Do you think Yards Per Play is best stat for overall evaluation?

Good question. You can tell how effective they are or not in simple terms of ability to move or stop the ball. Truly evaluating the overall team though? I don’t think it covers enough ground in my interrogation process of suspects. I think for overall,you are judging all information and all opinions on what you think. I got an opinion...I got the opinion that Connor Williams sucks at LG and find myself twiddling my fingers at night waiting for the day McGovern puts an end to this nightmare,so we can get back to business and lay on teams again. That doesn’t equate in stats,but it’s a part of the evaluation though.
 
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Obviously it comes down to wins and losses, but yards per play (and yards allowed per play) is a good measure of efficiency. You can win games when you're inefficient and lose games when you are efficient because of turnovers, etc., but over the course of time inefficient teams are going to lose more often than efficient ones.
 
I thought that QB rating differential was the single most important indicator of the best NFL teams in the modern NFL.
 
Overall evaluation is wins-
Overall offense- touchdowns
Overall defense- points against ska preventing touchdowns
 
Total yards vs. yards/play? Not sure I see much of a difference.

It's not like there are some teams that have 30 offensive plays per game while others have 90 offensive plays per game. Vast majority (27 in 2018, I believe) of teams fall within 1 (+/-) play/quarter of the NFL average. Consequently, the number of plays per game is consistent enough to where you can pretty much remove play count from the equation. For all intents and purposes, it's a "constant-enough" variable to make a season-long measure by either metric just as valid as the other. A greater number of total yards generally means a greater yards/play average, and a greater yards/play average generally means a greater number of total yards.

I wouldn't view either one as a better measuring stick than the other.
 
perrykemp said:
I thought that QB rating differential was the single most important indicator of the best NFL teams in the modern NFL.
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I dunno, but I can confidently say this: If you score more points than the other team....you're probably gonna win.
 
As to being the “best stat for overall evaluation”, I’m kinda partial to the final score of each game.
 
IMO, defensively, outside of course wins, I use yards per play. I use that more than ppg and yards per game. But that's me.
 
Parcells4Life said:
People like to say total yards can be skewed based on garbage time. So I like yards per play. Over the course of 60 plays per game it should be fairly accurate and lessen effect of that 1 80 yard play.

So Dallas is tops in the league on offense at 7.3 yards per play and 7th in defense at 5.2 yards per play allowed. That’s a net of 2.1.

Jets are last in the league at 3.2 yards per play and 13th on defense averaging 5.5 yards per play. That’s a net of -2.3.

so what’s that mean? Well one sports odds person says that if you take Difference in net yards per play and divide by 0.2, that’s a good estimate for the spread.

In this case the difference is 4.4 and divided by 0.2 it’s 22. Account for 3 points for the home team and spread should be around 19.

Now that does not take into account turnovers which obviously have been the greatest undoing for the team, but hopefully this gives a ray of hope for those thinking the season is lost. Even the defense hasn’t been as awful as I would have thought.
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You'll want to look at Aikman Efficiency Ratings. Aikman is pinpoint accurate with these rankings. Just like when he was passing the football.

The formula doesn't take into account total yards (which is a good thing). It doesn't take into account W-L. That is the end result.

Look through the history of AER rankings to verify the accuracy. They are the most accurate stats ever in my opinion.

Currently, the Cowboys are the 3rd most efficient team in the league. 2nd offense. 10th Defense.

Aikman Foundation: AER thru Week 5:

http://aikman.com/AikmanEfficiencyR...man-Efficiency-Ratings-2019-As-of-Week-5.aspx

Aikman's Formula:

Adjusted Points (20%) -- Total Points Scored or Allowed minus Points on Returns and Safeties
Turnovers (20%)
Red Zone Efficiency (20%) -- Measured by Percent of Possible Points (see below)
Yards Per Play -- divided into Yards Per Rush (10% of total) and Yards Per Pass Play (10% of total). Yards Per Pass Play includes yards on plays involving sacks.
First Down Achievement -- divided into Total First Downs (10% of total) and 3rd Down Conversion Percentage (10% of total)
Percentage of Possible Points in the Red Zone is figured by taking the number of Red Zone Chances times 7, then dividing it by the number of Points Actually Scored (defined as TDs times 7 plus FGs times 3).
 
