How come football cards don't list defense statistics (tackles, sacks, interceptions)?

Estil

As many of you are aware, I'm starting a run of Topps football sets. Now, I'm totally new to the world of football cards (I was a baseball only collector) so I have a few questions:

1. I can understand offensive linemen not having statistics as they cannot handle the ball, but how come defensive players don't get stats? They do usually say how many sacks, tackles, interceptions, and so on in their paragraph write-up, but why not list them like statistics? Or does Topps do that later?

2. I noticed for at least my current run (1983-91) Topps did the cards by team (similar to Fleer baseball). Originally they did them in alphabetical order by conference (rotating whether to begin with AFC or NFC first) then later (I think late 80s) they start having the defending Super Bowl champ, then other defending conference champ, and then in order from how they finished in their conference? And did Topps do team order before or since (that is, do they continue today to number the cards by team)?

3. And what does the abbreviation "NO" mean in terms of football statistics? Not New Orleans obviously.

Estil

Anyone?

Fabfrank

Estil, I wish I had a concrete answer for you. I think it might have to do with 2 factors. #1 The fact that tackles and sacks are not offiical "hard' stats. Meaning, if you look at web sites after a game, some might show a player with 5 tackles, 1 assist, another might have 6 tackles, yet another might have 4 tackles 1 assist. With sacks it's similar. One website might have a player with 2 sacks, another with 1 1/2 sacks. The discrepancy becomes really evident at the end of the season. In many cases, you can add up a players game to game tackles, assists, and sack stats and it won't add up to their end of season total. That's because those stats can be changed afterwards (which happens quite often after watching game film), where has offensive stats rarely, if ever, get changed.

The other factor is probably more mundane, but during that time, aside from LT (Lawrence Taylor), defensive stats weren't as sexy as passing, rushing or receiving yardage. Be glad the many of the modern football sets do list quite a bit of defensive statistics.

nearmint

<< <i>3. And what does the abbreviation "NO" mean in terms of football statistics? Not New Orleans obviously. >>



Number? As in number of interceptions?

SDSportsFan

Also, regarding sacks, keep in mind that the NFL didn't recognize the sack "officially" until either 1982 or 1983. No official stats exist prior to that; which is why players such as Deacon Jones and Jack Youngblood have gotten screwed regarding their all-time standings. Some people have gone back and scoured media guides and game logs to try to extrapolate the data, but so far, they've been unable to get the NFL to recognize the results.



Steve

Estil

Okay, what year did Topps start including proper defense statistics?

Also, how come Topps didn't do their baseball sets in team order like they did for football? And does Topps still do defending Super Bowl champ, then conference champ, then conference runners-up(?) and then in descending order of how they finished in the conference?

Oh, my 2007 Beckett football price guide #24 (the big annual one) just arrived from Amazon today so now I got the textbook for my Football Cards 101 course.

Estil

Can anyone tell me when Topps DID start listing defensive statistics on the backs of their football cards?

stown

<< <i>Can anyone tell me when Topps DID start listing defensive statistics on the backs of their football cards? >>



Don't you have a run of '83-'91 football sets?

You could look and then enlighten the board with your newly found insight.

pswebauctions

Topps stopped putting all of the cards in team order in the early 1990's. The last year was 1991. This was also the last year you could buy a box and pull any card from the set.

In 1992, Topps issued their football set in 3 series (1-330, 331-660, and 661-759 (high Series)). With the different series came the insert card. In this year, they did their "gold" insert cards - one per pack.

IMO, the inserts and breaking their sets up into multiple series caused the change. It probably did not make sense anymore to put them in team order because you would need to mix the stars up in all of the series in order to get the people to buy the packs at different times of the year.

Estil

<< <i>

<< <i>Can anyone tell me when Topps DID start listing defensive statistics on the backs of their football cards? >>



Don't you have a run of '83-'91 football sets?

You could look and then enlighten the board with your newly found insight.

>>



I meant in terms of listing them as statistics (just like they always have for QB/RB/WR/K/P) instead of just mentioning them in the paragraph write-ups.

EDIT: Okay, the 1991 set does start listing interception stats as well as sacks/tackles in the paragraph write-up. Does Topps later decide to include sacks/tackles in the stats proper in a later year?