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55 facts & tidbits from Super Bowl history

SUPER-BOWL-LV-LOGO

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – To commemorate Super Bowl LV, we bring you 55 facts and tidbits about Super Bowls, the Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and, of course, the Giants.

I – Kansas City is 2-1 in Super Bowls, losing to Green Bay in the first AFC-NFC Championship Game following the 1966 season and defeating Minnesota in Super Bowl IV and San Francisco last year. A Chiefs victory will make them the 10th franchise with at least three Super Bowl victories. Tampa Bay won in its only previous appearance, defeating the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII 18 years ago.

II - Kansas City, which defeated the 49ers (31-20) in Super Bowl LIV, seeks to join Green Bay, Miami, Pittsburgh (twice), San Francisco, Dallas, Denver and New England as franchises that have won consecutive Super Bowls and the first since the Patriots triumphed in Super Bowls XXXVIII and XXXIX, the latter 16 years ago. Those were the second and third of Tom Brady's six Super Bowl victories as the Patriots' quarterback. Brady is completing his first season with Tampa Bay. The second of the back-to-back victories was against Philadelphia, then coached by Andy Reid, who now leads the Chiefs.

III - This is the fifth Super Bowl to be played in Tampa. The Giants played in two of the first four.

Tampa Stadium

  • Super Bowl XVIII: Oakland 38, Washington 9 on Jan. 22, 1984
  • Super Bowl XXV: Giants 20, Buffalo 19 on Jan. 27, 1991

Raymond James Stadium

  • Super Bowl XXXV: Baltimore Ravens 34, Giants 7 on Jan. 28, 2001
  • Super Bowl XLIII: Pittsburgh 27, Cardinals 23 on Feb. 1, 2009

IV – The team with the most total yards is 41-13 in Super Bowls.

V - The Giants are 4-1 in Super Bowls. Their .800 winning percentage ties them with the Green Bay Packers for the highest among the 17 franchises that have played in at least three Super Bowls. The Giants are one of six franchises to win at least four Super Bowls. In their five Super Bowls, the Giants scored 104 points and allowed 104 points.

VI - At 68 years and 127 days, Tampa Bay's Bruce Arians will be the second-oldest head coach in Super Bowl history – and would be the oldest winner if the Buccaneers prevail. The only older coach was Marv Levy, who was 68 years, 180 days when his Buffalo Bills lost their fourth consecutive Super Bowl following the 1993 season.

VII - Reid will be 62 years, 325 days on Sunday. He will become the sixth-oldest Super Bowl coach and would move ahead of Seattle's Pete Carroll to become the fourth-oldest winning coach if the Chiefs triumph again.

Oldest Winning Super Bowl Coaches

  • Bill Belichick New England LIII 66 years, 293 days
  • Tom Coughlin Giants XLVI 65 years, 158 days
  • Dick Vermeil St. Louis XXXIV 63 years, 92 days
  • Pete Carroll Seattle XLVIII 62 years, 140 days
  • Andy Reid Kansas City LIV 61 years, 320 days

VIII - If Kansas City is victorious, Reid will become the oldest head coach to win back-to-back Super Bowl championships, surpassing legendary Pro Football Hall of Famer Vince Lombardi, who was 54 when the Packers beat Oakland in Super Bowl II. Reid would be the 14th head coach in NFL history to win multiple Super Bowls. Two of them – Bill Parcells and Tom Coughlin - won a pair of Super Bowls with the Giants. Reid would be the seventh head coach to win back to back, joining Lombardi, Don Shula, Chuck Noll (twice), Jimmy Johnson, Mike Shanahan and Belichick. All but Shanahan are in the Hall of Fame.

IX - Arians and Reid will be a combined 131 years, 87 days, which is the oldest coaching matchup in Super Bowl history. The previous mark was in Super Bowl XLIX six years ago, which matched Carroll (63 years, 139 days) against Belichick (62 years, 291 days) – a combined 126 years, 65 days.

X - Tom Brady will play in his 10th Super Bowl, which is four more than any other player (Mike Lodish and Stephen Gostkowski, six each). A Tampa Bay victory would be Brady's seventh in the Super Bowl, extending the mark for the most ever by player; Charles Haley is second with five.

