NEWS

The Decade by the Numbers

Steve Dugas, YFFL.com Draft Guru


December 23, 2009


From scoring changes to award more points for yardage, two new expansion teams, the league's first general manager and old records falling by the wayside, the last ten years have seen plenty of changes in the YFFL. As the decade comes to close, Steve Dugas looks inside the numbers to determine which teams and players ruled the aughts.

Postseason Records

Peyton Manning

When it came to postseason success, few teams could compete with the Snapdragons during the past decade. The Dragons appeared in the playoffs six times (tied with the Chickens) and amazingly made it all the way to the Super Bowl on five of those occasions. The Dragons were also the only team to win more than 1 Super Bowl during the decade (pending the results of Super Bowl XVII). With a shot at a fourth title this season, the Dragons are The Team of the Decade.

TEAM DIVISION TITLES WILD CARDS CONFERENCE TITLES SUPER BOWLS
Dragons 4 2 5 3
Thugs 5 0 2 1
Merry Men 3 1 2 1
Refugees 3 1 2 1
Buddies 1 3 2 1
Huskers 2 2 1 1
White Guys 2 1 1 1
Chickens 4 2 2 0
Beans 2 2 1 0
Llamas 3 0 1 0
Orangutangs 2 1 1 0
Eaters 1 3 0 0
Boys 3 0 0 0
Poop 2 1 0 0
Brothers 2 1 0 0
Mallards 1 0 0 0

Regular Season Records

Donovan McNabb

The Chickens seem like a no-brainer when it comes to regular season dominance over the past decade. However, the final tally is much closer than you'd realize. The Dragons, Thugs and Huskers were all within just 6 wins of their total mark of 77. The Chickens also only mustered a single 10+ win season, which trailed 8 other teams, including the 52-win Memphis Brothers. With that said, you could never count the Chickens out during the decade. They sported both the best winning percentage and tied for the most number of winning seasons, finishing above .500 in 9 of the last 10 years.

TEAM WINNING PCT. RECORD 10+ WIN SEASONS WINNING SEASONS
Chickens 0.600 77-51-2 1 9
Dragons 0.592 76-52-2 2 9
Thugs 0.581 74-53-3 3 6
Huskers 0.550 71-58-1 2 7
Llamas 0.549 49-40-2 2 3
Merry Men 0.519 66-61-3 3 6
Buddies 0.512 65-62-3 2 4
Poop 0.512 66-63-1 1 5
Beans 0.485 62-66-2 1 5
Refugees 0.485 63-67 1 6
White Guys 0.469 60-68-2 2 4
Eaters 0.446 57-71-2 0 5
Boys 0.438 54-70-6 1 3
Mallards 0.434 39-51-2 0 2
Brothers 0.412 52-75-3 2 4
Orangutangs 0.412 53-76-1 0 5

Top Seasons

Terrell Owens

Big, bold and brash, the Chickens were no strangers to posting eye-popping numbers during the 2000's. They broke the 80-point mark in a game 6 times, including the league's first 100+ point effort during Week 10 in 2004. They would go on to score an incredible 867 points that year (66+ points per game), only to fall to the Merry Men 84-66 in one of the greatest YFFL games ever played. The Chickens broke the 700-point barrier two other times during the decade on their way to becoming the most intimidating team of the decade.

TEAM YEAR POINTS
Chickens 2004 867
Chickens 2002 778
Huskers 2002 765
Chickens 2006 721
Llamas 2009 709
Merry Men 2004 700
Poop 2007 676
Eaters 2007 664
Dragons* 2004 663
Thugs 2008 646

* In the ultimate year of the "Peyton Manning Curse", Manning threw for 44 TDs but couldn't get the Dragons into the playoffs. The decade's leading scorer was traded the very next year and the Dragons went on to three more Super Bowls. Manning hasn't been back since.

All-Decade Team (Total Points)

LaDainian Tomlinson

Drafted 5th overall in 2001 behind Michael Bennett, Garrison Hearst and Trent Green, few people realized that LaDainian Tomlinson would be the most dominant player of all-time at his position. While LT2 is finally starting to slow down, his 1,038 points at the RB position are nearly twice as many as his closest active competitor and his 222 point campaign in 2006 has been bested by only 4 other players (all QBs). That's why Tomlinson is The Player of the Decade and anchor of this all-star squad.

POS PLAYER PTS PRO BOWLS
QB Peyton Manning 1646 4
RB LaDainian Tomlinson 1038 7
RB/WR Shaun Alexander 644 5
WR Randy Moss 704 5
WR Terrell Owens 800 6
TE Tony Gonzalez 444 4
K David Akers 791 3
UT Marvin Harrison 600 5

All-Decade Team (Season)

Priest Holmes

You'll find many familiar faces on this team as the All-Decade Team above, with one notable exception. A solid yet unspectacular performer his first four years in the league, Priest Holmes burst onto the scene in 2002 to score a then-record 190 points to lead the 12-1 Huskers (arguably the best single-season team of all-time) to a Super Bowl title. Holmes was notoriously absent from the Super Bowl lineup due to injury, but that doesn't take away from the heavy lifting he did all season long with 22 total TDs and nearly 2,000 combined yards.

POS PLAYER YEAR TEAM STATS PTS
QB Peyton Manning 2004 Dragons 3628 yds Passing, 44 TDs 286
RB LaDainian Tomlinson 2006 Chickens 1324 yds Rush, 470 yds Rec, 28 TDs 222
RB/WR Priest Holmes 2002 Huskers 1322 yds Rush, 634 yds Rec, 22 TDs 190
WR Randy Moss 2007 Buddies 1129 yds Rec, 17 TDs 134
WR Terrell Owens 2007 Chickens 1249 yds Rec, 14 TDs 122
TE Antonio Gates 2004 Chickens 703 yds Rec, 11 TDs 84
K Adam Vinatieri 2004 Refugees 28 FGs, 34 XPs 124
UT Shaun Alexander 2005 Merry Men 1388 yds Rush, 52 yds Rec, 22 TDs 174