Is this year’s NFC West the best division since 2002?
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
With the Seattle Seahawks looking to wrap up home field advantage in the NFC playoffs this weekend, the San Francisco 49ers trying to hold on to a Wild Card spot, the Arizona Cardinals one win from a 10-win season, and the St. Louis Rams just two games under .500 with two games to play, it’s not out of the question to look at the NFC West as the best division in the NFL this season.
In 2002, the NFL went to a four-division format in each conference with four teams in each division. In the 11 years since, only three times have the four teams in a division won a combined 4o or more games in a season. In 2007, the four NFC East teams combined for 40 wins; in 2008, the four NFC South teams won 40 games. Also in 2007, the four AFC South teams won 42 games (Indianapolis, 13; Jacksonville, 11; Tennessee, 10; and Houston, eight) most since the new format was instituted back in 2002.
There’s a good chance that the NFC West this year will not only join the other three 40-win divisions, but they might match the 42 wins of the 2007 AFC South. These four teams currently have a combined 37 wins going into Week #16 games (Seattle, 12; San Francisco, 10; Arizona, nine; and St. Louis, six).
Here’s a quick look at the combined wins of each of the eight NFL divisions.
NFC West, 37
AFC West, 33
AFC East, 29
NFC South, 28
AFC North, 27
NFC North, 26
NFC East, 23
AFC South, 20
Interesting stat: Since 2002, the eventual Super Bowl champion has come from the division with the most combined wins three times… in 2002 (Tampa Bay), 2003 (New England) and 2004 (New England). Of the three divisions that had a combined 40 or more wins since 2002, only once, the NFC East in 2007, had a team win the Super Bowl, the New York Giants.
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Indianapolis Colts suffer first 30-point loss at home in 20 years
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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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Seattle Seahawks: No offense, no problem!
Pete Carroll (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
If you would have told Seattle head coach Pete Carroll that his Seahawks would only collect 135 yards in total offense in their October 28 game against the St. Louis Rams, he might have responded, “How bad did we get beat?”
Fortunately for Carroll and the Seahawks, Seattle was still able to come away with a 14-9 win despite the dismal offensive display. Consider this: Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson had almost two-and-half-times more yards in his record-setting game on Sunday than the Seattle offense had on Monday night. Johnson, in his 329-yards receiving game against the Cowboys had more yards last Sunday than 16 NFL teams in Week 8! But let’s get back to Seattle.
You would think that having less than 135 yards in total offense would not be a good omen. The Seahawks’ win was only the 28th time since 1970 (AFL-NFL merger) that a team with 135 or fewer total yards of offense won a game. The last time it happened was in 2010 when the Miami Dolphins amassed only 131 total yards of offense in a 10-6 win over the New York Jets. Since 2000, teams with 135 or fewer yards of offense in a game have won 13 and lost 60 (a .178 winning percentage).
Let’s expand the parameters a little. Let’s take a look at how well teams have done when they have gained less than 200 total yards in a game since 2000. There have been 468 times since 2000 that an NFL team had less than 200 yards of offense in a contest; in those games, that team won only 67 times, a .143 winning percentage. The Cleveland Browns had the most games with less than 200 yards of offense since 2000 with 37. They won only one of those games.
Here are the number of games each team had less than 200 yards of total offense in a game since 2000. Their record in those games is listed in parenthesis.
Cleveland: 37 games with less than 200 yards of offense (1-36 record in those games)
San Francisco: 28 games (4-24)
Buffalo: 25 games (3-22)
Chicago: 24 games (5-19)
Arizona: 22 games (5-17)
Oakland: 21 games (2-19)
Carolina: 19 games (2-17)
Cincinnati: 19 games (1-18)
Seattle: 19 games (4-15)
Baltimore: 18 games (7-11)
New York Jets: 17 games (1-16)
St. Louis: 17 games (2-15)
Detroit: 15 games (2-13)
Houston: 15 games (3-12)
Miami: 15 games (5-10)
Tennessee: 15 games (6-9)
Washington: 15 games (1-14)
Tampa Bay: 14 games (3-11)
Dallas: 13 games (1-12)
Kansas City: 12 games (1-11)
Philadelphia: 12 games (1-11)
Atlanta: 11 games (0-11)
Jacksonville: 10 games (1-9)
Minnesota: 9 games (2-7)
San Diego: 9 games (1-8)
New York Giants: 8 games (0-8)
Pittsburgh: 8 games (2-6)
New England: 7 games (1-6)
Indianapolis: 6 games (0-6)
Denver: 3 games (0-3)
Green Bay: 3 games (0-3)
New Orleans: 2 games (0-2)
There have been five games since 1970 where a team gained less than 100 yards of offense and still won the game. The five games:
* Tennessee over Jacksonville, 24-17 in 2006. Titans had 98 offensive yards.
* Oakland over Pittsburgh, 20-13 in 2006. Raiders had 98 offensive yards.