XI – The team with most rushing yards is 40-13 in Super Bowls (New England and Atlanta each had 104 yards on the ground in Super Bowl LI).

XII - Brady will become the oldest player to play in a Super Bowl at 43 years, 192 days.

Oldest Super Bowl Players

  • Tom Brady, Tampa Bay (LV) - 43 years, 192 days
  • Matt Stover, Indianapolis (XLIV) - 42 years, 11 days
  • Jeff Feagles, New York Giants (XLII) - 41 years, 333 days
  • Matt Bryant, Atlanta (LI) - 41 years, 252 days
  • Mike Horan, St. Louis (XXXIV) - 40 years, 363 days

The final four players on the list have Giants connections (technically, so does Brady, who lost two Super Bowls to the Giants). Stover was a 12th-round draft choice in 1990 by the Giants, but never played for the team. He did, however, play 19 seasons for Cleveland/Baltimore and Indianapolis and his 2,004 points are the sixth-highest total in NFL history. Feagles (2003-09) and Horan (1993-96) were Giants punters and Bryant was the team's kicker in 2002-03.

XIII - The Chiefs won at Tampa Bay, 27-24, on Nov. 29 (but the Bucs lead the regular-season series, 7-6, and have not lost since that game). This is the 14th Super Bowl that is a rematch of a regular-season game. Teams that won the first game are 6-7 in the Super Bowl rematch. The Giants are an NFL-best 4-0 in rematch Super Bowls. They defeated Denver in 1986 and New England in 2011 and lost to Buffalo in 1990 and the Patriots in 2007 in the regular season but won the rematches with the Lombardi Trophy on the line. New England is the only other franchise to play four Super Bowls against teams it met in the regular season. The Patriots are 1-3 in both the regular season games (beating the Giants in 2007 and losing to them in 2011, Chicago in 1985 and St. Louis in 2001) and the Super Bowls (losing to the Giants in 2007 and 2011, the Bears in 1985 and beating the Rams in 2001).

XIV - The Super Bowl series is tied in number of wins: AFC 27, NFC 27.

XV - Last month, Tampa Bay cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting became the fourth player in the Super Bowl era with an interception in each of his first three career postseason games. Two of the others are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Aeneas Williams and Ed Reed. The third played for the Giants. Jason Sehorn intercepted passes in the 1997 NFL Wild Card Game vs. Minnesota, the 2000 NFC Divisional Playoff against Philadelphia (when he famously tipped the ball in the air, jumped off the ground to catch it, and scored on a 32-yard return) and in the NFC Championship Game vs. the Vikings. He did not have a pick in Super Bowl XXXV, but did in the Giants' next postseason contest, the 2002 Wild Card Game in San Francisco, to give him interceptions in four of his first five playoff games.

XVI - Brady will join Peyton Manning, Craig Morton and Kurt Warner as the only quarterbacks to start a Super Bowl for two franchises. Morton (1974-76) and Warner (2004) each played for the Giants but not in a Super Bowl. Morton started for Dallas against the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl V and Denver vs. the Cowboys in Super Bowl XII, losing both. Warner won Super Bowl XXXIV with the Rams against Tennessee but lost two years later to New England as Brady won the first of his six titles. He also started for Arizona in Super Bowl XLIII and lost to Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers. Manning was 1-1 in Super Bowls with Indianapolis and won Super Bowl 50 with Denver against Carolina in his final game.

XVII - If the Bucs win Sunday, Brady and Manning will be the only quarterbacks to start and win Super Bowls with two franchises.

XVIII – The team with the most passing yards is 29-25 in Super Bowls.

XIX - Tampa Bay is the first team in the 55-year history of the Super Bowl to play the game on its home field, Raymond James Stadium. Two other teams played in their home markets: The Rams lost to the Steelers in the Rose Bowl in Super Bowl XIV following the 1979 season, their last in the L.A. Coliseum before moving to Anaheim Stadium. The Coliseum is 14 miles from the Rose Bowl. San Francisco defeated Miami in Super Bowl XIX in Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, about 25 miles from their then home, Candlestick Park. The Oakland Raiders are the only other team to play a Super Bowl in their home state, defeating Minnesota in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena in Super Bowl XI and losing to Tampa Bay in San Diego in Super Bowl XXXVII.

