Research & Doug Week 7: Interesting football facts from Doug Franz and elsewhere

Every week as part of my show prep (and because I’m genuinely interested), I read through as many research notes I can find. Sometimes I research my own stats to see if there’s a statistical trend that backs up what I think I’m seeing when I watch games. Unfortunately for my time-efficiency, occasionally those stats show me nothing and I throw them out.

Here are the stats (or interesting tidbits) from the NFL, college football and anything else that I’m using on the show this week.

1) Josh McCown has been sacked at least four times per game in each of the last five games. –ESPN Stats & Info

2) Not Marshawn Lynch, not Le’Veon Bell, not Adrian Peterson but the NFL leader in yards after contact with 288 yards is Chris Johnson. –ESPN Stats & Info

3) Amari Cooper is the 1st rookie with 100+ yards receiving in three of his first six games since Mike Ditka in 1961. –ESPN Stats & Info

4) The most touchdown passes thrown on third down this year is six, by Carson Palmer. –ESPN Stats & Info

5) In the Patriots’ win over the Jets, New England running backs rushed for one yard. –Peter King’s MMQB

6) The most touchdown passes thrown against the blitz this year is ten, by Carson Palmer. –ESPN Stats & Info

7) Khalil Mack has as many career sacks as Jadeveon Clowney has NFL starts. –ESPN Stats & Info

8) The running back with the most runs over 45 yards this season is Todd Gurley. –@randallliu

9) This week’s NFC West showdown features the 2nd worst offense (Rams) against the worst offense in the NFL (49ers). –Tim Kawakami

10) One week before November, Ndamukong Suh registered his first sack for the Dolphins. –ESPN Stats & Info

11) When the Patriots drop back to pass on 80 percent or more of their offensive plays, they are 4-0 over the last 10 years while the 31 other teams are a combined 3-109. –ESPN Stats & Info

12) Bills quarterback E.J. Manuel fumbled for a scoop and score then threw a pick-six against Jacksonville, becoming the first quarterback to be responsible for back-to-back defensive touchdowns since…Tim Tebow in 2011. –Elias

13) Thursday night, Colin Kaepernick had zero rushing attempts for the first time in his career. –ESPN Stats & Info

14) Dwayne Harris is the first New York Giant to ever run a kickoff back for a touchdown against Dallas. –ESPN Stats & Info

15) The quarterback with the record for most consecutive completed passes in the history of the NFL is Ryan Tannehill. –Peter King’s MMQB

16) Since the firing of Joe Philbin, quarterback Ryan Tannehill is completing 83 percent of his passes. –Peter King’s MMQB

17) In Dan Campbell’s two games as Dolphins head coach, Miami has 10 sacks. They had one sack in Joe Philbin’s four games. –me

18) Philip Rivers has completed an NFL-record 215 passes in seven games. –ESPN Stats & Info

19) The Patriots have the best 50-game home record in one sample in NFL history (46-4). Strangely enough, one of those losses was to Ken Whisenhunt and the Cardinals in Whisenhunt’s last season in Arizona. –CBS game broadcast and me (with the help of Vince Marotta)

20) The Atlanta Falcons have only eight sacks in seven games. –John Clayton Inside the Huddle

21) For the first time in NFL history, there are five 6-0 teams. –NFL Press Release

22) Only four players have rushed for 600 yards and nine touchdowns in the first seven games of a season before their 24th birthday: Emmitt Smith, Eric Dickerson, Jim Brown did it twice and Falcons running back Devonta Freeman. –NFL Press Release

23) Washington’s 24-point deficit is the largest overcome in a victory in Redskins’ history. –NFL Press Release

24) Against Tampa Bay, Kirk Cousins became the only Redskins quarterback to throw for 300 yards, three TDs and no interceptions this century. –ESPN Stats & Info

25) The Saints’ Mark Ingram rushed for an NFL season-high 144 yards on first down against Indianapolis but had -1 yard on all other downs. –ESPN Stats & Info

26) Teddy Bridgewater went 8-for-9 for 142 yards and a touchdown on play fakes. –ESPN Stats & Info

27) Ben Roethlisberger has thrown two interceptions in the same game on targets to Antonio Brown once in 68 games while Landry Jones has done it once in two games. –ESPN Stats & Info

28) The player with the most rushing yards AFTER contact in a game is Todd Gurley with 97 against Cleveland. –ESPN Stats & Info

29) Under Dan Campbell, the Dolphins have doubled the number of running plays per game and TRIPLED (69/ypg to 214/ypg) the output. –ESPN Stats & Info

30) New England went with an empty backfield 12 times in the fourth quarter against the Jets and Tom Brady completed 10 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown. –ESPN Stats & Info

31) Carolina had five sacks in their first five games when rushing only four and sacked Sam Bradford five times when rushing only four on Sunday. –ESPN Stats & Info

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