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

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Do this weekend’s two road teams, Baltimore and San Francisco, have a chance in their conference championship games?

For the 49ers, they have an all-time 2-10 road playoff record. In fact, you have to go back to a playoff game after the 1988 regular season to find the last time the 49ers won a road playoff game. That was January 8, 1989 when they defeated the Bears 28-3 in a contest in Chicago. Not a good omen for the 49ers… or is this their year to snap that drought?

The Ravens, on the other hand, would probably wear the title of “NFL’s best road playoff team since 2000.” Baltimore has an 8-5 record as a road playoff team in their franchise history. Their eight road playoff wins since 2000 tops the NFL. A good omen for the Ravens.

Here’s a look at the teams that have won road playoff games since 2000 (includes this year’s playoff games).

Road Playoff wins (since 2000)
8: Baltimore
5: New York Jets, New York Giants
4: Carolina
3: Green Bay, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New England
2: Indianapolis
1: Seattle, Arizona, San Diego, Jacksonville, Washington, Minnesota, St. Louis, Tennessee, Tampa Bay, Atlanta.

Let’s take this stat back a little further. Going back to the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, the Dallas Cowboys have been the best NFL road playoff team with nine wins. The Ravens are tied with the N.Y. Giants for second on the list with eight victories. Pittsburgh, St. Louis, the Jets and Tennessee are next with seven road playoff wins, and New England, Green Bay and Minnesota follow with six each.

So far this post-season we have had two road playoff wins; Seattle’s win in Washington and last week’s Baltimore win over the Broncos in Denver. From 1990 (when the NFL went to the current playoff format) to the end of last season’s playoff games, road teams have won 71 of the 220 playoff games (not counting the Super Bowl games that are played on a neutral site), or about 32.3 percent of the games.

From 1990-99, road teams won 27 of the 100 playoff games (.270 winning percentage). That percentage has increased since the start of the century; from 2000-2011, road teams won 44 of the 120 playoff games, a .367 winning percentage. That percentage has increased even more over the past nine post-seasons; since the 2003 season playoffs, road teams have won 37 of 90 contests, a .411 winning percentage.

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