Welcome back to another edition of football as soon through the eyes of our very own Chris Fries and all the quirks that come with it, in this week's Did'ja Know.

(3) Forum Discussion

Did’ja Know... that among all players who’ve attempted at least one pass, who has the highest passer rating so far in this 2007 season?

I’ll give you a couple of hints:  The NFL-leading season passer rating so far in 2007 is 158.3, held by this well-known player.  He also came in fifth overall in 2006 with a passer rating of 125.0.  Any idea who it is yet?  OK, a couple more hints:  He’s not a QB.  But in 2006 he attempted three passes and completed two of them, both for touchdowns.

In case you still didn’t know – it’s LaDainian Tomlinson.  He leads the NFL in passer rating in 2007, having made one completion out of just one attempt for 17 yards and a TD, giving him a rating of 158.3.  Tom Brady is second with a rating of 136.2, based on 198 of 267 passes for 2,431 yards, 30 TDs and only 2 Interceptions.  Did’ja Know that the third highest passer rating in 2007 is also held by a Patriots QB?  Rookie Matt Guierrez has made one completion out of one attempt for 15 yards – giving him a passer rating of 118.8.  I guess Brady needs to keep watching over his shoulder…

OK – Here’s one you might NOT have known about LaDainian Tomlinson:  Did’ja Know that he has a link to that very famous movie “Citizen Kane?”

Did’ja Know... that this Sunday’s match-up between the Colts and Patriots will be the latest NFL regular-season game featuring two undefeated teams?

Yeah, it’s hard NOT to know that, with the media hype machine cranking along at full throttle this week.  “Super Bowl 41½” it’s being jokingly called.  Peyton vs. Brady.  Belichick vs. Dungy.  Battle of the Undefeated. The Dynasty vs the Defending Champs.

Even without all the hype, it should be a great game, but c’mon.  It’s not like a playoff game – the loser won’t just go away.  They’ll still probably go on to have a dominating season.  In fact, odds are that these two teams will meet again in the AFC playoffs.  Then we can have even more hype with a “rematch for revenge” element thrown in, and the “win or go home” aspect of the playoffs to add an extra element of excitement.

Sure – Hype be damned, I admit I’m looking forward to watching this game.  I’m interested in seeing how Manning and Brady will do against the motivated defenses of these teams.  Speaking of Brady, Did’ja Know that his first game as a starter in New England was a 44-13 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in 2001?  Think the Pats were accused of running up the score?  Did’ja Know how many TDs Brady threw for that day?

Ok, if you say you knew it fine, but Did’ja Know that in 2006 Forbes magazine ranked Brady as the 52nd most influential celebrity in the world?

Did’ja Know... who has the lead in the NFL in sacks so far in 2007 with 9.0?

Nope -- it’s not Osi Umenyiora anymore. Osi’s still up there -- tied with both Jared Allen and Aaron Kampman for second place with 8.0 sacks so far this season.  But after last weeks 2-sack game against Minnesota, Philadelphia’s Trent Cole now has the lead with 9.0 sacks.  Overall, he has 27 solo tackles, 11 assists, 9 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles.  Cole, in his third-season “breakout” year, is a former University of Cincinnati Bearcat outside linebacker who was selected by the Eagles in the fifth round of the 2005 draft.  Now a DE on a line that includes Jevon Kearse, Darren Howard, and former first rounders Mike Patterson and Broderick Bunkley, it is Cole who has become the sack leader and found himself smack in the center of both the NFL and fantasy IDP spotlights.

If you’re interested, the other sack leaders so far this season behind Cole (9.0), Umenyiora (8.0), Allen (8.0), and Kampman (8.0) are Mike Vrabel (7.5), Tommie Harris (7.0), Julian Peterson (7.0), and Justin Tuck (7.0).  Did’ja Know that so far this year, 246 different players have at least 1/2 sack?  That’s a lot of sackage! 

Hmmmm…  Well, here’s another thing about Trent Cole.  Did’ja Know that he spent a lot of his boyhood somewhere that was “X-rated”?

Did’ja Know... that, speaking of sacks, which NFL QB has been sacked the most so far this season?

If you’ve been paying much attention to NFL news, you can probably guess this one.  The “leader” in this stat is the same guy who led last year.  Give up?   Having been sacked 32 times this year, Detroit Lions Jon Kitna is once again the QB who’s been face-planted into the turf more often than any other. 

