The Giants won both Super Bowls against New England wearing their white uniforms. Sunday the Patriots will wear white. Photo by Pete Lerro/contrasphotography.com

Jan. 30, 2015
 
PHOENIX – To commemorate Super Bowl XLIX, we bring you 49 facts and tidbits about Super Bowls, the New England Patriots, the Seattle Seahawks and, of course, the Giants.
 
I – New England and Seattle are a combined 4-5 in Super Bowls. The Patriots are 3-4 (winning Super Bowls XXXI, XXXVIII and XXXIX) and the Seahawks are 1-1 (defeating Denver, 43-8, last year in MetLife Stadium).
 
II – The Patriots’ eight Super Bowl appearances tie them with Dallas and Pittsburgh for the most in the history of the game. The Steelers are 6-2, the Cowboys are 5-3, including a victory and two losses to Pittsburgh.
 
III – New England and Seattle were the top postseason seeds in their respective conferences. Since the current playoff format was adopted in 1990, this is the fifth time both No. 1 seeds advanced to the Super Bowl. It’s also the first time it has happened in consecutive years (the Seahawks and Broncos were No. 1 seeds last season). The NFC has won each of the four previous times there has been a matchup of No. 1 seeds.
 
IV- The Patriots are 1-2 in Super Bowls when entering as a No. 1 seed. The two losses were to the Giants in Super Bowls XLII and XLVI.
 
V – The team wearing white jerseys has won nine of the last 10 Super Bowls (the Packers wore green four years ago) and are 30-18 overall. The Giants wore white when they won Super Bowls XLII and XLVI. New England will wear white on Sunday.
 
VI – The Giants are 4-1 in Super Bowls. In those five games, they scored 104 points and allowed 104 points.

VII – The Seahawks are the first team since the 2003-2004 Patriots to make back-to-back Super Bowl appearances and the first NFC team to do so since Green Bay in 1996-97. Seattle is the 12th team to reach the Super Bowl after winning it the previous season. The Seahawks are attempting to become the ninth team to win back-to-back Super Bowls and the first since those New England teams a decade ago.

VIII – New England’s Bill Belichick has joined Hall of Famer Don Shula as the only head coaches to lead their teams to six Super Bowls. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will play in his sixth Super Bowl, tying the record set by former defensive tackle Mike Lodish (four with Buffalo, two with Denver). Brady will become the first quarterback to start six Super Bowls. John Elway is the only other quarterback with five starts. Belichick can join Chuck Noll as the only coaches with four Lombardi Trophies, and Brady can join Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw as the only starting quarterbacks with four rings.
 
IX – Brady (three) and Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson (last year) each have championship rings. This is the sixth time both starting quarterbacks have previously won a Super Bowl:
 
Game                Winning QB                  Losing QB
Super Bowl X         Terry Bradshaw                Roger Staubach
Super Bowl XIII      Terry Bradshaw                Roger Staubach
Super Bowl XVIII     Jim Plunkett                  Joe Theismann
Super Bowl XLIII     Ben Roethlisberger            Kurt Warner
Super Bowl XLVI      Eli Manning                   Tom Brady
 
X – Wilson will be the youngest quarterback (26 years, 64 days) to start two Super Bowls, supplanting … Brady. Wilson is also the first quarterback to start two Super Bowls in his first three NFL seasons.

XI – It has been widely reported that Wilson is 10-0 vs. quarterbacks who have won a Super Bowl (including postseason games). Brady is 15-8.

XII – Last year, the Denver Broncos were shut out in the first half of Super Bowl XLVIII. They were the first team to go scoreless in the first two quarters since the Giants vs. Baltimore in Super Bowl XXXV. Teams with zero first-half points are 0-12 in Super Bowls.
 
XIII – Seattle coach Pete Carroll, 63, and Belichick, 62, are the NFL’s second and third-oldest head coaches, behind the Giants’ Tom Coughlin, who is 68. Either Belichick or Carroll will become the third-oldest head coach to win a Super Bowl, behind Coughlin (65 years, 158 days) and Dick Vermeil (63 years, 92 days). Carroll won last year when he was 62 years and 140 days old and is currently No. 3. This is the first Super Bowl matchup of head coaches age 60 or older.
 
XIV – Belichick (six) and Carroll (two) will set a record with eight combined appearances between head coaches. The previous record of seven was set by Belichick (five) and Coughlin (two) in Super Bowl XLVI.
 
XV – Carroll was Belichick’s predecessor as the Patriots’ coach. Carroll was 28-23 (including postseason games) with New England from 1997-99. Carroll is the fourth coach to face his former team in the Super Bowl, joining Jon Gruden (Tampa Bay vs. Oakland), Dan Reeves (Atlanta vs. Denver) and Weeb Embank (Jets vs. Baltimore Colts).
 
XVI – Super Bowl teams with the fewest turnovers are 36-3 (the teams have had the same number of turnovers nine times).
 
