Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Complete Domination.


Wow. 42-14? Really? There is much more to say after watching that complete and total domination that occurred at Gillette Stadium last night. But here are some thoughts I gathered after watching the Pats mop the floor with the Texans to the tune of a 42-14 ass kicking.

(I went a little above and beyond this week with my stats and analysis just for the sheer fact that I can't get enough of what this team shows us every single week. There's a lot of numbers and stats listed below so if you don't think you can handle it or you think your head may explode please exit the page now. Just warning you.) 
  • Either the Patriots are far and away the best team in the NFL, or the Texans were vastly overrated. I think it’s a little of both.
  • The 2012 Pats are far and away the most proficient offense in the NFL. To prove this I’ll give you some stats with the Pats numbers and then the next closest team in the league.



Points Per Game:

Patriots 36.3 – Denver 28.8

That’s an unbelievable statistic since a difference of 3 points is usually looked upon as great. The Pats blow that out of the water by averaging more than a TD (7.5 pts.) more per game then the next closest team.

Average Scoring Margin:

Patriots +15.2 – San Francisco +10.2

This stat basically means the Pats win their games by an average of 15 points. That’s 2 whole touchdowns! No one does that in the NFL these days when so many games are won or lost by a field goal in the last seconds or overtime. Now that’s impressive.

Touchdowns Per Game:

Patriots 4.4 – New Orleans 3.4

To put this in perspective, the Patriots at 4.4 TD/game average a whole TD more per game then the next closest team, the Saints at 3.4. If you take that same margin of 1.0 and see how many teams average between 3.4 and 2.4 TD/game, there are 19 teams in that range. That’s what I’m saying, usually with these stats, every team is bunched together and they vary by .1 or .2 TD per game. But not the Patriots, they are now scoring a whole TD per game better than everyone else. In 2007, the year they had historically the best offense in NFL history they averaged 4.4 TD/game with the next closest team coming in at 3.4.

Team Turnover Margin Per Game

Patriots +1.8 – Giants +1.2

A difference of .6 is unheard of mainly for the fact that only 13 teams are even in the plus for turnover margin and teams like Denver (-0.2), Dallas (-0.8), and Pittsburgh (-1.0) are all giving the ball away more than they are receiving it.

  • With the interception by Devin McCourty last night the Pats now have forced 34 turnovers in 2012, tied for second in the NFL with the Giants and only 1 behind the Bears who have forced 35 turnovers.

  • The Patriots defense showed last night that they are indeed improving, cementing the belief we all had over the last few weeks as the Pats stifled the below average offenses of the Jets and Dolphins and the average offenses of the Colts and Bills. But the Texans offense was thought to be one of the premier offenses in the NFL and the Pats defense never showed any signs of weakness.

  • The defense held Arian Foster, who has gained 1,146 yards in 2012, to only 46 rushing yards on 15 carries for an average of 3.1 yards/carry.  And every one of those yards was hard earned as he faced the likes of Vince Wilfork, Brandon Spikes and Jerrod Mayo all night.

  • Andre Johnson, who had totaled 517 yards receiving over the prior 3 games, was held to a very average 95 yards on 8 catches.

  • If you were to tell me before last night’s game that the Pats defense would hold Arian Foster under 50 yards rushing and 100 total yards, Andre Johnson under 100 yards receiving, and Matt Schaub under 250 yards passing with only 1 TD,I would have first asked you what you were smoking and then if I could have some because there is no way anyone would have predicted or even thought of something that ridiculous based on this defense's history with good/above average offenses. 
  • This defense proved Monday night, they are capable of stopping one of the best offensive teams in football and that should be a terrifying thought for the rest of the NFL when you add in the potency of their offense. 
  • This is no longer an offensive lead team with a shitty defense. Guys like Wilfork, Spikes, Mayo, Talib, McCourty and Dennard are quickly reminding the rest of the NFL that the Patriots are back, but not like the 2007 and 2011 teams who only had a great offense who carried the defense. No, this team is looking more and more like the Patriots teams from 2003 and 2004, who had defenses with the ability to change the complexion of a game on any single play.
  • And I don't have to remind you the other difference between the 2007 and 2011 teams vs. the 2003 and 2004 teams do I? In case you're slow and can't pick up on it, those earlier teams with great defenses also won Super Bowls, while the more recent teams have tore it up in the regular season, only to have that goofball Eli take the rings back to Jersey with him.
  • 2004 Patriots Defense + 2007 Patriots Offense = Super Bowl Champion.
  •  After seeing this team improve exponentially during this 7 game winning streak they are currently riding,  New Orleans and Super Bowl XLVII looks like a very promising reality come February 3. If they keep this up, that is exactly where this team will be headed. 
  • Tom Brady finished with 296 yards on 21/35 attempts and 4 TD and 0 Int. He now has 14 games in his career with 4 TD and no picks, the most in NFL history.

