Building on the user favorites feature, we've introduced the ability to filter by your favorite players in player season finder and player game finder searches. If you're logged in, you should see a "Search only across your favorites" checkbox above the "Get Results" button on these searches. Selecting this option will restrict the search to only players in your favorites list. Maybe you could add your favorite quarterbacks to your list and see where they compare on AY/A, or follow some favorite fantasy backs and see who has the best yards per attempt figure in 2013.

Rolled out a quick update - now every single season leader page has a box on the right, with which you can select a year & rewind back to see what the single season leaders were for that stat at that time. For instance, Drew Brees currently holds the single season pass completion record with 468, but if we go back 25 years to 1988 you can see that at that time, Dan Marino held the record of 378 (a mark that is currently the 26th best, highlighting just how much passing has blown up recently).

With today's updates, we've pushed out a new addition to the site -- Favorites. If you are logged in, you'll now see a Favorites button in the top right corner of most pages. If you have favorite pages, mousing over this button will show you recent statistics or bookmarks to favorite pages and Play Index searches. To add a page to your favorites, simply click the + symbol on that button (and to remove a favorite, click the -). Active players will show fantasy points for the current week, active teams will show you their most recent game and their record so you can get access to your favorites' stats instantly. Click on the Favorites button to get a more detailed view of player stats and recent news items about your favorites players.

Sports Reference has hired two new web developers/engineers/programmers to their burgeoning staff of now five.

David Corby joined us the last week of October and thus far has been shepherding the NBA and College Basketball sites. (Yes, we did give him a lot of time to get settled.) He is a UVA grad who worked in commercial operations at JetBlue. He's a largely self-taught developer with a wide range of development work. David once played against David Wright in a HS baseball game, and he went 4-4 with 4 doubles (Wright did, that is). He is largely a New York fan -- especially a Yankees fan, which proves we stand by our company policy that we don't discriminate on the basis of sports franchise affinity.

Hans Van Slooten (@cantpitch) will be joining us in December, working out of our newly-established Minneapolis branch, coincidentally located in Hans' home (note we do not offer company tours at this branch). Hans will be working on the hockey site and number of new projects/items from our wish list that we previously haven't had the bandwidth to work on. He joins us from OLSON (where he was a technical director) and, previous to that, comScore. He's a Twins and Vikings fan and will also help me source locally produced lefse and lutefisk for the Sports-Reference Christmas party.

By now you've likely seen our win probability tweets or the graphs on box score pages. Today I've pushed out a win probability calculator into which you can put any game situation & get a corresponding win probability. For instance, say it's the 4th quarter and you're trailing by 2 with the ball on your own 20 at 2nd & 10 and 29 seconds remaining, the calculator says you have a 3.8% probability of winning (don't tell the Jets that, though).

Looking at this weekend's Bears-Packers game, we can figure out the risk the Bears took in going for it on 4th and 1 on their own 32 in the 4th quarter. If they fail and the Packers take over at that spot, Green Bay will have a 55.9% win probability (ignoring that our model knows nothing about Aaron Rodgers' injury, of course). However, by succeeding Chicago raised their own win probability to 80.6%.

A user wrote in asking how many games each team has played vs. every division since the 2002 expansion set up the NFL's current 8-division alignment. Since we don't currently have that function in the Team Game Finder (though we might someday), I figured I'd just run a quick database search on the subject...

First, records vs. the AFC divisions:

