Today’s Sportstat: January 30, 2020
Super Bowl scoreboard watching
The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers face off in the Super Bowl this Sunday in Miami.
Will it be a high-scoring game, as many experts are predicting? Will having the lead at halftime of the Super Bowl make a difference? Will it be a close game?
To give some insight to those questions (and potential answers), let’s look at some of the points stats in the previous 53 Super Bowls.
SCORING FIRST
* The team that scores first in the Super Bowl is 36-17 (.679)
FIRST QUARTER
* Teams that were scoreless in the first quarter were 15-29 (.341)
* Teams that scored in the first quarter were 38-24 (.613)
* Teams that scored 10 or more points in the first quarter were 11-6 (.647)
* Teams that scored 13 or more points in the first quarter were 7-2 (.778)
HALFTIME
* Teams that scored in each of the first two quarters were 32-14 (.696)
* Teams that were scoreless at halftime were 0-13
* Teams that scored 17 or more points in the first half were 20-2 (.909)
* Teams that had the lead at halftime were 39-11 (.780)
GOING INTO THE FOURTH QUARTER
* Teams that scored in each of the first three quarters were 27-7 (.794)
* Teams that had the lead going into the fourth quarter were 41-10 (.804)
* Teams that had a lead of 10 points or more going into the fourth quarter were 29-2 (.935)
* There have been only four teams that were scoreless going into the fourth quarter: Baltimore (1969 Super Bowl), Washington (1973 Super Bowl), Minnesota (1974 and 1975 Super Bowls).
FINAL SCORE
* Both teams scoring 30 or more points in a Super Bowl game has happened only three times: Jan. 21, 1979, Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31; Feb. 3, 2013, Baltimore 34, San Francisco 31; February 4, 2018, Philadelphia 41, New England 33 (the Patriots 33 points is the most points scored by a team that lost the Super Bowl).
* There were six times where the team that won the Super Bowl scored less than 20 points. Four of those six times were in the first 10 Super Bowls. The last time was last year when the Patriots beat the L.A. Rams 13-3. The Pats 13 points was the fewest points scored to win a Super Bowl.
* Teams that scored 30 or more points in a Super Bowl game were 27-3 (.900).
* In the first 10 Super Bowls, the average score was 22.2-9.1 (31.3 average total points scored). In the last 10 Super Bowls, the average score was 30.0-19.6 (49.6 average total points scored).
* Twenty of the 53 previous Super Bowls were decided by one score (eight points or less). Twelve of the 53 previous Super Bowls were decided by 20 points or more.
* Of the 20 Super Bowls decided by eight points or less, 11 of them have happened since 2000 and six have happened since 2010.
* In the last 22 Super Bowls, 13 were decided by less than 10 points.
* The average margin of victory in the first 10 Super Bowls was 13.1. The average margin of victory in the last 10 Super Bowls was 9.8.
* The two teams in the Super Bowl have combined to score 60 or more points in 10 Super Bowls.
* The 16 combined points by the Patriots and Rams in last year’s Super Bowl was the fewest for any Super Bowl game.
* There have been 12 20-point (or more) blowouts in the Super Bowl, the last coming in 2013 when the Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos 43-8. Only three of the last 16 Super Bowls have been decided by 14 or more points.
DID YOU KNOW?
* Since 2000, the New England Patriots have appeared in nine of those 19 Super Bowls, winning six and losing three.
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
Today’s Sportstat: January 31, 2019
Super Bowl 53 MVP? Brady? Goff? Other?
If you are looking to predict who might be the MVP of the Super Bowl this year, you won’t go wrong by picking either of the opposing QBs… Tom Brady or Jared Goff. In the past 52 Super Bowls, there have been 29 quarterbacks chosen as the MVP, well over half of those honored.
But there’s more to the story. Here’s a handful of stats you may not know about QBs and the Super Bowl MVP Award. Did you know…
- Joe Namath is the only Super Bowl MVP QB who did not throw a TD pass in that game.
- Of the 53 Super Bowl winning quarterbacks who threw five or more passes in the game (the Baltimore Colts in 1971 had QBs Earl Morrall and Johnny Unitas each attempt five or more passes in that game), 45 had at least one TD pass in the game.
- Every Super Bowl winning QB who threw three or more TD passes in the game was selected as the MVP… one threw six TD passes (Steve Young), one threw five TD passes (Joe Montana), four had four TD passes, and seven had three TD passes. That’s 13 of the 13 Super Bowl winning QBs who had three or more TD passes was selected as the game’s MVP.
