Random NFL tidbits/stats that you find interesting...

[John Grasso]

On 11-5-72 against the St. Louis Cardinals, Bill Bradley of the Eagles punted on 4th-and-4 in the second quarter. The next play was a Tim Van Galder pass that was intercepted by Bradley. The punt and interception brought the Eagles from a 4th-and-4 at their 25 to a 1st-and-10 at their 26.

Four plays prior to punting, Bradley fielded a punt. The next three plays were offensive plays for the Eagles. It is highly unlikely Bradley was on the field for those three plays.

Fielding a punt, punting and intercepting a pass on three consecutive plays by one player doesn't have a particularly decent chance of ever happening again.

Especially by a player who is a namesake of a Hall of Famer in another sport.

[Rupert Patrick]

In the 70's there was an Oiler who's last name was Houston.

The fact no player ever ran the wrong way like Jim Marshall it's interesting it hasn't happened to anyone else, or as far as I know.

I'm pretty sure there was a case of a guy picking off a pass and falling uncontrollably into the end zone--where a safety was then declared.

A Marshall-like moment came on the opening kickoff of the Titans-Steelers Week 1 game in 2013 when Darius Reynaud inadvertently stepped back in the end zone and downed it--for a safety.

I know there was an incident a few years back where a defensive player made a leaping catch and intercepted a bomb near the end zone at the sideline and his forward momentum carried him into the end zone he went out of bounds in the end zone and it was ruled a Safety. At the time the analyst said he figured a loophole like that in the rules would be fixed by the NFL Rules Committee as he had never seen that play before. This was about 15 years ago it happened and I don't know if it ever got addressed.

[MatthewToy]

In each of the 6 Steelers successful Super Bowl seasons besides divisional opponents they also played the Colts.

[Halas Hall]

That the Raiders' fullback position was manned by two players from tiny Colgate University from 1968-1981.

Speaking of tiny Colgate, that George Halas supposedly drafted a twenty-year old future Hall of Famer Dan Fortmann because he "liked his name".

That the Steelers have only three head coaches since a man walked on the moon.

That the 1960's Cowboys had multiple starters who played other sports in college (Cornell Green / Peter Gent / Bob Hayes). I am not sure how much football Hayes played at FAMU, but Gent and Green were solely basketball players.

[Gary Najman]

In week 2 of the 1979 season, New Orleans Saints punter/kicker Russell Erxleben was injured in a game vs. the Green Bay Packers at Milwaukee County Stadium. RB Tony Galbreath came to kick field goals and extra points and WR Wes Chandler came to punt the rest of the game (Chandler is the last player to punt and return a punt in the same game).

[Gary Najman]

In the 70's there was an Oiler who's last name was Houston.

The fact no player ever ran the wrong way like Jim Marshall it's interesting it hasn't happened to anyone else, or as far as I know.

I'm pretty sure there was a case of a guy picking off a pass and falling uncontrollably into the end zone--where a safety was then declared.

A Marshall-like moment came on the opening kickoff of the Titans-Steelers Week 1 game in 2013 when Darius Reynaud inadvertently stepped back in the end zone and downed it--for a safety.

I know there was an incident a few years back where a defensive player made a leaping catch and intercepted a bomb near the end zone at the sideline and his forward momentum carried him into the end zone he went out of bounds in the end zone and it was ruled a Safety. At the time the analyst said he figured a loophole like that in the rules would be fixed by the NFL Rules Committee as he had never seen that play before. This was about 15 years ago it happened and I don't know if it ever got addressed.

A play I remember vividly occurred in the 1985 season: Cincinnati Bengals CB Louis Breeden intercepted a Ken O'Brien pass in a game vs. the New York Jets. Jets WR Wesley Walker, the intended target, tackled Breeden in the endzone for a safety. Breeden had intercepted the ball at his own 7-yard line, but his momentum carried him to the endzone. The Jets were leading 19-13 after the play, and eventually won the game 29-20.

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/08/sport ... ttern.html

[Gary Najman]

In 1997 Minnesota Vikings QB Brad Johnson threw a TD pass to himself in a game against the Carolina Panthers. Johnson pass was batted at the line of scrimmage, so he caught the deflected ball and raced for a 3-yard TD pass.

http://www.vikings.com/media-vault/vide ... f3ad4d58cf

[Citizen]

In each of the past five years ending with a 5 (2015, 2005, 1995, 1985, 1975), the Packers' schedule included both eventual conference champions.

[ChrisBabcock]

In every year from 2006-2012, the Bills lost to the eventual NFC champion.

[Rupert Patrick]

There have been a total of 609 1,000-yard rushing seasons in pro football history according to my count.

Don Perkins has the most career rushing yards (6,217, good for 77th all time) of any runner who never rushed for 1,000 yards in a season. Ken Willard, Bill Brown and Michael Pittman are the only other ones among the top 100 in career rushing yards never to hit the 1,000 mark in a season.

If you look at the biggest one-year wonder among 1,000 year rushers, the winner has to be Steve Slaton, who rushed for 1,282 yards for the Texans in 2008. In 2009 he put on weight and started fumbling the ball and was benched early in the season, and his career never recovered. He retired in 2011 with less than 1,900 rushing yards. His 2008 season counted for nearly 68 percent of his career rushing yardage total, which I believe is the highest percentage of any 1,000-yard runner, with the exception of Joe Delaney, which was a special case.