Brandon Marshall (Photo credit: crhee8)

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

When receiver Brandon Marshall was traded from the Miami Dolphins to the Chicago Bears this past March, the Bears and their fans hoped that Marshall would add a unique element that has been missing in their offense.

Marshall has certainly met the expectations of the Bears faithful and this last weekend he caught 12 passes for 92 yards, passing the 1,000-yard mark in receiving for the sixth time in his career. Marshall also became the first Bears’ receiver to reach 1,000 yards in receiving since Marty Booker in 2002.

Marshall’s 12 catch-92 yards game against the Minesota Vikings last Sunday was also a unique stat line that is rarely seen in the league. Marshall became the 35th player since 1966 (start of the Super Bowl era) to catch 12 or more passes in a game and finish with less than 100 yards receiving in the game. He became the third player with these numbers this year; Oakland’s Darren McFadden on Sept. 10 had 13 catches for 86 yards and the Cowboys’ Dez Bryant had 13 receptions for 95 yards on Oct. 14.

It was also only the ninth time in those 35 instances that a player’s team won in a game where a player had 12-plus receptions and less than 100 receiving yards. Of these 35 times since 1966, four players accomplished this rare feat twice:

Larry Centers (Oct. 10, 2001 and Sept. 29, 1996). Centers did it with Buffalo and Arizona

Derrick Mason (Oct. 3, 2004 and Nov. 12, 2001). Mason did it both times with Tennessee

Lydell Mitchell (Nov. 28, 1976 and Dec. 15, 1974). Mitchell did it both times with Baltimore; both times against the Jets

Brian Westbrook (Nov. 4, 2007 and Nov. 19, 2006). Westbrook  did it both times with the Eagles

Here’s a few other interesting tidbits about this stat:

* Westbrook and Marshall Faulk hold the NFL mark (since 1966) for most catches in a game with less than 100 yards receiving. Both Westbrook and Faulk had 14 catches in a game; Westbrook accomplished this on Nov. 4, 2007 with 14 catches and 90 yards, Faulk did it on Sept. 8, 2002 with 14 catches and 91 yards.

* Westbrook also holds the mark for fewest receiving yards in a game with 12 or more catches. On Nov. 19, 2006, Westbrook had 12 catches for only 46 yards in a game versus the Tennessee Titans.

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

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“Burn the tape.”

That was the advice of NBC football analyst Cris Collingsworth to the Green Packers last night after the New York Giants defeated the Pack 38-10 in front of a national audience.

The 28-point defeat was the largest since 2008 when they lost 51-29 (22 point differential) to the New Orleans Saints on Nov. 24. It was also the first time the Packers lost by 28 or more points in a game since a Dec. 23, 2007 loss to the Chicago Bears 35-7.

In Mike McCarthy’s tenure as Packers coach (since 2006) this was the seventh time the Packers lost by 20 or more points. Of McCarthy’s 37 regular season losses with the Packers, 13 have been by 10-plus points. This was the first double-digit loss for the Packers since Nov. 8, 2009 when they were defeated 38-28 by the Tampa Bay Bucs.

Now the attention turns to next week’s game at home against the Minnesota Vikings. The big question is, “How will the team respond after this blowout loss? In the previous six games when the Pack lost by 20-plus points, they won only two. Here’s a quick look at the six games the Packers lost by 20-plus points in the McCarthy era and how they did the following week.

Sept. 9, 2006: Lost 26-0 to the Chicago Bears. The Packers lost 34-27 to the New Orleans Saints the following week.

Oct. 2, 2006: Lost 31-9 to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Packers lost 23-20 to the St. Louis Rams the following week.

Nov. 19, 2006: Lost 35-0 to the New England Patriots. The Packers lost 34-24 to the Seattle Seahawks the following week.

Dec. 3, 2006: Lost 38-10 to the New York Jets. Beat the San Francisco 49ers 30-19 the following week.

Dec. 23, 2007: Lost 35-7 to the Chicago Bears. Beat the Detroit Lions 34-13 the following week.

Nov. 24, 2008: Lost 51-29 to the New Orleans Saints. The Packers lost 35-31 to the Carolina Panthers the following week.

Yesterday’s loss was the worst defeat for QB Aaron Rodgers in a game he started for the Packers. His previous worst defeat was the 22-point loss to the Saints on Nov. 24, 2008. For the record, Rodgers has lost 25 regular season starts with the Packers, with 20 of them being losses by less than 10 points. His two playoff losses were by six and 17 points.

