Attn: Pro Football Focus Haters: Patriots disrespected

[Kasmir]

Pretty embarrassing demolition of Patriot's defensive performance in the Cleveland game. Five or six of the 11 worst Week 9 performances in the NFL were by Patriot defenders:

Nose Tackle — Myron Pryor, New England (-2.1)

Second on the list of things defensive linemen should avoid having on their resume: Getting their backside kicked by Eric Steinbach.

Defensive End — Brandon Deaderick, New England (-2.0)

The defense this week looks like it could hold it’s annual get together in Foxborough and save a mint on travel expenses. Only Vince Wilfork’s failure to decide if he was playing DE or NT saved him from top-level inclusion (I don’t like all the emails), but we’ll let him join anyway as he was bested consistently by Alex Mack.

Inside Linebacker — Jerod Mayo, New England (-4.8)

Two times in two weeks he has this dubious distinction. His old problems in coverage look to be resurfacing, as he couldn’t stay with either Peyton Hillis or Ben Watson.

Outside Linebacker — Rob Ninkovich, New England (-4.2)

Struggled with Ex-Patriots TE Ben Watson all day, couldn’t stop Colt McCoy and had a single unblocked pressure to compensate. Not what one would call a balanced return.

Safety — Brandon Meriweather, New England (-4.3)

I can hear the keyboards in New England start to vibrate with indignation, demanding explanation as to why their hero can give up a reception for 3 yards but garner a -2.8 coverage grade. Well that’s why stats are dangerous: Because time after time after time he failed to get over the top on 8 and 9 routes and perform his base function — be a safety when the primary coverage has failed.

http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2010/11/12/the-week-9-had-a-bad-day-team/

No Patriots offensive players made the worst 11.

PFF is certainly sometimes bizarre in their ratings, but I personally give the most weight to the opinions of those few people who actually grade film -- and especially few are those those who grade film league wide. Agree or not, it's an interesting set of evaluations...

 

[jmt57]

I don't know if I would characterize it as being disrespected. I'm pretty sure just about every player on the team would say their individual performance against Cleveland was poor if they were asked to evaluate themselves.

 

[SVN]

185 yards to peyton hillis...they all deserve an F for that game IMO

 

[BlueThunder]

If Mendenhal runs roughshod over them...it's time to worry.

Do your Job :rocker:

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Safety — Brandon Meriweather, New England (-4.3)

I can hear the keyboards in New England start to vibrate with indignation, demanding explanation as to why their hero can give up a reception for 3 yards but garner a -2.8 coverage grade. Well that’s why stats are dangerous: Because time after time after time he failed to get over the top on 8 and 9 routes and perform his base function — be a safety when the primary coverage has failed.

Is he calling Merriweather our hero? Where does he come up with that? I never saw BM as a fan favorite.

 

[TriplecHamp]

If Mendenhal runs roughshod over them...it's time to worry.

Do your Job :rocker:

Mendenhal should be expected to run over them after that performance.

 

[NE_Paddy]

Pro Football Focus is a joke. They have proven time and time again that they do not know a thing about football. And now they're trying to get people to pay for their bollox stats. Wankers.

I don't know why people keep going back to them. I remember last season they had Matt Roth rated miles higher at OLB than 17 sack Elvis Dumervil. I know Dumervil had his issues, but 17 sacks means you're a game-changing defender.

However, the Patriots obviously did stink in almost every category last week.

 

[MustaphaM0nd]

Mendenhal should be expected to run over them after that performance.

Of course, after all the Steelers have a much better offensive line than the Browns do, don't they

 

[wdkantro2]

Pro Football Focus is a joke. They have proven time and time again that they do not know a thing about football. And now they're trying to get people to pay for their bollox stats. Wankers.

I don't know why people keep going back to them. I remember last season they had Matt Roth rated miles higher at OLB than 17 sack Elvis Dumervil. I know Dumervil had his issues, but 17 sacks means you're a game-changing defender.

However, the Patriots obviously did stink in almost every category last week.

