Sunday in Houston Super Bowl LI will take place and on the surface it looks like we’ll be treated to quite a game when it comes to the offenses of the two teams playing, the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons.
As you probably know by now, I enjoy tracking the ANY/A (adjusted net yards per passing attempt) stats both on the offensive and defensive sides of the football and when you look at the regular season numbers from all of the teams that have played in past Super Bowls, a few things stick out ahead of this year’s contest.
For starters, the regular season offensive ANY/A numbers of both the Patriots (8.5) and the Falcons (9.0) will be the two highest to ever play in a Super Bowl with the later being the greater of the two teams. If that’s not enough reason to believe that Super Bowl LI will include the football being passed all over the field at will, look at the regular season defensive ANY/A numbers for both teams. The average of the two, 6.05, will be the second-highest of any Super Bowl ever played.
Should the Falcons ultimately beat the Patriots, they’ll become the first team to win a Super Bowl with an offensive ANY/A greater than 8.5. Additionally, they’ll become the first team to win a Super Bowl with a defensive ANY/A greater than 5.9.
There’s no need to dig deeper into these numbers as I have a few ideas related to them in regard to future posts, but I think it’s easy to see why both of the quarterbacks playing on Sunday, Tom Brady and Matt Ryan, are both currently listed with identical over/under passing yard propositions of 315.5 ahead of Sunday’s game.
| SEASON | SB | WINNER | LOSER | SCORE | WIN DEF ANY/A | LOS DEF ANY/A | WINNER OFF ANY/A | LOSER OFF ANY/A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | LI | Patriots? | Falcons? | ? | 5.8 | 6.3 | 8.5 | 9.0 |
| 2015 | L | Broncos | Panthers | 24-10 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 5.1 | 7.2 |
| 2014 | XLIX | Patriots | Seahawks | 28-24 | 5.9 | 5.0 | 6.9 | 6.7 |
| 2013 | XLVIII | Seahawks | Broncos | 43-8 | 3.2 | 5.9 | 7.3 | 8.8 |
| 2012 | XLVII | Ravens | 49ers | 34-31 | 5.7 | 4.9 | 6.2 | 7.1 |
| 2011 | XLVI | Giants | Patriots | 21-17 | 5.9 | 6.4 | 7.4 | 8.3 |
| 2010 | XLV | Packers | Steelers | 31-25 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 7.2 | 7.0 |
| 2009 | XLIV | Saints | Colts | 31-17 | 4.8 | 5.0 | 8.0 | 7.1 |
| 2008 | XLIII | Steelers | Cardinals | 27-23 | 3.2 | 6.7 | 5.4 | 7.0 |
| 2007 | XLII | Giants | Patriots | 17-14 | 5.4 | 4.6 | 4.7 | 8.8 |
| 2006 | XLI | Colts | Bears | 29-17 | 5.0 | 3.9 | 7.9 | 5.1 |
| 2005 | XL | Steelers | Seahawks | 21-10 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 6.6 | 7.0 |
| 2004 | XXXIX | Patriots | Eagles | 24-21 | 4.9 | 4.6 | 6.9 | 7.1 |
| 2003 | XXXVIII | Patriots | Panthers | 32-29 | 3.3 | 4.7 | 5.8 | 5.6 |
| 2002 | XXXVII | Buccaneers | Raiders | 48-21 | 2.3 | 4.9 | 5.7 | 6.9 |
| 2001 | XXXVI | Patriots | Rams | 20-17 | 4.8 | 4.2 | 5.4 | 7.5 |
| 2000 | XXXV | Ravens | Giants | 34-7 | 3.9 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 5.8 |
| 1999 | XXXIV | Rams | Titans | 23-16 | 4.0 | 5.7 | 8.0 | 6.1 |
| 1998 | XXXIII | Broncos | Falcons | 34-19 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 7.0 | 6.9 |
| 1997 | XXXII | Broncos | Packers | 31-24 | 4.3 | 3.7 | 6.5 | 6.7 |
| 1996 | XXXI | Packers | Patriots | 35-21 | 3.1 | 4.9 | 6.6 | 5.7 |
| 1995 | XXX | Cowboys | Steelers | 27-17 | 4.9 | 4.8 | 6.9 | 5.5 |
| 1994 | XXIX | 49ers | Chargers | 49-26 | 4.5 | 5.3 | 8.1 | 5.7 |
| 1993 | XXVIII | Cowboys | Bills | 30-13 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 7.0 | 5.5 |
| 1992 | XXVII | Cowboys | Bills | 52-17 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 6.4 | 5.5 |
| 1991 | XXVI | Redskins | Bills | 37-24 | 3.3 | 4.6 | 8.3 | 6.9 |
| 1990 | XXV | Giants | Bills | 20-19 | 3.7 | 4.7 | 6.8 | 7.2 |
| 1989 | XXIV | 49ers | Broncos | 55-10 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 8.5 | 4.9 |
| 1988 | XXIII | 49ers | Bengals | 20-16 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 5.8 | 7.8 |
| 1987 | XXII | Redskins | Broncos | 42-10 | 4.6 | 3.8 | 6.4 | 5.9 |
| 1986 | XXI | Giants | Broncos | 39-20 | 4.2 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 5.6 |
| 1985 | XX | Bears | Patriots | 46-10 | 2.7 | 4.0 | 5.7 | 5.2 |
| 1984 | XIX | 49ers | Dolphins | 38-16 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 7.8 | 8.9 |
| 1983 | XVIII | Raiders | Redskins | 38-9 | 4.5 | 4.8 | 5.3 | 7.2 |
| 1982 | XVII | Redskins | Dolphins | 27-17 | 4.2 | 1.2 | 6.0 | 3.6 |
| 1981 | XVI | 49ers | Bengals | 26-21 | 3.5 | 5.1 | 6.2 | 6.9 |
| 1980 | XV | Raiders | Eagles | 27-10 | 3.6 | 3.4 | 4.5 | 7.0 |
| 1979 | XIV | Steelers | Rams | 31-19 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 5.8 | 3.5 |
| 1978 | XIII | Steelers | Cowboys | 35-31 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 5.6 | 6.0 |
| 1977 | XII | Cowboys | Broncos | 27-10 | 2.1 | 2.9 | 5.8 | 4.5 |
| 1976 | XI | Raiders | Vikings | 32-14 | 4.6 | 2.4 | 7.1 | 5.8 |
| 1975 | X | Steelers | Cowboys | 21-17 | 1.8 | 3.1 | 5.8 | 5.3 |
| 1974 | IX | Steelers | Vikings | 16-6 | 1.6 | 3.4 | 3.1 | 6.2 |
| 1973 | VIII | Dolphins | Vikings | 24-7 | 1.2 | 2.7 | 5.1 | 5.7 |
| 1972 | VII | Dolphins | Redskins | 14-7 | 2.0 | 3.2 | 6.7 | 6.6 |
| 1971 | VI | Cowboys | Dolphins | 24-3 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 6.6 | 6.1 |
| 1970 | V | Colts | Cowboys | 16-13 | 3.2 | 2.3 | 5.1 | 5.3 |
| 1969 | IV | Chiefs | Vikings | 23-7 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 4.8 | 5.0 |
| 1968 | III | Jets | Colts | 16-7 | 2.8 | 1.9 | 6.6 | 6.3 |
| 1967 | II | Packers | Raiders | 33-14 | 1.3 | 2.2 | 3.9 | 5.6 |
| 1966 | I | Packers | Chiefs | 35-10 | 1.9 | 2.9 | 7.8 | 6.8 |