+---------+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| team_id | division  |   AFC East   |  AFC North   |  AFC South   |   AFC West   |
+---------+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| atl     | NFC South | 11 (6-5-0)   | 12 (7-4-1)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (10-2-0)  |
| buf     | AFC East  | 69 (23-46-0) | 23 (11-12-0) | 23 (8-15-0)  | 23 (11-12-0) |
| car     | NFC South |  9 (3-6-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   |
| chi     | NFC North | 12 (6-6-0)   | 10 (5-5-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   |
| cin     | AFC North | 22 (6-16-0)  | 68 (32-36-0) | 23 (10-13-0) | 23 (11-12-0) |
| cle     | AFC North | 22 (12-10-0) | 68 (17-51-0) | 23 (10-13-0) | 23 (9-14-0)  |
| clt     | AFC South | 24 (13-11-0) | 23 (18-5-0)  | 67 (49-18-0) | 23 (15-8-0)  |
| crd     | NFC West  | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   |  8 (3-5-0)   | 12 (2-10-0)  |
| dal     | NFC East  | 12 (7-5-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   | 11 (4-7-0)   |
| den     | AFC West  | 23 (12-11-0) | 24 (18-6-0)  | 22 (9-13-0)  | 67 (39-28-0) |
| det     | NFC North | 12 (2-10-0)  | 10 (4-6-0)   | 12 (2-10-0)  | 12 (8-4-0)   |
| gnb     | NFC North | 12 (6-6-0)   | 11 (4-7-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (10-2-0)  |
| htx     | AFC South | 23 (12-11-0) | 24 (10-14-0) | 67 (26-41-0) | 22 (11-11-0) |
| jax     | AFC South | 23 (9-14-0)  | 23 (9-14-0)  | 67 (26-41-0) | 24 (13-11-0) |
| kan     | AFC West  | 23 (8-15-0)  | 23 (9-14-0)  | 23 (11-12-0) | 67 (30-37-0) |
| mia     | AFC East  | 67 (26-41-0) | 22 (7-15-0)  | 24 (8-16-0)  | 23 (16-7-0)  |
| min     | NFC North | 12 (2-10-0)  | 10 (5-5-0)   | 12 (8-4-0)   | 12 (4-8-0)   |
| nor     | NFC South | 10 (7-3-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   |
| nwe     | AFC East  | 69 (55-14-0) | 21 (15-6-0)  | 23 (17-6-0)  | 23 (14-9-0)  |
| nyg     | NFC East  | 12 (8-4-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 10 (5-5-0)   |
| nyj     | AFC East  | 69 (33-36-0) | 21 (9-12-0)  | 24 (14-10-0) | 23 (12-11-0) |
| oti     | AFC South | 24 (13-11-0) | 24 (13-11-0) | 67 (33-34-0) | 22 (7-15-0)  |
| phi     | NFC East  | 12 (8-4-0)   | 12 (6-5-1)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 11 (5-6-0)   |
| pit     | AFC North | 21 (14-7-0)  | 68 (47-21-0) | 24 (12-12-0) | 23 (11-12-0) |
| rai     | AFC West  | 23 (8-15-0)  | 23 (9-14-0)  | 22 (7-15-0)  | 69 (24-45-0) |
| ram     | NFC West  | 12 (2-10-0)  | 12 (5-7-0)   | 10 (5-5-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   |
| rav     | AFC North | 22 (13-9-0)  | 68 (40-28-0) | 24 (12-12-0) | 24 (15-9-0)  |
| sdg     | AFC West  | 23 (11-12-0) | 23 (11-12-0) | 24 (18-6-0)  | 67 (42-25-0) |
| sea     | NFC West  | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   |
| sfo     | NFC West  | 12 (6-6-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 11 (4-7-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   |
| tam     | NFC South | 10 (2-8-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   | 12 (3-9-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   |
| was     | NFC East  | 12 (4-8-0)   | 12 (3-9-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   |  9 (3-6-0)   |
+---------+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+

And the NFC divisions:

