99 Stats Until Kickoff (#77) Super Bowl scoring… What’s the point?
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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.)
In the 47-year history of the Super Bowl, there have been more games decided by 17 or more points (18 games) than by games decided by seven points or less (17 games). Last year’s Super Bowl, however, a three-point win for the Ravens over the 49ers, makes it now 11 of the 13 games in this century’s Super Bowls were decided by 14 points or less. In addition, five of the last six have been decided by six points or less.
Here’s a look at some other stats regarding the points scored in the Super Bowl (through the first quarter, at halftime, and final score):
FINAL SCORE
* No team that scored less than 14 points in the Super Bowl has won the game. Teams with 13 or fewer points are 0-17.
* Teams that scored under 24 points are 13-40 (.245 winning percentage); teams that scored 24 or more points in the game are 34-7 (.829 winning percentage).
* Teams that scored 30-plus points in the Super Bowl are 24-2. The only two teams to score 30 or more points in a Super Bowl and lose: Dallas in Super Bowl 13 when they lost 35-31 to Pittsburgh, and the most recent Super Bowl with San Francisco putting 31 points on the scoreboard in their loss to Baltimore.
* Teams that scored under 20 points in the Super Bowl are 5-34 (.128 winning percentage). Teams that scored 20 points or more in the big game are 42-13 (.764 winning percentage).
FIRST QUARTER
* Teams that held their opponent scoreless in the first quarter of the Super Bowl won 24 and lost 12 (.667 winning percentage).
* Teams that held their opponents to only three points or less in the first quarter were 34-22 (.607 winning percentage).
* Teams that scored 13 or more points in the first quarter were 7-2 in the Super Bowl.
HALFTIME
* Teams that were scoreless at halftime have never won a Super Bowl game (teams are 0-11).
* Teams that had three points or less at halftime were 3-20 (.130 winning percentage) in the game. The three teams that won Super Bowls after being held to three or fewer points at half: 1974 Pittsburgh Steelers, 1988 San Francisco 49ers and 2007 New York Giants.
* Teams that have scored 16 or more points at halftime were 22-2 in Super Bowls (.917 winning percentage). The two teams that lost the Super Bowl even though they had scored 16-plus points by half: The 1982 Miami Dolphins (they had 17 points at half and lost to Washington 27-17); and the 1984 Dolphins (they had 16 points at half and were held scoreless in the second half in their 38-16 loss to San Francisco).
“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.
99 Stats Until Kickoff (#73) Six Stats you might not know about… the first score in the Super Bowl
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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.)
How important is it to be the first team to score in the Super Bowl? In the previous 47 Super Bowl games, the team that scored first has won 31 times (65.6% winning percentage). Here’s a few more stats regarding the first score in the Super Bowl.
1. The first score in the Super Bowl has been either a field goal or touchdown pass in 80.9% of the games (38 of 47).
2. The first score has been a field goal in 22 games (46.8%). Of those 22, nine have been field goals of 40 yards or more. The first score has been a touchdown pass in 16 of the 47 Super Bowls(34%). Only four of those 16 TD passes were of 40 yards or more.
3. The first score has been a TD run in only five Super Bowl games. None of those five TD runs were longer than five yards. The last time a rushing TD was the first score in a Super Bowl was 1993 when Buffalo’s Thurman Thomas scored on a two-yard run. The first score has been a blocked punt for TD and kick return for TD once apiece.
4. The NFC has been the first team to score in 25 of the 47 games and in 13 of the last 19.
5. The first score in the Super Bowl has happened in the first quarter in 41 of the 47 games (87.2%) and in 17 of the last 19 contests. No Super Bowl game has been scoreless at halftime The lowest scoring Super Bowl game was Super Bowl IX between Pittsburgh and Minnesota. Pittsburgh scored a safety in the second quarter on their way to a 2-0 lead at halftime.
6. Three different players have scored the first points in two different Super Bowls. Kicker Mike Clark of Dallas did it with field goals in Super Bowl 5 and Super Bowl 6; the 49ers Jerry Rice put the first points on the board in Super Bowls 24 and 29 with TD receptions (in Super Bowl 24 from Joe Montana and in Super Bowl 29 from Steve Young); and Rams kicker Jeff Wilkins made field goals in Super Bowl 34 and Super Bowl 36 for the first scores in those games.
“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.
99 Stats Until Kickoff (#56) How many wins will get an NFL team in the playoffs?
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.)
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Since 1990, when the NFL went to six teams from each conference making the playoffs, there have been 276 teams that have played in the NFL playoffs. Here’s a breakdown of the number of regular season wins by each of those teams.
7 wins: 1 team… Seattle in 2010 (0.4 percent)
8 wins: 9 teams (3.3 percent)
9 wins: 42 teams (15.2 percent)
10 wins: 70 teams (25.4 percent)
11 wins: 58 wins (21.0 percent)
12 wins: 44 teams (15.9 percent)
13 wins: 35 teams (12.7 percent)
14 wins: 13 teams (4.7 percent)
15 wins: 3 teams… Minnesota in 1998; Pittsburgh in 2004; Green Bay in 2011 (1.1 percent)
16 wins: 1 team… New England in 2007 (0.4 percent)
Here’s a breakdown of how many teams with 8 or more wins in the regular season since 1990 made the playoffs.
8 wins: 86 teams won 8 games; 9 made the playoffs; 77 did not… 10.5%
9 wins: 81 teams won 9 games; 42 made the playoffs; 39 did not… 51.9%
10 wins: 78 teams won 10 games; 70 made the playoffs; 8 did not… 89.7%
11 wins: 59 teams won 11 games; 58 made the playoffs; 1 did not… 98.3%
12 wins: 44 teams won 12 games; 44 teams made the playoffs… 100%
13 wins: 35 teams won 13 games; 35 teams made the playoffs… 100%
14 wins: 13 teams won 14 games; 13 teams made the playoffs… 100%
15 wins: 3 teams won 15 games; 3 teams made the playoffs… 100%
16 wins: 1 team won 16 games; 1 team made the playoffs… 100%
Here’s a few more interesting stats:
* 96.1% of the teams that won 10 or more games since 1990 made the playoffs.
* New England is the only team since 1990 to win 11 games in the regular season and not make the playoffs.
You want a sure thing? It looks like 12 wins is that sure thing. Teams have a great chance with 10 or 11 wins. Nine wins? Teams have about a 50-50 chance.
“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
99 Stats Until Kickoff (#44) How many points did it take to win a regular-season game in 2012?
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.)
How many points does an NFL team need to score to win on a consistent basis? Looking at the 256 regular season games from last season, here’s a breakdown of win-loss records when teams scored in a certain range of points in a game.
Points, Record when teams scored that range of points
0-9 points: 3-44 .064
10-19 points: 32-115 .218
20-29 points: 106-78-2 .575
30-39 points: 84-17 .832
40-49 points: 22-1 .957
50 points or more: 8-0 1.000
Here are a few additional stats:
* The most frequent scores were 13 points (teams scored 13 points in 37 games) and 24 points (teams scored 24 points in 37 games) Next was 23 points, which was scored by 34 teams last year.
* Teams that scored 25 or more points in a game were 161-35, an .821 winning percentage.
* Teams that scored under 25 points usually had a losing record, but teams had winning records in three point totals less than 25 points… teams were 7-6 when scoring 19 points; 20-14 when scoring 23 points; and 21-14-2 when scoring 24 points.
* Most points scored to lose a game last year was 41. Fewest points to win a game was seven.
* Teams were 35-194 (.180) when they scored under 20 points.
* Teams that scored 35 or more points in a game were 61-3 (.953).
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