Inside the Numbers: NFL Wild Card Weekend
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This coming weekend four games highlight the first round of the 2013 NFL playoffs. Here’s a snapshot of the four games and some numbers from the previous head-to-head matchups between the teams.
SATURDAY
Kansas City @ Indianapolis
All-time series: Indianapolis leads the series 15-8.
Last meeting: The Colts defeated the Chiefs 23-7 on December 22, 2013.
All-time playoff series: Indianapolis has won all three playoff meetings.
Last playoff meeting: The Colts won 23-8 in a 2006 AFC First Round game.
Noteworthy: Indianapolis is 12-2 against the Chiefs since 1990… Indy had won five of the last six against the Chiefs at home… The Chiefs have scored under 14 points in five of the last six games against the Colts.
New Orleans @ Philadelphia
All-time series: Philadelphia leads the series 16-12.
Last meeting: The Saints defeated the Eagles 28-13 on November 5, 2012.
All-time playoff series: The teams have each won one playoff games in the series.
Last playoff meeting: The Saints won 27-24 in a 2006 NFC Divisional game.
Noteworthy: New Orleans has won the last two and four of the last five against the Eagles… The Eagles have won three of the last four home games against the Saints… The Saints have scored 23 or more points in five straight games against Philadelphia.
SUNDAY
San Diego @ Cincinnati
All-time series: San Diego leads the series 19-14.
Last meeting: The Bengals defeated the Chargers 17-10 on December 1, 2013.
All-time playoff series: The Bengals won the only playoff game played between the teams.
Last playoff meeting: The Bengals won 27-7 in the 1981 AFC Championship Game.
Noteworthy: Cincinnati has won the last three games in the series… The Chargers have won three of the last four games played in Cincinnati… Five of the last six games in the series were decided by eight points or less.
San Francisco @ Green Bay
All-time series: Green Bay leads the series 34-29-1.
Last meeting: The 49ers defeated the Packers 34-28 on September 18, 2013.
All-time playoff series: The Packers have won four of the six playoff games between the two franchises.
Last playoff meeting: The 49ers won 45-31 in a 2012 NFC Division game.
Noteworthy: The 49ers have won the last three games against the Packers… The Packers have won eight of the last nine at home against San Francisco… Green Bay has scored 20-plus points in 19 games versus the 49ers.
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99 Stats Until Kickoff (#98) When was the last time your team had a winning season, and when they had their last losing season
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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A couple of streaks were extended this past season in the NFL. On the positive side, the New England Patriots in 2012 had their 12th consecutive winning season. The last time the Patriots had a losing season was when they went 5-11 in 2000.
On the not-so-positive side, the Oakland Raiders in 2012 had a 4-12 record, extending their streak of non-winning seasons to 10. The last time the Raiders had a winning season was in 2002 when they went 11-5.
Following is the last time each of the NFL teams had a winning season and when they had their last losing season. (For the record, an 8-8 season is a non-winning season.)
Team, Last winning season Last losing season
Arizona 2009 2012
Atlanta 2012 2007
Baltimore 2012 2007
Buffalo 2004 2012
Carolina 2008 2012
Chicago 2012 2009
Cincinnati 2012 2010
Cleveland 2007 2012
Dallas 2009 2010
Denver 2012 2010
Detroit 2011 2012
Green Bay 2012 2008
Houston 2012 2010
Indianapolis 2012 2011
Jacksonville 2007 2012
Kansas City 2010 2012
Miami 2008 2012
Minnesota 2012 2011
New England 2012 2000
New Orleans 2011 2012
New York Giants 2012 2004
New York Jets 2010 2012
Oakland 2002 2012
Philadelphia 2010 2012
Pittsburgh 2011 2003
San Diego 2010 2012
San Francisco 2012 2010
Seattle 2012 2011
St. Louis 2003 2012
Tampa Bay 2010 2012
Tennessee 2011 2012
Washington 2012 2011
Getting back to the streaks mentioned at the beginning, here are the teams that have the longest streaks with a winning record and those teams with the longest streak of non-winning seasons.
Active streak of consecutive winning seasons: New England, 12; Atlanta, 5; Baltimore, 5; Green Bay, 4; New York Giants, 3.
Active streak of consecutive non-losing seasons: Oakland, 10; St. Louis, 9; Buffalo, 8; Cleveland, 5; Jacksonville, 5; Carolina, 4; Arizona, 3; Dallas, 3.
“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.
SIX STATS you might not know about… Super Bowl host cities, states
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“SIX STATS…” is a bonus feature of Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ and is published every Friday.
Super Bowl XLVI will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. It will be the first Super Bowl in Indianapolis and the state of Indiana. Here’s a “SIX STATS…” look at Super Bowl host cities and states.
1. Miami is the city that has hosted the most Super Bowls with 10. They are followed by New Orleans with nine. The other cities to host three or more times are Pasadena (5), Tampa (4) and San Diego (3). The state of Florida has hosted 15 Super Bowls followed by California with 11 and Louisiana with nine.