XX - Only three times in 54 Super Bowls has a team lost after leading by 10-plus points in the fourth quarter, and all three games were played in the last six years: New England rallied to defeat Seattle in Super Bowl XLIX and Atlanta in LI and the Chiefs overcame a 20-10 deficit last year before winning, 31-20. Kansas City's 21 fourth-quarter points are a Super Bowl record. The quarterbacks who engineered those comebacks? Brady in the first two and Mahomes in the third.

Must-see photos from the Giants' Super Bowl XLII victory parade on February 5, 2008

XXI - Thirty-four years ago, Giants quarterback Phil Simms set a Super Bowl record that still stands when he completed 88% of his passes (22 of 25) in a 39-20 rout of the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXI.

XXII - Super Bowl LV is the first in which the starting quarterbacks won each of the two most recent Super Bowls. Brady and the Patriots beat the Rams two years ago in Super Bowl LIII and Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs defeated the 49ers last season. It is also the first Super Bowl between starting quarterbacks who have each won at least one Associated Press Most Valuable Player Award and one Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award prior to the matchup.

XXIII - This is the seventh Super Bowl in which both starting quarterbacks were previously Super Bowl champions:

  • 1975 X Terry Bradshaw/Roger Staubach
  • 1978 XIII Terry Bradshaw/Roger Staubach
  • 1983 XVIII Jim Plunkett/Joe Theismann
  • 2008 XLIII Ben Roethlisberger/Kurt Warner
  • 2011 XVLI Tom Brady/Eli Manning
  • 2014 XLIX Tom Brady/Russell Wilson
  • 2020 LV Tom Brady/Patrick Mahomes

XXIV – The team with the most first downs is 30-22 in Super Bowls (the competing teams twice finished with the same number of first downs).

XXV - The Giants' victory against Buffalo in XXV and the St. Louis Rams' victory against Tennessee in XXXIV are the only Super Bowls in which neither team committed a turnover.

XXVI - Mahomes, who will be 25 years and 143 days old on Sunday, will be the youngest quarterback to start two Super Bowls, surpassing Seattle's Russell Wilson, who was 26 years and 64 days old at the time of his second Super Bowl start (XLIX six years ago).

XXVII - If Kansas City triumphs, Mahomes will be the youngest quarterback to win two Super Bowls. He will supplant Brady, who was 26 years, 182 days old when he won his second Super Bowl 17 years ago. Mahomes and Brady would be the only starting quarterbacks to win the Super Bowl in two of their first four career seasons.

XXVIII - Brady (43 years, 188 days old on Super Bowl Sunday) and Mahomes (25 years, 143 days) will have the largest age differential (18 years, 45 days) between opposing starting quarterbacks in Super Bowl history. They were born 6,619 days apart (Mahomes was six years old when Brady made his Super Bowl debut on Feb. 3, 2002). The second-largest age difference between Super Bowl starting quarterbacks was two years, when Brady was 41 years, 184 days old and the Rams' Jared Goff was 24 years, 112 days old, a gap of 17 years and 72 days.

XXIX - The Super Bowl duel between Brady and Mahomes will break a 2-2 tie in their personal matchup. Brady won the first two meetings, in the 2018 regular season and AFC Championship Game, and Mahomes beat Brady and the Patriots in 2019 and the Buccaneers in Week 12 of the 2020 season. How close is the competition? Total points in the four games: Mahomes 121, Brady 120.

XXX – The team with fewer turnovers is 37-5 in Super Bowls (the teams had the same turnover totals in 12 games).

XXXI - Eight former Giants assistant coaches have led teams to Super Bowls as head coaches. Six of the eight have won at least one Super Bowl. Former Giants assistant coaches are 15-10 as head coaches in Super Bowls.

