Unholy Quotables

"With every question he asked, it became clearer that despite any declaration to the contrary, he viewed me as an adversary. Rather than seeking to elicit information, his questioning sought to elicit a conclusion that he had reached before the hearing began."

-Anita Hill (Congress's version of Matt Walsh) on Arlen Specter's questioning of her during the Clarence "is that a pubic hair in my Coke" Thomas

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Cold Hard Football Facts

Cold Hard Football Facts is a great site because they produce statistics and write about those statistics without trying to drum up storylines and create conflict where there isn't or shouldn't be.

Here is a blurb from the column that is linked in the title of the post.

We do know this: the Patriots are among the most balanced teams in football, passing the ball on 51 percent of their offensive plays. They're also a classic example of a team that builds a lead with the pass and then secures the lead with the run.
  • The Patriots have passed the ball on 160 of 285 first-half plays (56 percent)
  • The Patriots have passed the ball on 107 of 229 second-half plays (47 percent)
This is a good supporting statistic that they are not gunning it completely on every play in the second half and more importantly the 4th quarter. That they are running up the score is not really the question, but the fact that the first half dominance is so completely, the opposing defenses become lifeless 5 minutes into the 3rd quarter and shut it down. God forbid the Patriots mix up the plays a bit.

Here is another great point that no one outside of CHFF has pointed out (that I've found):

The famous undefeated Dolphins didn't even offer the pathetic Patriots (who went 3-11) a single glimmer of hope that year. In fact, Miami reserved its biggest beating for its northern rivals: the Dolphins won, 52-0.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I find that 1972 team insufferable. ProJo Pats Blog listed that stat around the time of this year's Pats-Dolphins game. For all those people spitting out that karma is a bitch, I say Why yes it is. Sometimes it takes 25 years or so, doesn't it?

www.landofpatriots.com

FuManJew said...

Great stuff John, love the blog, keep up the good work. I look forward to reading more entries.

Dale said...

That's an interesting fact about the 72 dolphins beating the Patriots 52-0. Nobody talks about them running up the score in their magical season. Also, nobody talks about how they were 14-0 instead of 16-0.

Has Don Shula weighed in on the Patriots running up the score?

Dale said...

From AOL Sports:

Earlier this week, CBSSports.com's Mike Freeman asked Shula if the New England Patriots were to go undefeated this season, would the record be tainted by PatriotGate.


"Well it would have to be," Shula said. "That's not going to ever go away (the videotaping scandal). That's going to be talked about forever. They were fined $500,000 right? They lost how many draft picks? That tells you about the seriousness of what they did."


http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/10/20/don-shula-can-not-tell-a-lie-about-patriotgate/

John Cyr said...

Amy, you're absolutely right about the 72 Dolphins being insufferable. According to Shula, only a couple of guys who lived near each other ever did the champagne thing, but the whole self-righteous thing is ridiculous. They're not even close to being the best team ever.

FuManJew - thanks, Im glad you like the blog. I'm updating throughout the day, so check back often.

Dale - Shula commented a couple of days after the Dolphins game. Thought the Patriots could actually go 16-0 and didn't seem to mind the running up scores. I'm guessing if you started coaching before 1990 or so you have no problem with it.