Another thread to assess opponents' "weak defenses"

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Updated adjusted point differential.

The league average for points allowed this season is 21.4 points per game.

Patriots opponents, when not playing the Patriots, have allowed 24.3 points per game.

The Patriots are averaging 39.9 points per game, which is 15.6 points above average.

Again, the reason why these defenses are ranked around the worst in the league is simple: their points allowed has greatly increased as a result of playing the Patriots.

The bottom line is, when someone is listing the teams they've played and saying 30th ranked, 29th ranked, etc. defense, those numbers would be much different if you take away three points per game for each team they've played, which they are responsible for adding on.

 

[DarrylS]

Could this be a factor when figuring out the so called "weak schedule"???

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Could this be a factor when figuring out the so called "weak schedule"???

It's the same thing. They haven't had a tough schedule, but it looks like a cupcake when you tack on seven losses to those teams. One flaw on Cold Hard Football Facts' Quality Wins is it doesn't take into account that a team has prevented another team from being a quality team. For example, take away New England's win from the following teams and here is their record:

San Diego (3-2), quality team
Cleveland (3-2), quality team

So the Patriots are really 3-0 versus quality opponents, not 1-0. They are in a sense penalized for beating these teams, who are now only .500. I do like the quality wins as a good indicator, but this is definitely a glitch.

 

[Patriot_in_NY]

It's the same thing. They haven't had a tough schedule, but it looks like a cupcake when you tack on seven losses to those teams. One flaw on Cold Hard Football Facts' Quality Wins is it doesn't take into account that a team has prevented another team from being a quality team. For example, take away New England's win from the following teams and here is their record:

San Diego (3-2), quality team
Cleveland (3-2), quality team

So the Patriots are really 3-0 versus quality opponents, not 1-0. They are in a sense penalized for beating these teams, who are now only .500. I do like the quality wins as a good indicator, but this is definitely a glitch.

Which is exactly the point in why "quality wins" is such a useless exercise until you get to AT LEAST week 11-12. Any data researcher will tell you "the smaller the data pool, the less reliable the data conclusions will be".

 

[He Ban Me]

Updated adjusted point differential.

The league average for points allowed this season is 21.4 points per game.

Patriots opponents, when not playing the Patriots, have allowed 24.3 points per game.

The Patriots are averaging 39.9 points per game, which is 15.6 points above average.

Again, the reason why these defenses are ranked around the worst in the league is simple: their points allowed has greatly increased as a result of playing the Patriots.

The bottom line is, when someone is listing the teams they've played and saying 30th ranked, 29th ranked, etc. defense, those numbers would be much different if you take away three points per game for each team they've played, which they are responsible for adding on.

I guess it depends on which category you look at, but I have seen several comments about "taking away" games "Patriot Games", and all of your opponents yards given up are still bad. 6-7 games in, I think that we can say your opponents are pretty bad regardless. Now, SD might come around, but they looked bad versus Chicago at home in their opener, why should NE be "credited" for a "quality win" versus an opponent who wasn't "quality" when they played? Same for Colts, I understand it cuts both ways. N.O. looked pretty bad to start, they have won a couple now, and maybe are righting their ship, but they were still "bad" when they played the Colts.