Super Wild Card Weekend is upon us and there are some tantalizing storylines and matchups on deck.
As the great philosopher Sean “Jay-Z” Carter famously said on the Blueprint 3, “men lie, women lie, numbers don’t.” When it comes to prognosticating and evaluating the NFL, a few key numbers tell a greater story.
Whether it’s your playoff wagers, confidence pool, fantasy choices or bragging rights at your NFL watch party and in your group chats, I’ll provide those numbers on a weekly basis in this space.
Here are 7 stats that will tell the story of the first week of the NFL post-season.
1. Saban’s NFL impact
It wasn’t just great NFL coaches making news this week. Nick Saban, who is known more for his tenure in college than his stint with the Miami Dolphins, retired.
Saban did have a huge impact on the NFL, however. Saban developed more first-round draft picks (44) than he had total losses (29) in 17 years. That’s why Saban’s time at Alabama ended with every single player who played four years for him winning at least one national championship.
2. Bill Belichick over everyone
Many people know of Bill Belichick’s nine Super Bowl appearances, 6 Super Bowl titles, 266-120 regular season record and 30-12 postseason record — all categories he currently leads.
However, those aren’t his most impressive stats. During Belichick’s 24-year run as the Patriots head coach, the other 31 NFL franchises had a combined 213 head coaches. As the leader of the Patriots, he was in the Super Bowl 38 per cent of his years in New England. That level of dominance will never be replicated.
3. Wild-card teams could end conference championship drought
This playoff bracket has a bunch of franchises desperate for a deep run. The list of franchises with the longest conference championship drought is led by Washington at 32 years and counting, but is closely followed by Detroit at 31 years, Cleveland and Miami tied at 30 years and Dallas with 27 years. Only time will tell if any of those droughts end this year.
4. We the AFC North
The most competitive division in football is the AFC North. They produced three AFC playoff teams including the first seed Baltimore Ravens. The north is the second division ever where all four teams had a winning record, the other being the 1935 West division.
5. Got 5 on it
It took the Browns a village to make the playoffs. The Cleveland Browns are the first team since the 1985 Chicago Bears to start five different quarterbacks and make the playoffs.
6. Young Love
The Green Bay Packers are not just the youngest team in football, their youth on offence is why they are winning. Jordan Love has the Packers in the playoffs in his first year as a starter. The youth around him is a big reason why as the Packers have 3643 receiving yards by first- or second-year players, most in the modern NFL.
7. Two teams in opposite directions
Philadelphia started the season 10-1 prior to December which was the best record in the NFL. But it’s been all downhill since and Tampa Bay has steadily improved during the same time frame and won their third straight NFC South title. Since December Philadelphia is 1-5, with 30.3 points allowed, a minus-59 point differential and a minus-eight turnover differential. Tampa Bay, however, is 5-1 with 16.3 points allowed, a plus-38 point differential and a plus-three turnover differential.
