B.D.O.D Against the Rest of the League

by JLMax09 on Jun 24, 2010 12:24 AM CDT

The other day we looked at Dallas' opening drive production and saw they scored a grand total of 27 points on their opening series over the course of the year. For this post I have compared their weekly point total versus that of the other 31 teams in the NFL. After the jump you will find how they stack up with the league as a whole, see how they compare with the top 10 opening drive scoring teams, and then even what the defense did on their opening drives.

Weekly Opening Drives for the League

This layout runs a little wide. I will apologize upfront. --Edit Note--I cannot apologize for the split layout in the end. The formatting on here is way to finicky with tables and such!

*Note ' - ' represents a team's bye week.

	NFC East				NFC North				NFC South				NFC West
Week	DAL	PHI	NYG	WAS	MIN	GB	CHI	DET	NO	CAR	ATL	TB	ARZ	STL	SF	SEA
1	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	7	7	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	0	7	3	0	0	0	0	3	7	3	0	0	7	0	3	0
3	0	0	7	0	0	3	0	0	7	0	3	0	0	0	0	7
4	0	-	7	0	7	0	7	7	3	-	-	7	-	0	0	0
5	0	7	7	7	7	-	-	3	-	0	0	0	7	0	0	0
6	-	0	0	0	7	7	0	0	7	0	0	7	7	7	-	0
7	0	7	0	0	0	0	0	-	0	0	7	0	0	3	0	-
8	0	7	0	-	0	0	0	0	7	7	7	-	7	3	0	3
9	0	0	0	0	-	7	7	0	0	7	7	0	7	-	3	0
10	0	0	-	7	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	0	0	0	0
11	0	3	0	0	0	3	0	3	0	3	0	7	0	3	3	0
12	0	3	0	7	0	0	0	7	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
13	0	3	0	7	7	3	0	0	0	7	0	0	0	0	0	0
14	3	7	0	0	0	7	0	0	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0
15	7	7	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
16	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	7	3	7	0	0	0	0	0
17	7	0	0	0	7	7	3	0	0	7	0	3	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	27	51	34	28	38	37	17	26	51	44	37	27	35	16	15	10
RANK	T19	T1	T11	18	T5	T7	T26	T22	T1	3	T7	T19	10	28	29	T31

AFC East				AFC North				AFC South				AFC West				DAL
NYJ	NE	MIA	BUF	CIN	BAL	PIT	CLE	IND	TEN	JAX	HOU	SD	DEN	KC	OAK	Opp.
0	0	0	0	0	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
0	0	7	7	7	0	7	3	7	7	3	0	0	0	0	0	3
7	3	0	0	0	7	3	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
0	3	0	0	0	0	7	0	7	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	7	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	0	0	0	0
0	0	-	3	0	0	0	0	-	0	6	0	0	0	0	0	-
7	7	0	0	7	-	0	0	7	-	-	0	0	-	0	0	7
0	-	0	0	-	0	-	0	0	3	0	0	7	0	-	0	3
-	0	3	-	7	0	0	-	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	-	0
0	0	6	7	0	0	3	0	0	0	7	-	0	7	0	7	0
0	0	0	0	7	3	0	3	7	0	3	0	7	0	7	0	0
7	7	0	0	3	7	0	0	0	3	0	7	0	0	0	0	0
0	7	0	3	0	0	3	7	7	3	3	0	3	0	0	3	0
3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	0	7	7	0	0	0	7
0	0	3	3	3	7	7	3	0	0	3	0	7	3	0	0	0
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0
7	0	7	0	0	0	7	3	0	7	0	7	3	0	7	0	0
38	34	33	23	34	27	37	29	42	26	31	24	34	13	17	10	20
T5	T11	15	25	T11	T19	T7	17	4	T22	16	24	T11	30	T26	T31

While that sinks in, shall we point out some shockers? Well, how bout we are the 4th best team in the NFC East coming out the gate!? Pretty abysmal when even Washington sneaks past us. Carolina had to be one of the biggest surprises. Who knows what happened to Delhomme last year, but it seems strange that a team would click so well out of the gate and then just fall apart later. They definitely were a team I was not expecting near the top of this list. Once they get some solid QB play they could be a pretty scary team.

