Today’s Sports Stat: August 29, 2018
The Green Bay Packers open their 2018 regular season on September 9 hosting the Chicago Bears. The game is a Sunday Night contest.
The Packers in the Super Bowl era are 20-16-1 in season-opening games played at home and they have won five of their last six games to start the season as the home team.
Here are a handful of stats for the Packers in the first game of the season as the home team
- The last season-opening game played at home that the Packers won was last season when they defeated the Seattle Seahawks, 17-9.
- Of the 37 season openers at home since 1966, the Packers are 3-0 on Monday, 1-0 on Thursday, 1-0 on Saturday, and 15-16-1 on Sundays.
- The last first game of the season loss at home was in 2012 when Green Bay lost 30-22 to San Francisco.
- The 2018 game against the Bears is a 7:20pm (local) start. The Pack is 0-5 in season-opening games at home since 1970 that started at 1pm; 2-4 in contests that started from 3pm to 6:59pm; 4-0 in those games that started between 7pm and 8pm.
- The Packers have played three overtime games in the season opener played at home… they were 2-1 in those games.
- Green Bay since 1966 is 10-7-1 in season openers at home that were decided by eight points or less; they were 10-9 in games that were decided by more than eight points.
Aaron Rodgers will start his 11th season opener as the Packers starting QB. He has a 7-3 record in season openers. Here’s a trio of stats re: Rodgers season-opening starts for the Packers since 2008.
- Rodgers, Tom Brady and Joe Flacco have each won seven season-opening games since 2008, topping the league in that category. Matt Ryan, Alex Smith, Matthew Stafford and Jay Cutler follow, each with six wins in opening-season games.
- Rodgers is third in the stat for most opening game TD passes since 2008 with 19, Drew Brees tops the list with 25. Here are the Top 10 in this category since 2008.
Drew Brees, 25
Philip Rivers, 20
Aaron Rodgers, 19
Tom Brady, 18
Peyton Manning, 17
Matthew Stafford, 17
Jay Cutler, 16
Tony Romo, 16
Matt Ryan, 16
Ben Roethlisberger, 14
Alex Smith, 14
- Rodgers’ Passer Rating in season-opening games is just under 100. Brees tops this stat at 106.5. Here are the QBs with the best Passer Rating in season openers since 2008 (based on a minimum of 100 pass attempts in season opening games).
Drew Brees, 106,5
Peyton Manning, 104.9
Matt Ryan, 102.1
Tony Romo, 100.1
Aaron Rodgers, 99.9
Derek Carr, 99.0
Tom Brady, 98.6
Philip Rivers, 96.6
Ryan Fitzpatrick, 94.9
Alex Smith, 94.6
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Today’s Sports Stat: August 25, 2018
Through games of August 22, the Milwaukee Brewers are in third place in the National League Central, three games behind the first place Cubs. Right now, however, they hold the second Wild Card spot (division foes the St. Louis Cardinals have the first Wild Card). That second Wild Card spot is pretty tenuous at best; there are six teams all within eight games of the Brewers vying for that Wild Card spot.
With all that being said, the month of September is going to be big for any team within shouting distance of a playoff spot. If history has anything to say about the conclusion of the 2018 pennant race in the N.L., the Brewers are going to have to hold off those six teams that listed below them in the Wild Card race.
Based on the past five seasons (2013-2017), the Cubs and Cardinals have two of the best September records over the past five campaigns. The Cardinals have the third best September record from 2013-17 with an 83-60 record (.580 winning percentage). The Cubs rank fifth in this stat with an 81-61 September record (.570 winning percentage) over the past five seasons. The Brewers? They rank 16th in this stat with a 69-73 mark, a .486 winning percentage.
Here are the September winning percentages of the 30 MLB teams over the past five seasons.
Cleveland .667… Washington .604
St. Louis .580… Boston .576… Chicago Cubs .570
L.A. Dodgers .545… L.A. Angels .542… N.Y. Yankees .531… N.Y. Mets .521… Pittsburgh .514… Toronto .514… Kansas City .514… Baltimore .510… Texas .510… San Francisco .504
Milwaukee .486… Seattle .482… Oakland .482… Tampa Bay .479… Houston .468… Arizona .458… Miami .458… Atlanta .454
Detroit .447… Colorado .447… San Diego .444… Chicago White Sox .432… Philadelphia .429… Minnesota .417… Cincinnati .411
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Today’s Sports Stat: August 20, 2018
The Green Bay Packers scored 17 points in the first quarter of their August 16 preseason game versus the Pittsburgh Steelers (a game the Pack eventually won, 51-34).
Scoring 17 or more points in the first quarter of an NFL game is usually a good sign, especially in a regular season contest. Here are six stats you may not know about NFL teams that score 17 or more points in the first quarter of an NFL regular season game (for the sake of this article, the stats reflect regular season games in the Super Bowl era… 1966-2017).
- NFL teams are 310-43-1 (a .877 winning percentage) in regular season games where they scored 17 or more points in the first quarter.
- The Denver Broncos have scored 17 or more points in the first quarter of an NFL regular season game 24 times since 1966, most in the league. They are followed by Cincinnati (18), Dallas and Kansas City (17 each) and Miami (16). Fewest games with 17 or more points in the first quarter are the Houston Texans with only two. Baltimore and Tampa Bay are next with three each; Jacksonville follows with five.
