Saturday, December 6, 2008

Packer (and other) Facts

1. By Pythagorean Record the Packers should have between 6-7 wins. The Eagles are the stars of this category, as they should have between 7-8 wins, and have a better point differential than everyone other than New York and Tampa Bay in the NFC. In fact, if you look at the top 6...

1. NY - 146
2. TB - 80
3. PHI - 70
4. ATL - 56
5. CAR - 54
6. GB - 39
6. DAL - 39

2. Teams with worse differentials but better records than the Pack include New Orleans, Minnesota, Chicago, and Washington.

3. It's easy to blame differentials like this on poor coaching, but luck has at least something to do with it. Opponents have lost only 3 fumbles to the Packers all year. (Of course, they've been extremely lucky with pick-6s, so maybe it balances out.)

4. If the Packers lose tomorrow, you can bet that Steve Slaton will have a lot to do with it. The diminutive running back is coming off of a 182 yard, 2 TD performance. On the season he has scored 9 TDs, only 1 fumble, and could go over 1000 yards rushing on Sunday despite platooning for the first several games this year.

5. It is dumb to move your best cover corner to strong safety:

The Packers have moved Charles Woodson, one of the best cornerbacks in the league over the last year and a half, to strong safety in order to cover for injuries to Aaron Rouse and Atari Bigby -- even though cornerback is more important than safety on a team that plays primarily man coverage. Wouldn't it make sense to move Tramon Williams (8.5 yards allowed per pass and 53 percent Success Rate according to our game charting) to safety and let Woodson (4.3 yards allowed per pass and 68 percent Success Rate) continue to cover receivers one-on-one?

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