Last modified: Sunday, September 7, 2008 2:34 AM EDT
The 81 jersey of Randy Moss ranked 13th in sales last year. (Staff photo by KEITH NORDSTROM)

FARINELLA: Some fun football facts

BY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF

As most of us will be consumed with the sights, sounds and smells of football over the next 22 weeks, here are 22 facts about the NFL, the new season of which begins for us today at Gillette Stadium as the Patriots take on the Kansas City Chiefs, that you probably wouldn't know unless I told you:

**The active quarterback with the best winning percentage? Heck, you should know this one. Tom Brady has won 86 games and lost 24 in the past eight seasons, for a percentage of .782. Second is San Diego's Philip Rivers (25-7, .781) and third is Dallas' Tony Romo (19-7, .731). Closest to Brady with more than 50 games under his belt? Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisburger (39-16, .709). Peyton Manning is sixth overall by percentage at .656, but has the most wins of any active quarterback with 105 against 55 losses.

**Five U.S. Presidents played football in college - Dwight Eisenhower (halfback, Army, 1912), Gerald Ford (center, Michigan, 1932-34), John F. Kennedy (wide receiver, Harvard, 1937), Richard Nixon (running back, Whittier, 1931-34) and Ronald Reagan (guard, Eureka, 1928-31). None of them played in the pros, but Reagan portrayed Norte Dame's George Gipp in the movies.

**Neither Barack Obama nor John McCain played college or pro football.

**According to an ESPN poll, the Dallas Cowboys remain the team in all of professional sports whose jerseys and other paraphernalia sell best. The Red Sox rank fifth and the Patriots rank ninth. Robert Kraft can't wait until that new Pro Shop opens, I bet.

**Brett Favre's Green Bay Packers jersey sold the most of any player last year. Tony Romo's Dallas shirt and Tom Brady's jersey were next in line, with Eli and Peyton Manning back-to-back behind Brady. Randy Moss ranked 13th. No word yet on how Favre's Jets jersey is selling, but reports are that it's flying off the shelves.

**Since 1978, when the NFL went to a 16-game regular season, of the 426 teams that won their opening games, 225 went on to qualify for the playoffs and 130 won divisional titles.

**The Patriots' record in opening games over their 48 seasons? Dead even - 24-24. In the AFC, Jacksonville is 9-4 (.692), Denver is 30-17-1 (.638) and San Diego 28-20 (.583), with the Patriots ranking 10th (tied with Oakland), while in the NFC, Dallas leads at 32-15-1 (.681), followed by Chicago's 49-34-5 (.590) and the Giants' 46-32-5 (.590).

**The worst to start a season? In the AFC, the Baltimore Ravens (4-8, .333), and in the NFC, the New Orleans Saints (13-28, .317).

**In case you were wondering, here is the NFL's jersey numbering system, which was made infamous when New Orleans' Reggie Bush was told he couldn't wear his collegiate number (5) and had to wear 25 instead: Quarterbacks, punters and placekickers must wear numbers from 1-19, wide receivers must wear 10-19 or 80-89, tight ends must wear 80-89 (although some accommodations have been made for numbers in the 40s), running backs and defensive backs must wear 20-49, centers must wear 50-59 (although accommodations are made from 60-79 according to availability), guards and tackles must wear 60-79, defensive linemen must wear 60-79 (or 90-99 according to availability) and linebackers must wear 50-59 (or 90-99 as above).

Got that?

**The Patriots will log the fifth highest total of air miles this year at 29,024, the highest of any franchise east of the Rocky Mountains. Seattle (34,766), Oakland (34,218), San Diego (33,403) and San Francisco (31,530) lead the way.

**The least air miles to be flown? Cleveland at 6,416. You have no excuses, Romeo Crennel.

**The highest-scoring opening-day game was played 61 years ago at Philadelphia's Municipal Stadium, where the Eagles beat the Washington Redskins, 45-42. The game was just 10-0 in the Iggles' favor after a quarter.

**The best opening-day rushing performance in league history came on Sept. 16, 1973, when Buffalo's O.J. Simpson knifed through the Patriots' defense for 250 yards on 29 carries, scoring two touchdowns including an 80-yarder for a score.

**Drew Bledsoe has the fourth-best passing total on opening day, having completed 32 of 51 passes (four touchdowns, two interceptions) for 421 yards at Miami on Sept. 4, 1994. In that same game, Miami's Dan Marino posted the second-best total of all time (23-42, 473 yards, five TD, one interception), but both still pale before the 554 yards (27-41, five TD, two picks) posted by the Rams' Norm Van Brocklin against the New York Yanks on Sept. 28, 1951. That's still the league's single-game record.

**According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, 1,035 girls participated in 11-player-rules football programs across the country last year.

**In 1953, the Green Bay Packers drafted James McConaghey, a split end out of the University of Houston, in the 27th round (319th overall). McConaghey didn't make the team, but his son, actor Matthew McConaghey, played a football coach in "We Are Marshall" many years later.

**The NFL has approved a special football to be used in the Buffalo Bills' "home" game against the Miami Dolphins in Toronto's Rogers Centre on Dec. 7. Anything to make another buck.

**The Jets will be wearing special patches on their uniforms to commemorate the 40th anniversary of their victory over the Colts in Super Bowl III. Hey, they've got to celebrate something.

**According to last year's final standings, the Pittsburgh Steelers have the toughest schedule this year, their opponents having posted a cumulative record of 153-103 (.598) in 2007. The easiest schedule? Your New England Patriots - 99-157, .387, for their opponents. Don't forget those air miles, though.

**According to a recent Harris Poll, 30 percent of the respondents said that pro football was their favorite sport, followed by baseball (15 percent), college football (12), auto racing (10) and hockey (5).

**Bill Belichick is 7-6 as a coach in opening games. His opponent today, Herm Edwards, is 2-5. Denver's Mike Shanahan tops the list at 11-4.

**And finally, this interesting quote from Patriots' owner Robert Kraft (as provided by the NFL in its preseason literature that helped produce this column): "The head coach is probably the most important person in the system, and I'm not sure I felt that when I came into the league."

Somewhere in Miami, Bill Parcells is quietly chuckling to himself.

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/farinella.