Football trivia

[iceman5]

OK..heres an easy one. What NFL team had the biggest improvement in their record from last year to this year?

Has to be SD right? They had the dead last record last year and got the #1 pick and they are 12-4 this year. You would be wrong. they were 4-12 last year for an 8 game improvement. As hard to believe as that is.......

The Pittsburgh Steelers were 6-10 last year and 15-1 this year for a 9 game improvement.

SD did alot of it with mirrors. Pittsburgh had a very good team last year but lost 4 offensive lineman to injury which caused Maddox (who is about as mobile as a brick wall) to get mauled and the running game to be ineffective.

Their line is healthy again and one of the best in the league.
They got a new QB, a new RB (Staley), and Bettis looks great....offense fixed
They got their old defensive coordinator back (LeBeau) who built the dominating defense they had 5-6 years ago. Defense fixed.

Bring on the Jets (again)

[Mad Genius]

Is it fair to answer your own trivia questions? Hmmm...looks more to me like good ole' bragging.

Anyway, Jets will be tough but I can't see the Steelers losing to them at home. Real test will be Indy/NE winner I think. Home court should help, but we'll see how Big Ben does with zero playoff experience.

[iceman5]

The Jets dont scare me much. Now NE is a whole different story.

Of course if Denver can manage to beat Indy, I'll be a happy camper

[low dough]

Sorry Iceman5
Denver 24 Indianapolis 49
Go Colts!

[iceman5]

I didnt really think Denver had a chance. I was just hoping.
Thats why I said "bring on the Jets"

[Danhdan]

[Rhound50]

[Danhdan]

Steve Young...he had 43 in his career. I'm a big Niners fan so I have to live in the past to be happy.

This guy should be a shoe-in for the HOF. The records that he set between 1991-1997 are only paralleled by players who had careers as a starter twice as long as him. Best QB of the 90's, IMBiasedO. And yes, I do wish he had won more playoff games, but what can you do?

Anyway, interesting note...on Neil O'Donnell. This guy holds the record for lowest percentage of passes intercepted(2.11;3229-68), and by a good margin too, although if Mcnabb has some better than average years with very few picks, he could get close to that mark. But, the first and last thing you think of when you read or hear the name O'Donnell is his connection to Larry Brown and those two errant passes that he had picked. It just goes to show you...

Anybody can make a bad read.

[iceman5]

Only one of those INTs was O'Donnells fault. The other one the WR screwed up the route.

[k3nt]

[TexasKowboy]

[Danhdan]

Favre - 3.22% intercepted...not wonderful, but not too bad.
Vinnie Testaverde - 3.97% intercepted, making Favre look awesome.
Vinnie...if he holds out another couple of year, he could own that record for intercpetions; he has 255 and George Bland had 277. He is going to probably need another horrible year, so, at his age, he really isn't allowed those...HOF for Vinny? Hardly. He has at least one bad year that he had good, and just because you play forever doesn't mean you are one of the best, it just means some team, when they run out of options turned to this guy...I like him as a player, but no way for the HOF.
George Blanda - 6.91% (I think this guy IS in the HOF; scary)
F. Tarkenton - 4.11% (Another guy Favre is way better than...and this guy was very good)
Steve Young - 2.57% (Here is the only contemporary to Favre who matches up during his best years...Aikman only did it by record, not by stats)
Joe Montana - 2.58% (Young is eerily similar...)
John Elway - 3.11% (Favre has the same amount of pics as Elway w/ maybe a half season fewer passes thrown)
Dan Fouts - 4.32%
Dan Marino - 3.01%
Warren Moon - 3.41%
Bradshaw - 5.38%
Jim Kelly - 3.66%
Troy Aikman - 2.99%
And a couple of today's players...
Mcnabb - 2.20% (This number is ridiculously low!!!!!!!!)
Culpepper - 3.09%
Gannon - 2.47%
Peyton Manning - 3.09%
McNair - 2.68%

You can tell by these number quarterbacks are getting better and better and offensive schemes are getting better and better. I also think in the 70's and earlier the the talent was together on more teams making defensive backfields better overall, and of course, they threw ALOT LESS(and w/ these number, you can see why!) You can also see why teams started going more toward the West Coast offense and away from other offenses because it controlled the ball more and made turnovers less likely. I am a Niner Fan bigtime, but even I see that Young's and Montana's percentages are way off the curve for their time periods. Although both were awesome players and two of the best QB's of their time, their stats were helped by the system they were in.
Favre is obviously an automatic HOFer. There is no question because of his durability, ability to bring his team back, leadership qualities, and a whole mess of victories, not even mentioning his stats...and you have to like the fact that he basically never gave up in a game...and that actually explains some of his interceptions.

But, if you compare him to his peers...well, yeah, it's a big percentage. BTW, Donovan Mcnabb is amazing according to this analysis...I can't imagine him not being in the HOF someday...if he gets another receiverover there, look out, those stats are just going to get better and better.

[Danhdan]

Playoffs - Bradshaw 5.49%, Favre 3.92%...that should make you feel better K3nt.

[k3nt]

It does make me feel better ... and yet somehow it doesn't.

Thanks for trying.

[TexasKowboy]