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Stat of the Week

Week 9 - Percent First Downs Passing per Attempt

The STAT OF THE WEEK feature highlights the one stat contributing most points to the victory.

The Baltimore Ravens drought in their aerial game caught up with them in week 9 when they faced the Cincinnati Bengals' most improved passing efficiency team. This season the Bengals added 6.49 Points per Game (PPG) to their Winning Margin on the First Downs Passing Percentage stat (red graph at right).

Pct 1st Downs Pass/Att

Percentile Chart

100=Stongest 50=Average 0=Weakest
Lines: Playoff Avg=81 SuperBowl Avg=78

Win Mrg Points Change

Winning Margin Points Change
Sorted by Points Change, 2007 to 2008

Rank	Team	Pctl	Stat Value	Points behind Leader	Win Mrg Pts Chg vs 2007	Games Won
1	S D	100	40.54	0.00	4.76	4
2	ARI	97	40.16	0.26	3.10	7
3	HOU	87	38.55	1.35	1.79	3
4	MIA	83	38.02	1.71	6.11	6
5	NYJ	77	37.07	2.36	2.23	7
6	JAX	71	36.25	2.92	-1.45	4
7	BUF	71	36.18	2.97	3.05	5
8	NYG	68	35.74	3.27	3.43	9
9	ATL	68	35.69	3.30	4.54	6
10	N O	68	35.68	3.31	0.06	5
11	DEN	66	35.39	3.50	-0.63	6
12	PIT	64	35.20	3.63	-3.60	7
13	IND	61	34.74	3.95	-2.54	6
14	S F	58	34.32	4.23	4.78	3
15	WAS	58	34.19	4.32	-1.62	6
16	BAL	55	33.81	4.57	1.63	6
17	N E	53	33.43	4.83	-5.46	6
18	T B	52	33.33	4.90	0.19	7
19	CAR	51	33.21	4.98	3.46	8
20	TEN	48	32.76	5.29	-2.78	10
21	PHI	48	32.74	5.31	0.34	5
22	G B	44	32.20	5.67	-2.81	5
23	MIN	44	32.14	5.71	-0.02	5
24	DAL	41	31.68	6.03	-6.25	6
25	CHI	32	30.42	6.88	0.61	5
26	CIN	28	29.74	7.35	-4.97	1
27	CLE	25	29.30	7.64	-4.03	4
28	DET	22	28.88	7.93	-3.88	0
29	K C	19	28.36	8.28	-1.37	1
30	SEA	13	27.49	8.87	-5.62	2
31	OAK	1	25.74	10.07	-2.55	2
32	STL	0	25.57	10.18	-5.48	2

2008 Season, YTD through Week 11

In season 2007 Ravens ranked 24th on Pct 1st Downs Pass/Att at 31.42.
In season 2008 they ranked 16th at 33.81, up 1.6 points per game on this one stat.
From 2007 to 2008 Ravens improved by 11.0 points per game on Winning Margin.

The Stat of the Week graphic below pictures the performance differential between the Ravens puny effort (19% of their pass attempts earned First Downs) compared to the hot handed Bengals' 54%. Three cheers for Cincy Coach Marv Lewis, young QB Carson Palmer and his fine receiving corps.

Pct 1st Downs Pass/Att
Baltimore Ravens
2007 Week 6 through 2008 Week 11

Pct 1st Downs Pass/Att
Cincinnati Bengals
2007 Week 6 through 2008 Week 11

In a game won by 12 points this huge differential contributed 22.4 PPG. Cincy coulda' won by more.
And you will note the Ravens' dark blue moving average line has not been above average (light blue line) in the most recent 18 games.
Patch this weakness any year soon and the Ravens may once again join the playoff race. This year they are not competitive.
Bud Goode, budgoode@ix.netcom.com
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