Decoded Blog

  • Raiders Week 2 Review: the pressure numbers behind a 2-0 start

    Raiders are 2-0 after a 26-14 win at the Chargers, and the story is the pass rush: by one Next Gen Stats measure they now pressure the quarterback more than any defence in the NFL. Cousins was sharp, and the viral fumble stat needed a second look.

  • NFL Week 2: the defences answered back

    The fireworks of Week 1 gave way to a defensive Sunday: the Bears crashed from 59 points to 3, the Saints stunned the Ravens on the road, and the Chargers slid to 0-2. Here are the full Week 2 results and the stories behind them.

  • Do NFL stats lie? The Bears rushing number, decoded

    The Bears have three 250-yard rushing games since last season, against four for the rest of the league combined. The number is real, but it runs on two chosen dials: the start date and the yard line. Move either and other teams reappear.

  • One position owns the top of the NFL draft

    Since 2017, just two teams have used the first pick in the NFL draft on someone who was not a quarterback. The position has quietly become almost the only answer at the very top, and the reason says a lot about the sport.

  • The Tuck Rule game and the eleven years it took to kill the rule

    Brady lost the ball, the Raiders recovered, and a replay review turned it into an incomplete pass under the tuck rule. The NFL scrapped that rule eleven years later by a vote of 29-1.

  • The Immaculate Reception and the rule that made it a coin flip

    Under 1972 rules, two Steelers could not legally touch the same pass in succession, so the Immaculate Reception only counted if the ball grazed a Raiders defender first. The NFL repealed that rule in 1978.

  • The Super Bowl party has its own game, and it isn’t the football

    Most Super Bowl betting isn’t about the result. Around 28 million Americans play squares or a pool, a luck-based party game anyone can join.

  • How the ‘Holy Roller’ rewrote the NFL rulebook

    In 1978 three Raiders knocked a deliberate fumble into the end zone to beat the Chargers 21-20. The touchdown stood, and the NFL rewrote its fumble rule that spring so it could never happen again.

  • Raiders Week 1 Review: what the 27-13 win actually told us

    The Raiders opened 2026 the easy way, a 27-13 home win over Miami they led start to finish. Kirk Cousins reached 300 career touchdowns, Maxx Crosby hit a franchise sack milestone, and Las Vegas sit 1-0 in a suddenly open AFC West.

  • NFL Week 1 Review: what actually mattered

    The 2026 season opened with the highest-scoring game in opening-week history, an overtime settled by a failed two-point gamble, and two defences that won on their own. Here are the full Week 1 results, plus how the defences graded out, and why each moment is worth knowing.