So how did Rodgers do after his only other start where the team lost by 20 or more points? In the following week against the Panthers (a game they lost 35-31), Rodgers was 29-for-45 for 298 yards and three touchdowns. He had a passer rating of 96.3 in that game.

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

If your quarterback throws five interceptions, it’s impossible to win that game, right? In fact, if you look at the numbers, an NFL team that has had a quarterback throw five interceptions in a game had won eight times, tied twice and lost 145 times (from 1966 to last weekend). That’s a winning percentage of .058. Maybe not impossible, but highly unlikely.

Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons made the “not impossible, but highly unlikely” a definite “yes” last Sunday when they defeated the Arizona Cardinals 23-19 despite Ryan throwing five interceptions in the contest.

Ryan’s first pass of the game was intercepted as were two more of his first quarter passes. The Falcons recovered from a 13-0 first quarter deficit to win their ninth game of the season.

Ryan became the first QB since Tony Romo in 2007 (and only the second QB in the last 23 years) to have five interceptions in his team’s victory.

In addition to Ryan’s game this past weekend, here are the eight other quarterbacks whose teams won when they tossed five interceptions in a game:

Oct. 8, 2007: Tony Romo, Dallas, in a win over Buffalo

Dec. 9, 1990: Mark Rypien, Washington, in a win over Chicago

Oct. 26, 1987: Wade Wilson, Minnesota, in a win over Denver

Dec. 24, 1985: John Elway, Denver, in a win over Kansas City

Sept. 14, 1980: Dan Fouts, San Diego, in a win over Oakland

Sept. 7, 1980: Joe Ferguson, Buffalo, in a win over Miami

Nov. 29, 1970: Johnny Unitas, Baltimore, in a win over Chicago

Sept. 24, 1967: Bart Starr, Green Bay, in a win over Chicago

Following are the QBs who have had the most games with five-plus interceptions:

8: Joe Namath

5: Ken Stabler

4: Vinny Testaverde, Tommy Kramer, Joe Ferguson

3: Jim Hart, Steve Grogan, Dan Fouts, Steve DeBerg

Here’s a few more interesting stats concerning QBs who threw five or more interceptions in a game and his team won.

* Ryan became only the second QB since 1966 to have five-plus interceptions and no TD passes and his team won. Bart Starr did it in 1967.

* Tony Romo is the only QB to throw five interceptions in a game that his team won on the road. The other eight QBs who threw five-plus interceptions in a win did it at home.

* Quarterbacks who threw five-plus INTs in a playoff game are 0-11. The last QB to do so? Jake Delhomme of the Carolina Panthers who had five interceptions in the Panthers 33-13 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Jan. 10, 2009.

* Ten QBs have thrown six or more interceptions in a game. None did it in a victory.

* David Woodley of the Miami Dolphins had the highest passer rating of any QB who threw five-plus interceptions in a game. He had an 82.8 passer rating in his five-interception game versus the Dallas Cowboys on Oct. 25, 1981.

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

Week 11 was not a good week for the top two defenses in the NFL.

The Houston Texans won last week’s game, 43-37, in overtime versus the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars offense scored seven times in 14 possessions against the Texans. It was the worst defensive performance of the Texans “D” since their loss to the Green Bay Packers, 42-24 in Week Six. The seven scores allowed by their defense was the most allowed this season.

The Chicago Bears suffered a 32-7 home defeat at the hands of the San Francisco last Monday night. The Bears allowed the 49ers offense to score six times in 10 possessions, the Bears’ defense worst performance of 2012.

These bad performances by the Texans and Bears defenses opened the door for the 49ers defense to take over first place in this week’s NFL STOP Factor rankings. The San Francisco defense allowed the Chicago offense to score only once in 10 possessions. The 49ers jumped ahead of Houston and Chicago in the rankings with a 74.3 STOP Factor ranking.

(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 NFL 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 11 games; games for Thanksgiving Day are not included in this week’s totals).

