Random Super Bowl Facts
The Home Team: The AFC representative is the "home team" for even-numbered Super Bowls. So, for Super Bowl XLVI, the Patriots are the designated "home team." They'll wear their home blue jerseys; the Giants will wear their road white. As the "road team," the Giants will call the opening coin toss.
15 Touch Downs: In six Super Bowl appearances, the Patriots have scored 15 touchdowns. WR Irving Fryar scored the first (SB XX); only WR David Givens and LB/TE Mike Vrabel have multiple Super Bowl touchdowns as Patriots, with 2 each.
Tied With The Best QBs: Tom Brady is going for his 4th Super Bowl win; he can tie Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw for the all-time record for QB's. Brady holds or shares several Super Bowl records, including all-time passing attempts (100) and complete passes in a game (32).
Tied With The Best Coaches: With a win, Bill Belichick can tie Chuck Noll for the Super Bowl record for wins by a head coach, with 4. Including his career as an assistant, Belichick has been part of 7 Super Bowls, winning 5… two with this year's opponent, the Giants. It's also the 5th Super Bowl for Belichick as head coach, tying Tom Landry for 2nd all-time, behind Don Shula, who has 6.
Even The Announcer Is Tied With The Best: Ties As Well: NBC will carry the national TV broadcast. It is NBC's 17th Super Bowl telecast. It's the 8th for play-by-play announcer Al Michaels, tying Dick Enberg for second most all-time. (Pat Summerall called 11 SBs).
Deon Moves To 3rd All Time For Catches: Wide receiver Deon Branch looms large in Super Bowl history; his 21 catches are 3rd all time, trailing only Jerry Rice and Andre Reed. Branch caught 10 vs. Carolina, then 11 vs. Philadelphia.
Tickets 10 Times Higher: We've heard about the astronomical prices for tickets on the secondary market. The 'face value' of seats at Indy for this year's Super Bowl is $800 or more. Face value at the Patriots first Super Bowl, 26 years ago… was $75.
Why The Roman Numerals: You might be wondering why the NFL uses roman numerals to represent Super Bowls. For example, "X-L-V-I" is used by the NFLto represent Super Bowl "46." The league says it started the practice starting with Super Bowl V, which ended the 1970 season. It was used to prevent confusion because the game is played in a new calendar year.
Best Win Percentage In The NFL: If you grew up rooting the often-embarrassing Patriots "B.K."... "Before Kraft"... you might think you're living in a dream. Since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994, the Pats have the best win percentage and most Super Bowl titles in the NFL.
Deep Ties To Boston College: Boston College can tout its impact on the big game. Dan Koppen and Ron Brace of the Patriots went there. The Giants owner, coach and several players have deep ties with BC. Most recently, linebacker and cancer survivor Mark Herzlich went to school at The Heights. After an ankle injury, he's expected to play in this week's game.
Big Bonus For Winners: The teams aren't playing for just a trophy and a ring, there's a big bonus on the line. Each player on the winning team gets $88,000. The losers get half that. The first Super Bowl winners made $15,000. per player. At the time, that was a huge percentage of what some players made for the entire season.
Tie With His Idol: Who's going to Disneyland? Tom Brady is a 2-time Super Bowl MVP, tied with Bart Starr and Terry Bradshaw for 2nd all-time. A third MVP award for Brady would tie his boyhood idol, Joe Montana, for the record.
MVP Usually A Quarterback: Predicting the game MVP starts with Tom Brady and Eli Manning. Quarterbacks have won more than half of all Super Bowl MVP awards with 23. The last running back to win was Terrell Davis of Denver, 14 years ago.