* Houston over Pittsburgh, 24-6 in 2002. Texans had 47 offensive yards.
* San Francisco over Atlanta, 10-3 in 1977. Forty-Niners had 97 offensive yards.
* Minnesota over Green Bay, 3-0 in 1971. Vikings had 87 offensive yards.
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99 Stats Until Kickoff (#95) When was the last time your team returned a kick for a TD?
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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.)
Returning a kick for a touchdown (either a kick-off or a punt) can be a rare event in the typical NFL season. Just last year, there were 14 kick-offs returned for TD (regular-season and playoffs) and 18 punts returned for scores.
In 2012, the Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos each had a pair of TDs via kick-off return, and the Broncos, Buffalo and Tennessee each had two punt returns for touchdowns.
For some teams, however, getting a score via special teams (specifically, a kick-off or punt return) has not come that often. For example, with regards to kick-offs returned for TD, the St. Louis Rams have not had one since October 9, 2005, the longest current drought for a kick-off return for touchdown in the league.
On punts, the Detroit Lions’ punt return team has not returned a punt for TD since November 14, 2004, the longest current wait for a punt return score in the NFL.
Following is a by-team list of the last time each team returned a kick-off and punt for a touchdown.
Team, last kick-off return for TD, last punt return for TD
Arizona KO: 11-7-2010; P: 11-27-2011
Atlanta KO: 1-15-2011; P: 1-2-2011
Baltimore KO: 11-11-2012; P: 11-18-2012
Buffalo KO: 10-21-2012; P: 11-15-2012
Carolina KO: 11-20-2011; P: -22-2006
Chicago KO: 10-16-2011; P: 1-13-2011
Cincinnati KO: 11-15-2009; P: 9-16-2012
Cleveland KO: 12-20-2009; P: 12-9-2012
Dallas KO: 9-15-2008; P: 11-11-2012
Denver KO: 1-12-2013; P: 1-12-2013
Detroit KO: 10-10-2012; P: 11-14-2004
Green Bay KO: 9-8-2011; P: 9-9-2012
Houston KO: 10-4-2009; P: 9-11-2011
Indianapolis KO: 12-30-2012; P: 11-25-2012
Jacksonville KO: 11-4-2007; P: 12-19-2010
Kansas City KO: 11-22-2009; P: 9-13-2010
Miami KO: 11-15-2012; P: 9-9-2012
Minnesota KO: 9-30-2012; P: 9-30-2012
New England KO: 10-21-2012; P: 11-18-2012
New Orleans KO: 11-15-2009; P: 9-8-2011
New York Giants KO: 12-9-2012; P: 12-6-2009
New York Jets KO: 10-8-2012; P: 9-9-2012
Oakland KO: 10-16-2011; P: 12-21-2008
Philadelphia KO: 11-23-2008; P: 12-2-2012
Pittsburgh KO: 9-19-2010; P: 12-4-2011
San Diego KO: 12-30-2012; 12-23-2012
San Francisco KO: 9-11-2011; P: 9-11-2011
Seattle KO: 11-25-2012; P: 11-4-2007
St. Louis KO: 10-9-2005; P: 11-27-2011
Tampa Bay KO: 11-7-2010; P: 12-27-2009
Tennessee KO: 9-23-2012; P: 12-30-2012
Washington KO: 10-31-2010; P: 11-21-2010
“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 (#45) Can NFL teams win by scoring less than 10 points in a game?
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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.)
Since the beginning of the 1970 NFL season (the merger between the NFL and AFL) there have been 128 occasions when a team has won a game by scoring less than 10 points. In the 2012 season, it has happened three times: Baltimore defeated Kansas City 9-6 on October 7; the Browns with a one-point win over the Chargers, 7-6, on October 28; and on December 2 when the New York Jets edged the Arizona Cardinals 7-6.
Following are the number of games each NFL team has won since 1970 when they scored less than 10 points.
10 games: Buffalo, Indianapolis
8 games: Cleveland, Pittsburgh
7 games: Oakland
6 games: Chicago, Denver, New England, Tennessee
5 games: Dallas, New York Jets
4 games: Atlanta, Green Bay, Miami, Minnesota, San Francisco
3 games: Detroit, Jacksonville, New Orleans, New York Giants, Tampa Bay, Washington
2 games: Arizona, Baltimore, Kansas City, Seattle, St. Louis
1 game: Carolina, Philadelphia, San Diego
0 games: Cincinnati, Houston
There have been three games in the playoffs won by teams that scored less than 10 points:
December 26, 1970: Dallas over Detroit, 5-0
January 6, 1980: Los Angeles Rams over Tampa Bay, 9-0 (NFC Championship Game)
January 3, 1998: Pittsburgh over New England, 7-6
One final note: Of the teams that have won a game with less than 10 points, the team that has waited the longest for their next win with 10 or fewer points is the St. Louis Rams franchise. The Rams have not won a game by scoring less than 10 points since that NFC Championship Game in 1980 when they defeated the Bucs, 9-0.
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