football outsiders

The Pats hung onto the top spot in DVOA obviously because of their bye and astronomical offensive score. Seriously, if you haven’t figured out DVOA yet you really need to get on it asap. These are the only rankings that really mean much, and I’m not just saying that because we’re number one. 

After last night the Pats have rocketed from 6th to 1st in overall DVOA (if you still don’t get DVOA figure it out asap because it means a lot more than stupid power rankings). 

New England now has the #1 offense, the #4 Special Teams, and uh… the Defense is 23rd. Hey, it’s up from 28th last week okay!?!?

Offensively the Pats are far superior to everyone else in the NFL, with the Colts a distant second. Don’t get too excited, the Pats were number one in offensive DVOA in 2009 as well.

But what it does show is that New England is playing smart football and getting the job done in each situation they’re faced with. 

If you don’t know how to read Football Outsiders DVOA advanced stats I highly recommend you figure it out (they have in depth explanations on the site). Basically they grade each play based on the situation (so getting 2 yard on 1st and 10 gets a low grade, but getting 2 yards on 4th and 2 gets a high grade), and the Patriots are one team known to use their stats.

Any way the Patriots are 7th overall after week two. The breakdown is:

• 3rd in Offense
• 29th in Defense (eeeeeeek!)
• 6th in Special Teams

The Jets are 4th overall.

• 12th in Offense.
• 8 in Defense.
• 9th in Special Teams.

The Dolphins are 5th overall.

• 14th in Offense.
• 5th in Defense.
• 21st in Special Teams.

The Bills are 32nd (aka last) overall.

• 29th in Offense.
• 27th in Defense.
• 12th in Special Teams