Last season, Kitna was sacked 63 times – 14 times more than 2nd place Marc Bulger.  That horrendous 63 times gave an average of 3.9 sacks per game.  But so far this year, Kitna is on an even worse pace:  32 sacks through 7 games is an average of 4.6 sacks per game, putting Kitna on a projected total of 73 sacks for this season – ten more than last year.  Kitna has won over the Detroit fans with his toughness and willingness to give his all in a game, but it seems unlikely he can continue to put up with this level of punishment for another full season – if nothing else, he’s got to learn to throw the ball away to avoid the sack.

Kitna’s sacks may have had him draggin’ himself off the American turf, but Did’ja Know he’s also been a Dragon MVP, too?  He spent time in the now-defunct NFL Europe league where he was voted MVP for leading the Barcelona Dragons to a World Bowl championship over the Rhine Fire in 1988.

One more sack-stat of note.  Kitna has the league lead in overall sacks, but there’s another way to look at things.  If you add up passing attempts and sacks (which don’t count as passing attempts), and then compare the sacks to that total, you get kind of an overall “sackability” percentage.  It shows how likely a QB is to take a sack.  Kitna’s 32 sacks out of 222 attempts (plus 32 sacks) give a percentage of 12.6% -- meaning he’s been sacked about once every 8 times he has stepped back to pass.   Did’ja Know  that’s the worst among regular starting QBs, but not the overall worse in the NFL? 

Here are the leaders in this stat, highest in “sackability”:

1. Kevin Kolb:  1 sack, 0 attempts – 100.0%
2. Charlie Frye:  5 sacks, 10 attempts – 33.3%
3. Luke McNown:  2 sacks, 4 attempts – 33.3%
4. Seneca Wallace:  1 sack, 4 attempts – 20.0%
5. Brooks Bollinger:  3 sacks, 14 attempts – 17.6%
6. Trent Dilfer:  14 sacks, 90 attempts – 13.5%
7. Kelly Holcomb:  12 sacks, 83 attempts – 12.6% (Actually 12.63% vs Kitna’s 12.60%)

And the least likely to take a sack so far in 2007?

1. Sage Rosenfels:  1 sack, 74 attempts – 1.3%
2. Drew Brees:  4 sacks, 286 attempts – 1.4%
3. Peyton Manning:  5 sacks, 232 attempts – 2.1%
4. Steve McNair:  4 sacks, 157 attempts – 2.5%
5. Tom Brady:  8 sacks, 267 attempts – 2.9%
6. Eli Manning:  8 sacks, 249 attempts – 3.1%

Just in case you want a little more Kitna lore, here’s one, maybe related to how often he’s been on his back looking up at the sky:   Did’ja Know that Kitna started his NFL career behind the Moon? 

Did’ja Know... how many players have scored a safety so far this season?

Five.  Andre Carter, Dwight Freeney, Lemar Marshall, and Gerald Warren are four of them.  Pretty familiar defensive names, so probably you aren’t too surprised to see any of them on this list.  But Did’ja Know there’s another name that you might not expect?  That’s because it’s a player who’s made only one tackle so far this season?

The reason his tackle numbers are so low is because he normally plays fullback – and the safety he scored didn’t even come off a tackle.  In week 7, the San Francisco 49ers were soundly beat by the New York Giants, but in the third quarter, 49ers Fullback Moran Norris was playing special teams and blocked a punt by Jeff Feagles, which then went out of bounds beyond the end zone, giving Norris credit for both a blocked punt and a safety. 

Norris has been in the league since 2001 and has played for the Saints, Texans, and the ‘Niners since last year.  He has a career total of only 6 carries for 13 yards (no TDs), and 21 receptions for 118 yards and 3 TDs. His main focus has always been in making lead blocks.  Norris is definitely no fantasy football name, and is not typically well-known among NFL or even casual 49ers fans – but now he’s at least a name you might store away to maybe win a football trivia bet in a bar some day. 

OK – here’s a toughie: Did’ja Know the last time an offensive player scored a safety was in 2001 by Chiefs TE Mikhael Ricks?  It was also on a blocked punt.  Plus, that year Ricks also had another unique play.  Did’ja Know he caught a trick-play TD reception from… C’mon, go ahead and guess who…