Lions vs. Saints: Random Stats

It’s Week 6 and man, this season is flying by. This week the Lions face an NFC South opponent for the second straight week. Last week they took on the Carolina Panthers and were defeated, taking their record to 3-2. Let’s talk about 3-2 a little.

Last week, we found out that the Lions have started their season at 3-1 on 22 separate occasions over the course of their history. We also found out that the Lions finished 15 of those seasons with a winning a record. But does 3-2 change anything?

Of the 22 seasons in which the Lions started at 3-1, they immediately fell to 3-2 in 12 of those years. Of those 12 times, the Lions finished the season with a winning record just five times. So that’s not a nice stat. Although, the last time this happened, the Lions finished 11-5 in 2014. So that’s nice. On with the week’s look by the numbers.

Let’s hop in the phone booth time machine and totally go back to the bogus date of November 24th, 1968. Just two days after The Beatles released The White Album, and just one week removed from the infamous Heidi Bowl. The Lions met up with the New Orleans Saints for the very first time. The game would end in a 20-20 tie. A tie is interesting here because that’s exactly what this entire series is, tied. The Lions and Saints have played 25 times since 1968 and the current record is 12-12-1. Sunday’s game will be the series tiebreaker.

This is a relatively new rival for the Lions. Of the 25 matchups they’ve had with the team from The Big Easy, six of them have happened in the last 11 years. This will be their fourth meeting in a row.

One good thing for the Lions is that they have won the last three. And an even bigger thing for the Lions is that have won the last two meetings in New Orleans. Can the Lions make it three in a row? We’ll see.

To the Social Media Stuff!

Matthew Stafford and Drew Brees have thrown for a combined 98,665 yards. That’s 56 miles. That’s enough to get you from Detroit, MI to Sarnia, Ontario where I, Mike Payton, actually caught my first fish. #MikePaytonSummerof1996Facts

This one is easy. It’s obviously Bar... wait... it’s not? Is it Billy? Not him either? Who is Dexter Bussey? Dexter is the owner of the best rushing game for the Lions against the Saints. On September 25th of 1977, Dexter ran for 150 yards on 24 carries. Dexter would only rush for 188 more yards that season. He spent eleven years in Detroit. Your father probably knows who he is. #YourDadIsOldStat

I don’t know. How any more games would the Lions have won if they had found an old boombox in an abandoned building that actually holds the soul of a rapping genie that’s going to grant you three wishes? Questions like these have no answer.