OK Dan, I’ll play your little game. Try this on for size.
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TOP FIVE NFL GAME STATISTICS
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1.)Â Time of Possession
Nothing is more important to the overall picture of a football game. ToP relates to how well your offense maintains drives, how long your defense is on the field (fatigue factor,) the momentum of one team over another, how well a team is coached, how much time the opposing offense has to put up points of their own, and flat out how many possessions a team has. Speaking of which…
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2.)Â Turnover Ratio
Successful teams make fewer mistakes and capitalize on the mistakes of their opponents while creating turnover opportunities for themselves. A dominating defense attacks the offense on every down, with every tackle, and a good offense doesn’t have to take chances into double coverage to complete a pass. These first two stats certainly have to do with offensive production and ball control, but they are weighted towards the performance of the defense. The next two are purely offensive stats, but please note that both relate back to time of possession.
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3.)Â Yard Per Carry
A good offense is either dominant in the running game by virtue of better blocking and kickass backs, or gets chunks when they run due to a dominant passing game that keeps linebackers back off of the line and safeties out of the box. Either way, YPC means that you are brutalizing the defensive line and linebackers by bringing the momentum of the attack to them, keeping your defenders well rested by extending drives, and maintaining a balanced overall offensive attack. When a team does not rush well with consistency, it creates problems for the whole rest of the team.
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4.)Â Completion Percentage
Just like YPC does with the run, Completion Percentage tells the story of the efficiency of the passing game. Completion Percentage never lies. If a quarterback is only completing a third of his passes, even if those passes are all successful deep balls (not likely), he is still burning downs, burning out receivers on failed routes, not taking enough time off the clock, and most likely killing entire drives. (And if a completion percentage is that low, there are probably much deeper problems than just QB in the passing game.) Even Trent Dilfer floated around 50% passing his entire career on bad teams. He was neither better nor worse in his Super Bowl season with the Ravens in 2000. He was just consistent enough to win games. Playoff games no less.
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5.)Â Three Way Tie
Average Starting Position
The average starting field position for an offense speaks volumes about not only the performance of special teams units on both sides, but also which team is consistently more dominant in gaining yards even if they are not putting together scoring drives. If a team is starting inside their twenty yard line all game, they are fighting an uphill battle all game. This is usually due to a bend but don’t break defense (such as the Bronco’s last year) that gives up lots of yards, but holds their end well. Good for keeping the score low. Not so good for taking and keeping momentum. In a broad sense, football is about domination, and field position along with Time of Possession show which team is more dominant over the course of the game, even if they don’t win.
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Penalty Yards
Penalties can be drive killers for an offense and back breakers for a defense. A ten yard holding penalty reduces the chances of an offense getting a first down so much that unless your offense has some explosive qualities, you’re probably going to be punting very soon. A thirty yard pass interference call can mean automatic points in a lot of circumstances. It is demoralizing for the defense, which battles every down to hold every inch and is now faced with thirty freebie yards, and it is emboldening for the offense. There are some who say that both of these penalties in particular (along with illegal contact) are means by which the officiating crew can control the game and help to determine the outcome. I will say only that all three calls are at the discretion of the officials half of the time (not blatant enough to be sure-fire flags,) and sometimes they calls ‘em and sometimes they don’t.
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Third Down Conversions
Great offenses, the kind that win Super Bowls, convert third downs into first downs, plain and simple. Of course, defense and clever coaching wins most Super Bowls, but when you think of the great teams, the dynasties, they all convert the crucial downs (third and fourth when necessary) at a high percentage.
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There you go Dano, beat that.
