NFL Fun Facts Part 4
Here it is, the final part to NFL fun facts.
76. Nick Foles has the third-highest single-season QB rating in NFL history, behind Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning.
77. In 1923, Jim Thorpe fumbled and the ball was picked up by George Halas, who returned it 98 yards for a touchdown. That record would stand until Jack Tatum broke it in 1972 with a 104-yard return, a record that still stands.
78. Only one quarterback in NFL history has an undefeated record in multiple playoff starts. It's Frank Reich, who went 2-0 in relief of Jim Kelly in 1993 and helped pull the biggest comeback of all time, something he'd also done while in college at Maryland.
79. Andy Dalton is tied for the most playoff starts without a win in NFL history (he's 0-4, as you surely know). The good news is that the man he's tied with � Y.A. Tittle � is in the Hall of Fame.
80. The website for the Tennessee Titans is titansonline.com, the only official site that has a word not associated with its team name. My theory: People can't spell Tennessee. (It's hard!)
81. About 35% of replay reviews get overturned.
82. The 12th tiebreaker for a division championship is a coin flip.
83. A player given the franchise tag hasn't switched teams since 1998.
84. From 1933-68 (35 years), the Pittsburgh Steelers had 16 coaches, or one every 2.2 years. From 1969 to today (46 years), the Steelers have had three coaches, or one every 15 years.
85. Jimmy Johnson coached the Dallas Cowboys for just five years or as long as Jim Schwartz was employed by the Detroit Lions.
86. The Redskins had as many coaches from 2000-2002 (four) as the Carolina Panthers have had in their entire history.
87. Marty Schottenheimer is name-dropped on the 1999 Eminem song Just Don't Give A [Expletive]. «I'm buzzing, Dirty Dozen/naughty rotten rhymer/Cursing at you players worse than Marty Schottenheimer.»
88. Last year, Jonas Gray ran for 201 yards and four touchdowns in a New England Patriots win over the Indianapolis Colts. In the rest of his four seasons in the NFL, the Notre Dame product has 260 yards and one touchdown, total.
89. The Minnesota Vikings (?!) have the best NFC home winning percentage since the AFL/NFL merger, winning exactly 2/3rds of home games.
90. The Detroit Lions have won one playoff game since the merger, the worst of any franchise, including expansion teams.
91. Only three teams have road records above .500 since the merger: San Francisco (.516), Dallas (.514) and Miami (.509).
92. The 1983 Washington Redskins had a +43 differential on takeaways/giveaways, one of the most lopsided records in NFL history. No other team in history has had a positive yearly differential greater than 30. (The 2010 Patriots and 2011 49ers are tied for second with +28). And consider this: Last year, no team had more than 35 takeaways and the best differential was +14.
93. A team has gone from worst-to-first every year since 2002.
94. Six teams have scored more than 60 points in a game since the merger. The highest point total since 1970 is 62, a mark shared by five modern squads. The 2011 Saints were the last to do it, defeating Indianapolis 62-7. The 1999 Jaguars famously did it in the playoffs, beating the Miami Dolphins by that same score. It would be Jimmy Johnson's last game as an NFL coach.
95. In 2004, 26 of the 32 NFL teams were in playoff contention with two weeks left in the season, a record.
96. Though announcers like to say the two-point conversion rate hovers around 50%, there have only been four seasons since the rule was instituted in 2004 in which the entire NFL finished with a rate higher than 50%. Eleven other seasons have had a rate of 43% or better, meaning in 15 of 21 seasons, teams have been at 43% or better. The lowest was a 36.9% mark in 1999. So the 50% benchmark is close, but not as close as you'd think.
97. Last year featured the lowest percentage of games decided by one possession (43%).
98. There have been 373 sets of brothers who have played in the NFL. Since the merger, the Browner family, with four bros playing from 1979-1992 holds the record for most NFL bros.
99. There have been 217 sets of fathers and sons to play in the NFL.
100. Since the playoffs expanded in 1990, there have been 11 10-win teams to miss the playoffs. There have also been 11 teams who didn't finish above .500 to make the playoffs.
101. Green Bay is the smallest NFL television market, by far, ranking 68th in America. There are 38 bigger markets without an NFL team. Of them, Los Angeles and Orlando are the biggest. Among the markets with bigger populations than Green Bay: Hartford, West Palm Beach, Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo, Harrisburg/Lancaster/York, Greensboro/High Point/Winston Salem, Albuquerque. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Richmond, Tulsa, Dayton, Wichita/Hutchinson and Lynchburg.
