Countdown to Kickoff: Stats and Facts from the NFL

Official release from the NFL

THE NFL... HOPE IS ALIVE!

Every year the NFL is full of excitement and surprise. Take the 2009 season, for example.

Passing records broken...historic rushing milestones reached... the Colts and Saints flirting with perfection...new teams making the playoffs... impact rookies... and it all came down to Week 17 with 17 teams still in Super Bowl XLIV contention!

The 2010 season should be no different.  Every team enters the new year with hope!

"Any time you get a win in this league, it's big," says Indianapolis Colts head coach JIM CALDWELL, whose club opened the 2009 season with a 14-game winning streak.

Last season, six teams - Cincinnati, Dallas, Green Bay, New England, New Orleans and the New York Jets- made the playoffs that were not in the postseason the year before.  That marked the 14th consecutive season in which at least five teams (out of 12) accomplished the feat.

New Orleans rebounded to win the NFC South after a last-place finish in 2008. This marked the NFL-record seventh consecutive season that a team went from "worst-to-first" in its division. Of the 32 teams to go from "worst-to-first" in NFL annals, 15 of them have done so in the past 10 years (2000-2009).

THE NFL IS SO UNPREDICTABLE THAT IN 2009...

Nothing exhibits the unpredictability of the NFL more than the tightness of NFL games: 

• "You only get 16 games and you never know what can happen in the National Football League," saysMonday Night FootballanalystJON GRUDEN. In 2009, 34 percent were decided in the last two minutes or overtime. In 14 percent of the games, apotentialgame-winning/tying drive oractualgame-winning drive reached the red zone with two minutes to go.

Games continued to be this close.  Nearly 65% were within one score in the fourth quarter:

• There werefive new division winners- Cincinnati, Dallas, Indianapolis, New England, and New Orleans - on the heels of the recording-tying six from 2008 (since realignment in 2002).

"It's so funny how things can change in a week in this league," says running back THOMAS JONES of the Kansas City Chiefs.

• The outstanding competition on the field kept fans tuning in on TV. ESPN, FOX, NBC and NFL Network each had its most-viewed NFL season ever, while CBS had its most-watched season ever with the AFC package.
• Super Bowl XLIV reached atotal audienceof 153.4 million viewers, making it themost-watched show in U.S. television historyaccording to Nielsen Media Research.

KICKOFF WEEKEND RECORDS OF NFL TEAMS

FROM WORST TO FIRST

Competitive balance in the NFL is so strong that a team going from "worst-to-first" in its division is becoming an annual tradition.  For the seventh consecutive season - an NFL record - at least one team has finished in first place in their division the season after finishing in last place. In fact, out of the 32 teams in NFL annals to go from "worst-to-first," 15 of them have done so in the past 10 years (2000-09), including an NFL-record three such teams in 2006.

One of the teams to make the remarkable turnaround in 2006 did so again in 2009...all the way to a Super Bowl victory. The New Orleans Saints, whose 8-8 record saw them finish last in the NFC South in 2008, improved by five wins en route to a 13-3 record and a division title for the second time in four seasons.  The Saints also became just the third to go from "worst-to-first" and cap the season with a win in the Super Bowl, following the 1999 St. Louis Rams and 2001New England Patriots.

"One of your early goals is to win your division and generally that's the first way to get in the playoffs," says New Orleans Saints head coach SEAN PAYTON.  "So we were pleased with that."

The teams to go from "worst-to-first" in their division since 2000:

KICKOFF WEEKEND RECORDS OF NFL HEAD COACHES