Patriots, Cowboys rocketing toward 500-point club
Scripps Howard News Service
Saturday, November 24, 2007
There are only 10 members in professional football's 500 club. Yes, just 10 teams have played enough pedal-mashed-to-the-floor offense in a season to have scored 500 points since divisional play began in 1933.
And yet, two more are set to join one of the league's more exclusive historic clubs.
The Dallas Cowboys, at 32.5 points a game, are on pace for 520 points this season. They have outscored their opponents by 137 points, are 4-0 in their division, 7-0 in NFC games and have no reasons remaining on the schedule that they won't reach the 500-point mark.
That's one.
And the second? Well, two is a whole different deal this time around.
Because the New England Patriots are averaging 41.1 points per game and are on pace to score an astounding 658 points, which would shatter the current single-season record for points (556, by the 1998 Minnesota Vikings) by 102.
At the moment, the Patriots have no losses, and with wins against Dallas and Indianapolis already in hand, they might not have any challengers, either.
They have piled the points on so high already this season that the Patriots must average only 24.2 per game in their last six to set the league's single-season record.
For those who pursue points, 500 has always been sort of a diamond-studded standard. And of the 10 teams to cross the threshold, Mike Shanahan has called the plays for two of them -- the '94 San Francisco 49ers with 505 points and the '98 Denver Broncos with 501.
"Sure, it's a milestone you shoot for, and you've done a lot if you make it -- it's a good goal," Shanahan said. "You look back in history, and it can be difficult to do. A lot of things have to happen, and you have to make the most of your chances.
"But your offense has done something if you make it to 500."
And while the scoreboard often settles almost any and all arguments each season, the 500 club hasn't always translated into championships.
Of the 10 teams to reach 500 points, only four won the NFL title that year, and that includes the 1961 Houston Oilers, who scored 513 points on the way to the American Football League championship. Those four champions include the '94 49ers and '98 Broncos.
"Beyond the championships, because that's what you really want, what you're working for, but beyond that, I think what I'm most proud of is we ended up with 600 (points) with that 49ers team, with the playoffs added on," Shanahan said.
"That year, we probably didn't play the starters in most of the fourth quarters and even some of the third, in some games."
That 49ers team, with Hall of Famer Steve Young at quarterback, Ricky Watters in the backfield and Jerry Rice on the outside, roared through the postseason, winning games 44-15, 38-28 and 49-26. That gave them a regular season/playoff total of 636 to go with the Lombardi Trophy.
"I think, sometimes, you have to score early if you're going to do it," Shanahan said. "Or be in some close games, because when we got up with either of those teams, we sat down most of the starters."
Arguments over the "best" of anything are usually a mixture of fact and memories, of numbers and romance. But the arguments over the highest-powered offenses often begin with the 500 club.
There is one notable exception, however. The 1950 Los Angeles Rams set 22 league records on the way to 466 points that year. That's 466 points in 12 games. With Norm Van Brocklin and Bob Waterfield at quarterback and Tom Fears at wide receiver, those Rams had five players each score at least seven touchdowns.
They scored at least 40 points six times that season, topped 50 points three times and topped 60 points twice.
However, they lost to the Cleveland Browns in the NFL title game, so all they had accomplished drifted off into the amnesia of second place.
Still, their 38.8 points-per-game average in the regular season is the highest since divisional play began.
The highest, that is, until this year's Patriots started cleaning the rest of the league off the bottoms of their shoes.
The Patriots have all kinds of history waiting for them, including an opportunity for an undefeated season and a chance to put the league's scoring record where the next in line for it might be decades away.
The question will be what they want to do. They are already five games up in their division with six to play. They are two wins ahead of the Colts for home-field advantage in the AFC and have already beaten the Colts head to head.
The Patriots could sit regulars or keep on playing them -- they could back it down or keep right on stacking touchdowns without regard for anyone's feelings or risk of injury.
