Mike Reiss brought up one of the Patriots most impossible and infamous stats to Bill Belichick yesterday, that the Patriots had yet to score a point in the first quarter of any of their seven Super Bowl appearances. Belichick scoffed even though the players said last year he was all over them about getting off to a fast start against the Falcons, which of course did not happen.
For as remarkable as the Patriots’ dominance since the early 2000s has been to never have scored a point out of the gate is just as remarkable and it’s hard to even guess why. The team has run the gamut from a defense-first squad to an unstoppable offensive one, but it never made a difference. Here are the Pats’ overall stats from Super Bowl first quarters:
| Play Results | Play Type | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tm | G | Plays | ToGo | Yds | 1st% | TO% | TD | FG | 1D | Int | Fum | Sack | Pass | Rush | Punt | FG |
| NYG | 2 | 18 | 8.00 | 5.17 | 33.3% | .0% | 6 | 11 | 7 | |||||||
| PHI | 1 | 15 | 8.07 | 3.00 | 6.7% | .0% | 1 | 7 | 5 | 3 | ||||||
| SEA | 1 | 20 | 7.10 | 3.75 | 25.0% | 5.0% | 5 | 1 | 11 | 8 | 1 | |||||
| CAR | 1 | 19 | 9.11 | 4.68 | 15.8% | .0% | 3 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| STL | 1 | 11 | 7.36 | 4.55 | 18.2% | .0% | 2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | ||||||
| ATL | 1 | 17 | 9.24 | 4.24 | 23.5% | .0% | 4 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 2 | |||||
| Totals | 7 | 100 | 8.18 | 4.24 | 21.0% | 1.0% | 0 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 53 | 36 | 10 | 1 |
| Pct | 7% | 0% | 0% | 21% | 1% | 0% | 2% | 53% | 36% | 10% | 1% | |||||
Yes, there was that one field goal miss. Or how about that they only gave up sacks to the Falcons? And yeah, it’s a bit scary that the Eagles gave them the hardest time moving the ball. Throw in the safety against the Giants in SB46 and things are even more miserable, they’re -2 points!
Let’s compare to how things have looked in the fourth quarters, where Tom Brady has put forth some of the most epic comebacks in league history:
| Play Results | Play Type | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tm | G | Plays | ToGo | Yds | 1st% | TO% | TD | FG | 1D | Int | Fum | Sack | Pass | Rush | Punt | FG | XP | 2PR | 2PP |
| NYG | 2 | 45 | 8.73 | 3.71 | 28.9% | 2.2% | 1 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 35 | 6 | 3 | 1 | |||||
| PHI | 1 | 21 | 6.24 | 4.14 | 23.8% | .0% | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| SEA | 1 | 25 | 7.20 | 4.92 | 40.0% | .0% | 2 | 10 | 1 | 16 | 6 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| CAR | 1 | 30 | 7.50 | 7.23 | 36.7% | 3.3% | 2 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 19 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| STL | 1 | 17 | 7.65 | 6.71 | 23.5% | .0% | 1 | 4 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||||||
| ATL | 1 | 30 | 8.20 | 6.70 | 40.0% | .0% | 2 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 24 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Totals | 7 | 168 | 7.77 | 5.41 | 32.7% | 1.2% | 8 | 4 | 55 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 109 | 39 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| Pct | 4.2% | 4.8% | 2.4% | 32.7% | 1.2% | 0% | 3.6% | 64.9% | 23.2% | 4.8% | 2.4% | 3% | 1.2% | 0.6% | |||||
I can pretty much remember every one of those 12 scores from memory. And while the Pats grew even more pass-heavy, outside of when they had Corey Dillon, and their sacks and turnovers went up, punts were cut in half; this is where they won all five of their Super Bowls. The first down numbers show how much better they moved the ball: 21 in 1st quarters vs. 55 in 4th quarters.
But of course it’s the points that tell the story — 0 vs. 68.
I know the Pats have announced white jerseys, but when does the Hoodie announce his attire and we can compare that choices plus white jerseys plus playing on turf and analyze those first quarter points? 😉
Actually, what would be a good and interesting comparison is reviewing the SB’s to all other playoff game 1st quarters with home and road splits.