PonyExpress

Footballoutsiders.com offers interesting statistical data. The 2006 Pats rank 7th on offense, 7th on defense, and 3rd on special teams in the NFL. In the last 9 years only 4 other teams have ranked in single digits in all 3 categories in the regular season:

2005 Pittsburgh Steelers: Won SB
1999 St Louis Rams: Won SB
1999 Jacksonville Jaguars: Lost AFC Championship Game
1998 Atlanta Falcons: Lost SB

3 of the 4 teams went to the SB, the other exited in the championship game in one of the flukiest anomalies in NFL history (The Jaguars went 15-3 that season, losing all 3 games to Tennessee). If the Pats can maintain these rankings through Week 16, History may smile on them. With all the hits this organization has taken in the media this year, they deserve credit for putting together one of the most well-rounded teams in recent NFL history.

maverick4

My biggest fear is that our strong defense generated numbers while we had Junior Seau in there, and that we're not as stout right now with him on the IR.

stinkypete

I think defensively we have been as stout without Seau as we have with.

BelichickFan

There's been nothing I've seen to suggest that's the case.

Furthermore we've now played 4 1/2 games without him. 2+ of those were without Wilfork and 3 1/2 were without Rodney. The latter is back, the former will be back. Now . . .

FO has a weighted scale also which emphasizes the last 8 games. Half of that extra weighting is without Seau.

Our overall defense is ranked 7th, 8.9% better than average. Our weighted defense (emphasizing the last 8) is also ranked 7th and an even better 12.5% better than average.

Additionally both Baltimore and SD drop when comparing the weighted to the total. So while we're getting better defensively they're getting worse.

FWIW, if you add the offense, defense, ST rankings, the lower the better for a total, you get :

New England 17
San Diego 17
Baltimore 19
NYJ 48
Denver 51
Indy 53

Just for fun, what was our final in years past ?

2005 : 44
2004 : 26 (16th on ST)
2003 : 33
2002 : 28
2001 : 22

This may be the most well rounded we've ever been.

BTW, our weighted total for this year is :

Offense 8, Defense, 7 ST 4 for a Weighted Total of 19. Slightly higher than for the year but still very, very good. SD's weighted is 20 and Baltimore's is also 20. Should be a fun playoffs

MrTibbs

Patriots are #2 behind only the Ravens in points scored against.

PromisedLand

Once again BF has come up with some great stats. Thanks, BF!

__________________
It's so simple, even a Jets fan could do it.ä
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Box_O_Rocks

Bump for a "repete"!

__________________
"Avert thine eyes! You're not hot enough to be looking at me."
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

groundgame

Banta-Cain from the outside LB spot gives you 75% of what Vrabel gave you, and Vrabel from the inside LB gives you 125+% of Junior gave us. Bottom line is I think it is a slight overall advantage to have the present group on the field as the positives of a younger, athletic group should favor the previously older, yet wiser interior ILB group of Seau/Bruschi.

Pat_Nasty

There's a problem w/ the way you're wielding FO's DVOA stats.

Firstly, by working with their ranking # and not the actual DVOA percentage, you're creating a system where the difference between each team and the one ranked beneath is the same, while in reality, this is far from the case.

When you look at the actual % ratings, you'll see that Indianapolis' top score is 9.5 percentage points better than the #2 team. This is a lot -- it's the same as what separates the 7th ranked Pats and 16th ranked bears. Thus, when you start adding up rankings instead of percentages, you seriously devalue standout units like the Colts' offense.

Meanwhile, the same phenomenon happens on defense. According to the FO metric, the difference between the Ravens' #1 ranked D and the Pats' #7 ranked D is as big as difference between the Pats' 7th ranked D and Cleveland's 25th ranked defense. In other words, the Ravens' #1 ranked defense is really, really good to a degree that doesn't come across when you think of it as #1 to the Pats' #7.

Fortunately for us all, the folks who created these stats have done the work of combining the offense, defense and special teams scores, proportionately, and have worked out an overall team efficiency rating. The Pats rank #3, behind San Diego, and the Ravens.

They might not be quite as "well balanced," but the superlative quality of their offense and defense, respectively, deserves added weight.

BelichickFan

I know, I wasn't trying to claim that I was producing a balanced efficiency rating just an overall feel for the balance. In much the same way, I doubt a lot of people would feel that the ST rank should get an equal share with offense and defense.