In honor of Super Bowl LV, senior analyst Michael Fabiano highlights 55 fun Super Bowl facts with a fantasy twist!
It's Super Bowl week! Will Patrick Mahomes take home his second straight title, or will Tom Brady win his seventh Lombardi Trophy? It's going to be a lot of fun to watch, to be certain. The Super Bowl has a long and storied history, of course, and I love looking at the statistical side as it pertains to, what else, fantasy points. But first, here's a few fun facts about the greatest sporting event on the planet.
Did you know that a single ticket to Super Bowl I between the Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers cost fans as little as $6 to attend? What's more, the game didn't sell out! The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that Super Bowl Sunday is the "second-largest food consumption day" behind only Thanksgiving. Last year, a Bloomberg report suggested more than 75 million pounds of avocado shipped across the border the week of January 19 due to the Super Bowl.
That's a lot of guacamole!
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There's only been one player named the Super Bowl MVP who didn't play for the winning team. That was Dallas Cowboys LB Chuck Howley, who won the award despite his team losing to the Baltimore Colts, 16-13, in Super Bowl V. The fewest points scored by a team in a Super Bowl is three, by the Miami Dolphins in a 24-3 loss to the Cowboys in Super Bowl VI and by the Los Angeles Rams in a 13-3 loss to Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII.
There's never been a shutout in a Super Bowl.
In 1983, almost 106 million people watched the final episode of M*A*S*H, making it the most-watched television show in the history of America. That record was broken by Super Bowl XLIV, as 106.5 million viewers watched the New Orleans Saints defeat the Indianapolis Colts. Super Bowl XLIX is the most-watched Super Bowl, as the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots played in front of 114.4 million people.
To commemorate Super Bowl LV, here are 55 fun fantasy facts for the Super Bowl!
QUARTERBACKS
1. Three players have scored 100+ combined fantasy points in Super Bowls: Brady (172.5), Jerry Rice (141.4), and Joe Montana (112.2). Roger Craig, who has 85 fantasy points in three Super Bowls, is a distant fourth.
2. The most fantasy points scored by a quarterback in a single Super Bowl game was Steve Young, who threw for 325 yards, rushed for 49 yards, and threw six touchdown passes in a win over the San Diego Chargers (Super Bowl XXIX). He finished with 41.9 fantasy points.
3. Brady has scored 20+ fantasy points in four Super Bowls, the most in NFL history. Only four other players have done so more than twice, including Rice, Montana, Craig, and Kurt Warner. Each of them has hit the 20-point mark three times.
4. Brady has thrown for 18 career touchdowns in Super Bowls, the most in NFL history. The only other signal-caller with double-digit touchdown passes is Montana (11).
5. Brady has played in more than twice as many Super Bowls (10, including Super Bowl LV) as Montana (4).
6. Brady set the Super Bowl record for the most passing yards in a single game with 505 in Super Bowl LII. That broke the record of 466 yards he set the previous season in Super Bowl LI.
7. Brady has thrown for 300+ yards in four different Super Bowls, the most in NFL history. The only other player to do so more than twice is Warner, who reached that mark three times in his three Super Bowl appearances.
8. Brady has thrown for 2,838 yards in Super Bowls, the most in NFL history. Not only does he hold the record, but he has more than double the yardage of any other quarterback. Warner is second (1,156).
9. Brady attempted 62 passes in Super Bowl LI, the most ever in a Super Bowl.
10. On the flip side, another Patriots signal-caller, Tony Eason, attempted just six passes in Super Bowl XX. That's the fewest ever by a starting quarterback in the championship game. Eason was benched in favor of Steve Grogan after failing to complete his first six passes while being sacked three times and losing a fumble.
11. Despite playing in nine Super Bowls, Brady has thrown just six interceptions. John Elway (8), Jim Kelly (7), and Craig Morton (7) have all thrown more in Super Bowls.
12. Morton completed 4-of-15 passes for 39 yards and threw four interceptions on his way to a 0.0 passer rating against the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XII. That's the worst ever recorded by a starting quarterback.
13. Morton's -6.44 points is the fewest by a starting quarterback in a Super Bowl.
14. In five Super Bowl appearances, Elway had three touchdown passes and eight interceptions. However, he did rush for four touchdowns, including one in four of his five championship games.
