Chart: How Does Your NFL Team Stack Up On Offense and Defense?
Over at Advanced NFL Stats, Brian Burke has put together a great visualization plotting the offensive and defensive performance of the league's 32 teams. It's nothing too complicated—basically a NYMag Approval Matrix for football—but it reveals a lot about the state of the NFL through Week 5.
The measurement here is expected points added (EPA) per game, which sums how much a team's offense has increased the odds of scoring, or a team's defense has decreased those odds, following every play ( similar to RE24 in baseball). This type of stat acknowledges that not all situations are equal—yards per game might be a useful comparative figure, but five yards on 2nd and 10 and five yards on 3rd and 4 aren't the same thing. The axes are set at the league averages, so even a slightly negative EPA defense like the Colts can qualify as "good" in today's NFL.
The scales had to be adjusted to fit the Broncos, but who would have guessed that the Colts attack would come in fourth? How many more points does Matt Schaub have to hand his opponents before the Texans' offense drops below the Jags? And what teams are going to distinguish themselves from the "decent D/medicore O" clusterfuck in the top left? Stay tuned, these update every week.
Related
- MLB Picks Today: Two Sunday Bets Worth Backing
- MLB Predictions and Best Bets for Saturday's Biggest Games
- UFC Vegas 118 Betting Picks: Three Fights to Target on Saturday Night
- MLB Picks Today: Two Pitchers Set Up To Fall Short On Outs Props
- MLB Pitcher Props Today: Best Bets for June 3rd
- NBA Finals Game 1 Best Bets: Knicks vs. Spurs Predictions and Player Props
- Stanley Cup Final Game 1 Best Bets: Hurricanes vs. Golden Knights Picks

