The Baltimore Ravens opened their 2017 NFL season with a 20-0 win over Cincinnati. For the second straight year, there was a shutout win in a season-opener… last season the San Francisco 49ers shutout the Rams 28-0.
This was the Ravens’ first season-opening shutout win since 2006 when they defeated the Tampa Bay Bucs 27-0.
According to pro football reference.com, forty-seven times since 1966 (the start of the Super Bowl era) a team has opened a season with a shutout in their first game. Three teams, Pittsburgh, Seattle and the Raiders top the list with four season-opening shutouts since ’66.
Here are the teams that have two or more season-opening shutouts since 1966.
4: Oakland, Pittsburgh, Seattle
3: Baltimore, Dallas, Houston Oilers, Miami, Washington
2: Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit
- The most season-opening shutouts took place in the 1977 season… there were five games where a team was shutout that season.
- The worst season-opening shutout occurred twice. In 1967 Oakland shutout Denver 51-0 and in 1989 the Browns defeated the Steelers by the same score, 51-0.
- The New York Jets and New England Patriots franchises hold the NFL mark for most season-opening games where they scored zero points. Both teams were shutout four times in the first game of the season since 1966.
StatsonTapp