'Jene Bramel said:
It's a very small percentage. The majority of aborted plays from center are uncredited forced fumbles and the rare occasion when a ballcarrier loses the ball without being tackled. Every time a tackle is awarded on a fumble play, a forced fumble is awarded at the same time.
You could get a rough estimate from tallying up the league's fumbles and comparing them to forced fumbles. That'll include special teams plays and change of possession plays, too, but should give you a number to work with.
Thanks, JeneI had already divided the league's (defense) forced fumbles by the league's (offense) fumbles. For 2011 those numbers are 447/651 (so 68.7% of fumbles were forced and 31.3% were unforced). But I wasn't sure that those numbers included special teams, since they are listed as league totals for offense and defense. It also surprised me that almost 1/3 of all fumbles would be unforced.
If I understood you correctly, aborted plays from center and the rare occasion when a ballcarrier loses the ball without being tackled would be counted as forced fumbles in NFL stats but not credited to any player. But then how would we ever get to 31.3% of fumbles being unforced?
Bob