I promised some numbers, but a quick look at the standings, then some numbers.
We’re not exactly officially halfway done with the season, but we’re basically halfway done with the season.
The top teams are the top teams, nobody cares. But who can make us some money. Who’s undervalued or in a position to have a good second half.
AFC
New England
Some of this is recency bias, but also look at their division. There are only two teams there, really, and NE has already swept the Jets. They have one more game vs. Miami which ends up being a revenge spot. They also get Jax. So that’s two wins. They’ve also proven to be at least as good, if not a better, road team than they are at home. Who do they have road games with remaining? Carolina this week who may have no QB, Atlanta, and Indy. Entirely possible they go 2-1 there. They also get Cleveland at home next week which is a great time to play the Browns given all their injuries. Yes, they play the Bills twice, but their game against Tenny is at home and Henry won’t be there. This could easily be a ten win team.
Indy
Big two games for the Colts coming up here. Not because of who they play (the Jets & Jax at home), but two wins gets them back to .500 and back in the hunt. Very interesting thing about Indy though, after these two games, their schedule really turns for the worse. @Buffalo, TB, and then after their bye they have NE, @AZ, and the Raiders. They kind of have to win their next two.
Pittsburgh & Cleveland
BAgain, big games this week for both of these teams. A win for the Steelers gets them two games over .500 and will keep them one back for the division—unless both Cincy and Balty lose, then they’d be tied for the division. Big motivational spot for them this week, and they get the Lions at home next week. If Pittsburgh is going to have a shot, these next two games are should-wins that they need to actually win. It’s also a huge week for the Browns, and it comes at a bad time, but such is life. A win vs. Cincy this week moves them to 5-4, tied with the Bengals with a SU win against them (they would stay one win behind or one loss behind Balty though, however, they haven’t played them yet). A loss for the Browns this week, however, is a monster. They would fall below .500, two back of Cincy with a SU loss to them. They’d be in last in their division and in a really bad place if they want to make the playoffs. The other issue Cleveland has, tbh, is that other than getting Detroit at home in three weeks, their schedule really doesn't open up for them. It sucks.
KC and LAC
I’d argue the stakes are similar for KC and the Chargers. Given the news out of Vegas which will absolutely shake that team up, and given LV’s schedule, both KC and LA have a clear path to the division. However, the time for fucking around is over. KC wins this week and, even as bad as they’ve been, they’re back over .500 and at most only one game behind LV—with two games against them remaining. They also have two against Denver and one still with LA. As bad as KC has been, they absolutely control their own destiny. Too bad they’re not a very good football team, which you’ll see in the numbers below. LA, also has a big game this week, again, not because of who they play, but because of the standings. Win here and you’re back two two games over .500, again only one game back (at worst) of the Raiders, with a win over them already and a game remaining against them. Also, LA’s schedule is great, they have to go to Cincy, but until they play KC in Week 15, the only hard game they really have is maybe Minny at home. But if you donk it off vs. the Eagles, now you’re back to .500 with a minimum of five teams with more wins than you in the playoff race. LA needs to win this game this week.
NFC
Minny
This is a big week for Minny in a tough spot. Coming off a tough loss, you have go to Baltimore off a bye. Thing is, Minny ‘really’ needs a win here. The good teams in the NFC probably aren’t catchable. But, the wildcards should be. One will be taken by the west, either AZ or LAR. But then you’ve got room. There’s a real chance Carolina has neither Darnold nor CMC this week. If they lose to NE, and Minny wins, the only team ahead of the Vikings for another wildcard spot would be NO. A week this win also gets them back to .500. If you’re the Vikings, you can sell this team on having a shot—but only if they win this week. Conversely, if they lose this week, their next two are @LAC and back home for Green Bay. If they can’t get by Baltimore this week, it’s possible the wheels come off.
SF, Chicago, and Atlanta
I feel like these teams are all in the same position really. They’re two games under .500 (except Atlanta, they’re only one game under .500) and they are all at least three games back in the division. They have an outside shot at a wildcard—but only if they get hot, right now. So, the question becomes, of these three teams, does anybody think they have the roster right now to do that? Personally I say no, but SF does have back to back division games at home (AZ & LAR) which is an opportunity in a way. Chicago’s next five are all bad, save Detroit at home next week. And I’d like Atlanta more if Ridley was playing, but their next three are @NO, @Dallas, and NE. Yikes.
I’m also not going to pretend the Eagles have a shot at the playoffs. You’re welcome. But Fletcher Cox didn’t get traded today so there. Fly Eagles Fly.