I am a PFF fan. I don't read them religiously or anything, but probably once a week. No other site gives individual player breakdowns the way they do, which I like. The reason they had Roth ahead of Dumervil is because he was more consistent. Perhaps you could argue that sacks should be more heavily weighted rather than just a positive play, but I can see where it comes from.
I really hope no one on here is blind enough to think that the Pats being ranked so poorly last week is anything but reasonable. My only problem with it is they didn't have the entire defense on there, only half of it.

 

[NYCPatsFan]

Pro Football Focus is a joke. They have proven time and time again that they do not know a thing about football. .

Don't care if they are a joke or clueless or both. As long as this makes it into the locker of every D player and fires them up to decimate the Steelers.

I am in a war mood already and can't believe it's still 24 hrs from now until the game starts.

 

[BradyFTW!]

PFF is worse than useless as an analytical tool. I say worse than useless because merely worthless sources are discredited immediately; people for some reason think that PFF has validity. It doesn't matter how many times I and other people point out the complete absurdity of its rankings- people just go on being proudly wrong about it.

Seriously, guys, this is the site that ranked David Garrard ahead of Tom Brady last year. Meanwhile, Football Outsiders, a site that does actual analysis, ranked Brady as the #1 QB in the NFL, because he faced a historically difficult slate of pass defenses. PFF also ranked Stylez G. White as one of the top defensive linemen in the NFL... it's just a useless, crappy source of information. I wish this site had a filter function that allowed me to ignore entire threads from the instant PFF was mentioned onward.

 

[Ring 6]

I am a PFF fan. I don't read them religiously or anything, but probably once a week. No other site gives individual player breakdowns the way they do, which I like. The reason they had Roth ahead of Dumervil is because he was more consistent. Perhaps you could argue that sacks should be more heavily weighted rather than just a positive play, but I can see where it comes from.
I really hope no one on here is blind enough to think that the Pats being ranked so poorly last week is anything but reasonable. My only problem with it is they didn't have the entire defense on there, only half of it.

Right, because no one else's defense played poorly at all last week.
The comments about Meriwhether illustrate the idiocy of PFF.
The say that Meriwhether allowed 1 catch for 3 yards, but say he should have covered 8 and 9 routes. I dont remember 8 and 9 routes being completed to his area at all, and if they were, it should be added to his 1 for 3.
They attempt to assign stats such as this admit to being poor at it, then ignore them in an analysis like this.

 

[Kasmir]

I wish this site had a filter function that allowed me to ignore entire threads from the instant PFF was mentioned onward.

I thought I had clearly labeled the thread. You can't say you weren't warned.

 

[wdkantro2]

Right, because no one else's defense played poorly at all last week.
The comments about Meriwhether illustrate the idiocy of PFF.
The say that Meriwhether allowed 1 catch for 3 yards, but say he should have covered 8 and 9 routes. I dont remember 8 and 9 routes being completed to his area at all, and if they were, it should be added to his 1 for 3.
They attempt to assign stats such as this admit to being poor at it, then ignore them in an analysis like this.

I'm pretty sure no other team in the NFL allowed a sub-.500 team led by a rookie QB to double their average offensive output.

 

[TriplecHamp]

Of course, after all the Steelers have a much better offensive line than the Browns do, don't they

I lol'd, Pittsburgh is a better rushing team than Clevland and Mendenhal is a better back. We mad clevland look better than they were last week and if we perform like that again Mendenhal will look like Jim Brown.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Is he calling Merriweather our hero? Where does he come up with that? I never saw BM as a fan favorite.

I was going to ask the same thing. Since when did Merriweather command the same homer defense mechanism as Brady, Belichick, Welker, etc.? Half the fan base wouldn't blink if they traded him for a mid-round pick.

He must have confused him with Chung, who is fast becoming a hero in New England.

 

[PatsChamp88]

PFF is worse than useless as an analytical tool. I say worse than useless because merely worthless sources are discredited immediately; people for some reason think that PFF has validity. It doesn't matter how many times I and other people point out the complete absurdity of its rankings- people just go on being proudly wrong about it.

