Lions vs. Giants: Random Stats

It’s time for Week 2. The Lions will be playing their first nationally televised game of the year when they take on the New York Giants on “Monday Night Football.” It was only four games ago that the Lions and Giants met in Week 15, but this matchup has a history that goes back much farther than that.

Let’s jitterbug all the way back to November of 1930, before anyone knew what a jitterbug was. The dance was created in 1934, and it’s a song about alcoholics. #RandomDanceStats.

“Happy times are here again.” That was the No. 1 song in the country when the New York Giants took on the Portsmouth Spartans for the first time ever. It did not end well for the Spartans. The Giants went on to win 19-6. This was only the ninth game in Lions history, so give them a break.

The Lions and Giants have faced each other 44 times since then. And the Lions currently hold the upper hand with a 22-21-1 record, but it’s the Giants who have won four out of the last five meetings.

Let’s talk about the Lions and Monday night. The Lions have played in 31 games since Monday Night Football’s inception in 1970. They are 13-17-1 in those games. This, of course, is not the first time they’ve played the Giants on Monday. They dominated the Giants 35-14 in Week 1 of the 2014 season.

Let’s go see what Twitter wants to know today.

Eli has played the Lions five times in his career. In that time, he’s thrown three picks against the Lions. Two of them were on “Monday Night Football” in 2014. So that’s a good thing, if you’re superstitious.

The Lions are 3-4 against the Giants since 2000. They’re 1-0 when the Giants start Kerry Collins. Take this as encouraging news. Although Kerry Collins is currently living on a ranch in North Carolina and writing country songs. So the Lions will just have to worry about Eli. #RandomKerryCollinsStat

The Lions have gone 8-for-10 on field goals against the Giants in the Eli Manning era. That includes field goals from Jason Hanson, and now I’m crying.

I love when a POD guy asks a question. Here’s a roundabout answer. I don’t know. But I will tell you that according to the CDC, 3,977,745 babies were born in the United States in 2015. 113,501 of them were from Michigan. So what this tells me is that the Lions’ 2014 win over the Giants put the spark in many relationships. Way to go, Lions. #RandomBabyStats

Eli has thrown 172 passes against the Lions. He’s completed 63.3 percent of those passes. Matthew Stafford’s completion percentage is right behind Eli’s at 62.8.

This guy is really playing hard ball here. According to LionAlert.ORG, the average pride size is 13 Lions. But prides can be up to 40 members. Lions are able to climb trees per Africa Geographic and common sense. And lastly, according to Live Science, Lions run about 35 MPH and are able to jump about 36 feet in length. Yes, I said feet.

So if you have a pride of 40 Lions running 35 MPH and jumping and climbing, I think they could take down a Giant regardless of his size. But if you’re looking for number, I guess 35 feet?

Thanks for the questions this week, everyone.