@adam2552 brought up an interesting point when discussing power rankings, so I decided to explore it. The point was (paraphrasing) why were the Liberty ranked so low when they out-gained their opponent in yards and were equal in turnovers?
It's a fine question, as I had previously remarked that I'd felt the Otters had outplayed the Outlaws. Don't get me wrong, as a win is a win, but I decided to evaluate the games using a different metric. Total Net Adjusted Yards considers passing and rushing yards, counts turnovers as negative 45 yards, and touchdowns worth 20 yards. I then subtracted the yards of the opponent, and determined which teams were the most dominant. IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Special Teams were NOT factored into this, as TANY/A is meant to measure offense.
Using those values, here is how each team fared:
1st place: Wraiths, 173 yards. While strength of opponent was not factored in, the fact that the HIGHEST Total Adjusted Net Yardage came against the previous year's NSFC champions bodes very well.
2nd place: Otters, 94 yards. This one was definitely surprising, as the Otters did lose, but the extra 204 yards they gained over the Outlaws meant that this loss was, perhaps, not anywhere near as significant as it appears.
3rd place: Legion, 89 yards. Despite a close OT finish, the Legion did significantly out-gain the Hawks by 114 yards, more than enough to make up for the turnover margin.
4th place: Saber Cats, 14 yards. Despite technically being the largest blowout of the week, San Jose was out-gained by 26 yards, and there was no difference in turnovers. The Cats had a much better red zone performance in week one, which could have been a fluke for the San Jose Offense or the Liberty defense.
5th place: Liberty, -14 yards. A weak front 7 allowed San Jose to make the most of their red zone possessions, but this defense is capable of making stops, and the offense can definitely move some chains.
6th place: Hawks, -89 yards. Winning the turnover differential does little for you if you can't move the ball afterward. More importantly, despite an amazing job of getting to the QB, the Hawks gave up some really big plays that invalidated an otherwise impressive defense.
7th place: Outlaws, -94 yards. The only team to force a fumble and then recover it, the Outlaws won the game off of turnovers, but had those turnovers been a bit further up field, this would have been a loss. The Otters moved the ball at will, managed a league high 404 yards. The Outlaws were dead last with 200. The defense remains scary, but Arizona should have reason to worry.
8th place: Yeti, -173 yards. There's no shame in losing to a good team, and a lot of the Wraiths yards came in big chunks, but when you consider that the Yeti lost 2 fumbles and were actually lucky in recovering both, Colorado is off to a rocky start (see what I did there?)
Remember that this does not weigh strength of opponent, or home field advantage, or even special teams. It was just another way to evaluate each game, and I hope it is something kept in the back of your minds for future games, as I will not be doing this on a weekly basis.
((556 words))
GRADED
It's a fine question, as I had previously remarked that I'd felt the Otters had outplayed the Outlaws. Don't get me wrong, as a win is a win, but I decided to evaluate the games using a different metric. Total Net Adjusted Yards considers passing and rushing yards, counts turnovers as negative 45 yards, and touchdowns worth 20 yards. I then subtracted the yards of the opponent, and determined which teams were the most dominant. IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Special Teams were NOT factored into this, as TANY/A is meant to measure offense.
Using those values, here is how each team fared:
1st place: Wraiths, 173 yards. While strength of opponent was not factored in, the fact that the HIGHEST Total Adjusted Net Yardage came against the previous year's NSFC champions bodes very well.
2nd place: Otters, 94 yards. This one was definitely surprising, as the Otters did lose, but the extra 204 yards they gained over the Outlaws meant that this loss was, perhaps, not anywhere near as significant as it appears.
3rd place: Legion, 89 yards. Despite a close OT finish, the Legion did significantly out-gain the Hawks by 114 yards, more than enough to make up for the turnover margin.
4th place: Saber Cats, 14 yards. Despite technically being the largest blowout of the week, San Jose was out-gained by 26 yards, and there was no difference in turnovers. The Cats had a much better red zone performance in week one, which could have been a fluke for the San Jose Offense or the Liberty defense.
5th place: Liberty, -14 yards. A weak front 7 allowed San Jose to make the most of their red zone possessions, but this defense is capable of making stops, and the offense can definitely move some chains.
6th place: Hawks, -89 yards. Winning the turnover differential does little for you if you can't move the ball afterward. More importantly, despite an amazing job of getting to the QB, the Hawks gave up some really big plays that invalidated an otherwise impressive defense.
7th place: Outlaws, -94 yards. The only team to force a fumble and then recover it, the Outlaws won the game off of turnovers, but had those turnovers been a bit further up field, this would have been a loss. The Otters moved the ball at will, managed a league high 404 yards. The Outlaws were dead last with 200. The defense remains scary, but Arizona should have reason to worry.
8th place: Yeti, -173 yards. There's no shame in losing to a good team, and a lot of the Wraiths yards came in big chunks, but when you consider that the Yeti lost 2 fumbles and were actually lucky in recovering both, Colorado is off to a rocky start (see what I did there?)
Remember that this does not weigh strength of opponent, or home field advantage, or even special teams. It was just another way to evaluate each game, and I hope it is something kept in the back of your minds for future games, as I will not be doing this on a weekly basis.
((556 words))
GRADED
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