- Seven teams are undefeated in regular season games when they score 17 or more points in the first quarter: San Francisco, 14-0; Minnesota and the New York Giants, 12-0; San Diego 7-0; New Orleans, 6-0; Baltimore, 3-0; and Houston, 2-0. Only one team does not have a winning record in such games… Cleveland is at .500 with a 3-3 record.
- The Green Bay Packers are 12-1 (.923 winning percentage) in regular season games since 1966 when they tally 17 or more points in the first quarter.
- The team with the most losses when they score 17 or more points in the first quarter are the Detroit Lions with five.
- NFL teams are a perfect 17-0 in playoff games in the Super Bowl era when they can put 17 or more points on the board in the first quarter.
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Today’s Sports Stat: August 16, 2018
There is probably no trio of players in Green Bay under more scrutiny this preseason than the three rookie wide receivers drafted by the Packers in the most recent draft: J’Mon Moore, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown.
It will be interesting to see which of these three ends up getting significant playing time in 2018 and if any, or all three, will have any impact on the Packers offense as rookie receivers.
Looking back at rookie receivers in Green Bay’s long history, there have been some that made big contributions… Sterling Sharpe, James Jones and James Lofton. But if you were to select the greatest rookie receivers in Packers history, you have to start with Billy Howton.
A graduate of Rice University, Howton was a second round pick of the Packers in the 1952 NFL Draft. What Howton accomplished in his first season in Green Bay is pretty impressive: He led the league (not just the team, but the entire league!) with 1,231 receiving yards and had a rookie record 13 TD receptions. Howton spent seven seasons with the Pack and in 1974 was elected to the Packers Hall of Fame.
Here’s a look at the rookie players for the Packers who had the most catches, most TD receptions, and most receiving yards in their rookie campaign in Green Bay.
Most receptions by a rookie-Packers
Sterling Sharpe, 55, 1988
Billy Howton, 53, 1952
Gerry Ellis, 48, 1980
James Jones, 47, 2007
James Lofton, 46, 1978
Most TD receptions by a rookie-Packers
Billy Howton, 13, 1952
Max McGee, 9, 1954
Don Hutson, 6, 1935
James Lofton, 6, 1978
Carl Elliott, 5, 1951
Ray Pelfrey, 5, 1951
Most receiving yards by a rookie-Packers
Billy Howton, 1231, 1952
James Lofton, 818, 1978
Sterling Sharpe, 791, 1988
James Jones, 676, 2007
Greg Jennings, 632, 2006
Is it possible that more than one receiver could rack up some impressive numbers in their first year with the Packers? Consider this:
- There have been only two pair of rookies to catch 30 or more passes in the same season for the Packers: Keith Woodside (39) and Sterling Sharpe (55) in 1988 and Ryan Grant 930) and James Jones (47) in 2007.
- There has been only one pair of Green Bay rookies to have three or more TD receptions in the same season: Davante Adams (3) and Richard Rodgers (2) in 2014.
- There has been only one pair of Packers rookies to each have 300 or more receiving yards in the same season: Greg Jennings 9632) and Ruvell Martin (358) in 2006.
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Today’s Sports Stat: August 13, 2018
The home run ball has been important for the Brewers this season. How important? Through games of August 11, the Brew Crew was 56-24 in games when they hit at least one home run; that’s a .700 winning percentage in those games. Just think, if they could hit an HR in every game of a 162-game season that would mean 113 wins!
The Brewers lead the National League with the most multi-HR games (games with two or more home runs) with 47. They are 36-11 in those contests, a .766 winning percentage. The Yankees lead the majors with 56 multi-HR games.
Here are the teams with the most multi-HR games through August 11.
NY Yankees, 56
Boston, 53
LA Angels, 50
Cleveland, 49
Milwaukee, 47
Toronto, 46
LA Dodgers, 45
Houston, 45
Colorado, 43
Baltimore, 43
Following is a breakdown of the Brewers record in games this season (through August 11) when they hit zero, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 or more home runs in a game.
0 home runs: 11-29 .275
1 home run: 20-13 .606
2 home runs: 21-7 .750
3 home runs: 11-4 .733
4 home runs: 3-0 1.000
5 or more home runs: 1-0 1.000
19 hits in a game
The Brewers had 19 hits in a Sunday, August 12, 8-7 loss to the Atlanta Braves. It was the first time this season that a MLB team lost a non-extra inning game where they had 19 or more hits.
It was the second time in Brewers history that this rare loss has occurred; back on August 24, 2002, the Brew Crew had 20 hits in a 17-10, nine-inning loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
There have been 40 times since 1969 that teams have lost games where they had 19 or more hits in a non-extra inning contest. If we go back to 1908, there have been 93 times this has happened. The most hits by a team that lost a nine-inning game (non-extra inning contest) was 26 by the Philadelphia Phillies on August 25, 1922 in a 26-23 loss to the Chicago Cubs… yes, a nine-inning game that ended 26-23.
For the record, the Brewers have never won a game where their opponents had 19 or more hits.
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