Whether crazy punters, dreamy kickers, or ridiculously athletic returners, Chuck Zodda takes you inside the world of special teams as only a kicker can. Today, the art of drafting kickers and the math behind the picks. There have been only three instances in NFL history where a team selected a kicker in the first round…
After thrashing the Indianapolis Colts 45-7 in the AFC Championship Game, the New England Patriots secured a spot in the NFL’s ultimate match, Super Bowl XLIX. They face the Seattle Seahawks, who defeated the Green Bay Packers in overtime, 28-22, for the NFC Championship. Reading the Seahawks numbers reveals a stingy defense and a powerful…
The AFC has a clear-cut top team in the 10-3 New England Patriots, who own victories over each of the other three division leaders in their conference (Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals). The picture in the NFC, however, is more muddled, with half a dozen teams in the hunt. Can the numbers tell…
The best record in the NFC through Week 9 belongs to… the Arizona Cardinals? No one predicted that ‒ not in a division with the defending NFL Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks and two-time NFC Championship runners-up San Francisco 49ers in the mix. How have the Cards raced out to a 7-1 record in 2014?…
Each week, Inside The Pylon tracks the New England Patriots by the numbers and key statistics about the offense and defense. Offense – Areas of Emphasis Keeping Brady Upright: 1 sack in 54 dropbacks – 1.9% sack rate. League average: 5.9 % sack rate. Patriots season average: 4.0% Run/pass percentage on 1st & 2nd down:…
Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos return to Foxboro this weekend to face a healthy and effective Gronk, an evolving Edelman, a near-perfect Brady, and the guy in the gray hoodie ‒ plus a few new faces. With the highly anticipated matchup between the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots looming, many fans are…
The Wildcats are back. After a 31-30 road win over #11 Oklahoma on Saturday, Kansas State leads the Big 12 with a 3-0 conference record. With a 5-1 overall mark, KSU replaced the Sooners in the 11-spot in both the AP and USA Today Top 25 polls on Sunday. Coming off a pedestrian 8-5 mark…
Each week, we’ll break down the Patriots numbers in certain key areas of interest and track them to see how they progress over the course of the season. We do apologize for the introductory graphic. This is normally Jae’s area of expertise, but he is in the process of moving to South Korea. Obviously,…
The marquee signing of the New York Jets’ 2014 offseason was former Tennessee Titan running back Chris “CJ2K” Johnson, once the undisputed fastest-man in the NFL. Johnson is off to a decent, if unspectacular, start to the 2014 campaign with a 3.9 Yards Per Carry (YPC) average on 51 total carries. However, such performance falls…
Offense – Areas of Emphasis Keeping Brady Upright: 2 sacks in 39 dropbacks – 5.1% sack rate. League average: 5.4 % sack rate. Patriots season average: 5.7% Run the ball! Run v. pass percentage on 1st & 2nd down: 20 runs, 35 passes (not incl. kneel-downs) – 36.4%. League-wide: 47.4% run percentage on 1st &…
Each week, we’ll break down the Patriots numbers in certain key areas of interest and track them to see how they progress over the course of the season. Offense – Areas of Emphasis Keeping Brady Upright: 1 sack in 36 dropbacks – 2.8% sack rate. League average: 5.4 % sack rate. Run the Ball! Run v.…
Each week, I’ll be breaking down the Patriots numbers in certain key areas of interest and tracking them to see how they progress in these areas over the course of the season. Offense – Areas of Emphasis Keeping Brady upright: 2 sacks in 38 dropbacks (not counting final play) – 5.3% sack rate. Brady also…
Week One Results can be weighted too heavily. Using football science, statistics, the spread and NFL history can help make sense of gambling and trends. The first week of the pro football season is often chaotic. While the NFL is a league of parity, the opening games bring plenty of uncertainty. Players and coaches have…