Best Teams on Paper in the AFCN

[BmorePat87]

(05-16-2016, 09:06 PM)mroudfly Wrote: Higher Ranked overall offense how so? Are you looking just at yards/game? Just trying to understand how you came to this conclusion. The Bengals averaged fewer yards per game, but we also had about the best starting field position average in the league - so we didn't have to travel too far to score...Hell the Bengals had 6 or 7 drives start closer than their opponents 20 yard line.

BAL - 267 yds/game passing; 92 yds/game rushing;
CIN - 245 yds/game passing; 113 yds/game rushing;

So yes, Baltimore average more yards/game, but they were probably starting on their own 20 or so on average. With the Bengals takeaways, punt returns, etc. - many of our games we were averaging a starting spot close to the 50...

BAL - 30.11 Offyards/drive
CIN - 32.7 Offyards/drive

BAL - 20.5 ppg
CIN - 26.2 ppg

I'm not trying to sell the offense short - your defense did you in last year. Just trying to figure out your argument statistically. With the eye test the Bengals were loads better last year. This year I would assume they will both be very competitive - just depending on whether SSsr is back to normal form and Perriman isn't a bust.

The problem is a lot of those same stats rely on the defense as well. As you admitted, the Ravens defense was shit for the first half of the season. If we use the metric used universally for ranking offenses, the Ravens ranked higher. There are metrics we can use to show the Bengals offense was better.

Point being, the Ravens had a franchise best offense in 2014 and then saw half of that offense on the IR the next year, and they still ranked higher than the Bengals with regards to total yards. In other categories they trailed, but considering that, the losses the Bengals had compared to the Ravens having a fresh squad would suggest that this is a lot more competitive than those initial rankings in the thread may suggest. 

And, yea, Perriman being healthy is a maybe, but so is relying on two rookie receivers to fill the wholes great veterans left.

I agree, though, the Ravens, Bengals, and Steelers should all have competitive offenses this season.