Stats the Fact, Jack; August 31, 2020
(A weekly look at several sports stats you may not know)
- Josh Hader had a truly dreadful stat line on Friday August 29; coming in the game in the ninth inning in a save situation against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Hader ended up with a blown save after walking five batters and recording only one out (he allowed two earned runs). He left the game with the Brewers behind in the contest, but the team eventually came back to win the contest. Hader became the 20th pitcher since 1909 to pitch less than 1/3 of an inning and record five or more walks. The last time it happened was in 2016 when Steve Delabar of the Reds lasted 0.1 innings and also had five walks. Lou Brissie, a pitcher with the Philadelphia A’s in 1950, is the only pitcher in MLB history to pitch less than 0.1 innings in a game and have six walks.
- Let’s take a look at the flipside of Hader’s stats: Of all MLB pitchers with 200 or more career innings pitched, Hader tops the list with the highest strikeouts per nine innings. Hader had 363 career strikeouts in 214.1 innings, a per nine innings ratio of 15.24. He is one of only five pitchers to have a career strikeouts per nine innings ratio above 14. The others: Aroldis Chapman (14.81), Edwin Diaz(14.7), Craig Kimbrel (14.64) and Dellin Betances (14.44). All five of the pitchers listed above are active this season. Of those pitchers no longer active, Rob Dibble has the highest strikeouts per nine innings ratio, 12.03.
- Is it possible that the Baltimore Ravens could win 15 or 16 games this season? If they continue their winning trend over the past five seasons, it might happen. The Ravens won five games in 2015, increased that win total to 8 in 2016, 9 in 2017, 10 in 2018, and won 14 games last season. The only others NFL teams to increase their win totals over the past two seasons are the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks; the Broncos have increased their win totals from 5-6-7 over the past three seasons, while the Seahawks have won 9-10-11 over the past three years. It’s interesting to note that the Tennessee Titans have won exactly nine games in each of their last four seasons.
- The Green Bay Packers will open the 2020 season against the Minnesota Vikings. The Pack and Vikes have opened the season six times, the last being in 2008 when the Packers won 24-19. The teams are each 3-3 in season-opening contests against each other.
- There is a pretty good chance that Giannis Antetokounmpo will soon become the fifth Bucks player in team history to surpass the 1,000 point mark in playoff games for the team. Giannis has 934 career points in playoff games. Topping the list is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with 1,692 career playoff points for the Bucks. He is followed by Sidney Moncrief (1,451), Marques Johnson (1,163) and Bob Dandridge (1,126). Khris Middleton has jumped into 10th place on the list with 684 career playoff points.
- In the Giannis-era (since the 2013-14 season), the Bucks have now played in seven playoff series… their eighth will be the upcoming conference semifinals against the Miami Heat. In the previous seven series, the Bucks are 3-4 in the first game of the series. In the four series since 2015 where they lost Game One, the Bucks went on to win the series twice.
- Ryan Braun recently became the 119th player in MLB history to have 800 or more extra base hits in a career. Of those 119 players, 68 are currently in the Hall of Fame. Braun is only the second Brewers player to reach 800 career extra-base hits; Robin Yount had 960 with the club. Can you name the other three Brewers players who ended their careers with the team with 500 or more career extra-base hits? The three: Paul Molitor (651), Cecil Cooper (579) and Geoff Jenkins (521).
- Did you know that the Green Bay Packers record for most passing yards in a season-opening game is 333… held by three different QBs? Lynn Dickey (in 1983), Brett Favre (in 1999) and Aaron Rodgers (in 2013) each passed for 333 yards in a Packers season-opening game, most in team history. Dickey holds the team record for most TD passes in a season-opening game with five.
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
Today’s Sportstat: April 2, 2020
The losing side of the NFL’s top QBs
When you think of Hall of Fame NFL quarterbacks, you usually think of those QBs who won big games, threw a lot of TD passes, or led their teams to championships.
What doesn’t come into play is how many games those HOF signal-callers lost. With that in mind, did you know that there are three QBs in the NFL Hall of Fame who lost more than 100 games in their careers?
Brett Favre tops the list of most losses by a Hall of Fame quarterback with 112. He is followed by Fran Tarkenton (109) and Warren Moon (101). It’s possible, however, that there might be a handful of QBs who might surpass Favre on this list.
First, here’s a look at the QBs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame who lost 80 or more career games.
Brett Favre-112
Fran Tarkenton-109
Warren Moom-101
Dan Marino-93
Dan Fouts-84
John Elway-82
Recently-retired Eli Manning could replace Favre on the above list. Manning won a pair of Super Bowls and although he probably takes a back seat to older brother Peyton when it comes to NFL careers, Eli has certainly put a career together that deserves HOF consideration. Eli lost 117 games in his 16-year NFL career with the New York Giants. He retired after the 2019 campaign.
There is also a pair of active QBs who could add to their loss totals before they hang up their cleats. Drew Brees looks like he will play another season in New Orleans; he has amassed 111 losses in his career. Philip Rivers has moved on from the Chargers to the play QB for the Indianapolis Colts on a one-year contract. He has 101 career losses.
According to research on pro-football.com, Vinny Testaverde has the top spot with the most losses for a QB with 123. He is one of nine QBs who have lost 100 or more games as a starting QB in the league.
Following are the quarterbacks not in the Hall of Fame who have lost 80 of more NFL games.
