Seven Statistical Nuggets - Playoffs, Baby!

PLAYOFFS! Random statistical thoughts and musings (PLAYOFFS!) as I post my final Seven Nuggets of the season. PLAYOFFS!

1. NFC East: Just another fairground attraction

2. Turnover Ratio

Thanks in large part to Romo's significantly improved ability to protect the ball, it looks like we might end the season with a positive TO ratio. Over the last 10 years, the Cowboys and Eagles made it to the playoffs a combined twelve times (green highlights in table below). Only once in that span did one of the two make it to the postseason with a negative TO ratio.

Turnover Ratio by season, 2000-2009

3. Watch out for Mike Jenkins

Raf has a recent story (Fun with Scientific Football '09) that provides some perspective on what type of stats to look for when evaluating cornerbacks:

Success Rate: A 40% success rate against passes thrown their way is the dividing line for starting corners; a percentage above 40% denotes quality. The further below it falls, the more sub-par the corner is. Stopping opponents 50% of the time appears to be the threshold for being considered a 'shutdown corner'.

YPA: Similar to the success rate, anything below 6.0 Yards per pass thrown their way can be considered elite, anything below 7.0 denotes quality, and the higher it goes, the more sub-par the corner is.

Here's a breakdown of where our 3 cornerbacks stand against those criteria:

Dallas Cowboys Cornerbacks, season splits 2009

What makes these numbers all the more remarkable is that during the 7 game stretch in games 8-14 we played all four top ranked teams by ppg, as per today (NO: 1st, SD: 2nd, PHI: 3rd, GB: 4th, NYG: 8th, WAS 25th, OAK: 31st). Note that this data excludes Sunday's game against the Redskins, but I doubt any of these numbers have gotten worse :-)

Mike Jenkins has delivered a remarkable performance over the stretch, and for all the flak and abuse TNew is constantly getting, his numbers also look pretty good over the stretch. Scandrick is still behind our two top corners but his numbers are showing an upward trend, despite a game against the Saints he'll want to forget real quick: 7 of 7 passes were completed against him, one for a TD.

With the vaunted Eagles secondary up next, here's how our cornerbacks compare, and keep in mind that while our CBs are getting hotter by the minute, the Eagles secondary has cooled off significantly compared to how they started the season.

Cornerbacks: Defensive Passer Ratings through week14

Note: Data is through week 14 and does not contain the Broncos and Redskins games.

4. Criminally underappreciated: Pom Poms in the NFL.

It’s high time we examined the facts regarding Pom Poms. I urge you to examine each fact closely and make up your own mind on the Pom Pom controversy: Boom or Bust?

Fact No. 1: Simply having a pair of poms often causes cheerleaders to feel more excited, less inhibited. Psychologically speaking, that's a plus for every fan.	Fact No. 2: You'll find poms in all ranges of sizes and color, although it requires an experienced eye and hand to determine the exact size of a particular pom.	Fact No. 3: Sometimes, it's not even the pom-poms themselves, but the mere promise of pom-poms that gets fans in the spirit.	Fact No 4: Experts disagree about exactly when pom-poms went mainstream, but they have had a huge impact on cheerleading and, really, cheerleaders with poms are just happier.

Fact No. 5: There are those who say that the pom is simply about shimmer and shake. True aficionados, however, understand that the pom has made cheerleading a deeper, more emotionally satisfying experience for the discerning fan.	Fact No. 6: Color coordination: Blue and white uniforms. Blue and white pom-poms. Nothing fancy. But very, very, very effective.	Fact No. 7: Why the Big Pom-Poms? Smaller poms (5-inches, say) are great for fast-moving choreographed routines, but football cheerleaders often prefer 7-inch poms because they can be seen clearly from the stands.	Fact No 8: Going with poms made of vinyl - as opposed to plastic - gives the pom an attention-grabbing "wet look."

          Source: SI.com, Life.com

5. Time to celebrate ourselves ...

In 2009 there were a total of 1,221 (and counting) fanposts posted on BTB. That's an average of over 3 per day. If you are a BTB Junkie like me, sometimes it's hard to keep up with all the comments that pour in on some of these fanposts, and I'm sure my employer absolutely hates fanposts that develop into seemingly neverending threads.

Hats off to 5 Blings for keeping me away from work the most - he is responsible for a full third of the 15 most commented fanposts.

Top 15 most commented Fanposts 2009

6. ... and say a big thank you to our front page writers.

Since January, there have been 843 (and counting) front page posts. Excluding the open game threads, below you will find a breakdown of the top 10 most commented front page articles. The postgame articles, where a lot of venting and celebrating takes place, naturally have more comments, so I've included a ranking for the 'mid-week' (for lack of a better term) articles as well. Hat tip to JasonB from BGN for the idea.

Top 10 most front page articles 2009

7. The only stat that really counts

From here on forward, there is only one stat that really counts, and that is a big, fat W: all other stats become meaningless. This will therefore be my last Seven Nuggets post for the season. Thank you all for your attention, kind words, encouragement and criticism over the last couple of months - what a ride it's been - and I leave you with enough cheerleaders to last through February!

On Friday, I will be heading off to the Dominican Republic for 2 weeks of serious windsurfing and doubt I'll want to find the time there to invest in posts like this (barring days of torrential rainfall of course). Instead, I'll emulate Montecito Tex with his Calvados, and imbibe copious amounts of rum-laced drinks while (hopefully) smoking a couple of victory cigars. And unlike Tex, I will only be thinking happy thoughts.