Dallas starts season with Giant upset

Ampliar

San Antonio.- The season opener at the Meadowlands was a shocker – most defending champs win their first home game of the season -- but the Cowboys 24-17 win over the Giants renewed Cowboy fans faith in Tony Romo – and proves what we’ve been saying all along: It’s a whole new season and everything’s up for grabs. Click on the headline and read up for tips from the NFL about what to look for the rest of week one. Special thanks to Terence Malangone and the NFL for all the great stats. (Photo courtesy www.dallascowboys.com)

Posted by Angela Covo, angela.covo@gmail.com

The Super Bowl XLVI champion NEW YORK GIANTS hosted the DALLAS COWBOYS Wednesday night in a contest that featured two of the NFL’s most successful teams in season openers. Before the game, the Giants rank third in NFL history with 49 Kickoff Weekend victories, while the Cowboys had an NFL-best 34-17-1 (.663) record in season openers.

As unpredictable as the NFL is, stats can at least give a starting point at the beginning of the season. Make sure to check online at www.laprensasa.com/2148_nfl-news  for capsules covering each of the season’s opening matchups to learn everything about your favorite teams. 

SUPER STARTERS  

Teams that win the opening game in the season get the edge: 69 percent of the winning teams on Day One get a spot in the playoffs. So the best way for a team to start its drive toward a possible Super Bowl championship is to win in Week One.

The 46 Super Bowl winners have a 37-8-1 record in the Kickoff Weekend games of their title seasons.

Since 1978, when the NFL adopted the 16-game schedule, excluding the abbreviated season of 1982, teams victorious in their season opener are more than twice as likely to reach the playoffs than losers of the opening game:

• Of the 490 teams which won openers…258 went to the playoffs.
• Of the 491 teams which lost openers…116 went to the playoffs.

Note: There are a different number of winning and losing teams in season opening games because the NFL had just 31 teams each season from 1999 to 2001, creating an odd number for the total.

OUT OF THE BLOCK

The teams with the most wins on Kickoff Weekend:

The teams with the highest winning percentage on Kickoff Weekend:

STREAKING PATS

The New England Patriots won eight consecutive games on Kickoff Weekend, the longest current streak in the NFL. With a win Sunday at Tennessee, New England can tie the Bears (1984-1992) for the fourth-most consecutive wins all-time on Kickoff Weekend.

The most consecutive games won all-time in season openers:

FAST TRACK

New England Patriots quarterback TOM BRADY has a 124-35 (.780) 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. With a win on Sunday at Tennessee, Brady will reach 125 career wins in the fewest starts (160) among quarterbacks in NFL history. 

The quarterbacks who reached 125 wins in the fewest starts:

Brady could also surpass Pro Football Hall of Famer FRAN TARKENTON (124) for the fifth-most wins among starting quarterbacks in NFL history with a victory this weekend.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS

Denver Broncos QB PEYTON MANNING returns to action against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football. Manning ranks third in NFL history with 399 career touchdowns, trailing only BRETT FAVRE (508) and Hall of Famer DAN MARINO (420). With a touchdown pass on Sunday night, Manning would reach 400 career touchdown passes in the fewest games (209) in NFL history.

Manning (63) also needs just one 300-yard passing game to surpass Marino (63) for the most 300-yard passing games in NFL history.

UP-AND-COMING 

Detroit Lions quarterback MATTHEW STAFFORD will make his 30th career start on Sunday against the St. Louis Rams. Entering his fourth NFL season, Stafford has totaled 7,840 passing yards and 60 touchdown passes.

With 160 passing yards on Sunday, Stafford will join KURT WARNER (8,739), Hall of Famer DAN MARINO (8,467), TONY ROMO (8,044) and AARON RODGERS (8,000) as the only quarterbacks to have at least 8,000 passing yards through 30 career starts in the Super Bowl era. 

The quarterbacks with the most passing yards through 30 career starts who began their career in the Super Bowl era:

Stafford (60 TD passes in 29 starts) is currently tied with Romo for the third-most TD passes among quarterbacks through 30 career starts and hopes to improve on that mark.

The most touchdown passes through 30 starts among quarterbacks who began their career in the Super Bowl era:

FABULOUS FIVE

Five rookie quarterbacks – ROBERT GRIFFIN III of the Washington Redskins, ANDREW LUCK of the Indianapolis Colts, RYAN TANNEHILL of the Miami Dolphins, BRANDON WEEDEN of the Cleveland Browns and RUSSELL WILSON of the Seattle Seahawks – will debut as starters on Kickoff Weekend, the most rookie quarterbacks to start a team’s opening game since at least 1950.

The previous high was three in 1968 (DAN DARRAGH, Buffalo; GREG LANDRY, Detroit; DEWEY WARREN, Cincinnati) and 1969 (GREG COOK, Cincinnati; JAMES HARRIS, Buffalo; ROGER STAUBACH, Dallas).

The most passing yards among rookies in season openers in NFL history:

The most touchdown passes among rookies in season openers in NFL history:

R.I.P. Art Modell

On a sad note, 87-year-old Art Modell passed away earlier this week. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell issued a statement about the late Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens     owner:

 “Modell’s leadership was an important part of the NFL’s success during the league’s explosive growth during the 1960s and beyond. As the longtime chairman of the league’s Broadcast Committee, Art was a visionary who understood the critical role that mass viewing of NFL games on broadcast television could play in growing the league. Art played important roles in many other league matters as a key advisor to Pete Rozelle and Paul Tagliabue and also built championship teams in Cleveland and Baltimore. His skills as an owner and league contributor were matched only by his great sense of humor. Any conversation with Art included laughs. He always left you with a smile on your face. We extend our condolences to John, David and the rest of the Modell family.” (photo courtesy)