  • Brady is now tied for 1st with rookie standout Robert Griffin III in QB Passer Rating with a score of 104.2. He is still a ways off from his astronomically high passer rating of 117.2 in 2007 but as great as he has been this year we can finally appreciate how magical that 2007 team was (until the Super Bowl of course…fuck.)

  • There are many aspects of being a great QB in the NFL. Some say game management, some say the number of Super Bowl Rings, some say TD passes, but in my opinion the stat that defines how good a QB a guy is his TD to Interception ratio. 

    • Essentially how many TD the guy throws for every Interception he throws. 
    • Pretty simple and self-explanatory and before you go on and read these numbers, I personally had no idea what the results would be, but they are staggering and prove definitively that Brady is the best in the NFL. 
    • Brady's 7.25 TD/Int absolutely blows everyone else’s numbers out of the water.  In comparison here are what other starting QB have as a TD to Int. ratio.
      • Guys in Bold are either considered “elite” by the majority of fans, or have self-proclaimed that they are “elite” (ex: Joe Flacco). 
      • Now can now see where these premier QBs actually stack up in terms of productivity. Sorry Joe, it doesn’t seem like you’re at that elite level just yet.


  1. Brady                  29 TD     4 Int       7.25 TD/Int
  2. RG3                        18 TD      4 Int        4.50 TD/Int
  3. Big Ben                 20 TD       5 Int        4.00 TD/Int
  4. Rodgers             29 TD      8 Int       3.63 TD/Int
  5. Freeman               25 TD       8 Int        3.13 TD/Int
  6. P.Manning       30 TD     10 Int      3.00 TD/Int
  7. A. Smith                13 TD       5 Int        2.60 TD/Int
  8. R. Wilson              20 TD       9 Int        2.22 TD/Int
  9. Schaub                  21 TD      10 Int       2.10 TD/Int
  10. Flacco                  18 TD     9 Int       2.00 TD/Int
  11. Dalton                    25 TD     14 Int       1.79 TD/Int
  12. Brees                    32 TD    18 Int      1.78 TD/Int
  13. Ryan                       24 TD     14 Int       1.71 TD/Int
  14. Fitzpatrick            21 TD      13 Int       1.62 TD/Int
  15. Newton                  16 TD     10 Int       1.60 TD/Int
  16. Palmer                   22 TD     14 Int       1.57 TD/Int
  17. E. Manning      20 TD     13 Int      1.53 TD/Int
  18. Bradford                15 TD     10 Int       1.50 TD/Int
  19. Stafford                  17 TD     12 Int       1.42 TD/Int
  20. Rivers                     21 TD    15 Int        1.40 TD/Int
  21. Romo                      20 TD    16 Int        1.25 TD/Int
  22. Cutler                     16 TD     13 Int       1.23 TD/Int
  23. Vick                         11 TD      9 Int        1.22 TD/Int
  24. Ponder                   14 TD     12 Int       1.17 TD/Int
  25. Luck                        18 TD    18 Int       1.00 TD/Int
  26. Sanchez                 12 TD      13 Int       0.92 TD/Int 

(Yes, you just read that correctly, Mark Sanchez through 13 games, has thrown more picks than touchdowns and yet, he is still an NFL starting QB. God he sucks.)


