Yesterday, I looked at the largest increases in team scoring from one year to the next. Today, the opposite: which teams have seen the largest decreases in scoring?
In the post-merger era, that “honor” would belong to the 1974 Falcons. In 1973, the Falcons averaged 22.7 points per game, 7th-best in the NFL. The team was led by fullback Dave Hampton and quarterback Bob Lee, and while both returned the next season, the results were disastrous. Atlanta averaged just 7.9 points per game, the lowest in the NFL. Along with the 1977 (not ’76) Bucs, the ’74 Falcons are one of just two teams since 1950 to average fewer than 8 points per game.
In more modern times, the 2015 Cowboys (after losing Tony Romo), 2011 Colts (after losing Peyton Manning), and 2010 Vikings (in year two under Brett Favre) are the biggest decliners. The top 100 biggest declines below:
The 2009 Vikings under Favre ranked 2nd in the NFL in scoring. The 2010 team? They fell to 29th in scoring, the largest decrease in NFL history.
The 2014-2015-2016 Cowboys are fascinating. In 2014, Dallas ranked 5th in scoring, but in 2015, the Cowboys fell to 31st; that 26 slot drop in rank stands out as the 2nd biggest ever. But in 2016, Dallas jumped back up to 5th, for a 26-slot increase that that was the 2nd biggest ever, too. Going from 5th to 31st to 5th in scoring? I wonder what the reason for all that was.