- Of the 15 Super Bowl winning QBs who had two TD passes in the game, eight were chosen as the game’s MVP. Of the 17 Super Bowl winning QBs who had one TD pass in the game, seven were chosen as the MVP. Eight Super Bowl winning QBs did not have a TD pass in the game.
- Of the 28 Super Bowl winning QBs who had two or more TD passes in the game, 21 went on to win the MVP… that’s 75%. Good odds for any Super Bowl winning QB who can get at least two TD passes on his stat line.
There have been a few Super Bowl winning QBs who, statistically speaking, did not have very impressive games. Topping that list would probably be Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger. In the Steelers’ 2006 Super Bowl win over Seattle, Roethlisberger had a Passer Rating of 22.6, the lowest Passer Rating of any Super Bowl winning QB. He had no TD passes and two interceptions in the game.
Following are the five Super Bowl winning QBs who had the lowest Passer Rating in the contest.
Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh, 2006… 22.6
John Elway, Denver, 1998… 51.9
Earl Morrall, Baltimore, 1971… 54.0
Peyton Manning, Denver, 2016… 56.6
Joe Theismann, Washington, 1983… 75.1
In addition, did you know…
- Four Super Bowl winning QBs completed less than 50% of their passes in the big game: Roethlisberger 42.9% (2006), Morrall 46.7% (1971), Terry Bradshaw 47.4% (1976) and Trent Dilfer 48.0% (2001).
- Eight Super Bowl winning QBs did not have a TD pass in the game: Roethlisberger (2006), Elway (1998), Peyton Manning (2016), Morrall (1971), Namath (1969), Troy Aikman (1994), Jim McMahon (1986), Bob Griese (1974).
- Four Super Bowl winning QBs had multiple interceptions in the game: Bradshaw (three in 1980… he was still selected MVP in the game); Tom Brady (two in 2005… also selected MVP of the game); Joe Theismann (two in 1983); and Roethlisberger (two in 2006).
Just to add a little balance to this piece, there have been six Super Bowl losing QBs who had three TD passes in the game: Roger Staubach (1979), Brett Favre (1998), Jake Delhomme (2004), Donovan McNabb (2005), Kurt Warner (2009) and Tom Brady (2018).
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
Today’s Sports Stat: March 17, 2018
Now that the Philadelphia Eagles have won their first Super Bowl, when will they win their second one? Could they go back-to-back? Or, will they sit on one Super Bowl victory for many years?
Let’s take a look with a little historical perspective to try to explore the above questions. First, the Eagles, by winning Super Bowl #52, became the 20th NFL franchise (of the 32) to win a Super Bowl. Of those 20, 12 have won two or more Super Bowls and eight have won just one. That means that 12 of the current franchises have never won a Super Bowl; of those 12, four have never even made it to the Super Bowl… Cleveland, Detroit, Houston and Jacksonville.
Of the 12 franchises that have won two or more Super Bowls, let’s focus on when they won their first Super Bowl and when they won their second:
- Four teams won their first and second Super Bowls in back-to-back years… Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Denver and Miami.
- Five teams won their first and second Super Bowls within six years of each other… New England (two years), San Francisco (three years), New York Giants (four years), the Raiders (four years), Washington (five years), Dallas (six years).
- Two teams won their first and second Super Bowls more than 10 years from each other… Colts (36 years), Ravens (12 years).
It was mentioned above that the Eagles are now one of eight franchises that has won one Super Bowl. Here’s a look at when the other seven franchises won their one and only Super Bowl.
New York Jets (won Super Bowl #3)
Kansas City Chiefs (won Super Bowl #4)
Chicago (won Super Bowl #20)
Rams (won Super Bowl #34)
Tampa Bay (won Super Bowl #37)
New Orleans (won Super Bowl #44)
Seattle (won Super Bowl #48)
What does all this mean? The 12 teams that have won multiple Super Bowls won their first and second Super Bowls within an average of about six years. Take away the Rams 36-year wait for their second Super Bowl title and the average wait for Super Bowl win #2 averages just over three years.
The Eagles could, however, go the route of the Jets and Chiefs and spend nearly a half-century waiting for their second Super Bowl crown.
When will the Eagles win (or will they ever win) their second Super Bowl? There is no secret formula we can plug in. As someone once said, “That’s why they play the games.”