XVII – The Super Bowl has had 15 different host cities and has been played in 22 different stadiums. This is the second Super Bowl to be played in University of Phoenix Stadium, the site of the Giants’ victory over New England in Super Bowl XLII.
 
XVIII – On Dec. 21, the Seahawks played their final regular-season road game in University of Phoenix Stadium, where they defeated the Arizona Cardinals, 35-6. In 2013, Seattle’s regular-season road finale was also at the Super Bowl site, MetLife Stadium, where they beat the Giants, 23-0. New England did not play in Arizona this season. Super Bowl teams that played a regular-season game in the Super Bowl stadium are 15-9. Last year, both Denver and Seattle defeated the Giants in MetLife. Which brings us to…

XIX – In the 43 Super Bowls in which they were not one of the competing teams, the Giants played the eventual champion 33 times in the regular season. They are 2-31 in those games, defeating the-then 13-0 Denver Broncos in 1998 and the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008. Many of the defeats occurred in the 1970s, when the Giants had just two winning records, and Dallas, their division rivals, played in five Super Bowls. The Giants are 6-24 against Super Bowl losers. They last defeated a Super Bowl participant in 2012, when they beat eventual NFC champion San Francisco.
 
XX – Belichick will tie former Giants head coach Dan Reeves’ record for most Super Bowl appearances with nine. In addition to his six Super Bowls as a head coach, Belichick went three times as an assistant, including twice with the Giants. Reeves played in two Super Bowls for Dallas, was a Cowboys assistant for three others and went four times as a head coach, three with Denver (and one for Atlanta against the Broncos). He was 0-4.
 
XXI – The Giants’ Phil Simms’ 88.0 completion percentage in Super Bowl XXI is still the highest by a quarterback in the game’s history. Simms completed 22 of 25 passes in the Giants’ rout of Denver. New Orleans’ Drew Brees had the second-highest completion in a Super Bowl at 82.1 (32 of 39 in defeating Indianapolis in Super Bowl XLIV).
 
XXII –The Patriots and Seahawks have met 16 times with the series being split 8-8. This will mark the first postseason meeting ever between the two clubs. The two teams last met on Oct. 14, 2012 in Seattle. The Seahawks won, 24-23. Wilson, then a rookie, threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes as Seattle erased a 13-point deficit.

XXIII – Seattle linebacker Malcolm Smith, the MVP of Super Bowl XLVIII, intercepted a Peyton Manning pass and returned it 69 yards for a touchdown. Teams that have scored a touchdown on an interception return are 12-0 in the Super Bowl. Smith was the first player in Super Bowl history with an interception return touchdown and a fumble recovery in the same game.
 
XXIV – For the second year in a row, the head coach of the AFC Super Bowl team is a former Giants defensive coordinator. Last season it was Denver’s John Fox, now it’s Belichick. They are among the eight former Giants assistant coaches who have led teams to Super Bowls as head coaches. Six of the eight have won at least one Super Bowl. Former Giants coaches are 12-9 as head coaches in Super Bowls.
 
Name              Giants Assistant   Team, Super Bowl(s)
Bill Belichick    1979-90            New England: XXXI, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLII, XLVI, XLIX
Tom Coughlin      1988-90            Giants: XLII, XLVI
Jim Fassel        1991-92            Giants: XXXV
John Fox          1997-2001          Carolina: XXXVIII, Denver XLVIII
Tom Landry        1954-59            Dallas: V, VI, X, XII, XIII
Vince Lombardi    1954-58            Green Bay: I, II
Bill Parcells     1979, 1981-82      Giants: XXI, XXV; Patriots XXXI
Sean Payton       1999-2002          New Orleans: XLIV
 
XXV – The Giants’ 20-19 victory over Buffalo in Super Bowl XXV is the only Super Bowl decided by a single point.
 
XXVI – The Giants’ 17-14 victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII is the only Super Bowl in which there were three fourth-quarter lead changes. Their victory over the Bills in Super Bowl

XXV is one of three Super Bowls with two fourth-quarter lead changes. The others were Super Bowl XLVIII (Patriots-Panthers) on Feb. 1, 2004 and Super Bowl XLIII (Steelers-Cardinals) on Feb. 1, 2009. Super Bowl XLIX will be played on Feb. 1.
 
XXVII – New England’s previous five Super Bowls in the Belichick/Brady era were decided by 3, 3, 3, 3 and 4 points, the latter two losses to the Giants.
 
XXVIII – It’s truly a flip of the coin…
In the first 48 Super Bowls, the coin flipped at midfield prior to kickoff has come up heads and tails 24 times apiece. The coin toss winner is … 24-24. But, the coin toss winner has won four of the last five Super Bowls. The NFC has won 15 of 17. The last four coin toss winners – and five of the last six – have deferred their choice to the second half. The Patriots are 1-6 in Super Bowl coin tosses (the win was vs. the Giants in Super Bowl XLVI), the Seahawks are 2-0. The Giants won two of five Super Bowl coin tosses. This season, when New England and Seattle win the coin flip that starts a game, they are 18-2; when losing the flip, they are 10-6.
 
