From May 30 and every day until September 5… the start of the 2013 NFL season… Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ will publish “99 Stats Until Kickoff” a daily dose of NFL stats that will get you ready for the 2013 NFL season.)

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On December 23 of last year, the Minnesota Vikings surprised the Houston Texans by defeating them 23-6 in a game played in Houston. But an even bigger surprise from that contest was that the Texans could muster only a pair of field goals in the 23-6 loss.

This was the first game since September 13, 2009 that the Texans scored less than 10 points in an NFL regular-season game, a streak of 61 games. The New Orleans Saints currently hold the active streak with 73 games straight where they have scored 10 or more points in a game.

Following are the teams that have the longest active streak of games where they have scored 10 or more points in a game.

Active streak of scoring 10-plus points in a game, Team
73 games: New Orleans Saints
62 games: New England Patriots
47 games: Atlanta Falcons
35 games: Green Bay Packers
23 games: Minnesota Vikings; Washington Redskins
20 games: Cincinnati Bengals
18 games: Pittsburgh Steelers
16 games: Denver Broncos

There were 47 times in the 2012 regular season where a team scored less than 10 points. The Kansas City Chiefs topped that list with six games. Here are the number of times this past season each team scored less than 10 points in a game:

6: Kansas City
5: New York Jets
4: Arizona
3: Jacksonville, Philadelphia, San Diego
2: Buffalo, Chicago, Miami, Oakland, St. Louis, Tennessee
1: Baltimore, Carolina, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, New York Giants, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa Bay
0: Atlanta, Cincinnati, Denver, Green Bay, Minnesota, New England, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Washington

Notice the nine teams above which were not held to less than 10 points this past season. Of those nine, seven qualified for the playoffs. The other five 2012 playoff teams each were held under 10 points in only one game.

Here’s a few more interesting notes:

* The last time a playoff team scored less than 10 points in a playoff game was last season when the New York Giants defeated the Atlanta Falcons 24-2 in an NFC first-round game last year.

* The last time a Super Bowl team scored less than 10 points in the big game was Super Bowl XXXV when the Baltimore Ravens beat the Giants, 34-7 on January 28, 2001.

* The Washington Redskins last season scored 10 or more points in each of their 16 games last year. It was the first season since 1999 that the Redskins went the whole season without scoring under 10 points in a game.

“99 Stats Before Kickoff” (Stats you need to know before the start of the 2013 NFL season) is available from e-book publisher Smashwords. Go to www.smashwords.com to download a copy, including a pdf version which can be viewed on your home computer. Cost is $2.99