Looking at stats through 6 weeks

[dbair1967]

Individual:

1) Prescott ranks 5th in QB rating at 103.9, 3rd in yds per attempt at 8.17 and 4th in comp% at 68.7. If those numbers held up, it'd be one of the best seasons a rookie QB has had in league history.

2) Elliott ranks 1st in yds rushing with 703 (116 yds more than #2 guy). 1st in yds per game (117.2), 7th in yds per rush (5.1), 1st in rushing 1st downs (37), 1st in 20+ yd runs (7) 6th in rushing tds (5). Also 1st in rush attempts (137) On pace for 1875 yds for the season, which would break Eric Dickerson's rookie rushing record.

Team:

Offense: Ranks 3rd in total yds per game (401.5), 2nd in rushing yds per game (161.2) 8th in scoring (26.5), 1st in rushing attempts (202) 1st in first downs (144), first in 1st downs rushing (59), 2nd in 3rd down conversion rate (46.6) and 6th in turnover ratio (+4) and tied 5th for fewest giveaways with 5, 1st in league in time of possession (33:09)

Defense: Ranks 16th in yds allowed per game (358.3), 7th in pts per game (17.8), 10th in rushing yds allowed per game (92.2) Tied for 10th in take aways with 9

 

[UVAwahoos]

Not great numbers for the defense, but it's been shocking how well they've held up in sticky situations. Rodgers helped them bigtime by sucking ass though.

 

[dbair1967]

Not great numbers for the defense, but it's been shocking how well they've held up in sticky situations. Rodgers helped them bigtime by sucking ass though.

When you look at some of the stats inside those defensive numbers it is concerning. While the rush yds per game allowed is good, the yds per attempt allowed is not (4.4, which ranks 23rd. Some of that is a little skewed though as the run defense on most plays has been solid, but they have shown a propensity to give up a couple or three chunk runs a game)

We rank 21st in defensive QB rating (95), tied for 19th in sacks (11), 17th in yds per attempt allowed (7.2) and 25th in comp% allowed at 66.8

At the end of the day though the pts per game allowed at 17.8 is more than acceptable and if they keep that number up then it'll be a successful season. The cause for concern there is that while the 17.8 number looks good, when you look at the 6 teams we've played and see where they rank in scoring offense it doesn't appear quite as positive. NYG is 25th in scoring at 19.3, Washington is 15th at 23.7, Chicago is 31st at 16.8, San Fran is 19th at 21.2, Cinci is 29th at 18.2 and Green Bay is 17th at 22.8

 

[UVAwahoos]

At the end of the day though the pts per game allowed at 17.8 is more than acceptable and if they keep that number up then it'll be a successful season. The cause for concern there is that while the 17.8 number looks good, when you look at the 6 teams we've played and see where they rank in scoring offense it doesn't appear quite as positive. NYG is 25th in scoring at 19.3, Washington is 15th at 23.7, Chicago is 31st at 16.8, San Fran is 19th at 21.2, Cinci is 29th at 18.2 and Green Bay is 17th at 22.8

We've played some teams who may turn out to be awful, but looking down the schedule, there seems to be an abundance of those same teams left.

Vikes are scary. We may catch the Steelers without Big Ben, and that would be a blessing. Some of the other teams (Browns, Bucs, etc) are just awful on offense.

They'd be a tough defense to trust in the playoffs though. Of course, this magical time where Ginger is able to hide his coaching ineptitude will also come to an end in the playoffs, so the defense sucking won't matter.

 

[Doomsday]

Not great numbers for the defense

7th in pts per game (17.8)

To me, the most important defensive stat.

 

[ZeroClub]

The offense has been pretty great and has the stats to back it up.

The defense isn't great, but is playing reasonably well. Their stats are adversely impacted by end-of-the-game situations when coaches would gladly allow slow, time-consuming drives to the opposition to help the Cowboys to close out games.

"Prevent defense" is an old term that has a negative connotation, but it isn't a bad way to finish games in which you have a solid lead ... assuming you force the opposition to run clock. Defensive statistics suffer some under this approach, but who cares? W's matter, stats don't.

I wonder if this year would be a good time to consider a different statistic. There is a way of computing the chance of winning at a given point in the game by considering the size of lead and the time left in the game. It would be possible to average several of these points-in-the-games together to get an overall estimate of how much a team was in control of the given game. I'd think the Cowboys would rank pretty well on this.

 

[LAZARUS_LOGAN]

Individual:

1) Prescott ranks 5th in QB rating at 103.9, 3rd in yds per attempt at 8.17 and 4th in comp% at 68.7. If those numbers held up, it'd be one of the best seasons a rookie QB has had in league history.

Undercuts the bullshit of Dak dinking and dunking it.

 

[LAZARUS_LOGAN]

They'd be a tough defense to trust in the playoffs though. Of course, this magical time where Ginger is able to hide his coaching ineptitude will also come to an end in the playoffs, so the defense sucking won't matter.

That's the maddening thing about all of this. He'll allow Linehan to run the offense during the regular season, just enough to get them to the playoffs, but then comes the playoffs... Garrett wants to put his fingerprints all on it.

 

[icup]

ProFootballTalk ✔ @ProFootballTalk
David Irving named NFC defensive player of the week David Irving named NFC defensive player of the week | ProFootballTalk
9:46 AM - 19 Oct 2016

 

[bbgun]

that's nice, but he needs to do more than just flash every now and then. like Dez, he can disappear for weeks at a time.

 

[yimyammer]

that's nice, but he needs to do more than just flash every now and then. like Dez, he can disappear for weeks at a time.

who?

 

[bbgun]

Irving

 

[dbair1967]

that's nice, but he needs to do more than just flash every now and then. like Dez, he can disappear for weeks at a time.

He had disappeared the previous couple games I believe because he didn't play (hurt)