As I continue writing my thoughts on the upcoming NFL Playoffs set to kickoff this Saturday, I though I'd throw out a sampling of interesting stats, records, and facts about the 2010 regular season. Some are Pittsburgh Steelers related, other are not. We'll have plenty of time later this winter and spring to comb over the Steelers '10 season more closely, but for now, let's go around the league to see what transpired during this dynamic and far too fast-paced regular season.
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The trendy word to describe the competitive landscape of the NFL is parity. There's actually evidence that both supports and refutes the notion that the NFL is a parity-filled league. In support of that claim is the fact that there were six new division winners in 2010 - Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Seattle - which tied for the most such clubs since realignment in 2002 (six in 2003 and 2008). Furthermore,
for the 15th consecutive season, at least five teams made the playoffs that did not advance the year before (Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Seattle). And finally, for an NFL-record eighth consecutive season, a team crawled out of the basement to win its division the next year. Kansas City, of course, was the team to accomplish the worst-to-first feat this season. -
How about some evidence that diminishes the parity argument? Well,
the 2010 postseason will feature the top six teams with the most playoff berths since 2000 - Indianapolis (10), Philadelphia (nine), New England (eight), Baltimore (seven), Green Bay (seven) and Pittsburgh (seven).
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Furthermore,
five of this season's 12 playoff teams have won at least one Super Bowl in the past decade, capturing eight of the past 10 Vince Lombardi Trophies. Those teams are Baltimore (XXXV), Indianapolis (XLI), New England (XXXVI, XXXVIII and XXXIX), New Orleans (XLIV) and Pittsburgh (XL and XLIII). -
And finally, at least this year, the NFL was extraordinarily top-heavy. A record-tying 13 teams won 10+ games - New England (14), Atlanta (13), Baltimore (12), Pittsburgh (12), Chicago (11), New Orleans (11), N.Y. Jets (11), Green Bay (10), Indianapolis (10), Kansas City (10), N.Y. Giants (10), Philadelphia (10) and Tampa Bay (10). Thirteen teams also did so in 2003 and 2005.
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There's many reasons why the NFL is so immensely popular across the country and around the world - the games all matter and they're more often than not tightly-contested. In '10, roughly two out of every three games was within one score heading into the fourth quarter.
GAMES DECIDED BY ONE SCORE
GAMES WITHIN ONE SCORE
AT ANY POINT IN 4TH QUARTER
POINTS
GAMES
PCT.
POINTS
GAMES
PCT.
8 or Fewer
130 of 256
50.8%
8 or Fewer
171 of 256
66.8%
7 or Fewer
121 of 256
47.3%
7 or Fewer
166 of 256
64.8%
3 or Fewer
65 of 256
25.4%
3 or Fewer
123 of 256
48.0%
- We'll get into some of the individual accomplishments around the league in '10 at a later date.