How important is field position?

December 1, 2007

I’m not an advocate of trading Hester. (I’d like to see him on offense 20-25 plays a game). However I just found this out and it’s interesting to contemplate.

The Browns are 1st in starting field position 34.58 yard line. The Bears are 3rd starting at the 33.45 which is shocking. I would have thought it would have been closer to the 40.

Here’s the crazy part. The worse team’s starting field position is 26.30 (Miami, so much for Ted Ginn eh?) Anyways think about this… Field position is a fairly irrelevant stat considering all 32 teams are with in 8 yards of each other.

Kind of shocking when most head coaches stress the importance of field position. Back in the day time of possession was one of the most important stats. It looks like the turnover ratio is now the most important team stat.

Forget about YPG and how many Yards your team gets per play, forget about how many points per game you score, forget about how many you let up, the single most important stat when looking at an NFL team and judging what their record is for that season is the Turnover Ratio that they are sporting.

Take a look at the high and the Low of it right now;

#1 in Turnover Ratio, The New England Patriots at 11-0
#32 in Turnover Ratio, The Baltimore Ravens at 4-7

Of the 15 teams with a turnover ratio that is positive 4 of them have a losing record, two of them just at 5-6.

Of the bottom 17 teams with a negative Turnover ratio only 2 The Giants and the Titans currently have a winning record.

Teams with high hopes coming into the season, the 49ers, the Rams, the Cardinals, the Bears, the Ravens, the Saints and the Bengals, all have a negative turnover ratio, all have a losing record.

Teams thought to be lucky to compete this year, the Browns, the Lions, the Bucs, and to some extent the Packers, all have winning records and all have positive turnover ratios.

The only exception I can fathom here is the Falcons who sit a 3-8 yet have a +6 turnover ratio.

Starting Field Position
Turnover Ratio

December 1, 2007 | Filed Under Sports

Comments

Leave a Reply




Polls

Cubs vs. Sox 2008 Series

  • 100% Game on! (60%)
  • 50% Could happen (40%)
  • 0% No chance (0%)

Poll Ends: July 7, 2008 @ 6:48 am

Loading ... Loading ...