I noted earlier that a sleep-deprived New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin seemed pretty grumpy Wednesday when he met the press to talk about Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Here are a few numbers that might, or might not, improve your own mood as we head toward Sunday's game.
- History indicates that the best way for a team to start its drive toward a possible Super Bowl championship is to win in Week 1. The 46 Super Bowl winners have a 37-8-1 record in the Kickoff Weekend games of their title seasons.
- This next stat, though, shows that 0-1 is no reason to panic about the 0-1 Giants. At the end of Week 2, no more than 12 teams will be able to claim a perfect 2-0 record, leaving at least 20 clubs at 1-1 or 0-2. Since realignment in 2002, 70 of the 120 playoff teams (58.3 percent) began the year at either 1-1 or 0-2, including the Super Bowl XLVI champion New York Giants in 2011.
- These following numbers are from Ralph Vacchiano of the Daily News, and they are also noteworthy. Since the NFL expanded to 16 games in 1978, only 22.7 percent of teams that started the season 0-1 have made the playoffs ... In 46 Super Bowls, the 92 teams that played in those games were a combined 77-13-2 on opening day. ... While only eight teams have lost on opening day and went on to win a Super Bowl, the Giants have done it THREE times (1986, 2007, 2011). ... The Giants have lost 14 opening games since 1978 and still made the playoffs in six of those years (or 42.9 percent of the time).
So, when it comes to the Giants maybe losing on opening night was actually a good omen.