SUPER BOWL HISTORY BY THE NUMBERS
Fun facts ’n’ figures from NFL’s title game
To kick off Super Bowl week, here are some facts and figures for your football fulfilment:
I (1): Number of NFC teams that have yet to play in a Super Bowl. Yup, just the Detroit Lions.
II (2): Number of Super Bowls the Philadelphia Eagles had been to and lost before this week.
III (3): Number of NFL championships the Eagles won before the Super Bowl era dawned in the 1966 season. Philadelphia won in 1948 (7-0 versus the Chicago Cardinals), 1949 (14-0 at the Los Angeles Rams) and 1960 (17-13 versus the Green Bay Packers).
IV (4): Number of people, in millions, who will have watched a Super Bowl game live from the stands after Sunday’s game at U.S. Bank Stadium.
V (5): Record number of times Dallas Cowboys QB Roger Staubach fumbled during four Super Bowl games.
VI (6): Number of players named Super Bowl MVP in the same year they were named regularseason MVP. Green Bay’s Bart Starr in 1966, Pittsburgh’s Terry Bradshaw in 1978, San Francisco’s Joe Montana in 1989, Emmitt Smith of Dallas in 1993, San Francisco’s Steve Young in 1994 and St. Louis’s Kurt Warner in 1999.
VII (7): Number of rushing yards, on 11 carries, the New England Patriots were held to by that great Chicago Bears defence, in the Pats’ first Super Bowl appearance at the end of the 1985 season, a 46-10 loss.
VIII (8): Number of Super Bowls reached by the Patriots in the Belichick/Brady era. That is, since 2000, when Bill Belichick took over as head coach and quarterback Tom Brady was drafted.
IX (9): Number of teams that have played in a Super Bowl but never won the game. Namely, the Buffalo Bills (0-4), Minnesota Vikings (0-4), Philadelphia Eagles (0-2), Cincinnati Bengals (0-2), Carolina Panthers (0-2), Atlanta Falcons (0-2), Tennessee Titans (0-1), San Diego Chargers (0-1) and Arizona Cardinals (0-1).
X (10): Number of years between Belichick’s third and fourth Super Bowl titles, with his third title being in 2004 and his fourth title coming in 2014. During that stretch, there were two Super Bowl losses to the New York Giants in 2007 and 2011. Also the number of years since Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson completed his final season as head coach of the Calvary Baptist Academy Cavaliers football team in Shreveport, La.
XI (11): Most combined turnovers in a Super Bowl game, in both 1970 (Baltimore seven, Dallas four) and in 1992 (Buffalo nine, Dallas two). Buffalo’s nine are the single-team Super Bowl record.
XII (12): Number of times the Patriots defence intercepted opponents this season, tied for 18th. Philadelphia tied for fourth with 19, three behind NFL-leading Baltimore.
XIII (13): Number of times the Eagles and Patriots have previously played, playoffs included. Philadelphia owns a slim 7-6 series edge.
XIV (14): Number of years Philadelphia’s longest-serving pro has played in the NFL, that being punter Donnie Jones, who is 37. Tom Brady played in and won two Super Bowls before Jones’ rookie season of 2004.
XV (15): Number of years of pro experience for James Harrison, the former longtime Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker cut in late December and picked up by the Patriots.
XVI (16): Points per game the Eagles have allowed since Oct. 1, including playoffs, an impressive figure. The Patriots, after four awful defensive showings to start the season, have since allowed only 14 points per game, including playoffs since Oct. 1.
XVII (17): Active number of consecutive winning seasons for New England, most in the NFL since 1970.
XVIII (18): Number of combined pass attempts by Bob Griese in Miami’s back-to-back Super Bowl victories, after the 1972-73 seasons. He completed 14 for 158 yards, one TD and one interception. Combined. Throw in the Super Bowl the Dolphins lost, and Griese had 41 attempts in three career Super Bowls, completing 26 for 292 yards, one TD, two interceptions. In the second half of last year’s Super Bowl alone, Tom Brady completed 27 of 36 passes for 282 yards, two TDs and no interceptions.
XIX (19): Number of Super Bowls played since a running back earned game MVP, that being Denver’s Terrell Davis in Super Bowl XXXII, in the first of backto-back Broncos championships in the late 1990s. Since then, quarterbacks have been named MVP 12 times, linebackers three times, wide receivers three times and a safety once. Only seven RBs have been named Super Bowl MVP.
XX (20): Number of pylon cameras NBC will use during this year’s game, plus 56 other cameras, including two overhead SkyCams.
XXI (21): Per cent of all Super Bowls played, including this week’s, in which Bill Belichick has coached. That is, two as a New York Giants assistant (after the 1986 and 1990 seasons), one as a New England Patriots assistant (after 1996) and eight as head coach of the Patriots (after 2001, ’03, ’04, ’07, ’11, ’14, ’16, ’17).
XXII (22): Record number of playoff overtime minutes played, plus 40 seconds, on Christmas Day 1971 when Miami defeated Kansas City 27-24 in the AFC playoffs.
XXIII (23): Number of sacks, plus another half-sack, recorded in the regular season by Philadelphia defensive ends Brandon Graham (9.5), Derek Barnett (5), Chris Long (5), Vinny Curry (3) and Steven Means (1).
XXIV (24): Jersey number of Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore, who left the Buffalo Bills after five years last March to sign a five-year, US$65-million deal in New England.