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
Today’s Sports Stat: February 6, 2018
Former Wisconsin Badgers running back Corey Clement went from being undrafted in 2017 to being a major player for the Philadelphia Eagles. Clement had four catches for 100 yards and scored a TD for the Eagles in their 41-33 Super Bowl win over New England.
Clement’s name figures prominently in four interesting stats from that game…
- The Eagles and Patriots tied a Super Bowl record with eight different players scoring a TD. For the Pats, Rob Gronkowski, Chris Hogan and James White (another former Badger player) scored touchdowns, while five Eagles players found the end zone, LeGarrette Blount, Corey Clement, Zach Ertz, Nick Foles and Alshon Jeffery. Eight different players scored a TD in three other Super Bowls: 1979 (Dallas-Pittsburgh), 1993 (Buffalo-Dallas) and 2004 (Carolina-New England). The 1969 Super Bowl between Baltimore and the New York Jets (won by the Jets 16-7) had only two players score a TD, Matt Snell for the Jets and Jerry Hill for Baltimore. That is the fewest number of players to score TDs in a single Super Bowl contest.
- Clement became only the fourth rookie player in Super Bowl history to have 100 yards receiving in a Super Bowl game. He had four catches for 100 yards. The other players: Cris Collinsworth (five catches for 107 yards in 1982 for the Bengals); Torry Holt (seven catches for 109 yards in 2000 for the St. Louis Rams); and Chris Matthews (four catches for 109 yards in 2015 for the Seahawks). Only two rookie running backs have gained 100 or more yards in a Super Bowl game: Timmy Smith (22 carries for 204 yards in 1988 for Washington) and Jamal Lewis (27 carries for 102 yards in 2001 for the Ravens).
- Of the 74 points scored in this year’s Super Bowl (41 by Philadelphia and 33 by New England), 20 of those points were scored by players who attended college at the University of Memphis. The two kickers in the game, Jake Elliott and Stephen Gostkowski both attended Memphis. Elliott had 11 points in the game, Gostkowski had nine. Here are the points scored in the game based on the colleges attended by the players who scored the 74 points in Super Bowl LII… University of Memphis, 20 (Elliott & Gostkowski); Arizona, 18 (Nick Foles & Rob Gronkowski); Wisconsin, 12 (Corey Clement & James White); Oregon, 6 (LeGarrette Blount); South Carolina, 6 (Alshon Jeffrey); Monmouth, 6, (Chris Hogan); Stanford, 6 (Zach Ertz).
- Philadelphia Eagles rookies Jake Elliott and Corey Clement scored 17 points for the team in this year’s Super Bowl. That was the second-most points scored by a team’s rookies in a Super Bowl game since the Chicago Bears rookies (Kevin Butler, William Perry and Reggie Phillips) tallied 26 points in 1986. Only four other Super Bowl teams saw their rookies score 10 or more points in a Super Bowl game: 1995 San Francisco, 13 (William Floyd and Doug Brien); 1988 Washington, 12 (Timmy Smith); 2013 Baltimore, 10 (Justin Tucker) and 1993 Dallas, 10 (Lin Elliott).
Stats on Tapp
Today’s Sports Stat: February 3, 2018 (BONUS)
Here are 10 stats Philadelphia Eagles fans need to know about the New England Patriots’ three losses this season.
- The Patriots allowed 27 points to their opponents in four games this season… they lost three of those games.
- New England as a team rushed for less than 81 yards in five games… they lost two of those games.
- The Pats allowed the opposition to gain over 430 total yards in two games… they lost both of those games.
- The Patriots allowed 300 or more passing yards to their opponents in five games this season… they lost two of those games.
- New England allowed their opponents to rush for over 120 yards in eight games… they lost three of those contests.
- Tom Brady had a Passer Rating under 80.0 in a pair of games this year… the Patriots lost both games. (FYI: Brady has never lost a playoff game when he had a Passer Rating of 100 or better; he is 14-0.)
- Only three opposing QBs had a Passer Rating over 100 in a game versus the Patriots this season: Alex Smith (148.6), Cam Newton (130.8) and Jay Cutler (112.1). New England lost each of those three games.
- Four opposing running backs had 100-yard games versus the Pats in 2017. New England was 2-2 in those games.
- Five opposing receivers had 100-yard games versus the Pats in ’17. New England was 3-2 in those games.
- New England converted on less than 34% of their third-down attempts in five games this season… they lost two of those games.
Stats on Tapp
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