 27-20 win in 2010. The two teams have split the last six games in the series going back to 1996.

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Giants QB Eli Manning leads the NFL’s top offense (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published with a focus on stats that go beyond the number.

The New York Giants scored three offensive touchdowns and kicked five field goals in their 36-7 win over Carolina in last Thursday’s game. The Giants scored on eight of nine offensive possessions, punting only once in the game, meaning their offense put points on the board in eight of the nine possessions.

With that offensive performance, the Giants vaulted into a first place tie with the Atlanta Falcons for the best POP Score with a 2.8, signifying the most efficient offense unit in the league.

(POP Score is based on the simple premise that it is the offensive team’s objective to score a touchdown (or at the least, kick a field goal) in each possession. POP Score stands for Points per Offensive Possession. Here’s how it works: The Falcons in Week One had nine possessions in their game. On four of the possessions, they scored a touchdown. On four of their possessions they kicked a field goal. They punted once. They scored 24 points on their four TDs (extra points are not included in Pop Score); 12 points on their four field goals. The Atlanta offense scored 36 points on nine possessions. By dividing the 36 points by the nine possessions, you get a POP Score of 4.0. Maximum POP Score is 6.0, which would indicate that a team scored a touchdown every time they had an offensive possession.)

Here’s a look at the POP Score rankings through Week 3.

Team, POP Score, (Season Offensive Scores/Possessions)

1tie. New York Giants: 2.8 (19 scores in 30 possessions)

1tie. Atlanta: 2.8 (17 scores in 30 possessions)

3. Pittsburgh: 2.56 (14 scores in 31 possessions)

4. Baltimore: 2.45 (17 scores in 33 possessions)

5. Buffalo: 2.23 (12 score sin 31 possessions)

6. Detroit: 2.18 (17 scores in 33 possessions)

7tie. Houston: 2.17 (16 scores in 36 possessions)

7tie. San Francisco: 2.17 (14 scores in 29 possessions)

9. New England: 2.16 (16 scores in 32 possessions)

10. Cincinnati: 2.09 (14 scores in 33 possessions)

11. Washington: 2.08 (15 scores in 36 possessions)

12. Minnesota: 2.03 (14 scores in 31 possessions)

13. San Diego: 1.97 (13 scores in 29 possessions)

14. New Orleans: 1.83 (13 scores in 36 possessions)

15. Chicago: 1.82 (13 scores in 33 possessions)

16. New York Jets: 1.8 (12 scores in 30 possessions)

17tie. Arizona: 1.69 (12 scores in 32 possessions)

17tie. Oakland: 1.69 (12 scores in 32 possessions)

19. Denver: 1.64 (12 scores in 33 possessions)

20. Kansas City: 1.62 (14 scores in 37 possessions)

21tie. Seattle: 1.5 (10 scores in 30 possessions)

21tie. Dallas 1.5 (9 scores in 28 possessions)

23. Miami: 1.46 (10 scores in 35 possessions)

24tie. Tampa Bay: 1.45 (11 scores in 33 possessions)

24tie. Green Bay: 1.45 (10 scores in 31 possessions)

26tie. Indianapolis: 1.41 (10 scores in 34 possessions)

26tie: Jacksonville: 1.41 (11 scores in 33 possessions)

28. Tennessee: 1.4 (10 scores in 30 possessions)

29. Carolina: 1.39 (7 scores in 28 possessions)

30. St. Louis: 1.31 (11 scores in 32 possessions)

31. Cleveland: 1.22 (10 scores in 37 possessions)

32. Philadelphia: 1.14 (9 scores in 37 possessions)

Biggest gainers this week: Oakland (up 14 spots); Cincinnati (up 7 spots); Arizona, New England, Tennessee (all up 6 spots)

Biggest losers this week: San Diego (down 11 spots); St. Louis (down 11 spots); Carolina (down 9 spots)

NFL POP Score league average through Week 3: 1.81

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