XXV (25): Approximate value, in thousands of dollars, of the Vince Lombardi Trophy, the sterling silver trophy awarded annually to the Super Bowl champion. Each champion gets a new trophy and keeps it permanently.
XXVI (26): Coldest recorded outdoor temperature, in Fahrenheit degrees (-3.3 C), at opening kickoff of a Super Bowl game: the only other time a Super Bowl has been played in Minneapolis, at the now demolished Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome following the 1991 season. Washington defeated Buffalo in that game, 37-24. This week’s long-range forecast calls for a high outdoor temperature of 11 F (-12 C) on Sunday.
XXVII (27): Club-record number of first downs the Eagles have had in any playoff game, recorded just last week, in their 38-7 thumping of the Minnesota Vikings.
XXVIII (28): Number of postseason wins Belichick and Brady will have if they can defeat the Eagles, which would be double the number of the next closest head coach and QB combo: Pittsburgh’s Chuck Noll and Terry Bradshaw (14).
XXIX (29): Final regular-season ranking of the Patriots in total defence. They spent much of the season ranked last, after their dreadful start.
XXX (30): Number of years since Al Michaels called his first Super Bowl, for ABC. Dan Dierdorf and Frank Gifford were his coanalysts in Super Bowl XXII. Michaels calls his 10th Super Bowl this week, on NBC with Cris Collinsworth as analyst.
XXXI (31): Number of take-aways by the Eagles defence in 2017, fourth most in the league. New England had only 18, to rank 25th.
XXXII (32): Most points overcome to win a playoff game, set by Buffalo in the first round of the 1992 AFC playoffs. Backup
QB Frank Reich — now the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive coordinator — rallied the Bills from a 35-3 third-quarter deficit against the Houston Oilers, and won 41-38 in overtime.
XXXIII (33): Jersey number of one of this game’s likeliest bigplay performers, New England dual-threat running back Dion Lewis. He had 141 scrimmage yards in the AFC title game, and 153 and 133 in New England’s last two regular-season games.
XXXIV (34): Number of playoff wins for the Patriots, which ties them with Green Bay and Dallas. With a win this week, the Pats would move alone into second place, one win behind the NFL’s all-time playoff leader, Pittsburgh, which has 36.
XXXV (35): Most points scored in any Super Bowl quarter, by Washington in the second quarter of their 42-10 victory over the Denver Broncos after the 1987 season.
XXXVI (36): Jersey number of running back Jay Ajayi, Philadelphia’s key trade deadline acquisition from Miami. The 24-year-old third-year pro is heavy enough (223 pounds) to gain yardage inside, and slippery and fast enough to make big plays in space.
XXXVII (37): Record number of first downs by any Super Bowl team, and indeed by any NFL playoff team, set by New England last year versus Atlanta, shattering the previous mark of 31 set by San Francisco against Miami in 1984.
XXXVIII (38): Number of points Philadelphia scored in the NFC championship game last weekend. The Vikings hadn’t allowed more than 31 all season.
XXXIX (39): Number of playoff games Belichick will have coached in after this week, an NFL record he broke in the AFC divisional playoff round.
XL (40): Age of the oldest player in Super Bowl LII: Tom Brady.
XLI (41): Most points scored in the first half of any NFL playoff game, by the Buffalo Bills versus Los Angeles Raiders in the AFC Championship Game in 1990.
XLII (42): Number of yards backup Patriots quarterback Brian Hoyer has thrown for since joining New England in early November. The Eagles’ backup
QB, Nate Sudfeld, threw for 134 yards this season.
XLIII (43): Number of years since the Eagles held four consecutive opponents to 10 points or fewer, until now. That’s Philly’s active streak, dating back to Week 16 last month.
XLIV (44): Average number of kickoff-return yards the Cincinnati Bengals had versus San Francisco in Super Bowl XXIII, numbering 132 yards on three returns.
XLV (45): Largest point margin of victory in Super Bowl history, set by San Francisco in its 55-10 destruction of the Denver Broncos in 1989.
XLVI (46): Number of first downs Eagles tight end Zach Ertz picked up in 2017, on the same number of catches, to lead his team.
XLVII (47): Length in yards of the missed field goal (wide right) with four seconds left by Buffalo Bills placekicker Scott Norwood, which allowed the New York Giants to shockingly win Super Bowl XXV in January 1991.
XLVIII (48): Number of points the Tampa Bay Buccaneers scored in their lone Super Bowl appearance, a 48-21 victory over the Oakland Raiders in January 2003.
XLIX (49): Age of Eagles head coach Doug Pederson. For a couple more days, anyway. His 50th birthday is Wednesday. Belichick was 49 for his first Super Bowl as a head coach, after the 2001 season.
L (50): Number of pass attempts rookie Miami QB Dan Marino had in a 38-16 loss to the San Francisco 49ers after the 1984 season. Marino completed 29 for 318 yards, one TD and two interceptions. He never played in another Super Bowl.
LI (51): Number of points the Eagles ran up on Denver on Nov. 5, for their seventh straight victory, just the ninth time in club history Philly scored 50 or more points.
LII (52): Combined points scored in Super Bowl XXII, 30 years ago this week in San Diego. Doug Williams of Washington broke Joe Montana’s Super Bowl record for most pass yards with 340, as Washington wiped out the Denver Broncos 42-10.