15. No quarterback has more combined rushing yards in the Super Bowl than Montana (105). Elway is second on the list with 86 yards.
16. The quarterback with the most rushing yards in a Super Bowl game is Steve McNair. He rushed for 64 yards against the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV.
17. Phil Simms completed 22 of 25 passes against the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXI, which was good for an 88.0 completion percent. That's the highest in a Super Bowl in NFL history. His 150.9 passer rating in that contest is the highest ever by a starting quarterback in a Super Bowl.
18. Drew Brees, who had an 82.1 completion percentage in Super Bowl XLIV, is the only other field general to finish a Super Bowl with a completion percentage over 80 (min. 10 pass attempts).
19. Peyton Manning scored 3.6 fantasy points in Super Bowl 50. That is the fewest points scored by a winning quarterback in the big game. He finished 13 of 23 with 141 passing yards, no touchdowns, and one interception.
20. Cam Newton was sacked six times in Super Bowl 50, which tied Joe Theismann (Super Bowl XVIII) for the most times a quarterback has been sacked in a Super Bowl.
21. Kelly threw 30 incompletions against the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XXVI, the most in NFL history. No other quarterback has thrown more than 25 incompletions in a Super Bowl.
22. Nick Foles is the lone player in NFL history to throw a touchdown pass and catch a touchdown pass in the same Super Bowl. His catch was on a 1-yard pass from Trey Burton ("The Philly Special") in Super Bowl LII.
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RUNNING BACKS
23. Only two non-quarterbacks have scored more than 40 fantasy points in a Super Bowl. One was Rice, who scored 43.9 points in Super Bowl XXIX. The other was James White! He had 14 catches, 139 total yards, three touchdowns, and a Super Bowl record 47.9 points in the Patriots' 34-28 comeback win over the Falcons.
24. White also holds the record for the most receptions by a running back in a Super Bowl game (Super Bowl LI - 14). Another Patriots running back, Shane Vereen, is second on the list. He had 11 catches in Super Bowl XLIX.
25. Craig has scored the most fantasy points (85) in Super Bowls among running backs. He had 20 catches, 410 scrimmage yards, and four touchdowns in his three appearances.
26. Thurman Thomas put up 30 fantasy points in Super Bowl XXV, which is the most by a running back in a loss in Super Bowl history. He appeared in four Super Bowls during his career, racking up a combined 20 catches, 348 scrimmage yards (fifth-most in the Super Bowl), and four touchdowns.
27. The lone running back to score more career touchdowns in the Super Bowl than Thomas is Emmitt Smith. He had five total touchdowns in three appearances.
28. Franco Harris compiled a combined 354 career rushing yards in four Super Bowls, the most in NFL history. He's the only runner with more than 300 career yards on the ground on the NFL's grandest stage.
29. The next-closest running back in career Super Bowl rushing yards is Larry Csonka (297). Emmitt Smith ranks third all-time with 289 rushing yards.
30. Smith is the lone player to score multiple rushing touchdowns in multiple Super Bowls (2). He put up 11 catches in three career appearances, over 300 scrimmage yards, and five rushing touchdowns.
31. Smith, Csonka, and Terrell Davis are the only backs in Super Bowl history to rush for 100+ yards in multiple Super Bowls. They each did it twice.
32. Davis is the only player in Super Bowl history to ever rush for three touchdowns in a single game. He accomplished that feat in Super Bowl XXXII.
33. Timmy Smith has rushed for more yards in a Super Bowl than any running back in NFL history, putting up 204 yards in Super Bowl XXII.
34. Timmy Smith is also the only running back in NFL history to ever rush for 200+ yards in a single Super Bowl contest.
35. The next closest player was Marcus Allen, who had 191 rushing yards for the Los Angeles Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII.
36. Smith's 204 rushing yards are tied for the sixth-most all-time in Super Bowl games. The six running backs ahead of him, Harris (354), Csonka (297), E. Smith (289), Davis (259), John Riggins (230), and Thurman Thomas (204).
