FOR USE AS DESIRED
NFL-203          12/31/03

“SUPER SEASON” KICKS OFF

The NFL playoffs begin on Saturday and Sunday, January 3-4, with Wild Card Weekend.  On Saturday, the Tennessee Titans play at the Baltimore Ravens and the Dallas Cowboys visit the Carolina Panthers.  On Sunday, Wild Card Weekend continues with the Seattle Seahawks at the Green Bay Packers and the Denver Broncos at the Indianapolis Colts.

The following week, the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC and Philadelphia Eagles and St. Louis Rams in the NFC host the Divisional Playoff games.  The Patriots and Eagles own home field advantage for the Conference Championship Games (January 18) if they win their Divisional games.  The conference champions advance to Super Bowl XXXVIII at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas on February 1.
 

A CONSISTENTLY GOOD PLAYOFF FIELD

Of the 12 teams in the playoffs, seven are winners of the past eight Super Bowls – every Super Bowl since 1995 except for Tampa Bay last year.  Those teams are: New England, Baltimore, St. Louis, Denver (twice), Green Bay and Dallas.

Three of these teams – Green Bay, New England and St. Louis – also played in a second Super Bowl.  And Tennessee played in Super Bowl XXXIV.

Put differently, seven of this year’s 12 playoff teams have had 11 of the 16 Super Bowl appearances of the past eight seasons.  Most of this season’s playoff teams have had consistently strong cumulative won-loss records in recent seasons, headed up by St. Louis and Tennessee – each with a 56-24 (.700) regular-season record over the past five years.
 

ALL-TIME PLAYOFFS

The Dallas Cowboys this year will increase their NFL-record total of 53 playoff games played and will break a tie with the New York Giants (26), participating in the playoffs for an NFL-record 27th time.

The St. Louis Rams have taken part in 40 playoff games, tied for fourth-most in NFL history, and will pass the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers (40).  The Rams can advance on the San Francisco 49ers (42) and Oakland Raiders (43), who rank second and third behind Dallas.

The Cowboys are the all-time leaders with 32 playoff victories, while the Green Bay Packers have 23, tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for fourth-most in NFL history.

The Baltimore Ravens have the best playoff winning percentage all-time at .833, followed by the Packers (.657) and Cowboys (.604). 

Following is a list of this year’s 12 playoff teams and their postseason records:

WORKING OVERTIME:  The 2003 season saw NFL clubs frequently working overtime, as 23 games were decided in the extra session, second-most in NFL history.  Only one season ago, a record 25 games went to overtime, surpassing the previous high of 21 in 1995.  The record for most playoff overtime games in a season is two (1986).

The Carolina Panthers lead all NFL teams with four overtime appearances this season, winning an all-time high three on the road. 

The overtime records of the 2003 playoff teams:

WINNING THE CLOSE ONES:  The Panthers have been extremely proficient not only in overtime this season, but in all close games.

Carolina has tied the 1998 Arizona Cardinals for the most wins by three points or less in one season in NFL history, capturing seven games by that narrow margin.

The teams with the most three-point wins in a single season in NFL history:

QUALITY FIELD:  The 12 playoff teams that can take home the Vince Lombardi Trophy as Super Bowl XXXVIII champions represent one of the strongest postseason fields in NFL history. 

For only the third time since the 16-game schedule was instituted in 1978, every team in the playoff field has at least 10 victories.  In addition, the 13 10-game winners this season is the most all-time.

A look at the 10-win playoff fields and the seasons with the most 10-game winners in NFL history:

PATRIOT DAYS:  The New England Patriots completed the regular season with 12 consecutive victories as the team posted a franchise-best 14-2 record and earned homefield advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.  Below is a look at where the Patriots’ string of one-dozen wins stands in NFL history.

Longest winning streaks in a single regular season:

TITLETOWN, USA:  The Green Bay Packers are no strangers to playoff success, and with 12 NFL championships, are the top team when it comes to league titles – hence Green Bay’s moniker “Titletown.”

Following is a list of the NFL championships won by each of the 2003 playoff teams:

HEAD COACHES

FANTASTIC FOURSOME:  Dallas Cowboys head coach BILL PARCELLS is the only coach in NFL history to have led four different teams to the playoffs.  In addition to the Cowboys, Parcells has taken the New York Giants, New England Patriots and New York Jets to the postseason.

With a win over the Carolina Panthers on Saturday night, Parcells will become the first coach to have led four teams to a playoff victory.

The coaches who have led the most teams to playoff wins:

SUPER CONNECTION:  With a Super Bowl victory, Indianapolis head coach TONY DUNGY can add his name to a distinguished list of head coaches who won a Super Bowl as both a coach and player, joining MIKE DITKA and TOM FLORES. 

The head coaches who won a Super Bowl as both a head coach and player:

The 2003 playoff head coaches and their winning percentages:

PLAYERS

Following are players who hold or are pursuing playoff records and milestones this year:

·         Green Bay Packers quarterback BRETT FAVRE has thrown a touchdown pass in 13 consecutive playoff games.  With a touchdown pass against the Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card game on Sunday, Favre will pass DAN MARINO (13) for the longest such streak in NFL history.

·         Favre has 30 touchdown passes in 17 playoff games and needs three to pass TERRY BRADSHAW (30, 19 games) and Marino (32, 18 games) for second-most all-time.  JOE MONTANA is the leader with 45 TD passes in 23 career playoff games.

·         Favre has passed for 4,187 yards and needs 324 to pass Marino (4,510) for third-most passing yards in playoff history.  The only two other quarterbacks to have thrown for 4,000 yards are JOHN ELWAY (4,964, 22 games) and Montana (5,772).