Seriously, guys, this is the site that ranked David Garrard ahead of Tom Brady last year. Meanwhile, Football Outsiders, a site that does actual analysis, ranked Brady as the #1 QB in the NFL, because he faced a historically difficult slate of pass defenses. PFF also ranked Stylez G. White as one of the top defensive linemen in the NFL... it's just a useless, crappy source of information. I wish this site had a filter function that allowed me to ignore entire threads from the instant PFF was mentioned onward.

I don't care about rankings but I liked the advanced statistics which sadly you have to pay for now..

 

[jmt57]

I lol'd, Pittsburgh is a better rushing team than Clevland and Mendenhal is a better back. We mad clevland look better than they were last week and if we perform like that again Mendenhal will look like Jim Brown.

In the past, yes.

In the present, no.

Cleveland this year is as good if not better than Pittsburgh running the ball. But if you only compare the games when Hillis has been healthy, it's no comparison; when he's healthy the Browns' running game is far superior to the Steelers' this year.

Mendenhall is a better matchup for the Pats than Hillis was as well. Now whether or not Pittsburgh can exploit what happened last week remains to be seen. However, I see Mendenhall more similar to players like Peterson and Rice - the Pats didn't shut them down, but they contained those guys enough to win those games.


I don't know, I'm just not buying the idea that this Pittsburgh running game is as good as some are making it out to be. Their running game isn't as good as it used to be just like the Pats run defense isn't as good as it used to be. It's a weakness versus weakness, not a strength versus weakness in my opinion. I'm not saying the Pats run D is better than their run O, just saying don't compare this Steelers running game to that of 2005 or 2007 Steelers - and don't forget all the substitutes they have on their offensive line.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

PFF is worse than useless as an analytical tool. I say worse than useless because merely worthless sources are discredited immediately; people for some reason think that PFF has validity. It doesn't matter how many times I and other people point out the complete absurdity of its rankings- people just go on being proudly wrong about it.

Seriously, guys, this is the site that ranked David Garrard ahead of Tom Brady last year. Meanwhile, Football Outsiders, a site that does actual analysis, ranked Brady as the #1 QB in the NFL, because he faced a historically difficult slate of pass defenses. PFF also ranked Stylez G. White as one of the top defensive linemen in the NFL... it's just a useless, crappy source of information. I wish this site had a filter function that allowed me to ignore entire threads from the instant PFF was mentioned onward.

There is one truly useful stat that PFF has (in fact, when they weren't a subscriber site, it was the ONLY one I looked at consistently), and that's number of snaps.

 

[Kasmir]

PFF is worse than useless as an analytical tool. I say worse than useless because merely worthless sources are discredited immediately; people for some reason think that PFF has validity. It doesn't matter how many times I and other people point out the complete absurdity of its rankings- people just go on being proudly wrong about it.

Seriously, guys, this is the site that ranked David Garrard ahead of Tom Brady last year. Meanwhile, Football Outsiders, a site that does actual analysis, ranked Brady as the #1 QB in the NFL, because he faced a historically difficult slate of pass defenses. PFF also ranked Stylez G. White as one of the top defensive linemen in the NFL... it's just a useless, crappy source of information. I wish this site had a filter function that allowed me to ignore entire threads from the instant PFF was mentioned onward.

I certainly give much more credence to FO's stats, as well. They are transparently more thoughtful about their methodology. But they only provide individual ratings for skill positions. PFF is the only site I know of that attempts league-wide ratings of offensive linemen -- or of defensive players at all. Even the best of posters here only appear to review film of Patriots games, and even that sporadically. I personally find the PFF effort commendable and a useful supplement to the endless unsupported opinionation here. Sure their methodology is peculiar, but they review and rate every play by every player on every team. They'd have to be total fools to learn nothing from that exercise. In comparison, very few posters here even do tape reviews of the Patriot games and players, let alone try to do comparative ratings.

So forgive me if I believe that PFF's flawed data is an interesting supplement to the qualitative Patriots-specific crowd sourcing here.

Too bad PFF's data is now behind a paywall. Hard to believe that's a big success for them.