10 replies to this topic

[hawkprey]

Ol' Hawkprey wouldn't kid ya would he? He wouldn't scam ya with some pointless thread would he? Well at the extreme risk of jinxing our team, and the acknowledgement that the Ravens have had a small sample size of home games (5), and an extreme lack of things to do, I wondered how good our offense at home was compared to other offenses (in all their games) around the league.

It's my belief after this San Diego debacle that the offense at home operates pass-first while the offense on the road operates run-first. "Pass first" means predominantly throwing plays and a lot of shotgun/no-huddle. "Run first" doesn't mean never pass, it means traditional Cam playcalling - run on first down, run or deep throw on second downs, run on 3rd and short, pass on 3rd and long, punt.

*The Ravens had a fake FG for a TD, I counted that as a made field goal since it was inside the 10 and shouldn't count as a punt, turnover or offensive TD.

Averages (not weighted by game), compared to the league's #1 in that category:
Offensive points/play (non-def/ST return scores): .495, .441(NE)
Passing yards/play: 8.6, 8.3 (Was)
Rushing yards/play: 4.03, 5.4 (San Fran)
Overall yards/play: 6.9, 6.2 (Was)

Then there are Football Outsiders' stats, which include drive statistics (offense weighted by how many drives a team has had). Because of our defense giving up long drives, our offense hasn't had the opportunity for many drives.

Here are the numbers compared to the current #1 in that category (NE in all categories)
Yards/drive:43.42, 40.75
Points/drive: 3.15, 2.95 ***I don't know what they consider "offensive points", but I'm guessing it's 7 for pass/rushTD, 3 for FG, 0 for other
Tds/drive: .371, .339
Punts/drive: .392, .312
TO/drive: .061, .055

So that's pretty much the story at home so far. At home, the Ravens offense has been more efficient than any other team (their home and away performances combined). Since our offense is mostly average overall, I'm guessing they're towards the bottom of the league on the road. Of course, there's no guarantee that this kind of production is what we'll continue to see at home. Let's just hope the offense plays pass-first against Pittsburgh this Sunday and go from there.

Edited by hawkprey, 26 November 2012 - 11:52 PM.

[BMORElegacy]

You did your homework. Interesting read!

NOTE: It was a fake FG, not a fake punt.

Edited by BMORElegacy, 26 November 2012 - 11:29 PM.

[BALTIMOREFLACCO]

thanks hawk, i like these types of threads a lot

[1/28/01]

Well done, sir!

[tctony]

Nice job. But you're comparing apples to oranges since you take other teams complete schedule in mind when doing comparisons. It'd be interesting to see how home/away stats play out for each team.

[CalvinSmoke]

This is intense... makes me wonder if we are the least efficient offense on the road.

[gabefergy]

Are we the best offense at home or do other teams also play significantly better at home?

[EricH]

Thanks for not kidd'n us.

[flaccopoe]

Luckily, the Ravens get 3 more home games this season! M&T Bank Stadium's gonna be rocking!

[Fang]

This is a great thead and a topic I've been thinking about. It seems some fans want to run Cam out of town, but how do they account for the Ravens' great success at home? Clearly there's a difference in game-planning and preparation for road games. Point is, if Cam was that bad then the Ravens would not have great stats at home. The million dollar question is why can't they do it on the road. I find it hard to believe it's Cam's issue.

[hawkprey]

Nice job. But you're comparing apples to oranges since you take other teams complete schedule in mind when doing comparisons. It'd be interesting to see how home/away stats play out for each team.

Our opponents at home average out to the 18th ranked defense, but with only 11 games, it's possible that the fact they played us in Baltimore has an effect on their ranking. So call it even. I don't think the Patriots had too tough a schedule offensively either.

Are we the best offense at home or do other teams also play significantly better at home?

Unless NE plays significantly better at home than on the road, I'd say we have the best (but after playing Pittsburgh, who knows?). And I've seen a study that says NE has one of the worst home field advantages in the league. I assume that most offenses play a little better at home, but ours is probably the only drastic case in the league. We practically go from #1 to #32.

This is a great thead and a topic I've been thinking about. It seems some fans want to run Cam out of town, but how do they account for the Ravens' great success at home? Clearly there's a difference in game-planning and preparation for road games. Point is, if Cam was that bad then the Ravens would not have great stats at home. The million dollar question is why can't they do it on the road. I find it hard to believe it's Cam's issue.

Well my million dollar answer is that when we're on the road, we're trying to run the ball down the other teams' throats which we just can't do. We try to open up the play-action by running the ball first. But the only time our run game is effective is when we can pass the ball first. Part of that is it's tough to do the no-huddle on the road. The other part is just a Ravens road philosophy that we can't seem to pull off.

Some people mentioned it here and it grew on me - the idea that Joe and Cam don't have a good relationship. Joe seems visibly frustrated when he's getting sacked too often or when we can't complete passes, set up by failed run attempts. I think Joe's frustrated at Cam. He's been given control of the offense for once and doesn't want that to stop.