Dallas versus the Top 10

Seeing as how Dallas ended up T19th, it could be viewed that it wasn't all that bad. I disagree. Below is the top 10 teams and how many times they scored and how much it related to their overall season total. I find that the teams that started out the fastest generally were some of the better offenses in the league(with the exception of a few.) Also, 7 of the top 10 teams made the playoffs. With all 10 of them finishing above .500. Is it necessary to win games to get out and immediately put points on the board, nope, just look at Dallas; but would it be much more helpful? It sure would. I think you see below that Dallas is definitely underachieving in terms of some of the other top opening drive scores. Most the other teams came up with close to 10% of their points, Dallas mustered 7.5%

Top 10 Opening Drive Scoring Teams Compared to Dallas
Rank	Team	Total Points	Times Scored	Season Points	% OD Pts of Season Pts
T1	Philadelphia Eagles*	51	9	429	11.88811189
T1	New Orleans Saints*	51	9	510	10
3	Carolina Panthers	44	8	315	13.96825397
4	Indianapolis Colts*	42	6	416	10.09615385
T5	Minnesota Vikings*	38	6	470	8.085106383
T5	New York Jets*	38	6	348	10.91954023
T7	Green Bay Packers*	37	7	461	8.026030369
T7	Atlanta Falcons	37	7	363	10.19283747
T7	Pittsburgh Steelers	37	7	368	10.05434783
10	Arizona Cardinals*	35	5	375	9.333333333
T19	Dallas Cowboys	27	5	361	7.479224377

Opening Drive Defense

While the offensive was struggling some weeks, the defense certainly was not. They gave up 20 points for the year on opening drives on just 4 scores. But the most impressive statistic is when you look at who they had to play against in those drives: 9 teams in top 11, and 4 of those games being against top 3 teams. The defense came out ready to play and consistently shut down some of the quicker starting teams in the league. Dallas came up with 0s both games against Philly, NO, Carolina, GB, and one of the NYG games--go figure, on the road.

The offense is trying to climb their way to the top, and the defense is there helping pull them up.

Another user-created commentary provided by a BTB reader.

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Comments

Very cool

Muchas gracias.

by One.Cool.Customer on Jun 24, 2010 5:22 AM CDT reply actions

Wow, didn’t know Philly had the most opening drive points in the NFL. You, my friend, have earned yourself a rec and a link from the BGN front page in the story I now have to write on this.

Formerly Bye, Dawk :(

by JimmyK on Jun 24, 2010 9:04 AM CDT reply actions

They tied with the Saints

In Romo we Trust

by Terry on Jun 24, 2010 9:14 AM CDT up reply actions

Sure did.

Formerly Bye, Dawk :(

by JimmyK on Jun 24, 2010 9:17 AM CDT up reply actions

Thanks, Jimmy.

I had no idea they were that high on the list either. I figured top 10, T1 was impressive. Going through I think about 4 of those TDs were DeSean related. The guy can fly and I think it catches teams that aren’t ready for it off guard.

by JLMax09 on Jun 24, 2010 9:49 AM CDT up reply actions

JLMax09, sorry to bug you, but would you mind emailing me when you have a sec?

Very solid work here, just have a couple of questions for you…

bgn.jimmyk@gmail.com

Formerly Bye, Dawk :(

by JimmyK on Jun 24, 2010 9:24 AM CDT reply actions

I just sent ya an email Jimmy

by JLMax09 on Jun 24, 2010 10:00 AM CDT up reply actions

Thanks, got it, and replied.

Formerly Bye, Dawk :(

by JimmyK on Jun 24, 2010 10:18 AM CDT up reply actions

I just can't get used to your name change. I liked you better when you were

sad and bitter.

by Fernie67 on Jun 24, 2010 4:22 PM CDT up reply actions

that will never go away

Ich bin ein Berliner--JFK

by HudBaby on Jun 28, 2010 6:12 PM CDT up reply actions

Interesting. Again, as I said in your other post, the end of the season makes

me sit up and take notice. If I’m reading this right, the Cowboys ranked number one in opening drive scores over the last three weeks of the season.

