RAVENS (11-5) at CHIEFS (10-6)
– Damning stat: The Ravens have not allowed a touchdown in the third quarter in their last 25 games. In that same span, every other NFL team has allowed at least six such touchdowns and the average number allowed is 13.2
– Baltimore’s scoring totals have taken a dive recently. Here are their totals for weeks 13-16: 34, 30, 20, 13
– After averaging 25.9 points over their first 11 games, they’ve managed just 16.2 over their last five, scoring 10 or
fewer in three of them. Only three other teams scored 10 or fewer three times in their last five games: Carolina, Cleveland, and Miami.
– The Ravens have scored 20 or more points in each of their last five road games. It’s the first such streak within a
single season in club history.
– Kansas City’s 118 points allowed at home was the third fewest in the NFL this season:
107 – Jets
110 – Steelers
118 – Chiefs
– The Ravens have been a very good defense right out of the locker room, allowing just 22 total points (five field goals
and one touchdown) on their opponents’ opening possession of the first and second halfs combined (0.69 points per
possession). On all other possessions against the Ravens, opponents averaged 1.62 points per possession
– For some reason, both offenses were TERRIBLE on third down and short (three yards or fewer to go) in 2010. Baltimore converted just 48.1 percent (ranked 29th) while the Chiefs were even worse (45.9 percent; 31st). Compare those two to New England, the league leader at 76.4 percent.
– Both teams have been VERY good following turnovers as Baltimore has a net +63 points (88 points scored following
takeaways and 25 points allowed following giveaways). That mark was fourth best in the league. Kansas City was sixth best at +48 (75 points scored versus 27 points allowed).
– Ravens receivers were the most surehanded in the league in 2010, dropping only 4.3 percent of catchable balls.
– Kansas City experienced some “punt luck” this season as opposing punters put 20 balls inside the 20-yard-line but had 13 touchbacks. That 61 percent success rate against was the lowest in the league.
Note this: Baltimore’s punter Sam Koch had a 91 percent success rate (39 balls inside the 20-yard-line vs. just four touchbacks). That ranked fifth in the league.
– Baltimore’s offense scored points on just 80 percent of their goal-to-go drives this season (16-of-20). Only three teams cashed in on a lower percentage of chances. Their average of 4.40 points per goal-to-go opportunity ranked 30th:
3.45 – Panthers
4.28 – Rams
4.40 – Ravens
– The Ravens Billy Cundiff was by far the best kickoff man in the league this season with 50.6 percent touchbacks and 72.2 percent of his kicks reaching the end zone. That touchback percentage is EASILY the highest in the NFL in the 17 seasons that they’ve tracked the stat:
50.6% – Billy Cundiff, BAL, 2010
39.4% – Michael Koenen, ATL, 2009
38.2% – David Buehler, DAL, 2009
Kansas City’s Ryan Succop has actually had the Chief’s two best seasons since ’94, posting a relatively paltry 10.5 percent touchbacks this year following 10.6 percent in 2009.
– Once inside the red zone, the Chiefs were successful on first down (i.e. gained four or more yards) 58.5 percent of the time, second best in the league. Their opponents were successful on just 32.5 percent of red zone first down plays, also second best.
– Ravens opponents began 22 drives on the Baltimore side of the 50-yard-line but managed only two touchdowns on those drives. They averaged only 2.27 points, the second lowest/best mark in the NFL.
—————————————————————————————————————————
PACKERS (10-6) at EAGLES (10-6)
– The long ball: Philadelphia (1,177) and Green Bay (1,074) became two of just six teams over the last four
seasons to gain more than 1,000 yards on long passes (balls thrown more than 20 yards downfield). The others? New England in 2007 and New Orleans in 2008 and 2009.
Note this: The Eagles gained 670 yards on passes thrown THIRTY or more yards downfield this season. They gained 613 such yards last season as well, becoming just the second team in the 20 years of tracking the stat to gain 600 or more such yards in consecutive seasons, joining the Vikings of 2003-2004.
