Last night's passer rating differential

[percyhoward]

It's hard to find a more meaningful stat than passer rating differential--the difference between your QB's passer rating and your opponent's. Teams that won the passer rating differential in a game went 209-46 (.820) during the regular season in 2012, and 7 of the top 8 teams in passer rating differential in 2012 made the final 8 of the playoffs. Dallas' poor first halves last year are reflected in their -17.1 first-half passer rating differential. Last night's game was about as far from last year's performance as you can get.

2012 1st half passer rating differential -17.1
Offense 76.8 (2nd half 102.9)
Defense 93.9 (2nd half 95.4)

Last night 1st half passer rating differential +69.0
Offense 131.0
Defense 62.0

A lot goes into those numbers besides the performances of the two QB. It's just one game, only a taste of what the season could be, but in a game that's as close as you get to regular season without being regular season, a +69 passer rating differential is encouraging. These are the kinds of performances this team needs to start "stacking."

 

[Galian Beast]

This is the reality a lot of people don't understand. Romo generally plays at a high level, with the right tools around him he can play at an even higher level. The offensive line is pass blocking pretty well, but they need to put something together on the ground.

In tandem with that, if the Defense can become stout, the sky is the limit with this team. If you look back to our best years, the defense has played really well. It's a combination of turnovers and stopping the passing touchdowns.

This defense is doing a good job of making teams work for every point. Not only have they been able to force turnovers, but they've been excellent in the redzone.

It would be great if we could see special teams contribute to this team. Jerry Jones made a good point, we're not likely to see a lot of the returns we've seen in preseason in the regular season. So we should at least start out at the 20 as compared to say the 10.