+---------+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| team_id | division  |   NFC East   |  NFC North   |  NFC South   |   NFC West   |
+---------+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| atl     | NFC South | 23 (12-11-0) | 23 (13-10-0) | 68 (34-34-0) | 21 (15-6-0)  |
| buf     | AFC East  | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   | 9 (3-6-0)    | 12 (7-5-0)   |
| car     | NFC South | 24 (8-16-0)  | 24 (12-12-0) | 66 (34-32-0) | 23 (15-8-0)  |
| chi     | NFC North | 22 (10-12-0) | 68 (37-31-0) | 24 (13-11-0) | 23 (12-11-0) |
| cin     | AFC North | 12 (8-3-1)   | 11 (9-2-0)   | 12 (4-8-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   |
| cle     | AFC North | 12 (2-10-0)  | 11 (3-8-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   |
| clt     | AFC South | 12 (7-5-0)   | 12 (9-3-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   | 10 (9-1-0)   |
| crd     | NFC West  | 23 (10-13-0) | 24 (10-14-0) | 23 (8-15-0)  | 69 (30-39-0) |
| dal     | NFC East  | 69 (35-34-0) | 20 (10-10-0) | 23 (15-8-0)  | 24 (14-10-0) |
| den     | AFC West  | 11 (8-3-0)   | 12 (4-8-0)   | 12 (9-3-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   |
| det     | NFC North | 21 (8-13-0)  | 69 (16-53-0) | 23 (8-15-0)  | 24 (7-17-0)  |
| gnb     | NFC North | 21 (12-9-0)  | 67 (48-19-0) | 23 (12-11-0) | 24 (17-7-0)  |
| htx     | AFC South | 12 (3-9-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   | 11 (4-7-0)   |
| jax     | AFC South | 12 (6-6-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   | 10 (4-6-0)   |
| kan     | AFC West  | 11 (5-6-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   | 12 (3-9-0)   | 12 (10-2-0)  |
| mia     | AFC East  | 12 (4-8-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   | 10 (5-5-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   |
| min     | NFC North | 21 (10-11-0) | 68 (35-33-0) | 24 (9-15-0)  | 23 (15-8-0)  |
| nor     | NFC South | 23 (15-8-0)  | 24 (12-12-0) | 68 (37-31-0) | 21 (13-8-0)  |
| nwe     | AFC East  | 12 (10-2-0)  | 12 (11-1-0)  | 11 (9-2-0)   | 12 (9-3-0)   |
| nyg     | NFC East  | 68 (37-31-0) | 22 (11-11-0) | 24 (12-12-0) | 23 (15-8-0)  |
| nyj     | AFC East  | 12 (2-10-0)  | 12 (8-4-0)   | 10 (5-5-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   |
| oti     | AFC South | 12 (8-4-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   | 12 (9-3-0)   | 10 (5-5-0)   |
| phi     | NFC East  | 69 (41-28-0) | 20 (12-8-0)  | 24 (15-9-0)  | 23 (14-9-0)  |
| pit     | AFC North | 12 (9-3-0)   | 10 (7-3-0)   | 12 (8-3-1)   | 12 (7-5-0)   |
| rai     | AFC West  | 9 (3-6-0)    | 12 (3-9-0)   | 12 (3-9-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   |
| ram     | NFC West  | 24 (7-17-0)  | 23 (8-15-0)  | 22 (8-14-0)  | 68 (25-42-1) |
| rav     | AFC North | 12 (8-4-0)   | 9 (4-5-0)    | 12 (6-6-0)   | 12 (9-3-0)   |
| sdg     | AFC West  | 10 (8-2-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (4-8-0)   | 12 (8-4-0)   |
| sea     | NFC West  | 23 (9-14-0)  | 23 (13-10-0) | 21 (12-9-0)  | 68 (42-26-0) |
| sfo     | NFC West  | 23 (8-15-0)  | 24 (12-12-0) | 20 (5-15-0)  | 69 (39-29-1) |
| tam     | NFC South | 24 (9-15-0)  | 23 (15-8-0)  | 68 (30-38-0) | 21 (10-11-0) |
| was     | NFC East  | 68 (24-44-0) | 23 (12-11-0) | 23 (8-15-0)  | 23 (16-7-0)  |
+---------+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+

Read the rest of this entry

As Chase notes on Twitter:

Indianapolis-Denver is the first game in the 94 year history of the NFL to finish 39-33.

— Chase Stuart (@fbgchase) October 21, 2013

Since for some reason these always fascinate me, I found myself wondering just how often a unique score occurs. Obviously by definition, the number of them should decrease over the years as there are fewer unique scores to have, and the chart of scores per year (including the NFL, AAFC, and AFL since 1920) mostly bears that out (the blue line is the number of unique scores per year, the red line is the percentage of games resulting in a unique score in a given year):

1920 is the first year of the NFL so of course it has the highest number of unique scores at 46 (out of 90 total games played). There are spikes at 1946 and 1960 correlating to the starts of the AAFC and AFL, respectively, owing mostly to the much larger number of games. That spike you see after 1980 is the introduction of the two-point conversion in 1994, making possible a lot of scores that weren't seen previously. For example, there have been 167 times since 1940 that a game has ended with one team scoring 15 points.. and 101 of those have come since 1994.

What missing game scores are we unlikely to see any time soon? Well, according to our summary of all scores, we've only seen a team score 4 points one time ever, so it seems that it'll be a while before we remove any more X-4 scores from the list. Even a final score of 5 has been achieved a whopping 13 times since 1940, including this very unlikely 8-5 final score. Still, at nearly 15,000 games and counting, it's pretty impressive that every week brings the possibility of seeing something unique.

Just a quick hit of a post to let you know that tonight's MNF matchup between the 0-6 Giants and the 1-4 Vikings is, in fact, the worst ever this late in the season by combined winning percentage:

