RE: In the Ball Park

It can also be found in the comment section of the original post but decided to create a fanpost.  What I was wondering was this, how is it Denver's accomplishments this early in the season is discredited whereas as teams such as the Chargers (ravaged by injury and hand picked to represent the AFC in the SB), Pittsburgh (defending SB Champs), Saints (scoring machine), Colts (veteran playoff team), Giants (veteran playoff team), and New England (veteran playoff team) seem to get a pass on their QBs passing prowess?  

I guess the NFL is desperate for new heroes as the shadows of time hover P. Manning and T. Brady.  The league has also made passing the ball so much easier so to compare achievements to past accomplishments just 8 years ago is slightly unfair.  MSM understands that winning starts a the QB position and after the jump I include a response w/a little more detail regarding the running production of the six teams mentioned above and how Denver stacks against the vanity picks this early in the season.

Please note that you will not find any defensive stats or rankings as CBS.com was interested in a poll of the following QBs Brees, Rivers, Big Ben (easier to spell), E. Manning, P. Manning, and Brady.  So enjoy the stats below and what the following teams have accomplished this early in the season.  If anything, I think its an early indication of what teams worked on during the preseason and how well its worked.

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Even more interesting are the following QBs are tops in League Passing Yards:
1 P. Rivers SD 688
2. D. Brees NO 669
3. P. Manning IND 604
4. T. Brady NE 594
5. E. Manning NYG 586
6. B. Roethlisberger Pit 584

Not to cut corners I’ll also include the running game’s production.
SD 44 carries 130 yds 65 avg 3 ypc 2 TD Rank-30th
NO 64 carries 290 yds 145 avg 4.5 ypc 2 TD Rank-8th
IND 42 carries 132 yds 66 avg 3.1 ypc 2 TD Rank-29th
NE 43 carries 156 yds 78 avg 3.6 ypc 1 TD Rank- 26th
NYG 57 carries 200 yds 100 avg 3.5 ypc NO TD Rank-22nd
PITT 45 carries 141 yds 70.5 avg 3.1 ypc 1 TD Rank-28th

The one team that stands out are the Saints but also the Giants as the only two teams to have broken 57 attempts. I excluded the top rushers simply because different teams utilize their personnel for their runs and I’m certain that a few QB scrambles add to the totals. On a side note, I expect the Colts rushing game to have better numbers as the season progress simply because their Monday showdown against Miami, the Colts only had the ball for 15 minutes to the Dolphins 45.

To see Denver’s run production in the top 12 (57 attempts 261yards 130.5 avg 4.6 ypc 2 TD) is clear that coaching have no intention of converting into a scheme that incorporates short passes to replace the run (Moreno looked good w/over 90 yds of total offense week 2).

What good would this be if I didn’t include overall statistics of the offense right?
Team YDS YPG PTS PTS/GM (Yards are total of pass and run)
(1) Saints 936 468.0 93 46.5
(5) Chargers 791 395.5 50 25.0
(6) Giants 778 389.0 56 28.0
(9) Patriots 740 370.0 34 17.0
(12) Colts 721 360.5 41 20.5
(16) Steelers 665 332.5 27 13.5

Giants and Saints are two of the teams w/a minimum of 57 rushing attempts from the list of top 6 passing yardage according to the poll. W/out considering defense performance, I’d say these two teams may be fighting for that SB slot to represent the NFC.

Now what good what I be not to include:
(8) Broncos 751total yards 375.5 ypg 39 TPS 19.5 PPG

This is w/a passing offense ironing out a few kinks and will only get better. Personally, I rather have Orton and the Broncos under the radar. We’ve had enough national media attention for one year.