XXIX – Seattle allowed an NFL-low 254 points in the regular-season, the third consecutive season it gave up the fewest points. This is 17th time since the 1970 merger that the defense that allowed the fewest points in the NFL has advanced to the Super Bowl. Last year’s Seahawks improved the record of those teams to 13-3.
 
XXX – Eli Manning has a Super Bowl completion percentage of 66.22 (49-for-74), the fourth-highest in history (minimum 40 attempts). The top three are Troy Aikman (70.00), Peyton Manning (68.18) and Joe Montana (68.03).
 
XXXI – Most misleading statistic in Super Bowl history: Denver had one more first down (18-17) last year than Seattle. The Broncos lost by 35 points.
 
XXXII – New England’s all-time postseason record is 27-18. Seattle’s is 14-12.
 
XXXIII – The team with the most total yards in the Super Bowl is 38-10. The team with the most rushing yards is also 38-10. But the team with the most passing yards is just 25-23.
 
XXXIV – The Patriots and Seahawks had the two highest point differentials in the 2014 regular season. New England was plus-155 (468-313), Seattle was plus-140 (394-15).
 
XXXV – Carroll can become the first coach ever to win multiple championships at both the collegiate and professional level. He led USC to national titles in 2003 and 2004. The only other coaches to win both college and pro titles are Jimmy Johnson, who won a national title at Miami before winning two Super Bowls with the Cowboys, and Barry Switzer, who won three championships at Oklahoma before succeeding Johnson in Dallas and winning Super Bowl XXX.

XXXVI – Teams scoring first are 32-16 in the Super Bowl.
 
XXXVII – The NFC holds a 26-22 lead over the AFC in Super Bowls. Four teams – San Francisco (5), Dallas (5), Green Bay (4) and the Giants (4) – have accounted for 54 percent of the NFC victories.
 
XXXVIII – This is the 11th time in 12 Super Bowls that the AFC quarterback has been Brady (6),
Roethlisberger (3), or Peyton Manning (3). The exception was in Super Bowl XLVII two years ago, when Baltimore’s Joe Flacco quarterbacked the AFC representative.
 
XXXIX – Sixteen father/son duos have reached the Super Bowl, including Steve and Zak DeOssie of the Giants, the only such partnership to win rings with the same franchise.
 
XL – Eli Manning, the MVP of Super Bowls XLII and XVLI, is one of five players to win the award at least twice, joining Montana (three times), Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw and Brady. A quarterback has won the award 26 times.
 
XLI – Manning (2-0) is one of six quarterbacks to start more than one Super Bowl without a defeat. The others are Bradshaw and Montana (both 4-0), Aikman (3-0), Jim Plunkett and Starr (2-0).
 
XLII – Teams with the higher time of possession are 36-12 in Super Bowls.
 
XLIII – Former Giant Kurt Warner, who is a Hall of Fame finalist this year, has the three-highest passing yardage totals in Super Bowls history. He threw for 414 yards in St. Louis’ victory over Tennessee in Super Bowl XXXIV, 377 yards for Arizona vs. Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLIII, and 365 yards for the Rams against the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI.
 
XLIV – The Seahawks led Denver last year, 36-0, the most consecutive points scored to start a Super Bowl. The previous record of 24 was set by Miami in Super Bowl VIII and tied by Washington in Super Bowl XXVI.
 
XLV – Teams leading at halftime are 36-10 in the Super Bowl. There have been two halftime ties.
 
XLVI – In Super Bowl XXXV, the Giants’ Ron Dixon and Baltimore’s Jermaine Lewis returned kickoffs for touchdowns, the only Super Bowl in which each team scored on a kickoff return. There have been 10 kickoff return touchdowns in Super Bowl history, including Baltimore’s Jacoby Jones and Seattle’s Percy Harvin the last two years.
 
XLVII – Justin Tuck of the Giants totaled 4.0 sacks in Super Bowls XLII and XLVI, the second-highest total in Super Bowl history. Charles Haley holds the record with 4.5 sacks – but he played in five Super Bowls, two for San Francisco and three for Dallas.
 
XLVIII – The Patriots and Seahawks were each 3-2 against common opponents this season. Both teams beat Oakland and Denver and lost in Kansas City. New England defeated San Diego and lost to Green Bay, while Seattle lost to the Chargers but beat the Packers.
 
XLIX – New England twice trailed by 14 points in its AFC Divisional Playoff victory over Baltimore, and Seattle fell behind Green Bay in the NFC Championship Game, 16-0. This is the first Super Bowl matching teams that overcame a deficit of at least 14 points that postseason.