  • Bill Belichick 1979-90 New England: XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLII, XLVI, XLIX, LI, LII, LIII (6-3)
  • Tom Coughlin 1988-90 Giants: XLII, XLVI (2-0)
  • Jim Fassel 1991-92 Giants: XXXV (0-1)
  • John Fox 1997-2001 Carolina: XXXVIII; Denver: XLVIII (0-2)
  • Tom Landry 1954-59 Dallas: V, VI, X, XII, XIII (2-3)
  • Vince Lombardi 1954-58 Green Bay: I, II (2-0)
  • Bill Parcells 1979, 1981-82 Giants: XXI, XXV; Patriots: XXXI (2-1)
  • Sean Payton 1999-2002 New Orleans: XLIV (1-0)

XXXII - Brady is 33-11 as a starter in postseason games – that's 17 more victories than No. 2 Joe Montana (who was 16-7). Brady has defeated 27 other quarterbacks in those 33 victories, from Rich Gannon for his first postseason win to Aaron Rodgers in the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 24. He defeated Philip Rivers three times and Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco and Andrew Luck twice each in the playoffs.

XXXIII - Super Bowl LV will be decided before the opening kickoff if one trend continues. The winner of the pregame coin toss has lost each of the last six Super Bowls, including San Francisco last year. In the 54 Super Bowl coin tosses, tails leads heads, 30-24. The coin came up tails last year. Each of the last 10 coin-toss winners has deferred to the second half.

XXXIV – The team with the highest time of possession is 41-13 in Super Bowls.

XXXV - The only Super Bowl in which both teams scored touchdowns on kickoff returns was Super Bowl XXXV, when the Giants' Ron Dixon and Baltimore's Jermaine Lewis accomplished the feat on consecutive plays.

XXXVI - Kickoff returns in the first 54 Super Bowls: 440. Kickoff return touchdowns: 10. Punt returns in the first 54 Super Bowls: 238. Punt return touchdowns: 0.

XXXVII - Last year, Reid became the seventh head coach in NFL history to lead two different teams to the Super Bowl. One of the coaches led the Giants there twice and two others have Giants connections:

  • Don Shula - Baltimore Colts, Dolphins
  • Bills Parcells - Giants, Patriots
  • Dan Reeves* - Broncos, Falcons
  • Dick Vermeil - Eagles, St. Louis Rams
  • Mike Holmgren - Packers, Seahawks
  • John Fox* - Panthers, Broncos

*Reeves was the Giants' head coach from 1993-96. Fox was their defensive coordinator from 1997-2001.

XXXVIII - Tampa Bay is the first non-division champion to reach the Super Bowl since Green Bay 10 years ago. The Buccaneers are just the fifth team to win three road playoff games to reach the Super Bowl since the wild-card system began in 1970. The 1985 Patriots were the first team to do so, but they lost to Chicago in Super Bowl XX. The other three — the 2005 Steelers, the 2007 Giants and the 2010 Packers — went on to win the Super Bowl. The Buccaneers can become the seventh team to win the Super Bowl as a wild card team.

XXXIX - Since the playoffs expanded in 1990, 22 of the 30 Super Bowls (73%) have been won by a team with a first-round bye, including the Chiefs last year. Put another way, only eight of the last 30 Super Bowls have been won by a team that had to play on Wild Card Weekend. Including the current postseason, just 13 of the 62 Super Bowl participants (21%) played on the first playoff weekend. The 2010 Packers, 2011 Giants and 2012 Ravens all went 4-0 in the postseason, but no team has done it since. The Buccaneers hope to join that list. This was the first season in which just one team from each conference received a bye. Kansas City was the AFC team that rested on Wild Card weekend.

XL - Both the Chiefs and Buccaneers have received contributions from former Giants. Kansas City's left tackle Sunday will be Mike Remmers, who started 14 games at right tackle for the 2019 Giants. Defensive back Antonio Hamilton, who played for the Giants in 2018-19, was second on Chiefs this season with five special teams tackles. In addition, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo held the same position with the Giants from 2007-08 and 2015-17, defensive backs coach David Merritt was a Giants assistant from 2004-17 and defensive backs/cornerbacks coach Sam Madison was a Giants corner from 2006-08. Former Giants corner DeAndre Baker is on the practice squad/injured list.