Vinny Testaverde-123
Eli Manning-117
Drew Brees-111
Archie Manning-101
Philip Rivers-101
Norm Snead-100
Kerry Collins-99
Drew Bledsoe-95
Boomer Esiason-93
Joe Ferguson-92
Jim Everett-89
Him Hart-88
Carson Palmer-88
Steve DeBerg-86
Chris Chandler-85
Ryan Fitzpatrick-83
Ken Anderson-81
Matt Ryan-80
Think you can list the five Green Bay Packers quarterbacks who have lost the most games in the team’s history? If you answered Favre (93), Aaron Rodgers (60), Bart Starr (57), Lynn Dickey (56) and Tobin Rote (46), go to the head of the class.
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
Today’s Sports Stat: December 18, 2017
Aaron Rodgers picked the wrong time to have a game with stats that he never had before in his career.
In the Pack’s 31-24 loss to Carolina in his return after a seven-week absence, Rodgers had three interceptions to go along with three TD passes. It was the first game in his career that he had three interceptions and three TD passes in the same game.
Rodgers became only the fifth Green Bay QB to have three interceptions and three TD passes in the same game. Lynn Dickey did it five times in his Green Bay career while Brett Favre did it in three Packers’ games. The other two Green Bay QBs who did it were Tobin Rote and Randy Wright, each who did it in one game.
George Blanda has the most NFL career games with three (or more) interceptions and three (or more) TD passes in the same contest. He did it in nine games.
Following are the NFL QBs with the most career games with three interceptions and three TD passes in the same game.
9: George Blanda
8: Dan Marino
7: Dan Fouts
6: Eli Manning, Johnny Unitas
5: Len Dawson, Lynn Dickey, John Hadl, Bobby Layne, Vinny Testaverde
Stats on Tapp
Packerstats 2017: Game #13, 27-21 OT win over Cleveland
Here are some of the numbers that helped define the Packers 27-21 win over the Cleveland Browns on December 10.
- Of the seven wins this season for the Packers, only two have come against teams that are currently above .500 (Seattle, 8-5, and Dallas, 7-6). The combined win-loss record today of the teams the Pack has beaten this season is 32-59 (.352). The combined record of the six teams that have beaten the Packers this season is 52-26 (.667). All six are currently above .500. Would’ve been kind of embarrassing if the teams that had beaten the Packers this year included the Browns at 1-12, huh?
- The last time the Packers lost to a team in the regular season that ended the year with fewer than four wins was in 2009. In Week #9 that year, the Packers lost to the Tampa Bay Bucs. The Bucs ended the year 3-13; the Pack ended the season 11-5.
- Green Bay had three drives of 11 or more plays in the game… they scored TDs on two of them; on one, they turned the ball over on downs. For the season, the Packers have had 26 drives of 10 plays or more, scoring 10 TDs and nine FGs, a 73% scoring rate on those 10-play or longer drives. The Packers have had 111 drives of less than 10 plays, scoring 24 TDs and four FGs, a 25.2% scoring rate on drives of less than 10 plays.
- Green Bay was behind 14-7 at halftime in the game. They are now 10-11 in road games since 2010 when they are behind by seven points or more at halftime.
- The Packers were behind by 14 points (21-7) entering the fourth quarter. Since 1970, the Packers were 0-63 in games where they had a 14-point or larger deficit going into the fourth quarter in a road game. It was actually the first time the Packers won a game on the road after being behind by 14 or more points going into the fourth quarter since 1957, a string of 77 games.
- Rookie running back Jamaal Williams scored a pair of TDs for the second game this season. He became only the third Green Bay rookie to score two or more TDs in multiple games for the Pack. The others: Gerry Ellis in 1980 and Travis Williams in 1967.
- This was the third overtime win for the Packers this season, most in franchise history. They won two OT games in 2000 and 1983.
- Green Bay scored 14 points in fourth quarter. Since 1970, they are now 20-14 in games on the road when they score 14 or more points in the fourth quarter. Since 2006, however, the start of the Mike McCarthy era, they are 11-3 when they score 14+points in the fourth quarter on the road.
- Not only did the Packers score 14 points in the fourth quarter, but they held the Browns scoreless in the fourth. The Packers are now 6-3 in road games when they score 14 or more points and hold the opposition scoreless in the fourth quarter.
- QB Brett Hundley was 35-for-46 with three TD passes and a 76.1% pass completion rate for the game. Only three Green Bay QBs have had a game with three or more TD passes and a completion rate of 75% or higher. The two: Aaron Rodgers (he did it twice) and Brett Favre (he did it once).
- Hundley’s 46 pass attempts made him the seventh Packers QB in team history to attempt 45 or more passes in a game. Favre tops the list with 26 games with 45 or more pass attempts, followed by Rodgers with 12. They are followed by Don Majkowski (4), Randy Wright (3), Lynn Dickey (2), Bart Starr (1) and Hundley.
- Davonte Adams had two TD receptions and 10 catches for the game. He becomes only the second Packer in history to have two TD pass receptions and 10 or more catches in the same game in multiple contests. The other is Sterling Sharpe (he did it in 1989 and 1993). Adams did it last season and this year. Four others players did it once: Jordy Nelson, Javon Walker, Antonio Freeman and Max McGee.
- Adams now has five career games with two or more TD receptions. Jordy Nelson tops the team list with 15 career games with two or more TD receptions.
- The Packers did not commit a turnover in the game and are now 19-5 since 2010 in road games when they do not have a turnover.
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