– The Eagles had five touchdown runs of 20 yards or more in 2010. Only Houston had more. It was the most by an Eagles team since at least 2003. Green Bay had no such touchdown runs this season and have just four over the last three years combined.
Note this: Green Bay has ALLOWED only one such touchdown run over the last two seasons combined.
– Since averaging 29.4 points per game over their first 14 games, the Eagles slumped to 14 and 13 in their last two, both at home. It was their first time scoring fewer than 17 points in two straight home games since the final two of the 2004 season. Actually, their 27 total points scored over their final two games is one fewer than they scored in the final 7-plus minutes at New York in Week 15.
– Green Bay allowed just 117 points on the road this year (14.6 points per game), the second lowest total in the NFL. It was the fewest points allowed by the Packers in road games since they allowed 109 in 1996 and the seventh fewest such points allowed in the league since the 2003 season.
– Drop this knowledge on the guys as the fourth quarter starts: The Eagles led the NFL in fourth quarter scoring this
season:
138 – Eagles
130 – Chargers
129 – Colts
While Green Bay allowed the fourth fewest fourth quarter points:
53 – Bears
63 – Buccaneers
69 – Falcons
73 – Packers
What could have been (Packers edition): Green Bay allowed only 13 fourth quarter points at home this season, the second fewest by any NFL team in the last seven years. The bad news? Green Bay is the only NFC playoff team that cannot play another home game this season.
– Look at first down production when Philly has the ball: The Eagles averaged 6.46 yards on first down, second best in the league, while Green Bay’s defense limited foes to 5.28 such yards, ranked ninth best. But let’s break down the numbers a little more:
First 10 games on first down: Eagles offense averaged 5.48; Packers defense allowed 4.55;
Last six games on first down: Eagles offense averaged NFL high 7.40; Packers defense allowed 6.33 (25th)
– Green Bay had 30 long drives of 10 or more plays (fifth) but managed only 3.03 points on those drives (25th). The Eagles allowed just 20 such drives (tied for fourth fewest) but allowed 3.85 points, ranked just 22nd
– Philadelphia has struggles coming out of halftime this season, scoring just 13 points on their opening drives of second halfs. Only Arizona scored fewer such points with nine. Green Bay allowed only six such points, the fewest in the NFL. So will be interesting to see if Philly can muster anything here.
– Net points following turnovers favors Green Bay as they were the league’s second best at +72, scoring 111 points off of takeaways and allowing 39 following giveaways. The Eagles were not good at all in this category, posting a -14 (79/93), ranked 20th.
– The Eagles fumbled 33 times in 2010, tied for the most in the league, but they lost only 12 of them (36 percent), the third lowest loss percentage. So it’s safe to say they were pretty lucky in that respect or that -14 in net points off turnovers could have been considerably worse.
– Philly opponents scored on all 28 goal-to-go drives this year, one of just four teams that allowed scores every time. Their 6.29 average points allowed on those drives was second highest/worst (23 touchdowns and five field goals on 28 drives).
– Over the season’s second half, only 1.8 percent of opponent pass completions against Green Bay included long runs after the catch (21 or more YAC yards), the lowest percentage in the league in that span:
1.8% – Packers
2.0% – Bills
2.6% – Buccaneers
2.6% – Colts
– After averaging 59 penalty yards per game over the season’s first six weeks (11th highest in that span), the Packers were flagged for just 26 yards per game over the final ten weeks, the LOWEST in that span. The Eagles were penalised 67 yards per game over that same span, second HIGHEST in the league.
– Philadelphia had 26 “two minute” possessions this season (drives starting with 2:00 or less remaining in the half) and committed six turnovers (interceptions or fumbles lost). That turnover percentage (23 percent) was second highest in the league (Dallas, 25 percent).
Note this: The Packers never forced a turnover on any of their opponents’ 18 two minute possessions this season.
No comments:
Post a Comment