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

1. San Francisco 74.3 (75 stops in 101 possessions)

2. Houston 73.6 (89 stops in 121 possessions)

3. Chicago 73.1 (87 stops in 119 possessions)

4. Seattle 71.0 (71 stops in 100 possessions)

5. Denver 70.1 (82 stops in 117 possessions)

6. Arizona 70.0 (84 stops in 120 possessions)

7. Atlanta 68.2 (73 stops in 107 possessions)

8. Tampa Bay 67.8 (78 stops in 115 possessions)

9. San Diego 66.3 (69 stops in 104 possessions)

10. Cleveland 65.8 (77 stops in 117 possessions)

11tie. Green Bay 65.5 (74 stops in 113 possessions)

11tie. Miami 65.5 (76 stops in 116 possessions)

13. Pittsburgh 65.3 (64 stops in 98 possessions)

14. New England 64.5 (71 stops in 110 possessions)

15. Baltimore 63.5 (73 stops in 115 possessions)

16. Cincinnati 63.3 (69 stops in 109 possessions)

17. Minnesota 63.0 (68 stops in 108 possessions)

18. New York Giants 62.9 (66 stops in 105 possessions)

19. Dallas 62.4 (63 stops in 101 possessions)

20. New York Jets 62.0 (67 stops in 108 possessions)

21. Detroit 61.2 (63 stops in 103 possessions)

22. Philadelphia 61.1 (66 stops in 108 possessions)

23. St. Louis 60.2 (62 stops in 103 possessions)

24. Washington 59.5 (66 stops in 111 possessions)

25. Indianapolis 59.2 (61 stops in 103 possessions)

26. New Orleans 56.4 (62 stops in 110 possessions)

27. Kansas City 55.8 (58 stops in 104 possessions)

28. Buffalo 55.1 (59 stops in 107 possessions)

29. Jacksonville 55.0 (61 stops in 111 possessions)

30. Carolina 54.7 (58 stops in 106 possessions)

31. Tennessee 52.8 (56 stops in 106 possessions)

32. Oakland 51.8 (59 stops in 114 possessions)

Biggest gainers this week: Baltimore (up seven spots this week); Buffalo (up four spots this week); Cincinnati (up four spots this week); New York Jets (up four spots this week).

Biggest losers this week: Indianapolis (down six spots this week); Philadelphia (down four spots this week); Jacksonville (down three spots this week)

Average league STOP Factor (through Week 11): 63.2

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The 49-19 beat down the New York Jets suffered last night at the hands of the New England Patriots was the second home game this season they lost by 30 or more points. The Jets lost 34-0 at home to the San Francisco 49ers on Sept. 30.

This was the second time since 1966 (start of the Super Bowl era) that the Jets have lost two games at home in a season by 30-plus points. The Jets also lost two games by 30-plus points at home in 1975; 43-0 to Miami and 37-6 to St. Louis.

It was also the ninth home game since ’66 that they lost by 30-plus points.

Following are the number of home games each of the NFL teams have lost by 30 or more points since 1966.

17: Atlanta

13: Cleveland, New Orleans

12: Philadelphia

9: Cincinnati, New York Jets, Tennessee

8: Buffalo, New England, San Diego

7: Denver, Detroit, St. Louis

6: Arizona, Chicago, Washington

5: Indianapolis, Seattle

4: Carolina, Dallas, Kansas City, Minnesota, Oakland, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Tampa Bay

3: Miami, New York Giants

2: Green Bay

1: Houston, Jacksonville

0: Baltimore

There have been six games this season where the home team has lost by 30-plus points. As mentioned above, the Jets have done it twice. The other teams were Jacksonville, Miami, St. Louis and Tennessee. You noticed above that the Baltimore Ravens have not lost a home game by 30 or more points in their franchise history. Their biggest defeat at home was a 27-point loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Oct. 21, 1999.

The Indianapolis Colts have the second longest timeframe since a 30-point loss at home; the last time it happened was on December 1, 1991.

Twelve teams have not lost a home game by 30-plus points since 2007. They are (with the last time they lost a home game by 30-plus points):

Green Bay, Nov. 19, 2006

Atlanta, Jan. 1, 2006

Philadelphia, Dec. 5, 2005

Chicago Nov. 21, 2004

New Orleans Sept. 28, 2003

Arizona, Sept. 14, 2003

Houston Nov. 3, 2002

San Diego, Nov. 3, 2002

Minnesota Dec. 23, 2001

New England Nov. 8, 1998

Pittsburgh, Aug. 31, 1997

Indianapolis Dec. 1, 1991

Note: The Jets became the fourth team since 1966 that lost two home games by 30-plus points (in a season) in two different seasons. The other teams are Atlanta (they lost three home games by 30-plus points in 1966 and two in 1967); Cleveland (two such games in 1975 and 1999) and Philadelphia (1975 and 1998).

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