But, in the end, the point is always points, and it's probably just a question of how many of them the Patriots would like to score.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
There are only 10 members in professional football's 500 club. Yes, just 10 teams have played enough pedal-mashed-to-the-floor offense in a season to have scored 500 points since divisional play began in 1933.
And yet, two more are set to join one of the league's more exclusive historic clubs.
The Dallas Cowboys, at 32.5 points a game, are on pace for 520 points this season. They have outscored their opponents by 137 points, are 4-0 in their division, 7-0 in NFC games and have no reasons remaining on the schedule that they won't reach the 500-point mark.
That's one.
And the second? Well, two is a whole different deal this time around.
Because the New England Patriots are averaging 41.1 points per game and are on pace to score an astounding 658 points, which would shatter the current single-season record for points (556, by the 1998 Minnesota Vikings) by 102.
At the moment, the Patriots have no losses, and with wins against Dallas and Indianapolis already in hand, they might not have any challengers, either.
They have piled the points on so high already this season that the Patriots must average only 24.2 per game in their last six to set the league's single-season record.
For those who pursue points, 500 has always been sort of a diamond-studded standard. And of the 10 teams to cross the threshold, Mike Shanahan has called the plays for two of them -- the '94 San Francisco 49ers with 505 points and the '98 Denver Broncos with 501.
"Sure, it's a milestone you shoot for, and you've done a lot if you make it -- it's a good goal," Shanahan said. "You look back in history, and it can be difficult to do. A lot of things have to happen, and you have to make the most of your chances.
"But your offense has done something if you make it to 500."
And while the scoreboard often settles almost any and all arguments each season, the 500 club hasn't always translated into championships.
Of the 10 teams to reach 500 points, only four won the NFL title that year, and that includes the 1961 Houston Oilers, who scored 513 points on the way to the American Football League championship. Those four champions include the '94 49ers and '98 Broncos.
"Beyond the championships, because that's what you really want, what you're working for, but beyond that, I think what I'm most proud of is we ended up with 600 (points) with that 49ers team, with the playoffs added on," Shanahan said.
"That year, we probably didn't play the starters in most of the fourth quarters and even some of the third, in some games."
That 49ers team, with Hall of Famer Steve Young at quarterback, Ricky Watters in the backfield and Jerry Rice on the outside, roared through the postseason, winning games 44-15, 38-28 and 49-26. That gave them a regular season/playoff total of 636 to go with the Lombardi Trophy.
"I think, sometimes, you have to score early if you're going to do it," Shanahan said. "Or be in some close games, because when we got up with either of those teams, we sat down most of the starters."
Arguments over the "best" of anything are usually a mixture of fact and memories, of numbers and romance. But the arguments over the highest-powered offenses often begin with the 500 club.
There is one notable exception, however. The 1950 Los Angeles Rams set 22 league records on the way to 466 points that year. That's 466 points in 12 games. With Norm Van Brocklin and Bob Waterfield at quarterback and Tom Fears at wide receiver, those Rams had five players each score at least seven touchdowns.
They scored at least 40 points six times that season, topped 50 points three times and topped 60 points twice.
However, they lost to the Cleveland Browns in the NFL title game, so all they had accomplished drifted off into the amnesia of second place.
Still, their 38.8 points-per-game average in the regular season is the highest since divisional play began.
The highest, that is, until this year's Patriots started cleaning the rest of the league off the bottoms of their shoes.
The Patriots have all kinds of history waiting for them, including an opportunity for an undefeated season and a chance to put the league's scoring record where the next in line for it might be decades away.
The question will be what they want to do. They are already five games up in their division with six to play. They are two wins ahead of the Colts for home-field advantage in the AFC and have already beaten the Colts head to head.
The Patriots could sit regulars or keep on playing them -- they could back it down or keep right on stacking touchdowns without regard for anyone's feelings or risk of injury.
But, in the end, the point is always points, and it's probably just a question of how many of them the Patriots would like to score.
posted by The Gryphon at 11:00 AM
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