How are the Pats 12-3 and on the verge of Home Field throughout ? Mind boggling defensive stats.

[Pat the Pats Fan]

Pats defense allows a lot of plays, but few points. Anybody know points per play versus rest os league.

Ok found it.
Pats rank fifth in points per play by opponent at .301 points per play.
Teams ahead of us, Vikings, jaguars, chargers and ravens.
Last year they were first at .264 points per play allowed. NFL Football Stats - NFL Team Opponent Points per Play on TeamRankings.com

 

[Soliel]

The team is 12-3 because of Tom flipping brady

 

[Oswlek]

Patriots have had a very week schedule.

Gotta disagree here. Buffalo is only a non-playoff opponent because NE beat them twice. If the Bills had won either game, it'd be two more added to your tally.

Then there's the fact that several teams were faced at their seasonal apexes, including KC, Houston and SD. Add in the tough road stretch and having faced the most competitive division in the NFL and you get a pretty difficult schedule overall.

 

[Uptown]

Pats Pulpit on Twitter

The #Patriots could be first team in NFL history to rank first on offense and last on defense in DVOA, notes @pp_rich_hill.

Not sure whether to feel proud or discouraged

 

[Ring 6]

Looking at defensive stats today, and I find it mind boggling this team is 12-3, and most likely winds up 13-3.

Pass defense:
29th in yards against, only 4 teams have given up more passing yards. Indy, Giants & Bucs. None of those teams have more than 4 wins.

38 sacks, 11 teams have more than the Pats. Giving up 62.8 completion percentage, only 12 teams are worse. Only one of those teams are in the playoff hunt (Atlanta).

Have given up 24 TD passes, tied for 21st.

Rush defense:
26th against the rush. Giving up 4.8 yards per carry, only the Chargers have given up more per carry (4.9).

Oddly enough, Pats have given up the 2nd least amount of rushing TDs in the whole league. They’ve given up 6. Shockingly Cleveland has only given up 5.

Now I know the injuries have played a HUGE part in these stats being mind bogglingly bad, but that’s where coaching comes in. If the Pats somehow achieve the ultimate goal, this has to be Belichick’s best coaching job ever. Always thought 2008 was his best, this would surpass it.

That the Pats are 12-3, and should wind up 13-3 is just amazing.

It’s not mind boggling at all. It’s very simple. When the game is over they don’t determine the winner by statistics, they determine the winner by who scored more points.

 

[Uptown]

“The Patriots’ defense ranks 31st overall in yards allowed per carry with 4.84. They’re 32nd in yards allowed per carry to the left and right end with 6.89. The issue only has compounded since outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy suffered a calf injury in Week 12. The Patriots have allowed 7.26 yards per outside carry from Week 13 on.”

Read more at: Todd Bowles Believes James Harrison Could Fix One Of Patriots’ Biggest Issues

 

[Uptown]

I agree.

Patriots cornerbacks need a boost before playoffs

 

[TinhWoodhead]

reporter - "what's the most important defensive stats?"

beli - [speechless]

/thread

 

[TinhWoodhead]

Pats defense allows a lot of plays, but few points. Anybody know points per play versus rest os league.

ahhh its the Ben Butt Dontbreake

 

[ChessToCheckers]

I would add Special Teams to this equation as well. If I'm not mistaken, our opponents, on average, start their drives further back after kickoffs and punts than most.

So , if you put this Offense, Defense, Special Teams, and Coaching together into the equation, you have one helluva team! "Ladies and Gentleman: Your 2017 New England Patriots! "

 

[Soliel]

Stats are for losers

 

[PF_SU]

I think you mean they STINK between the 20s. Actually I'd say they are terrible for the the 90 yards between the opponents 0 to the Pats 10. And then somehow they prevent TDs.

It's infuriating and awesome.

They suck for most of the field. Their redzone D is good, but not amazing (the amazing thing is the amount of turnovers they come up with in the redzone, leading the league since week 7). The big exception is around midfield. If you look at the Pats' defensive stats since weeks 7 between the opponents 41 and the Patriots 40:

Total Yards per play: 4.62 (1st)
Pass Yards per play: 5.33 (2nd)
Rush Yards per play: 3.58 (3rd)
3rd down conversion: 37.8% (9th)

And in the redzone:

Total Yards per play: 2.36 (10th)
Turnover percentage: 4.2% (1st)
Pass Yards per play: 2.09 (8th)
Rush Yards per play: 3.11 (26th)
3rd down conversion: 33.3% (11th)

 

[pencilneckgeek]

The Patriots defense is great in the Red Zone. They're 5th in the league in opponents' scoring percentage in the Red Zone., and 2nd in opponents' rushing TDs allowed. They are stout inside the 20.

NFL Football Stats - NFL Team Opponent Red Zone Scoring Percentage (TD only) on TeamRankings.com

More to the point, the Patriots are #1 in points per game in the AFC: 2017 NFL Team Total Stats - National Football League - ESPN

They are also amazingly efficient offensively. Letting the opponent chew up the clock and get three points each drive only works if you consistently average more than three points a drive. See the two Giants Superbowls for the downside to this approach. If you don't get a lot of possessions, the offense needs to deliver consistently. Fortunately, this year, the defense has not been giving-up many long drives in the second half, so even when the offense had been slow-starting, they've managed to outscore the opposition fairly consistently.

