Monday, September 17, 2007

Gotta Love the NFL

To sum up the first two weeks of the NFL season, I turn to the famous words of Vince Lombardi: "what the hell's going on out there?"

Here is a summary of the craziness from the first two weeks:

The Texans, Packers, and Lions are all 2-0. You could have won a boat load of money in Vegas with those predictions.
The Saints, Giants, and Rams are all 0-2. See the above comment.
The Bengals/Browns game had a combined 96 points and 1,085 yards of offense.
The Falcons and Chiefs have combined for 23 points and 1,013 yards of offense in their four games so far.
The 49ers have 380 yards of total offense so far, but are 2-0.
The Patriots have won both of their games by 38-14 scores and already have a two-game lead in the AFC East. Carry that scoring average out for the whole season and they would score 608 points and allow 224. Given the how easy it has looked for them the first two weeks, that actually seems possible.
LaDanian Tomlinson, coming off of 31 touchdowns in 2006, has just one in two games and only 68 yards on 35 carries (1.9 ypc).
Steven Jackson, the other top RB who didn't have a single carry in preseason, has 118 yards on 39 carries (3.0 ypc). Maybe those games do mean something.
The top three in receiving yards (C. Johnson-304, R. Moss-288, and S. Smith-271) all have more yards than the top rusher (T. Henry-267). The league is becoming more and more reliant on the passing game as defenses get better at stopping the run every year.
There are eight teams allowing 80 rushing yards per game or less, with four teams holding opponents to less than three yards per carry.
The Broncos' defense is allowing 85 ypg passing and their opposing QBs have a rating of 39.2. I guess trading for Dre Bly was a pretty smart move.
Seven of the top 16 scorers through week two are WRs, only two are RBs.
Jamal Lewis has the only rushing play over 50 yards (66 yard TD yesterday). He became the first Browns RB to rush for 200 yards in a game in 32 years. Oh yeah, he has more yards (251) than Willis McGahee (174) on seven fewer carries. So much for him being washed up.
Ten WRs already have receptions of over 50 yards, none of which include deep threat Lee Evans (4 catches for 22 yards total), who had 19 catches of 40+ yards the past three seasons.
Nine teams are giving up an average of 14 points per game or less.
Four teams are giving up an average of 35 points per game or more.
In 21 career games, Devin Hester has one fewer return touchdown (8) than he has tackles (9).
Fifteen out of 16 catches for Chad Johnson have gone for first downs. He also survived a leap into the Dawg Pound in Cleveland yesterday. I am not sure which of those is more impressive.

So what does this all mean? Not too much, they are just some interesting stats and trends to consider early on. More than likely, the Saints will get on track and be a playoff contender by the end of the season, and by no means are the Texans, Packers, and Lions locks to be in the playoffs.

It just goes to show that the mantra "on any given Sunday" truly applies to the NFL. Teams can change their fortune in the span of one offseason with the right roster changes or coaching hires. Similarly, the wrong decisions can take a promising team and have them heading south in a hurry. Look no further than the Falcons for evidence of that.