A Football Grab Bag … Friday Cup O’Chiefs

OK, so the pace of news around the National Football League pretty much has come to a screeching halt.

There was the league’s Supplemental Draft held Thursday; more on that later. There’s Brett Favre saying he’ll decide by July 30 on whether he’s going to come back. Turns out the late Steve McNair did not leave a will. And, Ochocinco says he’s going to send messages on Twitter during games whether the league wants him to or not.

I don’t know about you, but I’m worn out on Favre, McNair and OchoChad.

So how about some geek stats from the league, a few items that you can digest and save for the next bar room discussion on things like going for it on fourth down, going for the two-point conversion and how often does the on-side kick actually work.

FOURTH DOWN

Last season, fewer teams tried to convert on fourth down, as attempts dropped compared to the ‘07 season.

Success came 53 percent of the time in ‘08 on fourth down (260 of 491 attempts). The season before the success rate was 49 percent (261 of 533 attempts). In the ‘06 season, teams hit 239 of 473 plays on fourth down or 50.5 percent.

Overall, the success rate on fourth down for the last three seasons was 50.8 percent.

The Chiefs were actually better than the league average, as they converted 29 of 51 plays on fourth down or 56.9 percent.

The New England Patriots have been phenomenal on fourth down the last three years, hitting 48 of 63 or 76.2 percent.

2-POINT CONVERSION

In the last few seasons, going for two has become more popular, even though teams have been less successful converting the plays.

Last year teams decided to go for two points after a touchdown 68 times. They picked up the two points 28 times, or 41.2 percent of the time they were successful.

Attempts were up from the 2007 season, when teams went for two points 61 times and made 30, or 49.2 percent. In the 2006 season, teams converted 51.2 percent of their two-point attempts (21 of 41).

Overall in the last three years that’s a 46.5 percent success rate.

Last season, teams converted on five of 15 running plays (33.3 percent) and 23 of 53 passing plays (43.4 percent).

The Chiefs were one of four on two-point attempts in ‘08 and three of eight over the past three seasons, or 37.5 percent.

ON-SIDE KICKS

Overall, the on-side kick is not a very successful play. Last year, the kicking team retained possession 12 of 56 on-side attempts. That’s a 21.4 percent success rate.

The last three seasons, teams got the ball back 49 of 183 kicks, or 26.8 percent.

Last year, the Chiefs were zero for three on on-side kicks and over the last three years they are zero for four.

If a team wants to try an on-side kick, the time to do squib the kick is the first quarter. Surprise on-side kicks over the last three years have been successful 54.5 percent of the time (six of 11.) On-side kicks in the first half were successful 45.4 percent of the time (15 of 33.)

Green Bay and New Orleans were the teams most likely to try a surprise on-side kick.

SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT IS A QUIET AFFAIR

Only one of the available eight players was selected in the NFL Supplemental Draft that was held on Thursday.

Using a third-round choice from next year, the Washington Redskins selected Kentucky DE Jeremy Jarmon. The Skins will be without their third-round pick next year, something they are quite familiar with since they tend to give up draft choices on a regular basis.

A 6-foot-3, 277-pounder, Jarmon had 17.5 sacks in three seasons for the Wildcats. He was ruled ineligible for his senior season by the NCAA after testing positive for a banned substance in February. The positive test came from a dietary supplement according to Jarmon.

The result did not affect his status with the NFL. Several sources reported on Thursday that five teams put in fourth-round bids for Jarmon, including the Detroit Lions who had the top pick in the fourth round.

SIGNINGS & MOVEMENT AROUND THE LEAGUE

BENGALS – signed fifth-round draft choice P Kevin Huber.

FALCONS – signed fourth-round draft choice DE Lawrence Sidbury.

PANTHERS – signed fifth-round draft pick G Duke Robinson.

PATRIOTS – agreed to terms with third-round draft choice WR Brandon Tate and seventh-round WR Julian Edelman.

RAIDERS – agreed to terms with sixth-round draft choice TE Brandon Myers.

TEXANS – agreed to terms with fourth-round draft choice CB Glover Quin.

SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY …

Born on July 17, 1964 in Long Island, Virginia was RB Barry Word. He joined the Chiefs for the 1990 season and spent three seasons with the team (1990-92), appearing in 44 games with 17 starts. Word’s big year was that ‘90 season when he carried the ball 204 times for 1,015 yards, or a five-yard per carry average. He finished his time in Kansas City with 2,306 rushing yards on 527 carries with 12 touchdowns and 15 catches for 121 yards. Word played seven seasons in the league.

Born on July 17, 1978 in Augusta, Georgia was LB Kendrell Bell (left). He joined the Chiefs as a free-agent signing in 2005 and played three seasons (2005-07), appearing in 43 games with 28 starts. Bell had 130 total tackles, with 2.5 sacks and one forced fumble with the Chiefs.