WHAT TO LOOK FOR – KICKOFF WEEKEND 2013
SUPER STARTERS: History indicates that the best way for a team to start its drive toward a possible Super Bowl championship is to win in Week 1.
The 47 Super Bowl winners have a 38-8-1 record in the Kickoff Weekend games of their title seasons. The Super Bowl XLVII-championBALTIMORE RAVENS, who play at Denver on Thursday night, have the second-longest active winning streak in season openers (five).
Since 1978, when the NFL adopted the 16-game schedule, and excluding the abbreviated season of 1982, teams that are victorious in their season opener are more than twice as likely to reach the playoffs than losers of their opening game:
- Of the 506 teams which won openers…266 went to the playoffs.
- Of the 507 teams which lost openers…120 went to the playoffs.
Note: There are a different number of winning and losing teams in season opening games due to the fact the NFL had 31 teams in each season from 1999 to 2001, which creates an odd number for the total number of results.
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OUT OF THE BLOCKS: The DALLAS COWBOYS host the NEW YORK GIANTS on Sunday Night Football (NBC, 8:30 pm ET). The contest will feature two of the NFL’s most successful teams in season openers. The Giants rank third in NFL history with 49 Kickoff Weekend victories, while the Cowboys have an NFL-best 35-17-1 (.673) record in season openers.
The teams with the most wins on Kickoff Weekend:
[ws_table id=”8″]
The teams with the highest winning percentage on Kickoff Weekend:
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Note: Ties prior to 1972 did not count in winning percentage.
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STREAKING PATS: The New England Patriots have won nine consecutive games on Kickoff Weekend, the longest current streak in the NFL. With a win on Sunday at Buffalo, New England can tie the Detroit Lions/Portsmouth Spartans (1930-39) for the third-most consecutive wins all-time on Kickoff Weekend.
The most consecutive games won all-time in season openers:
[ws_table id=”10″]
* Active streak
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ON THE FAST TRACK: New England Patriots quarterback TOM BRADY has a 136-39 (.777) career regular-season record as a starter, the best winning percentage of any NFL quarterback in the Super Bowl era with at least 100 starts. Brady’s success could be attributed to a fast start. Brady has a 10-1 (.909) career record in season-openers, the best among quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era (minimum 10 starts).
The quarterbacks with the best records in season-opening games in the Super Bowl era (minimum 10 starts):
[ws_table id=”11″]
*Active
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MANNING’S DOZEN: Denver quarterback PEYTON MANNING has led the Broncos to 11 consecutive regular-season wins, the longest active streak in the NFL. With a victory against the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday, Manningcan become the first quarterback in the Super Bowl era to win at least 12 consecutive regular-season games three separate times in a career.
Manning’s win streaks of at least 12 regular-season games:
[ws_table id=”12″]
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MR. MVP: Last year, Minnesota Vikings running back ADRIAN PETERSONrushed for 2,097 yards, the second-most in a season in NFL history, and was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player and the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year by The Associated Press. Entering his seventh season, Peterson has totaled 8,849 rushing yards.
With 151 rushing yards on Sunday, Peterson can join Pro Football Hall of Famers ERIC DICKERSON (9,915) and JIM BROWN (9,322) as the only players to have at least 9,000 rushing yards through 90 career games in NFL history.
The running backs with the most rushing yards through 90 career games in NFL history:
[ws_table id=”13″]
*Through 89 games
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RISE UP: This offseason, the Atlanta Falcons signed free agent running back STEVEN JACKSON, who has totaled 10,138 career rushing yards. With Jackson and tight end TONY GONZALEZ (14,268 receiving yards) on the same team, it will mark only the second time in NFL history a team will start the season with a 14,000-yard receiver and a 10,000-yard rusher.
A look at the teams that started a season with a 14,000-yard receiver and a 10,000-yard rusher:
[ws_table id=”14″]
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