Championship Sunday has given us our Super Bowl 50 combatants, with the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos—two top five teams this season that combined for five losses—set to meet in San Francisco.
But before we go about the business of dissect every nook and cranny of that matchup for two weeks, let’s reflect once more on the two championship games. Here are 11 stats from Sunday that impacted the outcome of each game, or are just plain weird.
523: The consecutive successful extra-point attempts by New England Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski prior to yesterday’s AFC Championship Game. The Patriots didn’t lose to Denver solely because of a missed extra point when there was nearly 47 minutes left to play. They lost because of, well, many reasons, but Gostkowski’s whiff didn’t exactly help matters.
18.1: So about those other reasons then. This was Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s first half passer rating. His rating improved during the second half, but still finished at a lowly 56.4.
20: The total hits Brady took while also getting sacked four times. Brady was hit more Sunday than any quarterback in any other game this season, according to NFL.com’s Marc Sessler.
89.1: The average pass attempts between interceptions for Brady throughout the regular season, when he threw just seven picks. He tossed two interceptions against the Broncos on 56 throws.
31: Rushing yards by Patriots running backs. Brady led all Patriots runners with 13 yards.
24: Combined rushing yards for Brady and Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning. They finished the regular season with 47 rushing yards. Manning didn’t actually contribute to that number, and instead he subtracted from it. His regular-season rushing total? Minus six yards.
2: The Patriots’ successful third-down conversion attempts. Yikes.
73: Total yards from Carolina Panthers wide receiver and kick returner Ted Ginn during just the first quarter Sunday, when his team jumped out to a quick 17-0 lead over the Arizona Cardinals.
15: The Panthers’ total plays in opposing territory during that dominant first quarter.
55-7: How much the Panthers have outscored opponents during the first half through two postseason games.
1.5: Average regular-season giveaways per game by the Cardinals offense. They were buried by seven turnovers against the Panthers.
