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Pre-season means nothing as we all know.
Sort of.
However, (going for a tingle of anticipation here...didn't work? Ah, well.) I, being a stats guy of sorts, decided to check out some pre-season stats just for in-the ballpark or at least near-the-parking-lot type semi-vague ideas about how the Redskins looked compared to everybody else in a couple of areas.
Yeah, I know it was pre-season and we were checking out new acquisitions and trying to do the who-stays/who-doesn't dance like everybody else but that was the idea-all 32 teams were pretty much doing the same thing and from that perspective it might be possible to gauge at least in a very generalized way how the Redskins did against four opponents relatively randomly selected from a 31 team pool compared to other teams.
I know also we are dealing with a new HC, new system and there are a bunch more factors and pieces of data are out there and four is a small sample of games and etcetera, etcetera, and so forth, but, this is not in any way, shape or form meant to be an exhaustive in-depth analysis nor a reliable predictor of future performance, just perhaps, some sense of a means of providing useful information from which at least hints of where the Redskins might stand can be estimated.
That enough caveats? It oughta be.
Anyway, that being said;
Our D was fairly good to very good in some areas.
We allowed only 16 first downs per game which is third best behind only the Bengals at 15.2 and the Ravens at 15.8
We were tied with the Packers at fifth fewest total points allowed at 62
Our opponents had a total of 225 plays from scrimmage-only the Ravens had fewer at 201.
We were second in sacks with 13-the Packers and Giants had 14 each. (Our QBs were sacked 7 times which was below the league median of 8.5)
We were third in fewest total yards allowed per game at 253.2-the Ravens allowed 245.8 and the Broncos allowed 246.8
Our rushing D held opponents to an average 3.1 yards per carry (!) fourth best in the pre-season. Fifth in total rushing yards allowed at 84.2 and second in rushing 1st downs allowed at 15-and one of only six teams not to have a rushing td scored against them in the preseason. Hope those hold up because that's good run D-even in the preseason.
On offense we averaged 22.8 first downs per game with only the Packers at 23.2 and the Eagles at 30.0 doing better-and 12th in scoring at 22 points per game.
Another one we did well with is offensive average yards per snap-5.6 fourth behind the Titans-5.9, Seahawks-6.1, and Eagles-6.5
Now, in the not so good department;
First is turnovers. At -4 the Redskins are in the bottom seven teams during the preseson-definitely in need of major improvement there. That's losing one possesion per game. Last season we wound up at -8 for 16 games-I'll be watching this closely.
The Redskins were one of only three teams, along with the Titans and Dolphins not to record a single INT by the defense while being intercepted 6 times.
Penalty yards on offense 16th at 295 yards-middle of the pack
Better on defensive penalties-29th with 206 defensive penalty yards-only the 49ers, Cowpukes, and Chargers had fewer yards lost due to defensive penalties.
Special teams allowed an average punt return of only 4.0 yards-6th lowest in the league. Good thing too because our average punt was only kicked an average of 41.6 yards-tied with Cleveland for fifth shortest average punt distance.
One stat that might give an insight into Jay Gruden's M.O.
The Redskins averaged 33.8 run plays and 29.5 pass plays per game during this preseason.
I also got curious about comparing individual Redskins players on defense.
Who are the ones who it looks like might be stalwarts during the season.
Here's some hints-player stats on tackles, sacks, and passes defended.
(The individual stats came from CBS Sports-everything else is from nfl.com and CBS Sports)
I couldn't help but notice-although I didn't record anything, if I had done an analysis of the Cowpukes D during the preseason folks around here would be salivating-their defense in the preseason has been awful. Let's hope that is setting a tone for the rest of their marvelous debacle of a season.
Sort of.
However, (going for a tingle of anticipation here...didn't work? Ah, well.) I, being a stats guy of sorts, decided to check out some pre-season stats just for in-the ballpark or at least near-the-parking-lot type semi-vague ideas about how the Redskins looked compared to everybody else in a couple of areas.
Yeah, I know it was pre-season and we were checking out new acquisitions and trying to do the who-stays/who-doesn't dance like everybody else but that was the idea-all 32 teams were pretty much doing the same thing and from that perspective it might be possible to gauge at least in a very generalized way how the Redskins did against four opponents relatively randomly selected from a 31 team pool compared to other teams.
I know also we are dealing with a new HC, new system and there are a bunch more factors and pieces of data are out there and four is a small sample of games and etcetera, etcetera, and so forth, but, this is not in any way, shape or form meant to be an exhaustive in-depth analysis nor a reliable predictor of future performance, just perhaps, some sense of a means of providing useful information from which at least hints of where the Redskins might stand can be estimated.
That enough caveats? It oughta be.
Anyway, that being said;
Our D was fairly good to very good in some areas.
We allowed only 16 first downs per game which is third best behind only the Bengals at 15.2 and the Ravens at 15.8
We were tied with the Packers at fifth fewest total points allowed at 62
Our opponents had a total of 225 plays from scrimmage-only the Ravens had fewer at 201.
We were second in sacks with 13-the Packers and Giants had 14 each. (Our QBs were sacked 7 times which was below the league median of 8.5)
We were third in fewest total yards allowed per game at 253.2-the Ravens allowed 245.8 and the Broncos allowed 246.8
Our rushing D held opponents to an average 3.1 yards per carry (!) fourth best in the pre-season. Fifth in total rushing yards allowed at 84.2 and second in rushing 1st downs allowed at 15-and one of only six teams not to have a rushing td scored against them in the preseason. Hope those hold up because that's good run D-even in the preseason.
On offense we averaged 22.8 first downs per game with only the Packers at 23.2 and the Eagles at 30.0 doing better-and 12th in scoring at 22 points per game.
Another one we did well with is offensive average yards per snap-5.6 fourth behind the Titans-5.9, Seahawks-6.1, and Eagles-6.5
Now, in the not so good department;
First is turnovers. At -4 the Redskins are in the bottom seven teams during the preseson-definitely in need of major improvement there. That's losing one possesion per game. Last season we wound up at -8 for 16 games-I'll be watching this closely.
The Redskins were one of only three teams, along with the Titans and Dolphins not to record a single INT by the defense while being intercepted 6 times.
Penalty yards on offense 16th at 295 yards-middle of the pack
Better on defensive penalties-29th with 206 defensive penalty yards-only the 49ers, Cowpukes, and Chargers had fewer yards lost due to defensive penalties.
Special teams allowed an average punt return of only 4.0 yards-6th lowest in the league. Good thing too because our average punt was only kicked an average of 41.6 yards-tied with Cleveland for fifth shortest average punt distance.
One stat that might give an insight into Jay Gruden's M.O.
The Redskins averaged 33.8 run plays and 29.5 pass plays per game during this preseason.
I also got curious about comparing individual Redskins players on defense.
Who are the ones who it looks like might be stalwarts during the season.
Here's some hints-player stats on tackles, sacks, and passes defended.
(The individual stats came from CBS Sports-everything else is from nfl.com and CBS Sports)
I couldn't help but notice-although I didn't record anything, if I had done an analysis of the Cowpukes D during the preseason folks around here would be salivating-their defense in the preseason has been awful. Let's hope that is setting a tone for the rest of their marvelous debacle of a season.