37. All of those running backs played in multiple Super Bowl games. Timmy Smith played in just one.
38. The top 15 performances among running backs in terms of the most rushing yards in a Super Bowl includes just three players from the last 20 years. Michael Pittman (124 yards - Super Bowl XXXVII), Dominic Rhodes (113 yards – Super Bowl XLI), and Thomas Jones (112 yards – Super Bowl XLI) all rank in the top 15.
39. Just one of those performances, Pittman's 124 rushing yards, ranks in the top 10. The other nine performances were all in 1997 or later. None of the top four rushing performances have come in the past 30 seasons.
40. The Super Bowl record for the longest rush came in Super Bowl XL when Willie Parker busted a 75-yard touchdown versus the Seattle Seahawks. His 13.5 fantasy points on that run are the most recorded on a single rushing play in Super Bowl history.
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WIDE RECEIVERS & TIGHT ENDS
41. Rice had 589 career receiving yards in Super Bowls, the most in NFL history. The next closest receiver is Lynn Swann, with 364 yards. That's 225 fewer yards.
42. Rice ranks second in fantasy points in Super Bowls, just 31.1 points behind Brady. Think about that--Brady has played in five more Super Bowls, he's a quarterback, and he's only 31 fantasy points ahead of what Rice did in Super Bowls.
43. Rice scored 39 or more fantasy points in each of his first three Super Bowls. In all, he averaged 35.4 fantasy points in his four appearances. That's more points than all but what 12 players have scored combined in Super Bowls.
44. Wide receivers have scored 30+ fantasy points in a Super Bowl seven times in 54 games. Rice did it three times. The four others are Ricky Sanders (39.9 points), Larry Fitzgerald (31.7), Antonio Freeman (31.6), and Deion Branch (30.3).
45. Rice is the only player in NFL history with 100+ receiving yards in three different Super Bowls. Branch, Freeman, John Stallworth, Julian Edelman, and Swann are the only other players to hit that mark in multiple Super Bowls, doing it twice.
46. Rice posted 215 receiving yards in Super Bowl XXIII, the most ever in a Super Bowl. It's the lone 200+ receiving yard performance in the big game in NFL history.
47. Since 2000, just one wideout has topped 150 receiving yards in a single Super Bowl: Danny Amendola. He had 152 against the Eagles in Super Bowl LII.
48. Andre Reed was part of four Super Bowl teams in Buffalo, finishing with a combined 27 catches. That's the second-most among wideouts in Super Bowl history. Reed didn't score a single touchdown in a Super Bowl, however.
49. Five different Patriots wideouts are among the top seven receivers in combined Super Bowl receptions. Branch (24) and Edelman (24) are tied for third, Amendola (21) is fifth, Wes Welker (18) is fifth, and Troy Brown (16) is tied for seventh.
50. The record for the most catches by a wide receiver in a single Super Bowl game is held by Demaryius Thomas, who had 13 catches in Super Bowl XLVIII.
51. The single-game record for the most receiving yards per catch among Super Bowl wideouts with at least three catches is 40.3. That record is held by teammates Swann (Super Bowl XIV) and Stallworth (Super Bowl X). Stallworth also put up an average of 38.3 yards per catch in Super Bowl XIII.
52. Rob Gronkowski has the most combined receptions (23), receiving yards (297), touchdowns (3), and fantasy points (70.7) among tight ends in Super Bowl history. He's also tied for the most Super Bowl appearances from a tight end (4).
53. The other tight ends with four appearances are Don Warren, Pete Metzelaars, Keith McKeller, and Randy Grossman. Those players have scored a combined 48.4 fantasy points or 22.3 fewer points than Gronkowski alone.
54. The tight end with the most fantasy points in a single Super Bowl game isn't Gronkowski, Jay Novacek, or Zach Ertz. It's Dan Ross. He put up 11 catches for 104 yards with two touchdowns and finished with 33.4 fantasy points for the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI.
55. Burton's touchdown pass to Foles, which will forever be known as the "Philly Special," was not the first time a non-quarterback threw a touchdown pass in a Super Bowl. Fullback Robert Newhouse, running back Lawrence McCutcheon, and wide receiver Antwaan Randle-El have also done it in the big game.
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Michael Fabiano is an award-winning fantasy football analyst on Sports Illustrated and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) Hall of Fame. You can follow Michael on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram for all of the latest breaking fantasy football news and the best analysis in the business!
