Question

In Super Bowl 51, quarterback Tom Brady led the New England Patriots to a come-from-behind victory over the Atlanta Falcons. Near the end of the game, Brady completed 10 passes in a row, suggesting that he had the hot hand. Here are the outcomes of each passing attempt in order, where C represents a completed pass and I represents an incomplete (or intercepted) pass. Overall, Brady completed 43 of his 62 passes, for a completion percentage of 69.4%.

I CCCCC I CC I CC III C I C I CC I C I CC I C I

CCCC I CCC I CC I CCCCCC II C I CCCCCCCCCC I



How many streaks did Brady have during this game?

Answer 1

Answer: 12 streaks

The list of streaks are shown below in the order in which they appear. I'm counting both completions and incompletions/interceptions. A streak is defined as "two or more completed passes stringed together; or two or more incomplete or intercepted passes stringed together".

1. CCCCC
2. CC
3. CC
4. III
5. CC
6. CC
7. CCCC
8. CCC
9. CC
10. CCCCCC
11. II
12. CCCCCCCCCC

Here's the frequency of each group.

1. Five completed passes
2. Two completed passes
3. Two completed passes
4. Three incomplete passes and/or interceptions
5. Two completed passes
6. Two completed passes
7. Four completed passes
8. Three completed passes
9. Two completed passes
10. Six completed passes
11. Two incomplete passes and/or interceptions
12. Ten completed passes