Parcells4Life said:
People like to say total yards can be skewed based on garbage time. So I like yards per play. Over the course of 60 plays per game it should be fairly accurate and lessen effect of that 1 80 yard play.

So Dallas is tops in the league on offense at 7.3 yards per play and 7th in defense at 5.2 yards per play allowed. That’s a net of 2.1.

Jets are last in the league at 3.2 yards per play and 13th on defense averaging 5.5 yards per play. That’s a net of -2.3.

so what’s that mean? Well one sports odds person says that if you take Difference in net yards per play and divide by 0.2, that’s a good estimate for the spread.

In this case the difference is 4.4 and divided by 0.2 it’s 22. Account for 3 points for the home team and spread should be around 19.

Now that does not take into account turnovers which obviously have been the greatest undoing for the team, but hopefully this gives a ray of hope for those thinking the season is lost. Even the defense hasn’t been as awful as I would have thought.
Click to expand...
 
Parcells4Life said:
People like to say total yards can be skewed based on garbage time. So I like yards per play. Over the course of 60 plays per game it should be fairly accurate and lessen effect of that 1 80 yard play.

So Dallas is tops in the league on offense at 7.3 yards per play and 7th in defense at 5.2 yards per play allowed. That’s a net of 2.1.

Jets are last in the league at 3.2 yards per play and 13th on defense averaging 5.5 yards per play. That’s a net of -2.3.

so what’s that mean? Well one sports odds person says that if you take Difference in net yards per play and divide by 0.2, that’s a good estimate for the spread.

In this case the difference is 4.4 and divided by 0.2 it’s 22. Account for 3 points for the home team and spread should be around 19.

Now that does not take into account turnovers which obviously have been the greatest undoing for the team, but hopefully this gives a ray of hope for those thinking the season is lost. Even the defense hasn’t been as awful as I would have thought.
Click to expand...

I think it's better than total yards and as a season long stat probably a good indicator.

On a more microscopic level of 1 game it can be skewed due to short yardage plays, end of game issues (prevent defense) etc..
 
Hoofbite said:
Total yards vs. yards/play? Not sure I see much of a difference.

It's not like there are some teams that have 30 offensive plays per game while others have 90 offensive plays per game. Vast majority (27 in 2018, I believe) of teams fall within 1 (+/-) play/quarter of the NFL average. Consequently, the number of plays per game is consistent enough to where you can pretty much remove play count from the equation. For all intents and purposes, it's a "constant-enough" variable to make a season-long measure by either metric just as valid as the other. A greater number of total yards generally means a greater yards/play average, and a greater yards/play average generally means a greater number of total yards.

I wouldn't view either one as a better measuring stick than the other.
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Huge difference

Baltimore- 72 plays per game
Pitt- 54

Essentially every three weeks Baltimore plays a whole game more than Pitt
 
QuincyCarterEra said:
Huge difference

Baltimore- 72 plays per game
Pitt- 54

Essentially every three weeks Baltimore plays a whole game more than Pitt
Click to expand...

Yards per play can be a better indicator, but that can also be skewed if a team runs more of a downfield O.

A person really needs to look at all the stats combined to paint an accurate pic of an O/D.
 
Parcells4Life said:
People like to say total yards can be skewed based on garbage time. So I like yards per play. Over the course of 60 plays per game it should be fairly accurate and lessen effect of that 1 80 yard play.

So Dallas is tops in the league on offense at 7.3 yards per play and 7th in defense at 5.2 yards per play allowed. That’s a net of 2.1.

Jets are last in the league at 3.2 yards per play and 13th on defense averaging 5.5 yards per play. That’s a net of -2.3.

so what’s that mean? Well one sports odds person says that if you take Difference in net yards per play and divide by 0.2, that’s a good estimate for the spread.

In this case the difference is 4.4 and divided by 0.2 it’s 22. Account for 3 points for the home team and spread should be around 19.

Now that does not take into account turnovers which obviously have been the greatest undoing for the team, but hopefully this gives a ray of hope for those thinking the season is lost. Even the defense hasn’t been as awful as I would have thought.
Click to expand...

Points per drive. You can get lots of yards, but if you bog down in the redzone and only get FGs, you're just not as good.

If you're serious about that, you factor out the kneel down/give up/no time drives at the end of games and halfs.
 
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