3rd downs made with 120, and number of plays run averaging 68 per game. We were #2 in 3rd down conversion percentage (49.0% to the Colts 49.2%), and #2 in 4th down conversion percentage (72.2% to the Giants 75.0%). We were tied 7th with Texans for time of possession (teams ahead of us were Packers, Pats, Vikings, Steelers, Cowboys, Bengals). I'm a statistics nerd and discovered the easy-to-filter rankings on cbssports.com.
Frozen, adding to that is the fact that Davone Bess had 76 recs on the year and 49 were on 3rd down. I recall reading this in an article on nfl.com, but cannot seem to find it at the moment.
Yeah he's a hell of a offensive coordinator minus the good for one a game brain farts such as the Ricky Williams half back pass.
The problem with that stat is that it was all based on 3rd and short. I think we finished at 100% on 3rd and 2 or less. Our 3rd and long conversion rate was horrible. I calculated our 3rd and 7+ after the season. I can't remember the exact number but it was about 22%. I don't know where that ranked but I know that over the last few years the league average for 3rd and 7+ was 37% - 40%. My guess is that being +15% below the league average would put us near the bottom. Basically, our investment in the OL (not to mention Polite) made us very strong on any conversion in the typical running range. Our lack of investment at WR and receiving TE made us very weak on any conversions that were in the typical pass range. (I would lump Henne in there, but we were horrible on 3rd and longs the year before as well). Hopefully, the addition of marshall this year will help.
Not only that. Could it be that better teams made it to 3rd down less since they were getting chunk yardage (less downs/plays per score) and they were converting more on 1st and 2nd down? Running a lot of plays without a corresponding high scoring offense equals .... wanny ball. :P
We scored a lot of points last year, I think we were at least in the top half of the league. Most of those poitns were on long drives tho, not the big play points. but still, we scored.
I'm looking at your sig and you call GISH legendary. He's just a crazy guy with an affinity for Tasers and likes beer.
Thats the bottom line, but the Saints are a big play offense. We aren't going to be that. We are going to win the SB by doing what WE do well, no necessarily what the Saints do well. We run the ball...(esp now with a better oline). We now have a big play threat in Marshall. We play good run defense, we just need to get a bit better in the pass defense. When Reshad Jones and Kia Mosi become Rodney Harrison and Bruschi, we are going to be a dynasty!
The key, obviously, for a team like ours, is to stay out of 3rd and 5 or more. Plus I think Marshall gives us more of a chance to covert some of the third and longs, anyway.
Two words: Davone Bess He's a huge reason we were able to sustain our drives. Had we had a true homerun WR, we could've scored TDs on alot of those drives.
This is not really a good stat. This means we were not getting that "chunk yardage" Those kind of stats can wear your players out. I expect that to change with B. Marshall and not just because of his big play receiving abilities and being able to take advantage of Henne's gun, but how he will also greatly improve the rushing game by opening up and stretching the D out. The opposing Ds won't be able to stack the box anymore. That's how they were, at times, able to slow our run game down and slow the WC down etc.
Yeah, we had everything from our offense but a big play threat. What a letdown for all that production.... Things just might be slightly different this season...
agreed. no set formula Friend Imeister having said that ... statistics are an important tool in analyzing anything, factoring in whatever the X-factor is they help create a baseline & starting point
and that stat wouldve been worse had our defense not been bottom of the league in 3rd down conversions.how many times last year did we see our defense do great on first and second only to fall apart on third downs? from your view i would hate to see what our offensive numbers wouldve been then.while we might not have a ton of "yardage" plays it helped keep our poor defense off the field for as long as it took. we probly wouldve lost more games had our offense not been so good on 3rds.
its funny, almost scary you mentioned this. I was watching the replay of the Titans game ( dvr'd) and this stat was mentioned in that broadcast. Very cool stuff. Getting 3 instead of 7 is where i think this stat is a bad reflection of our offenses performance in certain games.
That's the goal for most teams, but it's not really a goal that is achievable often enough. If you're going to have an effective offense and you're going to be a SB contender then you simply have to be able to convert a decent percentage of those 3rd and longs. That's why getting Marshall was critical.
I totally agree Rafael. Our third and 7+ should be much improved this season. Marshall will not only help with making completions in those situations but also free up space for other wideouts to get open. It should drastically help our possession time and sustain drives so teams don't score multiple times so quickly on us. If we had Marshall in that saints game i have a feeling their comeback may have fell short with a few less possessions in the second half. Same with the colts.
Actually, I believe we were tied for 4th best in the league for 3rd down conversions on defense. What killed us was the big plays we allowed on defense (and didn't get on offense).
I hope that is the last goal line pass Ricky ever attempts. I was screaming at my tv set like a crazy man when he threw that pick. That was Henning's fault for calling the play.