Some numbers of where teams are right now:
Worst five in sacks allowed
- Chicago (30)
- Seattle
- Denver
- Tenny & Carolina tied at 24
- Cleveland & Detroit tied at 23
This isn’t shocking for Chicago, and maybe not totally shocking for Seattle either, although now you have Geno back there so that can skew it. But after all that noise Russ and Seattle made in the offseason about fixing that problem, turns out they have, in fact, not fixed that problem.
Also interesting, you have three teams fighting for the playoffs in here in Tenny, Cleveland, and Carolina. Tough to see how that’s sustainable when you’re giving up three sacks per game. But maybe that’s an isolated stat, let’s see how it compares in context.
Sacks generated
Top 5 most generated sacks per game
- Minny
- LAR
- Cleveland
- Pitt
- Carolina
Ah ha, there you see where it evens out for Carolina and Cleveland. Yes, they’re giving up sacks, but they’re also generating them. Which may give you a clue about how their totals are playing out. And let’s not sleep on the Vikings here. Even though they don’t have the most total sacks in the league (they miss out by one to the Rams) they’re generating the highest total per game in the league by a pretty decent margin. And only they and the Rams are averaging over three sacks generated per game.
Worst 5 sacks generated per game
- KC
- Atlanta
- Miami
- J’ville
- Seattle
Talk about explaining your record. Interesting note here, who just misses this cut? Dallas. Which is something to look at for totals, methinks. Also, that KC is generating barely one sack per game, just ugly.
Let’s talk turnovers.
Top 5 in takeaways:
- Buffalo (+13 still crushing the field here, which explains their margin of victory stat, imo)
- GB & Indy (+8)
- NO (+7 which explains some things, tbh)
- LAR (+6)
- AZ & Dallas (+5)
Also, both Buffalo and NO are doing this with one fewer game played, which kind of makes it even more impressive. On the other side of this …
Worst 5 in turnover giveaways
- J’Ville (-11)
- Jets (-10)
- KC (-10)
- Niners (-6)
Then you have a whole host of teams at -4 which isn’t good through eight games, but two bad games could really skew you here. What’s interesting to me in this is that if you just look at some kind of key stats, what jumps out at you is that Kansas City is a bad football team this year, only their lines are set as if they’re a favorite for HFA in the playoffs. These numbers suggest this team’s record is extremely accurate for who they are, imo. Also, I pulled these numbers ‘before’ KC’s game last night. In which they had another two turnovers and a Mahomes fumble that was almost a third.
Who can you count on for points?
Top 5 in points per play
- LAR
- TB
- Arizona
- Buffalo
- Cincy
- Dallas
Two things here, one Tampa is currently on the exact same points per play average pace this year that they finished with in 2020. So, just in case you think teams in this top tier can’t sustain this and this may fluctuate wildly. TB did exactly this last year for a whole year. But speaking of fluctuation, funny thing, the next team in this list? The Philadelphia Eagles. I’m going to say the Atlanta and Detroit games are really doing a lot of heavy lifting for the Birds on this. That and that there have been a couple of games, Dallas and Las Vegas, where yes they scored a lot, but it was after they were well out of the game. Still, it’s something to think about for totals.
Worst 5 in terms of points per play, a lot of these you can guess:
- Chicago
- Houston
- Detroit
- NYJ
- Miami
- Jax
- Pitt
I included Pitt because all these teams above have an average PPP of under .300. Which, for the sake of comparison, 11 teams have a PPP average of over .4 with the Rams just below .5 and the Bucs right behind them. Point is, these teams just aren’t scoring.
We can do average scoring differential, but you can probably guess the top and bottom. Instead, how about all the teams who’s a
verage scoring differential stays within three points either way. They are:
- Denver (+2.5)
- Indy
- Vegas
- Seattle
- Philly
- Minny
- Carolina
- Cleveland (+0.4)
- SF (-0.4)
- LAC
- Pitt
- KC (-2.1)
So, maybe … teaser teams?
And last, penalties (these are through MNF, unlike the rest above):
Top five most penalized teams
- Philly (60)
- TB (59)
- Dallas (58)
- Houston (57)
- KC (56)
- Tenny & Carolina (55)
- Cleveland & NYG (54)
If you wonder how Tampa is here with the record they have, the majority of their penalties are false starts (11) and … defensive PI (10). Meanwhile, Dallas? Offensive holding (10) is their single greatest crime. Interestingly, a team who didn’t make this list but who holds more than any other team in the league? Minny. And the only team that has more PI calls than TB is SF, but only by one.
Top five least penalized
- Rams
- Cincy
- Green Bay
- Atlanta!! & NO
- Indy
- Balty
Hope this helps.