2. The NFC is 7-4 in Super Bowl games in California… the AFC is 10-5 in Florida-hosted Super Bowls… the NFC is 5-4 in Louisiana… the NFC is 19-11 in Super Bowls outside of Florida… The NFC is 5-0 in Super Bowls played in either Minnesota, Georgia or Arizona.
3. The NFC has won six of the last seven Super Bowls played in California… the AFC has won five of the last six Super Bowls held in Florida… the NFC has won three of the last four Super Bowl games played in Louisiana.
4. In 15 of the 45 Super Bowls, the final score was a margin of eight points or less. Seven of those 15 games were played in Florida.
5. In 17 of the 45 Super Bowls, the two teams combined for 50 or more points. Seven of those games were played in California. The highest scoring Super Bowl was Super Bowl XXIX when San Francisco and San Diego combined for 75 points. That game was played in Miami.
6. How well have teams done in specific time zones? Glad you asked. The NFC is 8-11 in Super Bowl games played in the Eastern Standard Time; the NFC is 7-6 in Central Standard Time Super Bowl games; the NFC is 2-0 in games played in Mountain Standard Time; and the NFC is 7-4 in games played in Pacific Standard Time. This year’s game in Indianapolis will be played in an Eastern Standard Time zone city.
SIX STATS you might not know about… the NFL’s Wild Card Weekend
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“SIX STATS…” is a bonus feature of Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ and is published every Friday.
In 2002, the NFL realigned into four divisions in each conference. In addition, the playoffs were adjusted to include the four division winners and two wild card teams in each conference. This is the current playoff system in the NFL.
The first weekend of the NFL playoffs feature the two wild card teams in the AFC and NFC playing the division winners with the third and fourth best records of the four division champs. This first weekend is commonly referred to as “Wild Card Weekend” (WCW).
Today’s blog will look back at some stats from “Wild Card Weekend” since that 2002 realignment… a total of 36 games.
1. The home team holds a 19-17 record in WCW play. The only year since 2002 that the home team won all four games the first weekend of the playoffs was in 2006. Home teams are only 7-9 in the last four years of the WCW.
2. Having a better record than your opponent on WCW doesn’t matter. Teams with a better record than the opposition on WCW are 14-14 (there have been eight games between teams with the same record).
3. Sixteen of the 36 Wild Card Weekend games since 2002 have been decided by eight points or less.
4. Teams that won the first weekend went on to win the next week on 14 occasions. In 2008, three teams that won on WCW also won the following week.
5. Teams that scored 30 or more points on WCW since 2002 have won 17 and lost four.
6. Six teams that played on WCW since 2002 have made it to the Super Bowl: Carolina (2003), Pittsburgh (2005), Indianapolis (2006), New York Giants (2007), Arizona (2008), Green Bay (2010). Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, the Giants and Green Bay won the Super Bowl those years.
BONUS STAT
How well did this year’s 12 playoff teams do against each other? Following are the records of the 12 playoff teams in regular season games against each other.
6-0: Baltimore, Green Bay
5-1: New Orleans
4-1: San Francisco
3-2: Houston
3-4: Pittsburgh
1-2: New England
1-3: Denver, New York Giants
1-4: Atlanta
1-5: Detroit
0-7: Cincinnati
How well did the teams that did not make the playoffs do against the 12 playoff teams during the regular season?
2-2: Washington
2-3: Buffalo
3-5: Tennessee
2-4: Kansas City, Oakland, San Diego
2-5: Chicago, Seattle
2-6: Tampa Bay
1-4: Dallas, Philadelphia
1-5: Arizona
1-6: Carolina, Jacksonville
1-7: Indianapolis, St. Louis
0-5: Miami, New York Jets
0-7: Minnesota
0-8: Cleveland
Patriots take lead in ‘NFL Team of the Century’ race!
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Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a biweekly blog published every Wednesday and Sunday with a bonus “SIX STATS…” posting every Friday.
We are about 11-and-a-half NFL seasons in to the 21st century and the New England Patriots have opened up a 6 1/2 game lead in the race for the team of the century. Prior to the start of this season, the Pats had a slim one-game lead over Indianapolis for the best team since 2000, but the Colts 0-8 start this year has put some room between the Pats and Indy. On the NFC side, the Philadelphia Eagles have a four-game lead over the Green Bay Packers for the best record this century. Following are the records of the NFL teams since 2000.
New England 131-52
Indianapolis 125-59
Philadelphia 116-67
Green Bay 112-71
Baltimore 109-74
New York Giants 103-80
Tennessee 101-82
Denver 99-84
New Orleans 99-85
San Diego 98-85
Chicago 96-87
New York Jets 95-88
Tampa Bay 93-90
Atlanta 92-90-1
Minnesota 92-92
Dallas 91-92
Seattle 91-92
Miami 86-97
Jacksonville 86-98
Kansas City 84-99
Carolina 83-101
San Francisco 80-103
St. Louis 79-104
Washington 79-104
Cincinnati 77-106
Buffalo 75-108
Oakland 74-109
Houston 60-92
Arizona 68-115
Cleveland 67-116
Detroit 54-130
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