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If it’s 30-3, it should be football
Cold, Hard Football Facts for August 23, 2007
By Jonathan Comey
Cold, Hard Football Facts home-run king
The Texas Rangers scored 30 runs on Wednesday, setting a Major League Baseball modern-era record in the process.
Well, call us crazy, but we see "30-3" in a score line, and our thoughts turn to football.
The average baseball team scores around 4.5 runs a game. So, scoring 30 is 6.67 times the average. With NFL teams averaging about 20 a game, a team would have to score 133 points to be that far out of whack.
Even if you played Super Nintendo Tecmo Bowl with the 49ers on the easy level and threw to Jerry Rice on every play, 133 points would be pretty tough to come by. Figure on 16 touchdowns (15 two-point conversions, 1 extra point) and 2 field goals.
Could a team conceivably score 18 times in a game?
Well, Georgia Tech beat tiny Cumberland 222-0 back in 1916, so it's possible. There are about 120 offensive plays in any given game, plus returns, and if you were just on fire, it could happen. If the Colts were playing against a bunch of replacement players – and nursing some kind of grudge – they could probably run up 10-12 scores.
The Redskins beat the Giants 72-41 in 1966, the highest-scoring game in NFL history. With a total of 113 points, they were only three TDs away from topping the elusive 133-point mark. Of course, all of the points would have to be one team's or another's to match the type of output produced by these 2007 Texas Rangers.
The last great scoring game in the NFL came between two unlikely foes – Cleveland and Cincinnati – in 2004. Final score: Bengals 58, Browns 48.
The Bengals were 10th in the league in scoring that year, but the Browns were 27th. They averaged 15.2 points a game in their other 15 games and were coming off a 10-7 loss to the Jets. The next week, Butch Davis stepped down and was replaced by offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie.
Speaking of well-earned promotions, in giving up 30 runs, the Baltimore Orioles seemed to be saying a heartfelt "screw you" to interim manager Dave Tremblay. The 30-3 loss came hours after it was announced he'd be back to manage the team in 2008.
Way to go, O's.
Back to football. Not only is 30 a lot of runs to score in a baseball game, it's a lot of points to score in a football game.
Consider:
- The Chargers led the NFL in scoring last year, but only topped 30 points in 7 of 16 games.
- 30 points would have been enough to win 20 of the 41 Super Bowls (and send a 21st to overtime).
- The Texans have never scored 30 points in a game during their five-year existence.
- In losing 22 of their last 25 games, the Raiders haven't scored 30 points once – in fact, they haven't even scored 24+ points once.
- Tiki Barber had 2,127 yards from scrimmage in 2006, 32nd-most ever, but scored just 30 points (five touchdowns).
- Only 22 teams in NFL history have averaged 30 points a game or better for a season.
- Only 12 teams in NFL history have allowed 30 points or more a game for a season.
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