Tampa Bay has three former Giants players: outside linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul was selected to the Pro Bowl after leading the team with 9.5 sacks; defensive back Andrew Adams played in all 16 games, primarily on special teams; and cornerback Ross Cockrell, who joined the roster for good on Oct. 13, played in 13 games, including the playoffs, with two starts.

XLI – The team scoring first has won exactly twice as many Super Bowls (36-18).

XLII – Eli Manning (2-0) is one of six quarterbacks to start more than one Super Bowl without a defeat. The others are Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana (both 4-0), Troy Aikman (3-0), Jim Plunkett and Bart Starr (both 2-0).

XLIII - The NFC East is the only division in which all four teams have at least one Super Bowl victory. The Giants' division has four more Super Bowl triumphs than any other division.

  • NFC East: 13 AFC West: 8
  • AFC East: 9 NFC North: 5
  • AFC North: 8 NFC South: 2
  • NFC West: 7 AFC South: 2

XLIV - Tampa Bay, which missed the postseason in 2019, is the fourth team in the past five years to appear in the Super Bowl the season after missing the playoffs, joining the 2016 Atlanta Falcons, 2017 Philadelphia Eagles and the 2019 Niners.

XLV - The Buccaneers have scored at least 30 points in each of their first three games this postseason and can become the first team in NFL history to score 30 or more points in four consecutive playoff games within a single postseason.

XLVI - Former defensive end Justin Tuck, who was inducted into the Giants' Ring of Honor in 2016, is second on the Super Bowl sack list with 4.0 (2.0 in both Super Bowls XLII and XLII). Charles Haley is the Super Bowl career leader with 4.5.

XLVII - The Bucs have two defensive players with Super Bowl championship rings - Pierre-Paul, who was with the Giants when they won Super Bowl XLVI, and fellow linebacker Shaquil Barrett, who was a rookie with the Denver Broncos when they beat Carolina in Super Bowl 50.

XLVIII – The team leading at halftime is 39-11 in Super Bowls (there have been four ties). The Giants trailed at the half in each of their five Super Bowls, twice by a 10-9 score (XXI vs. Denver and XLVI against New England). Their highest first-half point total in a Super Bowl was 10 against Buffalo in XXV (they trailed, 12-10).

XLIX – Linebacker/long snapper Steve DeOssie (Super Bowl XXV) and long snapper Zak DeOssie (XLII and XLVI) both won Super Bowls with the Giants, the only father/son duo to win the game with the same team.

50 - Of the 54 Super Bowl MVP awards, 30 have been won by quarterbacks, including two by Eli Manning and one by Simms. The other Giants MVP was Ottis Anderson in Super Bowl XXV. Dallas linebacker Chuck Howley, the MVP of Super Bowl V, was the only player on a losing team to win the award.

LI - The only overtime game in Super Bowl history was New England's 34-28 triumph against Atlanta four years ago. The Patriots outscored Atlanta in the fourth quarter and overtime, 25-0.

LII - It didn't help him win the game, but Brady set a Super Bowl record when he completed 16 consecutive passes against the Giants in Super Bowl XLVI. The Giants won the game, 21-17.

LIII – The Buccaneers were the fifth-seeded team in the NFC playoff field and defeated No. 2 New Orleans and No. 1-seeded Green Bay to become the 11th team since 1990 and first since the 2012 Baltimore Ravens to defeat the top two seeds from their own conference in the same postseason. They will face the AFC's top-seeded Chiefs in the Super Bowl.

LIV - Chiefs defensive line coach Brendan Daly is coaching in his fifth consecutive Super Bowl. He worked three straight with the Patriots and now is in his second in a row with the Chiefs. Because the Elias Sports Bureau doesn't keep stats on assistants, it is uncertain if five appearances in a row is a record for a coach. Former quarterback Gale Gilbert was a member of five straight Super Bowl teams in the early 1990s with the Bills and Chargers, though he only appeared in one.

LV - The Giants will visit both Tampa Bay and Kansas City in 2021. It will be the first season in which they play both participants in the previous Super Bowl since they faced the Rams and Titans in 2000 – a season in which the Giants advanced to the Super Bowl.

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