C Jeff Christy and his former Vikings teammate, G Randall McDaniel, are an unusual pair
A prominent story on the main page of this site, which is open to all comers, mentions an interesting stat involving Head Coach Tony Dungy.
It seems that the Bucs' first 70 games under Dungy have been unusually low-scoring on both sides. In fact, the 34.8 points scored per contest in all Tampa Bay games since 1996 is the second-lowest under any head coach that has debuted in the last 60 years.
That type of research is possible by only the Elias Sports Bureau, the official stats-keeper of the National Football League. The holding house for every stat generated on the field each week, it is also home to a huge NFL database that allows for the generation of some interesting statistics.
In partnership with ESPN, Elias compiles a sheet of often obscure stats for the production crews of Thursday and Sunday night games. With the Bucs facing Detroit last Thursday night, that meant a look inside what makes Tampa Bay's franchise tick.
Perhaps you heard some of these notes mentioned during Thursday's broadcast, perhaps you didn't. Here's a look at some interesting Elias notes concerning the Buccaneers.
· Randall McDaniel and Jeff Christy are the first pair of offensive linemen since the AFL-NFL merger to each make the Pro Bowl one season and then each not return to the same team the next year. McDaniel started his 11th consecutive Pro Bowl (a league record) last year, while Christy has started the past two all-star games. Those two are also just the second pair of offensive linemen to start regularly with one team in one season and then reunite as starters on another team the following season. · New England, Detroit and Chicago can apparently make late-January vacation plans. No team that has lost to the Buccaneers during the regular season has ever gone on to win the Super Bowl that season. Of course, the Bucs could be eliminated by the same logic, as that fact is true of only one other NFL team that has played at least seven seasons: the New York Jets. · Heading into this week's games, the Bucs' 52 points scored off turnovers was second in the NFL to Denver's 58. Unfortunately, the Buccaneers did not generate a single takeaway against Detroit on Thursday, while the Lions turned four Buc turnovers into 13 points. · Heading into Thursday's game, the Buccaneer defense had forced 'three-and-outs' on almost half of their opponents' possessions. Buc foes had been held without a first down on 46.3% of their possessions, the highest percentage in the NFL. Sure enough, six of Detroit's 13 possessions on Thursday night failed to gain a first down. Unfortunately, only one of the Lions' last five drives fell into that category. · The Bucs' rushing load continues to be evenly split between Mike Alstott and Warrick Dunn. Alstott and Dunn are each averaging over 10 carries per game, which is in line with the last three seasons. Those two are just the third pair of teammates in NFL history to each average 10 or more carries per game for three consecutive seasons. Larry Brown and Charlie Harraway of the Washington Redskins are the only previous pair to do it four years in a row, from 1969-72.
