Which NFL team has the most ’30-something’ TDs this season?
San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates
Most people would agree that the NFL is a young man’s league. Save for a few quarterbacks who are in their 30’s having nice seasons (tongue planted firmly in cheek), the league depends on younger, faster, stronger players each year.
Case in point: Just a little over 14% of the TDs scored this season (through games of Week #13) have been scored by players who are in their 30’s. The rest, about 85% have been scored by players in their 20’s.
There have been 61 players in their 30’s that have scored one or more touchdowns for their team this season. Leading the TD race for the 30-something crowd is San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates. The 34-year-old has tallied nine TDs for the Chargers, tops in the league for players 30 or older. Just one TD behind Gates is 30-year-old receiver Brandon Marshall with eight TDs for the Chicago Bears. Philadelphia all-purpose threat Darren Sproles, age 31, has seven TDs, five via rushing and two by punt returns.
Leading the 30-something TDs by team are the Atlanta Falcons. They have 14 TDs so far this season scored by 30-something players, five each by running back Steven Jackson and receiver Roddy White, three by Devin Hester, and one by Harry Douglas.
Here’s a look at how many TDs have been scored this season by teams with players who are 30 years of age or older.
14: Atlanta
13: San Diego
10: Philadelphia, San Francisco
9: Baltimore, Chicago, Tennessee
8: New Orleans
5: Kansas City, N.Y. Giants, Pittsburgh
4: Arizona, Buffalo, Dallas, Green Bay, Houston, Minnesota, Oakland, Tampa Bay
3: Indianapolis
2: Cleveland, Denver. Miami
1: Carolina, Detroit, Jacksonville, New England, St. Louis
0: Cincinnati, N.Y. Jets, Seattle, Washington
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Winning an NFL game with 14 or fewer points
In today’s high-scoring, pass-on-every-down version of the NFL, it’s rare to have a game where teams score less than 15 points. Sure, there might be a game where one team scores less than 15, but to have both teams fail to reach 15 points in a game is rare.
This past weekend two such games were played. Arizona defeated the Lions 14-6 in one contest, while the San Diego Chargers only needed 13 points to beat the Raiders, 13-6. It was the first week since Week #2 last year where two games were won by teams that scored less than 15 points. This season there has been four games where both teams scored under 15 points.
For the Cardinals, they won a low-scoring contest last year when they beat Tampa Bay 13-10. San Diego, however, hadn’t won a game with fewer than 15 points in a game since 2007 when they won 14-3 over the Bears.
Let’s go back to the 2010 NFL season. Since then teams that scored under 15 points in a game have a record of 51-526, a .088 winning percentage. Only two teams, Baltimore and Seattle, have winning percentages over .300 in games where they scored under 15 points in a game since 2010.
Here’s a look at the records of each NFL team since 2010 in games when they scored fewer than 15 points (through games of November 17, 2014).
Baltimore 5-8 .385; Seattle 5-11 .313
Pittsburgh 4-13 .235
Green Bay 2-9 .182; New England 1-5 .167; Kansas City 4-24 .143; New Orleans 1-6 .143; Cleveland 4-27 .129; Cincinnati 2-14 .125; San Francisco 2-15 .118; Dallas 1-8 .111; Miami 2-17.105
Arizona 2-19 .095; Buffalo 2-22 .083; San Diego 1-11 .083; Denver 1-12 .077; Detroit 1-12 .077; Houston 1-14 .067; Jacksonville 2-31 .061; St. Louis 2-31 .061; Washington 1-17 .056; Chicago 1-18 .053; Tennessee 1-19 .050; N.Y. Jets 1-21 .045; Minnesota 1-22 .043; Carolina 1-24 .040
Oakland 0-22 .000; Tampa Bay 0-19 .000; N.Y Giants 0-16 .000; Atlanta 0-14 .000; Indianapolis 0-13 .000; Philadelphia 0-12 .000
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Inside the Numbers: NFL Wild Card Weekend
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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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Indianapolis Colts suffer first 30-point loss at home in 20 years
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It’s one thing to lose a game, but it’s another thing to lose that game at home. But what might by even more demoralizing is to lose a game at home and get whooped in the process.The AFC South Division-leading Indianapolis Colts on Sunday suffered their third defeat of the season 38-8 to the last place St. Louis Rams, who had come into that game with a 3-6 record. This 30-point defeat at home was the first time the Colts lost at home by 30 or more points since losing 31-0 to the San Diego Chargers on November 29, 1993, almost 20 years ago. It had been the longest time between 30-point losses at home in the NFL.
The Baltimore Ravens franchise, which began play in the league in 1996, now holds the longest time between 30-point losses at home. In fact the Ravens have never lost a game at home by 30 points or home. The worst home loss suffered by the Ravens was a 27-point loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-8, on October 21, 1999.
In addition to the Colts losing a home game by 30-plus points this year, the Jacksonville Jaguars have twice in 2013 lost a home game by 30 points or more. Last season there were seven such games in the league.
Following is the last regular season each of the NFL teams lost a home game by 30 points or more.
1996: Baltimore (have never lost a home game by 30 points or more)
1997: Pittsburgh
1998: New England
2001: Dallas, Minnesota
2002: Houston, San Diego
2003: Arizona, New Orleans
2004: Chicago
2005: Atlanta, Philadelphia
2006: Green Bay
2008: Cincinnati, Detroit
2009: NY Giants, Oakland, San Francisco, Tampa Bay
2010: Carolina, Cleveland, Seattle, Washington
2011: Denver, Kansas City
2012: Buffalo, Miami, NY Jets, St. Louis, Tennessee
2013: Indianapolis, Jacksonville
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Washington Redskins are the new standard for 3-TD running backs
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Darrel Young had three rushing touchdowns for the Washington Redskins in their 30-24 overtime win over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. It was the second time this season that the Redskins had a running back score three rushing TDs in a game (Roy Helu did it earlier in the year versus the Bears).
In fact, of the last five times that an NFL running back scored three or more TDs’ via the run in a game, the Redskins have done it three times… with three different running backs. Washington feature back Alfred Morris had three rushing scores in a 28-18 win over the Dallas Cowboys last season in the regular-season finale.
If we go back to 1970, there have been 362 times when a running back had three or more TDs via runs. Teams are 324-38 in those games, a .895 winning percentage. But for the Redskins, having a running back score three-plus TDs via runs has been a golden path to success. The Redskins have had 20 such games since 1970 and have won all 20!
For Young, Morris and Helu, it was the first career game for each with three rushing touchdowns. That’s 11 games fewer than the player who has the most games with three-plus rushing TDs, LaDainian Tomlinson. His 12 games are three more than Priest Holmes and Emmitt Smith.
Here are the running backs with the most games with three or more rushing TDs since 1970.
12: LaDainian Tomlinson
9: Priest Holmes, Emmitt Smith
8: Marshall Faulk
6: Shaun Alexander, Marcus Allen, Earl Campbell, Joe Morris, Barry Sanders
5: Eric Dickerson, Edgerrin James, Walter Payton, Adrian Peterson
For Tomlinson, his team was a perfect 12-0 in those games when he had three or more rushing TDs.
One final note: The last player to score three or more rushing touchdowns in a loss was Chicago’s Matt Forte on October 20. If you haven’t guessed it already, that game was played against the Redskins.
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