 

[nabwong]

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | 2017 DRIVE STATS

This speaks to complimentary football.

Special teams: There is only ONE team that forces the other team to start before the 25 yard line. Patriots at 24.99 (1st) yard line.

Offense: Our field position is quite bad. 27.79 (19th). I assume because our D gives up yards. But we lead yards and points per drive at 39.17 (1st) 2.68 (1st)

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Here's another way to look at it
First 4 games- defense allowed 128 points - 32 ppg
Next 11 games- defense allowed 141 points* 12.8 ppg
( offense allowed 21 points on Clowney fumble recovery, Buf pick 6 and Miami bad snap/fumble TD)

 

[PF_SU]

Another interesting tidbit:

Since week 7, drive stats with the score being within +/-16 points (in other words, two scores):

DEFENSE
6.9 plays per drive (32nd)
36.4 yards per drive (32nd)
3:15 minutes per drive (32nd)
Opp25 starting position (7th)
33.9% of drives ending in a score (9th)
10.7% of drives ending in a TO (22nd)
46.4% of drives ending in a punt (7th)
14.3% of drives ending in a TD (1st)
19.6% of drives ending in a FG (26th)
3.6% of drives ending in a missed FG (14th)

OFFENSE
7.0 plays per drive (1st)
42.9 yards per drive (1st)
3:03 minutes per drive (3rd)
Own27 starting position (25th)
61.8% of drives ending in a score (1st)
8.8% of drives ending in a TO (10th)
26.5% of drives ending in a punt (1st)
35.3% of drives ending in a TD (1st)
26.5% of drives ending in a FG (2nd)
2.9% of drives ending in a missed FG (11th)

And now the really interesting thing, the same numbers for what is regarded as the Patriots' biggest threat in the AFC, the Pittsburgh Steelers

DEFENSE
5.9 plays per drive (18th)
36.1 yards per drive (31st)
2:49 minutes per drive (19th)
Opp24 starting position (1st)
42.3% of drives ending in a score (7th)
9.9% of drives ending in a TO (26th)
42.3% of drives ending in a punt (20th)
25.4% of drives ending in a TD (4th)
16.9% of drives ending in a FG (19th)
2.8% of drives ending in a missed FG (21st)

OFFENSE
6.6 plays per drive (2nd)
39.7 yards per drive (2nd)
3:01 minutes per drive (4th)
Own28 starting position (12th)
53.5% of drives ending in a score (2nd)
9.3% of drives ending in a TO (12th)
34.9% of drives ending in a punt (2nd)
29.1% of drives ending in a TD (3rd)
24.4% of drives ending in a FG (4th)
1.2% of drives ending in a missed FG (26th)

It's flying under the radar, but since week 7 Pittsburgh looks almost like a mirror image of the Patriots on both sides of the field. Just inferior.

 

[FourierSeries]

Looks like the Patriots won't be winning the DVOA championship this season.

Bummer.

 

[NormZauchin]

I think you mean they STINK between the 20s. Actually I'd say they are terrible for the the 90 yards between the opponents 0 to the Pats 10. And then somehow they prevent TDs.

It's infuriating and awesome.

It's Belichick's version of "rope a dope," with the emphasis on "dope" when they play the Jets and a couple of other teams.

 

[1960Pats]

Gotta disagree here. Buffalo is only a non-playoff opponent because NE beat them twice. If the Bills had won either game, it'd be two more added to your tally.

Then there's the fact that several teams were faced at their seasonal apexes, including KC, Houston and SD. Add in the tough road stretch and having faced the most competitive division in the NFL and you get a pretty difficult schedule overall.

The Pats at 17.33 are ranked 22 on my SOS list, based on the average power rankings of their opponents at the time they played them.

Here are the top ten;
T1 - Atlanta 13.33
T1 - NY Giants 13.33
3 - Washington 13.53
4 - Chicago 13.73
T5 - Minnesota 14.80
T5 - New Orleans 14.80
7 - Dallas 15.07
8 - LA Chargers 15.20
9 - Seattle 15.33
10 - Oakland 15.60

And the bottom 10;
23 - Cincinnati 17.20
24 - LA Rams 17.27
25 - San Francisco 17.40
26 - Arizona 17.67
27 - Carolina 18.33
28 - Pittsburgh 18.73
29 - Baltimore 18.87
30 - Indianapolis 19.00
31 - Tennessee 20.00
32 - Jacksonville 20.20

 

[MassPats38]

The defense is not the 2003-2004 defense, but it gets the job done. The defense has improved, but it is not going to win style points for brutality.

As for strength of schedule, the Pats always tend to lose in that discussion because they do not play games against the Patriots. I suspect the NFC South teams rule that category, and the Pats beat all but one of them. The Chargers and Bills are on the cusp of playoff contention, and the Pats beat them as well. I am not about to classify the schedule as easy because they did not play the Ravens or Jaguars, or you can read a ton into a loss in game 1 to the Chiefs.

I don't put much stock in Power Rankings, but most seem to put them in the top spot despite the lack of a brutal defense. The defense was horrid to begin the season, and that will always skew the stats. I believe they have done okay without Hightower (better than I had hoped) and some misses on free agent replacements this season. They ain't the Colts defense in the Bob Sanders years, by a long shot.