+--------------+------+---+----+---+-----+-----+------+---+----+---+-----+-----+---------+----------+------------+-----------+--------------+-------------+
|   game_id    | home | W | L  | T | PF  | PA  | road | W | L  | T | PF  | PA  | year_id | week_num | game_date  | comb_wpct | comb_pt_diff |   winner    |
+--------------+------+---+----+---+-----+-----+------+---+----+---+-----+-----+---------+----------+------------+-----------+--------------+-------------+
| 201310210nyg | nyg  | 0 |  6 | 0 | 103 | 209 | min  | 1 |  4 | 0 | 125 | 158 |    2013 |        7 | 10/21/2013 | .091      | -12.6        | NULL        |
| 197512150sdg | sdg  | 1 | 11 | 0 | 148 | 282 | nyj  | 3 |  9 | 0 | 221 | 378 |    1975 |       13 | 12/15/1975 | .167      | -12.1        | sdg, 24-16  |
| 199411210oti | oti  | 1 |  9 | 0 | 147 | 218 | nyg  | 3 |  7 | 0 | 171 | 220 |    1994 |       12 | 11/21/1994 | .200      | -6.0         | nyg, 13-10  |
| 197211060nwe | nwe  | 2 |  5 | 0 |  92 | 220 | clt  | 1 |  6 | 0 |  94 | 145 |    1972 |        8 | 11/6/1972  | .214      | -12.8        | clt, 24-17  |
| 197011020pit | pit  | 2 |  4 | 0 |  71 |  94 | cin  | 1 |  5 | 0 |  93 | 156 |    1970 |        7 | 11/2/1970  | .250      | -7.2         | pit, 21-10  |
| 198110190det | det  | 2 |  4 | 0 | 118 | 126 | chi  | 1 |  5 | 0 |  89 | 133 |    1981 |        7 | 10/19/1981 | .250      | -4.3         | det, 48-17  |
| 199710200clt | clt  | 0 |  6 | 0 |  88 | 155 | buf  | 3 |  3 | 0 | 122 | 159 |    1997 |        8 | 10/20/1997 | .250      | -8.7         | buf, 9-6    |
| 201211260phi | phi  | 3 |  7 | 0 | 162 | 252 | car  | 2 |  8 | 0 | 184 | 243 |    2012 |       12 | 11/26/2012 | .250      | -7.5         | car, 30-22  |
| 200001030atl | atl  | 4 | 11 | 0 | 251 | 351 | sfo  | 4 | 11 | 0 | 266 | 419 |    1999 |       17 | 1/3/2000   | .267      | -8.4         | atl, 34-29  |
| 200512190rav | rav  | 4 |  9 | 0 | 171 | 253 | gnb  | 3 | 10 | 0 | 255 | 255 |    2005 |       15 | 12/19/2005 | .269      | -3.2         | rav, 48-3   |
| 198310240crd | crd  | 2 |  5 | 0 | 137 | 218 | nyg  | 2 |  5 | 0 | 126 | 156 |    1983 |        8 | 10/24/1983 | .286      | -7.9         | tie (20-20) |
| 201112120sea | sea  | 5 |  7 | 0 | 216 | 246 | ram  | 2 | 10 | 0 | 140 | 296 |    2011 |       14 | 12/12/2011 | .292      | -7.8         | sea, 30-13  |
| 201011290crd | crd  | 3 |  7 | 0 | 188 | 292 | sfo  | 3 |  7 | 0 | 160 | 219 |    2010 |       12 | 11/29/2010 | .300      | -8.2         | sfo, 27-6   |
| 200911160cle | cle  | 1 |  7 | 0 |  78 | 209 | rav  | 4 |  4 | 0 | 206 | 154 |    2009 |       10 | 11/16/2009 | .313      | -4.9         | rav, 16-0   |
| 198011240nor | nor  | 0 | 11 | 0 | 181 | 341 | ram  | 7 |  4 | 0 | 294 | 228 |    1980 |       12 | 11/24/1980 | .318      | -4.3         | ram, 27-7   |
| 201112050jax | jax  | 3 |  8 | 0 | 138 | 200 | sdg  | 4 |  7 | 0 | 249 | 275 |    2011 |       13 | 12/5/2011  | .318      | -4.0         | sdg, 38-14  |
| 198312120tam | tam  | 2 | 12 | 0 | 212 | 345 | gnb  | 7 |  7 | 0 | 396 | 407 |    1983 |       15 | 12/12/1983 | .321      | -5.1         | gnb, 12-9   |
| 198711020dal | dal  | 3 |  3 | 0 | 135 | 134 | nyg  | 1 |  5 | 0 |  99 | 142 |    1987 |        7 | 11/2/1987  | .333      | -3.5         | dal, 33-24  |
| 199910250pit | pit  | 3 |  3 | 0 | 117 |  93 | atl  | 1 |  5 | 0 |  74 | 153 |    1999 |        7 | 10/25/1999 | .333      | -4.6         | pit, 13-9   |
| 200211180ram | ram  | 4 |  5 | 0 | 194 | 196 | chi  | 2 |  7 | 0 | 182 | 232 |    2002 |       11 | 11/18/2002 | .333      | -2.9         | ram, 21-16  |
| 200511210gnb | gnb  | 2 |  7 | 0 | 201 | 184 | min  | 4 |  5 | 0 | 154 | 228 |    2005 |       11 | 11/21/2005 | .333      | -3.2         | min, 20-17  |
| 200012040nwe | nwe  | 3 |  9 | 0 | 192 | 253 | kan  | 5 |  7 | 0 | 283 | 274 |    2000 |       14 | 12/4/2000  | .333      | -2.2         | nwe, 30-24  |
| 200412130oti | oti  | 4 |  8 | 0 | 231 | 294 | kan  | 4 |  8 | 0 | 341 | 326 |    2004 |       14 | 12/13/2004 | .333      | -2.0         | kan, 49-38  |
| 200712100atl | atl  | 3 |  9 | 0 | 171 | 272 | nor  | 5 |  7 | 0 | 266 | 279 |    2007 |       14 | 12/10/2007 | .333      | -4.8         | nor, 34-14  |
| 199112090mia | mia  | 7 |  6 | 0 | 256 | 275 | cin  | 2 | 11 | 0 | 211 | 374 |    1991 |       15 | 12/9/1991  | .346      | -7.0         | mia, 37-13  |
| 197311260sfo | sfo  | 3 |  7 | 0 | 180 | 232 | gnb  | 3 |  5 | 2 | 138 | 198 |    1973 |       11 | 11/26/1973 | .350      | -5.6         | sfo, 20-6   |
| 197811130cin | cin  | 1 |  9 | 0 | 110 | 184 | rai  | 6 |  4 | 0 | 193 | 164 |    1978 |       11 | 11/13/1978 | .350      | -2.3         | rai, 34-21  |
| 200711260pit | pit  | 7 |  3 | 0 | 269 | 145 | mia  | 0 | 10 | 0 | 183 | 274 |    2007 |       12 | 11/26/2007 | .350      | +1.7         | pit, 3-0    |
| 199311290clt | clt  | 3 |  7 | 0 | 154 | 233 | sdg  | 4 |  6 | 0 | 164 | 195 |    1993 |       13 | 11/29/1993 | .350      | -5.5         | sdg, 31-0   |
| 198010270nyj | nyj  | 1 |  6 | 0 | 114 | 164 | mia  | 4 |  3 | 0 |  99 | 144 |    1980 |        8 | 10/27/1980 | .357      | -6.8         | nyj, 17-14  |
+--------------+------+---+----+---+-----+-----+------+---+----+---+-----+-----+---------+----------+------------+-----------+--------------+-------------+

