Wednesday, January 4, 2012

NFL 1997


1.       Terrell Davis: Was the Super Bowl MVP of SB XXXII. He ran for the 2nd most yards in a Super Bowl with 153 and most rushing TDs with three. He had to the go-ahead TD run with 1:45 remaining in the game.
 

During the regular season, Davis scored a NFL high 15 rushing touchdowns.

He was second in the league in rushing yards (1,750), yards from scrimmage (2,038) and carries (369).

 He had two 200+ yard games (vs. Buffalo and Cincinnati) and ten of his 15 games played over 100.

In the Broncos Wild Card route of Jacksonville 42-17, TD compiled 184 yards. He scored twice; the second putting Denver ahead 21-0 in the second quarter.

His 4th quarter TD (his second on the day) gave Denver their 14-10 final margin over top seed Kansas City in the divisional round. He finished with 101 yards on the day.

Denver would win the AFC 24-21 on the road in Pittsburgh behind 138 yards and a score from Davis.

Broncos were 12-4, finishing a game behind Kansas City in the AFC West. They led the NFL scoring over 29 points per game.

Denver would go on to win their first Super Bowl ever 31-24 over the defending champion Packers.


2.       Brett Favre: Was named Co-MVP by the AP, his third straight MVP. He was consensus first team All-Pro and a Pro Bowler. 

He led the NFL in TDs (35) for the third straight season.
 Favre was 2nd in yards (3,867), 3rd in rating (92.6), and 4th in completions (304).

#4 set a career high with five touchdowns against Minnesota.

In the divisional round against Tampa Bay Favre threw for 190 and a TD, and ran in a two-point conversion.

The Packers knocked the 49ers out of the playoffs for the 3rd straight season. In 1997 it was for the right to go to the Super Bowl.

Favre threw 222 yards and a first half TD that gave Green Bay a 10-0 lead they would never relinquish.

In the Super Bowl, Favre threw for three TDs including the game tying score to Antonio Freeman  less than two minutes into the 4th quarter. He finished the day 25-42 for 256 yards.

Green Bay won the NFC Central again with 13-3 record; tops in the NFC.

They beat the Bucs 21-7 and the 49ers 23-10 to win their 2nd straight NFC crown. The Pack were 2nd in the NFL scoring 26.4 points per game.

3.       Barry Sanders: Was named MVP by AP (co), Sporting News, and the Pro Football Writers.

He became the 3rd player ever with 2,000 rushing yards in a season. He finished the season with 2,058, the second most ever in season.

His 2,358 yards from scrimmage were most ever in season.

Sanders was 2nd in the NFL with a 6.1 yards per carry average. He was 3rd with 14 TDs, and 4th with 325 carries.

The final 14 games Sanders played were 100 yard rushing efforts, an NFL record.

He also had two 200 yard games including 215 and 2 TDs vs. the Bucs

To get to 2,000 Sanders ran for 184 yards against the Jets. He sealed the 13-10 win with the 2,000 yards  and a 53 yard scamper for good measure.

The Lions finished the season 9-7 and missed the playoffs in a tie-breaker to the Vikings.
  

3 comments:

  1. Wow, I definitely do not remember Barry Sanders rushing for over 2000 yards. But I agree with you in having TD at the top. Since the point here is to include post-season, where necessary, his accomplishments after the regular season are the most impressive. Couple that with his 2000+ total yards and All-Pro season anyway - makes sense to me.

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  2. Yea the Lions that year cost the Skins a playoff berth by winning the game vs. the Jets... you seriously didn't remember Sanders went for 2K?

    TD's postseason and SB took him from #3 to #1

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  3. I really didn't remember. I remember all the college guys going for 2k during that time period - Rashan Salaam, Troy Davis, Ron Dayne, Ricky Williams, etc.

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