Do Rankings Mean Anything To You?

In 3 weeks the Steelers, having played the Ravens, Seahawks and Colts boast the:
13th ranked offense in yards per game
8th ranked offense in passing yards per game
23rd ranked offense in rushing yards per game
2nd ranked defense for yards per game
The top ranked defense for passing yards per game
12th ranked defense for rushing yards per game

In 3 weeks the Texans, having played the Colts, Dolphins and Saints boast the:
9th ranked offense in yards per game
12th ranked offense in passing yards per game
5th ranked offense in rushing yards per game
14th ranked defense for yards per game
11th ranked defense for passing yards per game
17th ranked defense for rushing yards per game

Does this mean anything to you? If so, what?

To me, the strength of schedule is pretty even, as are the standings: 2-1. I think their defense is going to give Schaub fits IF Foster can't be a healthy version of himself and Tate keeps hammerfisting lob passes. Lots of quick drop/timing routes and screen passes to slow down their pass rush, once they back off hit 'em with the play action. If you get any rushing yards, gravy train. I want to see the Texans take it to that top ranked pass D and knock 'em down a notch. BAM.

The game to me, gets decided on the other sides of the ball, our D vs. their O. If they can get the pressure, B-Rape will get hit and make mistakes. I don't think they can stop Mendenhall, so hopefully a quick lead will do away with their willingness to run. Mario, Smith, J.J., Barwin, Cushing, Reed all of 'em need to be making that dude pay for daring to drop back and scramble around.

Texans 34 - Steelers 21

means nothing... That's why they play the game !!

It tells me a lot, but all that really matters is 2-1.

Four rankings are all that matter: turnovers, offensive scoring, defensive scores allowed, and W/L. Anything dealing with yardage is just about the most worthless stat ever for this team.

Only one ranking really means anything to me..... W v. L

The others are all great for fodder and help in gaging the league.

At the end of the day like Bill says only the W vs. L means anything.

For analysis purposes, I like to look at how the team is does in comparison to what the other team normally does. So if the other team normally gives up 150 rushing yards and we get 100 yards it was a bad day but if the other team normally gives up 70 yards then we had a pretty good one.

Stats and rankings are like tea leaves, you can read them any way you want and come up with whatever conclusion you like.

Results vary per individual.

hobie said:

means nothing... That's why they play the game !!

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I think it means something. How productive their performance has been, for instance. May not tell the whole story but I don't think NOTHING is a good answer.

HJam72 said:

It tells me a lot, but all that really matters is 2-1.

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Fair enough. All that really matters is the w/l, I get that. I'm looking for what "It tells me a lot" means to you. Give me that grey area.

eriadoc said:

Four rankings are all that matter: turnovers, offensive scoring, defensive scores allowed, and W/L. Anything dealing with yardage is just about the most worthless stat ever for this team.

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Turnovers: Texans have 3 INT and 3 FF, giving them +2 against opponents in that category.
Steelers have 1 FF and 0 INT, giving them -9 against their opponents. Advantage Texans.

Offensive scoring, Steelers have 5 TD's and 4/6 FG
Texans have 8 TD's and 9/9 FG's.....again, advantage Texans. Our 1 return TD cancels out with their 1 defensive TD.

The Texans have allowed 7 TD's, 5 pass/2 rushed and 3/6 FG's.
The Steelers have allowed 5 TD's, 2 rush/3 passed and 4/4 FG's. Advantage Steelers, until the mighty Texan offense blows up this category!!!!!

W/L is 2-1. Good matchup, huh?

infantrycak said:

At the end of the day like Bill says only the W vs. L means anything.

For analysis purposes, I like to look at how the team is does in comparison to what the other team normally does. So if the other team normally gives up 150 rushing yards and we get 100 yards it was a bad day but if the other team normally gives up 70 yards then we had a pretty good one.

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So if the Texans keep their 100 yards rushing a game average, they'll beat the Steelers yards given up by 20 yards. Would that be enough for a win?

You can use them as a tool for fantasy starts if they can be anaylized in such a way they give you an edge. main thing I compare are stats @ home vs away, this is a pretty good predictor of results. Then you can break it down by individual match-ups & injury reports.

TimeKiller said:

So if the Texans keep their 100 yards rushing a game average, they'll beat the Steelers yards given up by 20 yards. Would that be enough for a win?

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Mine is more for game review than game prediction or at least that is how I do it. But you can't isolate one category. I would say that meant the Texans had a good rushing day. Now if they held us to 100 yds passing then sure we would probably lose the game. It is just kind of a unit on unit comparison except for scoring. For example folks liked to bag on last year's offense but they almost doubled up the points allowed by two of the best defenses in the NFL last year. The O generally outscored the opposing D's average while our D generally allowed opposing O's to get more points than they averaged. To me that is a pretty good indicator of the overall problem. Doesn't mean stop trying to improve the O.

BeerLover, do you think the Steelers lose their defensive edge away from home? If so, why? Show your work/opinion.


Come on gang, there has to be something to talk about other than generalities, cliches and ripping the team into a million pieces every time the gatorade boy trips and spills 3 drinks. Right?

I think if they beat up the Steelers for 100+ rushing yards it probably means that they win Time of Possession and really dominated the LOS, forced their will on the Steeler D. Good chance they score a boatload too, which is pretty much what I think will happen.....also why I think this game will be up to the D to stop an average to mediocre offense.

Thorn said:

Stats and rankings are like tea leaves, you can read them any way you want and come up with whatever conclusion you like.

Results vary per individual.

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Are you saying stats can be objective? Like when I had the highest completion percentage in the league?

Signed,

HWSNBN

I think they mean something - it can give a good indication of things that need to be fixed or things that are working well over a large period of time. Problem is, it can be deceiving after 3 games. I think that pittsburgh has actually had a slightly easier schedule (colts cancel out, ravens and saints are fairly even, but I think seattle is one of the 2 worst teams in the NFL, capable of even making miami look good).

The two things that sick out to me from those stats are:
1) People are able to run the ball on the Steelers. The D is clearly not the monster it used to be. I am not saying they are bad, just that they aren't what the hype makes them to be.
2) The offensive line is hindering their offense. Their run game is struggling, forcing them to pass more, which helps a team like us, as we can try to tee off on big ben. However, you do have to be careful with him, he is a very large qb who can stay on his feet and really do damage when coverage breaks down. Maybe our oversized linebacker will counter act that...

dinkatoid said:

I think they mean something - it can give a good indication of things that need to be fixed or things that are working well over a large period of time. Problem is, it can be deceiving after 3 games. I think that pittsburgh has actually had a slightly easier schedule (colts cancel out, ravens and saints are fairly even, but I think seattle is one of the 2 worst teams in the NFL, capable of even making miami look good).

The two things that sick out to me from those stats are:
1) People are able to run the ball on the Steelers. The D is clearly not the monster it used to be. I am not saying they are bad, just that they aren't what the hype makes them to be.
2) The offensive line is hindering their offense. Their run game is struggling, forcing them to pass more, which helps a team like us, as we can try to tee off on big ben. However, you do have to be careful with him, he is a very large qb who can stay on his feet and really do damage when coverage breaks down. Maybe our oversized linebacker will counter act that...

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Signed,

47 Total yards with a 24-6 win on the road at Pittsburgh

dinkatoid said:

I think they mean something - it can give a good indication of things that need to be fixed or things that are working well over a large period of time. Problem is, it can be deceiving after 3 games. I think that pittsburgh has actually had a slightly easier schedule (colts cancel out, ravens and saints are fairly even, but I think seattle is one of the 2 worst teams in the NFL, capable of even making miami look good).

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There will definitely be flukes and things that do not fall in, but the longer you gather data the more accurate it tends to become. Being able to look back after 16 games and to see that you are whatever ranking in rushing O, vs a week SOS, and notice that you need to run the ball better to match up, etc. They obviously do not change the game, it is just a good way for us outsiders to try to predict matchups (try is the key word), and possibly some insiders to help support their ideas on what to try to fix.

no but its fun to check them each Tues

what else u going to surf on da web : P

Texan_Bill said:

Signed,

47 Total yards with a 24-6 win on the road at Pittsburgh

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THIS ^^^^^

I was going to mention it, too.

I wonder where the Packers were ranked at the start of last season?

Rankings are nothing more than weekly "trendy" predictions based mostly on previous week's results.

There's pretty much three tiers of teams in those rankings:

TIER 1: Your perennial "powerhouses" like the Patriots, Colts (until now), Saints, etc. Those teams are going to annually be ranked in the top portion, sliding upward or downward only slightly.

TIER 2: A huge number of middle-of-the-road teams like the Texans.

TIER 3: Really bad teams, like the Panthers and 49ers, etc.

It's really of no practical use, IMO, if you remember that there's just tiers of teams and your team probably sits within one of those tiers. I mean, it's what we do. We like to try and assign labels and categorize things, making sense of the unpredictable nature of how the NFL will end up at the end of a season.

Good for having fun, but I don't see how it translates into being of use for practical matters.

GP said:

THIS ^^^^^

I was going to mention it, too.

I wonder where the Packers were ranked at the start of last season?

Rankings are nothing more than weekly "trendy" predictions based mostly on previous week's results.

There's pretty much three tiers of teams in those rankings:

TIER 1: Your perennial "powerhouses" like the Patriots, Colts (until now), Saints, etc. Those teams are going to annually be ranked in the top portion, sliding upward or downward only slightly.

TIER 2: A huge number of middle-of-the-road teams like the Texans.

TIER 3: Really bad teams, like the Panthers and 49ers, etc.

It's really of no practical use, IMO, if you remember that there's just tiers of teams and your team probably sits within one of those tiers. I mean, it's what we do. We like to try and assign labels and categorize things, making sense of the unpredictable nature of how the NFL will end up at the end of a season.

Good for having fun, but I don't see how it translates into being of use for practical matters.

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BTW, the Steelers went 10-5-1 that season and made the playoffs.