Also, I would point out that, as has been discussed elsewhere, while the D was strong out of the gate, they didn’t finish games so well.

by Fernie67 on Jun 24, 2010 4:20 PM CDT reply actions

They were actually the best over the last 4 weeks...

with 24 points. Next closest were Hou and SD with 17 points.

Technically, you could say they scored the most points on OD’s over the final 5 weeks. Houston ties them at 24 points when extending it to the last 6 weeks.

Rabid and luvin' it

by lonewolfz28 on Jun 24, 2010 4:36 PM CDT up reply actions

good stuff

I wonder if these hold year to year, cause my guess is there is some statistical variance. 10 seems like a solid number for % of season points, and ours is definitely low in that category. We seem to be losing about 10 points over the course of the year on opening drives compared to other teams – when you take into account field goals missed, we’re a little closer though.

by foyesboys on Jun 24, 2010 10:43 PM CDT reply actions

What catches my eye....

They [the Cowboys’ Defense] gave up 20 points for the year on opening drives on just 4 scores.

So while the offense hasn’t been putting up the early numbers we’d like, the Cowboys still outscored opponents on the year 27 – 20 on opening drives, so I have to wonder if it’s really hurting as much as people on here have said the past couple of weeks.
Don’t get me wrong….I think the offense jumping on top early and staying there would be a drastic improvement, but from all the talk on here under different posts lately, you’d think the Cowboys just got lit up at the start of every week, but it’s just not so.

Football is an incredible game. Sometimes it's so incredible, it's unbelievable. --
Tom Landry

by Pnut Gallery on Jun 25, 2010 11:11 AM CDT reply actions

After each of the 16 drives, Dallas was winning 4 times, losing 3 times, and tied 9 ties.

So yeah, not terrible. It is odd how at the end of games the defense gave up more points, yet our second best offensive point quarter was the 4th. I am interested to see how well that 20 points allowed holds up across other teams. JimmyK did an article that took my ‘# of times scored’ chart and mapped it out for all teams. Only a total of 8 teams scored 4 times or less, which means most teams scored pretty decently on their first drive. It looks like 5.25 is the average number of scores for a team. Which we fall right at, but the teams with good offenses are near the top of this list.

by JLMax09 on Jun 25, 2010 3:35 PM CDT up reply actions

Well its not hurting us that badly anyway

You’re talking about 2 scores over the course of the season between us and most nfl teams. Its interesting to look at, and we clearly aren’t performing up to nfl standards in that area, but if you want to analyze why our offense struggled at times, this isn’t the answer.

by foyesboys on Jun 25, 2010 11:32 PM CDT up reply actions

All that research and hardly anything worth noting...

that sucks

"I definitely lead the league in weird injuries. I'm embarrassed, really. Somebody asks you why you came out and you say, 'Um, I was dizzy.' And then they ask you again and you say, 'I think I got something in my eye.' I'd much rather be run over, that's more manly." -- C Jarrod Saltalamacchia, on the pair of strange injuries (dizziness, eye irritation) that have forced him to miss time this season.

by fightnirish220 on Jun 29, 2010 4:51 AM CDT reply actions

Not true. His article basically became a front page story on the Eagles site.

Formerly Bye, Dawk :(

by JimmyK on Jun 29, 2010 9:24 AM CDT up reply actions

Umm....Ok?

It was a follow up of a previous post and previous discussions about whether or not Dallas started out of the gate well. As it turns out, they really are pretty poor in the in the area. This article was to compare the 27 points they scored versus the rest of the league. 19th is pretty low for the offensive ability of this team. They gave up 20 points on their opening series while playing 5 of the top ten teams for a total of 7 points. That’s fairly impressive and worth noting.

by JLMax09 on Jun 29, 2010 6:54 PM CDT up reply actions