As the analytical movement spreads in football, new statistics are appearing en masse. There are DVOA, ANY / A, CPOE, EPA, QBR and many more. Some starts are good. Some are helpful. Some are sad. Some are unnecessary.
This is one of the most unnecessary.
Well, not unnecessary, per se. There are eight points involved in this statistic. This is why it is called the octopus.
Invented by Sports Illustrated’s Mitch Goldich last year, an octopus occurs when a player scores a touchdown and also converts a two-point conversion on the same player, resulting in eight points. Or rather an octopus.
And here’s the fun part: No team has recorded more octopuses than the Packers.
An octopus has only been possible since 1994, when the NFL introduced the two-point conversion. Since then, the Packers have registered 11, two more than the second-place Rams. Davante Adams pocketed the most recent octopus when Aaron Rodgers found him on the two-point conversion after Adam’s third quarter touchdown against the 49ers in Week 12.
Adams is one of two Packers players with two octopuses to his name, along with Randall Cobb. The other seven are owned by Mark Chmura, Corey Bradford (who also had one for the Texans!), Ruvell Martin, Greg Jennings, James Jones, Richard Rodgers and Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers also holds the distinction of being the only Packers player to catch an octopus as a runner; everyone else came to the receptions.
Does all of this matter? Not really. But soccer is a game and games are meant to be fun. Adding another wacky little stat to the mix increases the fun factor a bit (for me, anyway).
Also, an octopus can be serious business: sports betting would risk losing money if someone had registered an octopus in the Super Bowl.
