Tapp-ing into the Numbers: 40 Packers Stats Until Opening Kickoff (No. 24)
The Packers and New England Patriots could make a little history this year if both (or either team) can make it to the playoffs.
Since 1966 (the start of the Super Bowl era), there have been 17 teams that have made the playoffs in six or more consecutive seasons. Leading the way are the Indianapolis Colts, who made the playoffs in nine straight seasons from 2002-10, and the Dallas Cowboys, who also made a post-season appearance in nine consecutive years from 1975-83. Both the Packers and Patriots are on current streaks of making the playoffs in eight straight years and could join the Colts and Cowboys atop this list if they make the playoffs this season.
Here’s a look at the 17 franchises that have made the playoffs in six or more consecutive seasons (since 1966):
Nine straight playoff appearances: Dallas (1975-83); Indianapolis (2002-10)
Eight straight playoff appearances: Dallas (1966-73); L.A. Rams (1973-80); Pittsburgh (1972-79); San Francisco (1983-90); Green Bay (2009-16); New England (2009-16)
Seven straight playoff appearances: Houston Oilers (1987-93); San Francisco (1972-78)
Six straight playoff appearances: Buffalo (1988-93); Dallas (1991-96); Green Bay (1993-98); Kansas City (1990-95); Minnesota (1973-78); Oakland Raiders (1972-77); Pittsburgh (1992-97)
Jerry Tapp
Jerry Tapp is a freelance writer from Racine, WI with a major concentration on sports statistics and numbers that define sports teams and players. He began his foray into sports stats-focused writing as a regular contributor to the “Numbers” column in Inside Sports magazine in the mid-1980’s and then began writing a weekly “Stats on Tapp” column for the Racine Journal Times. That column was eventually nationally syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate. He later wrote sports stats items for the Washington Post under the “Stat of the Day” heading. After launching his blog, www.statsontapp.com in 2011, Jerry turned his sports stats attention to sports websites. He wrote regularly for Bleacher Report, BallHyped, football.com and Heavy.com. Today he keeps busy writing weekly columns of stats-centric articles for three sports websites, Today’s Pigskin (NFL), Today’s Knuckleball (MLB) and Today’s Fastbreak (NBA), and as a monthly contributor to the Milwaukee Brewers “GameDay” publication that is distributed to fans attending games at Miller Park.