Only One Offense first NFL team Alive

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Sorry, I don't see why yards per point makes any sense at all as a way to rate offenses on defenses.

On D, giving up lots of points is bad
On D, giving up lots of yards is bad, mostly because you will give the opposition more time of possession, likely more drives reaching the red zone, likely more opportunities to score, and likely fewer possessions for your offense to compensate.

Points allowed is a much more meaningful stat than yards allowed, but both are useful. Points allowed can be skewed by having to defend a very short field due to special teams blunders or offensive turnovers. Giving up many first downs can be effective if they don't score, but still the best defensive series is 3-and-out or a quick forced turnover.

I want my D to give up as few points as possible, and very likely if they give up less yards than they are accustomed to, they will do that.

An analogy: If I am sick I may have a fever and I may throw up many times per day. The ratio of how much my fever is elevated to how many times I barf is not a statistic worth tracking. I want the fever to go down and the barfing to stop, period.

 

[Ron Sellers]

Sorry, I don't see why yards per point makes any sense at all as a way to rate offenses on defenses.

On D, giving up lots of points is bad
On D, giving up lots of yards is bad, mostly because you will give the opposition more time of possession, likely more drives reaching the red zone, likely more opportunities to score, and likely fewer possessions for your offense to compensate.

Points allowed is a much more meaningful stat than yards allowed, but both are useful. Points allowed can be skewed by having to defend a very short field due to special teams blunders or offensive turnovers. Giving up many first downs can be effective if they don't score, but still the best defensive series is 3-and-out or a quick forced turnover.

I want my D to give up as few points as possible, and very likely if they give up less yards than they are accustomed to, they will do that.

An analogy: If I am sick I may have a fever and I may throw up many times per day. The ratio of how much my fever is elevated to how many times I barf is not a statistic worth tracking. I want the fever to go down and the barfing to stop, period.

No one stat is perfect, and I wouldn't argue that points scored is the best metric for offenses or that points allowed is the best metric for defenses.

However, I'm of the opinion that yards per point is a valid stat; at bare minimum it is much, much better than total yards. It combines points, red zone efficiency and turnovers, which are probably the three most important factors in a game into one stat.

To me if you're only going to look at one stat then fine, look at points - but there are times when that by itself can also be misleading. I would look at points, red zone efficiency, yardage and yards per point to get a better picture when evaluating a team's offense or defense. Any other stat, including total yards is secondary and a much less reliable indicator.

Unfortunately most of the public is brainwashed into thinking yardage is the one and only stat that means anything because that's what keeps getting repeated by the media, while all those other more reliable stats are seldom mentioned.


NFL Football Stats - NFL Team Opp Yards per Point on TeamRankings.com

NFL Football Stats - NFL Team Yards per Point on TeamRankings.com

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

No one stat is perfect, and I wouldn't argue that points scored is the best metric for offenses or that points allowed is the best metric for defenses.

However, I'm of the opinion that yards per point is a valid stat; at bare minimum it is much, much better than total yards. It combines points, red zone efficiency and turnovers, which are probably the three most important factors in a game into one stat.

To me if you're only going to look at one stat then fine, look at points - but there are times when that by itself can also be misleading. I would look at points, red zone efficiency, yardage and yards per point to get a better picture when evaluating a team's offense or defense. Any other stat, including total yards is secondary and a much less reliable indicator.

Unfortunately most of the public is brainwashed into thinking yardage is the one and only stat that means anything because that's what keeps getting repeated by the media, while all those other more reliable stats are seldom mentioned.


NFL Football Stats - NFL Team Opp Yards per Point on TeamRankings.com

NFL Football Stats - NFL Team Yards per Point on TeamRankings.com

Yards per game is a legacy measurement because in traditional, running football, yards does correlate to winning and if a defense is good.

"Bendability" number do make more sense because a passing league places more emphasis on red zone defense and turnovers. Driving 99 yards means little if you turn the ball over.

The problem is no stat known can account for situational football. ESPN does deserve credit for trying to adjust their QB rating for the situation. In their system, you get little credit if you are hopelessly behind.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

The problem is no stat known can account for situational football.

Actually points per game does an excellent job. Yards per game is meaningless because you can have more yards and still lose, if you have more points you win.

The only problem is it does a poor job with defensive scores.

Lets assume in a game Team A's offense scores two TDs and throws two pick 6's. And team B's offense scores 1 TD, 1 FG and throws 1 pick 6 and gets sacked for a safety.

Then the stats would credit team A's offense with 21 points and charge team B's defense with 21 points. And would credit team B's offense with 26 points and charge team A's defense with 26 points.

I propose a different stat. Net points of the offense and defense.

Team A's offense would be credited with -2 points and Team B's defense would be charged with -2 points. They scored more points than they let up.

Team B's offense would be credited with 3 points and team A's offense would be charged with allowing 3 points.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I wouldn't call the Giants a defensive-minded team.