The Myth about the NFL Total Offense and Total Defense - Part 9

   The NFL’s version of Total Offense and Total Defense is Yards gained and Yards allowed only. In this continuing series I am attempting to show readers that yards only does not tell the whole picture. The Pro Football Ranking.com’s comprehensive method of Total Offense and Total Defense Ranking uses fifteen stats, not just one. In this series I have discussed Turn Over’s (Fumbles and Interceptions), Penalties, The Red Zone, Time of Possession, Third Down conversion Percentage, First Downs and why they should be considered to truly determine Total Offense and Total Defense ranking.

   Since the NFL is considered to be a passing league PFR.com uses six passing statistics in their ranking system.  Interceptions have already been covered in Part 3 of this series on Turn Over’s. This post will add the next passing stat to our ranking method.

Sacks

   Sacks, everybody likes to talk about sacks! They are one of the biggest game changers in football along with being very exciting.

   Offense’s that allow a lot of sacks usually have a very long season. Offense’s that do not allow a lot of sacks are usually very successful.  Peyton Manning is a great example

(pick a team). He gets rid of the ball fast to avoid sacks and pressures. A Peyton Manning passing attack is always among the league leaders in passing statistics including (fewest) sacks.

   A defense the gets a lot of sacks also gets a lot of Quarterback pressures. Even Peyton Manning can’t complete a lot of passes if he gets sacked or is running around the backfield to avoid being sacked. A defense that gets a lot of sacks will usually get a lot of pressure on the QB which makes it difficult to put together long drives, score points, and win games.

   Offense’s can even put nice drives together, gain a lot of yards but be stopped in their tracks by a perfectly timed sack. We see this happen every Sunday!

   I don’t understand why the NFL uses just yards gained\allowed to rank offenses and defenses. Sacks seem to be to important to be forgotten about!

In my next post, Part 10, I will discuss another passing statistic that is used in the Pro Football Ranking.com Total Offense and Total Defense ranking method;

Quarterback Completion Percentage

How am I doing? Do you think that the NFL Total Offense\Defense ranking method is needs to be replaced by a more comprehensive ranking method?

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