·         Tennessee Titans quarterback STEVE MC NAIR owns the NFL’s second lowest career interception percentage in the playoffs with a 2.145 mark, throwing only five interceptions out of 233 attempts in his seven career playoff games (minimum: 150 attempts).  Only Pro Football Hall of Famer BART STARR claims a lower postseason interception percentage of 1.408 (three interceptions in 213 attempts).

·         Green Bay wide receiver ANTONIO FREEMAN has 10 career playoff touchdown receptions and needs one to pass FRED BILETNIKOFF in third-place all-time.  Oakland’s JERRY RICE is first in NFL playoff history with 20.  

• New England wide receiver-punt returner TROY BROWN and Green Bay Packers wide receiver ANTONIO FREEMAN are two of 15 players in NFL history – and the only two players in the 2003 NFL Playoffs – who have returned a postseason punt for a touchdown.  Brown scored his in the 2001 AFC Championship Game at Pittsburgh while Freeman posted his return against Atlanta in a 1995 NFC Wild Card playoff game.

·         Denver tight end SHANNON SHARPE is tied for the most receptions in a single playoff game with his 13-catch performance with Denver against the Raiders in 1993 Wild Card game.  Sharpe also recorded the longest reception in playoff history as a Baltimore Raven when he scored on a 96-yard pass play against Oakland in the 2000 AFC Championship Game.

·         St. Louis safety AENEAS WILLIAMS has six career playoff interceptions, tied for seventh-most all-time.  With two interceptions, Williams will tie RONNIE LOTT, BILL SIMPSON and CHARLIE WATERS for the most in NFL history.  Williams had an interception in four consecutive playoff games from 1998-2001, the longest such streak in NFL history.

·         Williams has two career playoff interception-return touchdowns and needs one to tie WILLIE BROWN (three) for the most all-time.

·         Seattle linebacker CHAD BROWN is tied with 16 other players for the second-most sacks in a playoff game with 3.0. The record is 3.5 by RICH MILOT (1984) and RICHARD DENT (1985).  Brown had three sacks for the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 1996 Wild Card game against the Indianapolis Colts.

·         DERRICK MASON of Tennessee is one of 17 players in NFL playoff history to return a kickoff for a touchdown. Mason accomplished the feat in a 1999 AFC Championship vs. Jacksonville.  No player has ever returned more than one kickoff for a touchdown in NFL postseason history.

·         Tennessee kicker GARY ANDERSON has scored more postseason points (143) than any player in NFL history.  Second on the list is Oakland Raiders wide receiver JERRY RICE with 132.  Anderson also has successfully kicked the most point-after-touchdowns in playoff history without a miss with 53.  His 53 PATs also account for the most ever made in the postseason.

·         Kansas City kicker MORTEN ANDERSEN has kicked a field goal in his past eight playoff games, tying him for the fifth-longest streak of successful field goals in playoff history.  Anderson will attempt to extend his string to nine games in the Divisional Playoffs in Arrowhead Stadium.

·         St. Louis punter SEAN LANDETA has 83-career playoff punts and needs two to pass DANNY WHITE (84) for second-most in NFL history.  The all-time leader with the most playoff punts is RAY GUY (111).
 

ROOKIE DEFENDERS:  Baltimore Ravens linebacker TERRELL SUGGS led all NFL rookies in 2003 with 12.0 sacks, which ties the fifth-most by a rookie all-time.  Cornerback TERENCE NEWMAN of the Dallas Cowboys and EUGENE WILSON of the New England Patriots tied for the NFL rookie lead in interceptions this season with four apiece.  These three players and all rookies in the playoffs will aspire to add their names to the lists below documenting some of the most prolific rookie postseasons in NFL history.

FIRST-GAME JITTERS:  Quarterbacks MARC BULGER of St. Louis, QUINCY CARTER of Dallas, Carolina’s JAKE DELHOMME, TRENT GREEN of Kansas City, Seattle’s MATT HASSELBECK and ANTHONY WRIGHT of Baltimore have all experienced success in 2003 and hope to extend it deep into the playoffs.  All six quarterbacks will make their playoff debuts this year.  Following are the top five passing-yardage totals in a quarterback’s first career playoff game (since 1970):

THE BRADY HOUSE:  Since 1970, no NFL quarterback has thrown as many pass attempts at home without an interception as New England’s TOM BRADY did this year.  Brady, who led his team to an 8-0 home record, threw 241 passes – 11 for touchdowns – in Gillette Stadium in 2003 without an interception.

The quarterbacks who have thrown the most pass attempts at home in a season without an interception, since 1970:

GRAND OLE OFFENSE & SOARING EAGLE:  Quarterbacks STEVE MC NAIR of the Tennessee Titans and DONOVAN MC NABB of the Philadelphia Eagles are two of the league’s best at their position whose aerial accuracy continues into the playoffs.  Among NFL quarterbacks with at least 150 postseason pass attempts all-time, McNair (2.145) and McNabb (2.47) reside in the top five list of quarterbacks with the lowest postseason interception percentage of all time:

BEST NFL PLAYOFF PERFORMANCES
(Single postseason)
 

FOR 2003 PLAYOFF FIELD, SUPER BOWL LIVES UP TO ITS NAME

Seven of the past eight Super Bowl winners return to the playoffs this season, vying to add another Lombardi Trophy to their collections.  And do they have a knack for the thrilling conclusion!

Of those seven champions, five have earned the title in highly competitive games, winning contests that saw both teams within seven points or less of each other at some point in the second half.

A closer look at the past seven Super Bowls won the by the 2003 playoff field: