The Problem?

JKool · 11-26-2003, 06:01 PM

It seems to me that this dispute regarding who is blame for our favorite team's losses this season is unresolvable. While this has been expressed by many of the esteemed members here, I think that Brook's bashing (or loving) is not even the central issue. Brooks has not been, well, great; however, he has not been completely awful either. Many teams get by with average (by NFL standards) QBs. We however are not; instead of calling for our QB's head, perhaps we should first ask why we cannot get by?

That said, I think a shift in focus might be interesting (of course, you decide).

Here is an argument: look at this year's stats FOR THE TEAM. Since football is a team sport, no one will object to that (at least not at first).

Here are the team vs opponent stats for the year:
TOTAL FIRST DOWNS 204 203
FIRST DOWNS (Rushing-Passing-By Penalty) 74 - 117 - 13 74 - 113 - 16
THIRD DOWN CONVERSIONS 72/155 51/140
FOURTH DOWN CONVERSIONS 4/14 7/9
TOTAL OFFENSIVE YARDS 3755 3561
OFFENSE (Plays-Average Yards) 699 - 5.4 674 - 5.3
TOTAL RUSHING YARDS 1470 1534
RUSHING (Plays-Average Yards) 309 - 4.8 331 - 4.6
TOTAL PASSING YARDS 2285 2027
PASSING (Comp-Att-Int-Avg) 215 - 365 - 8 - 6.65 171 - 319 - 7 - 6.77
SACKS 24 25
FIELD GOALS 16/20 21/23
TOUCHDOWNS 26 28
(Rushing-Passing-Returns-Defensive) 9 - 15 - 1 - 2 10 - 15 - 0 - 2
TIME OF POSSESSION 30:31 29:29

These are from the team's official web site.

Now we all know that a broad stroke analysis is probably stupid, but here is my challenge: show how particulars make this generalization false - our favorite team's problem is an inability to stop the run. We have Duece (the best back in the NFL right now) and other teams (most of whom have no back comparable to Duece) and have still out rushed us by 100 yards. The only other glaring difference between our team's overall stats and our opponents is our inability to stop 4th down conversions (usually runs). Thus, I argue that the big problem with this team is our run defense.

I look forward to thoughts on this. Cheers.

11-26-2003, 06:01 PM	#1
JKool 1000 Posts + Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 2,423	The Problem? It seems to me that this dispute regarding who is blame for our favorite team's losses this season is unresolvable. While this has been expressed by many of the esteemed members here, I think that Brook's bashing (or loving) is not even the central issue. Brooks has not been, well, great; however, he has not been completely awful either. Many teams get by with average (by NFL standards) QBs. We however are not; instead of calling for our QB's head, perhaps we should first ask why we cannot get by? That said, I think a shift in focus might be interesting (of course, you decide). Here is an argument: look at this year's stats FOR THE TEAM. Since football is a team sport, no one will object to that (at least not at first). Here are the team vs opponent stats for the year: TOTAL FIRST DOWNS 204 203 FIRST DOWNS (Rushing-Passing-By Penalty) 74 - 117 - 13 74 - 113 - 16 THIRD DOWN CONVERSIONS 72/155 51/140 FOURTH DOWN CONVERSIONS 4/14 7/9 TOTAL OFFENSIVE YARDS 3755 3561 OFFENSE (Plays-Average Yards) 699 - 5.4 674 - 5.3 TOTAL RUSHING YARDS 1470 1534 RUSHING (Plays-Average Yards) 309 - 4.8 331 - 4.6 TOTAL PASSING YARDS 2285 2027 PASSING (Comp-Att-Int-Avg) 215 - 365 - 8 - 6.65 171 - 319 - 7 - 6.77 SACKS 24 25 FIELD GOALS 16/20 21/23 TOUCHDOWNS 26 28 (Rushing-Passing-Returns-Defensive) 9 - 15 - 1 - 2 10 - 15 - 0 - 2 TIME OF POSSESSION 30:31 29:29 These are from the team's official web site. Now we all know that a broad stroke analysis is probably stupid, but here is my challenge: show how particulars make this generalization false - our favorite team's problem is an inability to stop the run. We have Duece (the best back in the NFL right now) and other teams (most of whom have no back comparable to Duece) and have still out rushed us by 100 yards. The only other glaring difference between our team's overall stats and our opponents is our inability to stop 4th down conversions (usually runs). Thus, I argue that the big problem with this team is our run defense. I look forward to thoughts on this. Cheers.