  •  Just so see how unbelievable Brady has been during his career, even with a TD/Int ratio of 7.25 this year, that isn’t even the best of his career. Here is Brady’s TD/Int Ratio of every season of his career.
    • 2001       18 TD     12 Int     1.50 TD/Int
    • 2002       28 TD     14 Int     2.00 TD/Int
    • 2003       23 TD     12 Int     1.92 TD/Int
    • 2004       28 TD     14 Int     2.00 TD/Int
    • 2005       26 TD     14 Int     1.86 TD/Int
    • 2006       24 TD     12 Int     2.00 TD/Int
    • 2007       50 TD     8 Int       6.25 TD/Int      (Lead NFL)
    • 2008       Injured..Fucking Bernard Pollard.
    • 2009       28 TD     13 Int     2.15 TD/Int
    • 2010       36 TD      4 Int       9.00 TD/Int     (Lead NFL) (Best ratio of all-time)
    • 2011       39 TD     12 Int     3.25 TD/Int       (Lead AFC)
    • 2012       29 TD      4 Int       7.25 TD/Int      (Currently leads NFL)
  • So as you can see from these numbers, for the past 6 years/5 seasons, Brady's numbers have been some of the best of all time. Here are the "elite" QBs listed above with their career TD/Int.
    1. Aaron Rodgers      3.50 TD/Int (5 years starting)
    2. Tom Brady            2.77 TD/Int  (11 years starting)
    3. Peyton Manning   2.06 TD/Int (14 years starting)
    4. Drew Brees            1.91 TD/Int (11 years starting)
    5. Joe Flacco               1.78 TD/Int (5 years starting)
    6. Eli Manning            1.44 TD/Int (9 years starting)
  • From what everyone believes Brady, Peyton, Brees, and most likely Eli are all Hall of Fame bound once they retire. Brady's number's compared to those other 3 QBs are vastly superior and given the number of years he has played, I find his numbers to be the most impressive. Now I'm not taking anything away from Aaron Rodgers because if he keeps the production he's had the last couple years, and adds one or two more Super Bowl rings to his collection, he will also be joining Brady and Co. in Canton one day. 
    • Also one final note on the whole "elite" QB topic. Joe Flacco has absolutely no business being in that fraternity of future Hall of Famers. He claimed last year that he should be considered "elite" yet hasn't won jack shit and his numbers really aren't that impressive. He's way to cocky and arrogant for his own good and for that reason I don't see him leading his team to a Super Bowl Championship anytime soon. 
  • It was nice to see Brandon Lloyd rejoin the team on Monday night and score a TD on a 37 yard bomb from Brady...oh wait, you're saying he never left? Coulda fooled me cause I haven't seen the man in several weeks. 
  • But honestly, when the signed him back in August we all thought he would be the deep threat for this team but last night was the first time we've really seen any real deep ball production from him. Hopefully it's a sign of things to come.
  • Donte' Stallworth is a prototypical New England Patriot in every sense of the term. He was cut coming out of training camp and wasn't picked up until late last week. And all he did was catch a 63 yard pass from Brady for a TD on his first action of the season. He's a great player to have around the team and it's a shame that he was placed on IR today due to an ankle injury. 
  • I talked about this in my blog before the game but I want to reiterate how much of an influence Aqib Talib is having on this Patriots secondary. It's almost shocking how one guy can make that much of a difference. You can already tell his leadership is helping the young players like Alfonzo Dennard. 
  • Dennard, the rookie CB, was covering Andre Johnson on this specific play, and what made the play stand out to me was that he actually turned his head and looked for the ball before knocking it down and saving a TD. That's something we didn't see before Talib showed up in Foxboro. The corners would never ever look for the ball and would instead just grab the receiver and get called for pass interference.  
  • I know there's enough stats and numbers in this blog to make your head spin right off your body but before I end this, I want to give you one more amazing stat I heard on WEEI the other day.
    • The Patriots have not lost a regular season game by more than 8 points in almost 2 whole seasons. Back in week 9 of the 2012 season the Pats lost to the lowly Cleveland Browns by 20 points.
    • Since week 9 of 2010 the Patriots have gone 31-6 and have lost those 6 games by a combined total of 19 points, or 3.17 points per loss. 
    • Compare that to the New York Jets, who in that same time frame have gone 19-18 and have lost those 18 games by a combined total of 286 points, or 15.89 points per loss.
    • People talk about how consistent the Pats have been over the last decade, but until you really dig into the numbers you don't realize how awesome this team has been compared to every other team. It is staggering and all of us as Patriots fans should be appreciating the greatness we watch every Sunday because it won't last forever. 
  • Sunday night, the Pats take on the 49ers at Gillette. That should be another great challenge for this team and a good measuring stick to see exactly how far their potential goes. 
  • After last night's game we now know the Patriots are the best team in the AFC. After Sunday's game we will know if they are the best team in the NFL. It should be fun to watch.

Bring on the 49ers!
  
          NFL's Best Offense                                                               NFL's Best Defense
vs.            








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