The Saddest Stats Of NFL Week 16
Todd Rosenberg. Getty Images.It's Christmas Eve and if you're a fan of sad NFL team coming here looking for an early gift then you have come to wrong place. But the good news is there's only two weeks left of this before the questions to the plagues of your team are answered in the offseason. Just like they are every year before we do this all over again.
Here are your sad stats for NFL Week 16.
Sad Stat #1 - Teams that get five turnovers in a game have only lost 1 out of the last 21 games before the Eagles took the field Sunday
And now just 2 out of the last 22.
There's a lot of angles to throw blame around in Philadelphia. DeVonta Smith's drop is the go-to. You might even look back at Saquon's drop, or all the other things poor Max mentioned in the clip above. But at least in all of these instances, the players involved were trying.
Enter Reed Blankenship who intercepted Daniels late and could have easily scored to make it a two-score game had he not outsmarted himself by taking a dive.
Bonus Eagles sad stat - welcome to the "give up a touchdown while playing 12-men on the field" club. The Bears did this earlier in the season and it feels good to welcome a new member of this sad club.
Speaking of sad things that happened in the end zone…
Sad Stat #2 - The Patriots returned an interception from the endzone to the 1-yard line and recorded (unofficially, I'm just going to state as fact) the first frustration spike following an interception
Josh Allen has many talents and throwing the best arm punt on 3rd and 16 is one of them. This is one of those plays that looks so stupid on film but until you live going through the thrill of putting all your energy and effort into doing a good job and getting rewarded for it, it's hard to stop. The adrenaline rush completely flips the logic switch. But you can see the logic switch flip back once 'Te knew what he did.
But he's not alone. Or is he? Let's look for an equally embarrassing end zone interception from the -5 yard line to the 1 with a little regular expression lookups in the play-by-play.
The Browns did this last year vs the Bears but that doesn't really count because it was the last play of the game on a Hail Mary. You have to go to Week 3 of 2023 when Sam Howell did this to the Bills in Week 3. But even that was a little different since Tre'Davious White was only 1-yard into the endzone and might not have known where he was on the field before getting tackled at the 1-yard line.
Same story for the qualifying example before that at the hands of Mark Sanchez in 2010. Alphonso Smith grabbed one at the -1 yard line, so that's forgivable too. Then Lance Franzier in Week 14, 2004. Again. Same story. Took it two yards to the one yard-line for the Cowboys vs the Aaron Brooks Saints.
Two more qualifying end zone interceptions returned to the one left. Are any of these going to be as embarrassing?
Week 6, 2003. Marc Bulger. Yep - we're going all the way back to Marc Bulger. Robert Buchanan of the Falcons snagged this one and AGAIN was only taken for two yards to the 1-yard line.
Last chance.
Week 6, 2003. Doug Johnson of the Falcons has 1st and ten on the Rams 14. He throws a pick in the end zone to Aeneas Williams from three yards deep who returns it four yards to the 1.
I guess that's…..comparable??? I don't have a clip of this pick but I suppose it's possible he intercepted the ball while running back leading him to have no choice but to exit the end zone. But still, this was also not a third and 16 situation on top of everything.
Sad Stat #3 - Brian Callahan Titans aren't soft: "I think it's complete and total bullshit… That means you just don't watch the shit… You can shove that right up your ass." update
Speaking of A-holes, that's exactly where the Colts stuck in in the Titans in the run game in route to allowing the most rush yards of any team this season. Jonathan Taylor trounced them for 218 and three touchdowns for 39 fantasy points and I can only imagine the what went through the minds of Jonathan Taylor owners who lost their playoff game last week by less than eight points.
Sad Stat #4 - The Jets scored nine points without punting the entire game
I heard PFT give this one on Pardon My Take as it would have flown under my radar because of how astonishingly boring this game was. But good grief, New York is just such a sad football town. I might need to take a deeper dive into New York cities that don't rhyme with Mark Ruffalo stats at the end of the year. Here's one I can add. Not just that the Jets scored nine measly points in a game they didn't punt. But that the next lowest team on record doing this were the Giants in Week 3, 2010 with just ten points.
But don't laugh too hard PFT, I see your team also scored just ten points in a punt-less effort too just a couple years ago (Week 7, 2021). Look at how far Washington has come. Man, times are changing.
Except in New York.
Sad Stat #5 - The Giants has scored the fewest points at home in the first halves of games but in the second halves have scored…. also the fewest points in the league
We are one week away from the Giants becoming the first team to go 0-9 at home in a season. Let's see how they've done it! At least so far. 32 total first half home points is even lower than the Bears 35 which is especially sad when the next team is at 54.
The Giants have a total of 85 home points in both halves. Titans next lowest of the totem pole with 114. Do I even mention where the Lions are? I guess I have to now. 287 total home points.
Sad Stat #6 - The Saints quest to be the worst 2-0 team with a +60 point differential of all time just got all too possible with an 0-34 loss Monday night
Call back sad stats are always fun. If you're a regular reader you might recall this graph from Week 7 when the Saints crashed and burned in the red of point differential. Just look at that sad burnt gold line. Drowning in the negative sea. At least they were able to come up for a quick breath in Week 11 before wallowing right under the water line for a while before getting sunk by some cheese curds Monday night.
What happened here, Saints? I know you're bad, but did you even practice this week?
What a stupid idea. You practiced in a freezer? Seriously? Who's the idiot that thought of that dumb ass idea? I just have to know.
Catch up on last week's sad stats