It is not, however, the worst by combined PPG margin. That honor belongs to this 1972 game between the 2-5 Patriots and the 1-6 Colts (Baltimore ended up winning 24-17).

This is a question we get ALL the time... In fact, it's come up twice in my inbox over the last 2 days:

"How is a total of -11 (-1 Dallas and -10 Green Bay) passing yards figured in the Oct 24, 1965 game when Individual stats show Craig Morton for 61 yards and Bart Starr for 42 yards?"

"This query should return this game [...] Elvis Grbac threw for 504 yards, and the Raiders scored 49 points. That game was not returned by the query[.]"

In both cases, it's a question of individual passing totals seemingly not matching up to team totals. And that's because the NFL doesn't define "passing yards" in the same way for teams as it does for individuals.

Confusingly, sack yards do not count against the "passing yards" you see listed next to individual players, but they do count against "passing yards" at the team level. To put it another way, individual passing yards are always presented as GROSS yards (with sack yards not subtracted out), while team passing yards are always presented as NET yards (meaning sack yards are subtracted out).

So despite Morton & Starr's combined GROSS pass yards, there were also 114 combined sack yards in that game, leading to a record -11 total combined NET passing yards in the game. And despite Grbac's 504 GROSS pass yards, he was sacked 4 times for 30 yards, meaning KC only had 474 NET passing yards in the game.

This probably doesn't make a great deal of sense in 2013, but it does come in handy for years before QB sack data was tracked (a.k.a. the history of football up until 1969). Because of this practice, we know how many gross yards a quarterback -- and, therefore, a team -- had, as well as how many net yards they had, since sack totals were recorded for teams (but not players) before 1969. It would make for even more confusion if, starting in 1969, we all of a sudden began defining yardage for individuals differently than it had been defined in the past (though as we saw yesterday, this didn't stop the NBA from abruptly changing how team rebound totals were defined).

So it's a minor inconvenience now, but probably a necessary one from an historical perspective. And hopefully this post will reduce some of the confusion going forward (though I doubt it).

You may have seen our in-game Tweets and the win probability graphs on our box score pages -- we now have a detailed explanation of the win probability methodology from Neil Paine if you're curious how it works.