Patriots at Falcons
The Big Game in Houston matches two powerhouse offensive teams, the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons.
At first glance it's tempting to conclude that with two top offenses, the difference maker might be the teams' defenses. And Patriots
boast the stronger defense on the passing part of the game. See our
Killer Stat, Defense
chart and you'll find the Falcons ranked 12th at 6.19 and the Patriots ranked 6th at 6.04. But note the blue chart in the middle:
there's a pretty small difference in the length of the blue bars for the two teams--despite the difference in ranks, there's very little
difference between the two. With percentile ranks of 54 and 48, both are close to league average.
The Falcons' pass offense, as we discussed in the article for the playoff game vs Seattle,
leads the league--and by a significant margin. Earning 8.23 yards per pass attempt is a stat performance normally associated with past Super Bowl winners. See the article linked above for more info.
I've posted a copy of a Matchup Report using a format we provide for NFL-client coaching staffs. This is a two pager showing stat advantages of offense vs defense matchups. Page One shows the NE Offense vs ATL Defenses and in the far rigth columms, all the plus signs for the first 16 stats fall to the Pats' Offense.
The surprise is on Page Two where the ATL Offense pencils out with some even greater advantages vs the NE Defense: 6.1 points on yards per play and 6.0 points on yards per pass attempt, every year the two most important stats in the game. See the chart below, Yards per Play, Atlanta Falcons, much stronger than league average week in and week out.
|
2016 through Week 17
|
|
|
| 
