Let's get back to discussing cold hard facts much as our troll friends would like to distract us from them.
Bottom line - Points allowed is one of the most telling stats in football. Let's see how those Chargers stack up.
0, 7, 16, 13, 19, 30, 24, 25, 41, 27, 14, 21, 20, 9, 17, 20
They allowed these points against the 27th strength of schedule in the NFL. Not exactly the cream of the crop there. let's breakdown their games.
0-9 points allowed 3 games, excellent performance
10-19 points allowed 5 games, good performance
20-29 points allowed 6 games, average performance
30+ points allowed 2 games, poor performance
So on the season this Chargers defense has allowed less than 20 points a game only 8 times, in other words 50% of the time. They have given up 20 or more points in a game 8 times, in other words 50% of the time. Of those 8 times they have allowed over THIRTY points twice. In other words the Chargers have the same chance (50/50) of showing up as either an excellent to good defense as they are of putting out a middling to poor defensive performance.
Humm somehow the Chargers' defensive performance doesn't seem all that intimidating now that we break down the numbers. And also when you consider that they were facing the 27th weakest schedule in the league. Well it makes you wonder...
Now to be fair let's break down the Pats defensive performances this season.
17, 17, 17, 13, 10, 6, 7, 27, 17, 0, 13, 21, 21, 7, 21, 23
0-9 points allowed 4 times, excellent performance
10-19 points allowed 7 times, good performance
20-29 points allowed 5 times, average performance
30+ points allowed 0 times, poor performance
The Patriots defense had excellent to good performances 11 times this season or 69% of the time. The Patriots defense only had middling or average performances 5 times this season or 31% of the time. The Patriots NEVER allowed over 30 points this season. AND all this while playing the 8th toughest schedule in the league.
What does this tell us? The Chargers defense will put out only an average to poor performance about 50% of the time. Whereas the Patriots defense will put out an excellent to good performance about 69% of the time. The other portion of the time the defense will at least be competitive and give an average performance. The Pats D have yet to put out a poor performance unlike the Chargers who have given up 30 or more points TWICE already.
These are the COLD HARD FACTS. Overall the Pats defense has played better and more CONSISTENTLY this season while facing a tougher strength of schedule than the Chargers defense. Case Closed. I hope we have all learned a little from this stat breakdown. :rocker: