1 week Ago By Brad Gagnon
With 10 weeks now complete, the 2024 NFL season is entering the home stretch. Plenty of interesting numbers help explain how this wacky campaign has transpired so far. Here's one in particular for each squad.
Buffalo Bills: Plus-13 That's the Bills' turnover margin, which tops the NFL by a 44 percent margin over second-place Chargers and Steelers. They've already got 19 takeaways and just six turnovers. Miami Dolphins: 2.
7 Completed air yards per target ( ranking 32nd among 34 qualified passers) for Tua Tagovailoa, who has just 10 completions on passes in five games that have traveled 15-plus yards . Not getting it done despite all of those weapons. New England Patriots: Plus-16 New England's scoring margin during an ongoing three-game stretch in which it has failed to lose in regulation.
You can see the progress. New York Jets: 2 Games this season in which Aaron Rodgers has posted a passer rating between 85 and 105. He's had three elite performances with ratings above 110 and five poor ones with ratings below 83.
0. That lack of consistency is a problem for the 40-year-old as well as a team that is relying heavily on him. Baltimore Ravens: 7.
1 Yards per play gained by the Ravens offense thus far. The next-best offense in the AFC in that category? Buffalo at 5.8.
Lamar Jackson and Co. are head and shoulders above everyone else right now. Cincinnati Bengals: 1-5 Cincinnati's record in one-score games this season.
They've lost three games to conference/division rivals Baltimore and Kansas City by a grand total of five points. Season-changer. Cleveland Browns: 1-4 Cleveland's record against teams that are below .
500, which is the worst such mark in the NFL. The Browns can't blame the schedule for their struggles. Pittsburgh Steelers: 4-0 Pittsburgh's record against teams that are .
500 or better, which ranks behind only the Chiefs (5-0) in those situations. That 3-0 start against the Falcons, Broncos and Chargers is looking better by the week. Houston Texans: 6/34 Interceptions thrown (compared to five in all of 2023) and sacks taken (compared to 38 in all of 2023) by C.
J. Stroud, who has seen his rate-based numbers plummet across the board during what is officially a sophomore slump. Indianapolis Colts: 44.
4 Anthony Richardson's completion percentage, which is the worst rate among all quarterbacks who have thrown 100-plus passes in a season in the last decade. He ranks 469th out of 469, and No. 468 is way ahead at 48.
6 percent. Jacksonville Jaguars: 49 That's the number of 20-plus-yard plays the Jags have surrendered on defense. No defensive unit has given up more, which goes to show this isn't just on Trevor Lawrence and a lack of offensive evolution.
Tennessee Titans: 15.8 Will Levis' passer rating in the fourth quarter/overtime of one-score games, which ranks last in the NFL among quarterbacks with at least five starts. Fairly indicative that the sophomore doesn't have it in him.
Denver Broncos: 0-4 The Broncos' record against teams that are .500 or better this season. The defense has been good overall, but it needs a hallmark victory.
Kansas City Chiefs: 115.1 Patrick Mahomes' passer rating in the fourth quarter/overtime of one-score games, which leads the NFL among quarterbacks with at least five starts. Maybe he hasn't always been himself this year, but Mahomes is still Mahomes when it matters most.
Las Vegas Raiders: Minus-14 That's the Raiders' turnover margin, which is by far the worst in the NFL. They've turned it over a league-worst 19 times in nine games while recording a league-low five takeaways. So, this isn't just a quarterback problem.
Los Angeles Chargers: Minus-2.4 Average quality of opponent for the Chargers so far based on Pro Football Reference's Simple Rating System . Only the Bears have had an easier ride than Jim Harbaugh's team, which is likely to come back to earth defensively.
Dallas Cowboys: 77.4% / 41.7% The first number is the Cowboys' defensive red-zone touchdown rate, which is the worst in the NFL.
The second number is their offensive red-zone touchdown rate, which ranks 31st in the league. They consistently fail when it matters most on both sides of the ball. New York Giants: 8 Touchdown passes from Daniel Jones in 10 games, putting him on pace to throw 15 or fewer touchdown passes for a fifth year in a row.
This year, only Deshaun Watson and Jacoby Brissett (both benched) have lower qualified TD pass rates. He's not the answer, people. Philadelphia Eagles: 173-83 That's the margin by which the Eagles have outscored their opponents during an ongoing six-game post-bye winning streak.
It's a hell of a stretch that has certainly saved their season, and possibly even jobs belonging to key organizational figures. Washington Commanders: 5 Total turnovers committed by the Commanders in 11 games this season. Nobody else in the NFC has turned the ball over fewer than eight times, and the Bears have eight in nine games as opposed to 11.
Chicago Bears: 24.8% That's Caleb Williams' bad-throw rate . He and the already-benched-once Bryce Young are the only qualified passers in the NFL with bad-throw rates above 20.
0%. Detroit Lions: 12.6 Detroit's average margin of victory this season.
No other team is in double digits, including the unbeaten Chiefs (6.4) and the eight-win Bills (9.7).
Green Bay Packers: 4.2 Jordan Love's NFC-leading interception rate. In a season with extremely high expectations, the highly paid quarterback has thrown at least one pick in each of his seven starts.
It's holding the Packers back in the conference. Minnesota Vikings: 5-1 Minnesota's record in one-score games this season. They're now 16-1 in one-score games in the last two even-numbered seasons (2022 and 2024), but they were just 6-8 under those circumstances last year.
Atlanta Falcons: 9 Sacks committed by the Falcons in 10 games. They're the only team in the league without a double-digit sack total, and their sack rate of 2.56 percent is easily the worst mark in football.
Achilles' heel? Possibly. Carolina Panthers: Minus-14.3 Carolina's average scoring margin this season, which is more than five points worse than anyone else in the NFL.
Incredible considering the Panthers have actually won their last two games. New Orleans Saints: 58-136 That was the Saints' scoring margin as they went 0-4 through October. In the rest of their games, they've gone 3-3 with a scoring of margin of 169-110.
The month ruined their season and saw Dennis Allen fired and Darren Rizzi step in as interim head coach. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 1 / 32 The first number represents the Bucs' ranking when it comes to strength of schedule played, based on ESPN's Power Index . The second figure is their ranking in terms of remaining strength of schedule.
Talk about getting the tough spot out of the way early. Arizona Cardinals: 118.1 Kyler Murray's passer rating on deep attempts this season, which ranks fourth among quarterbacks who have made at least five starts.
The explosiveness is back in Arizona. Los Angeles Rams: 63.8 Matthew Stafford's on-target percentage , which is by far and way the worst qualified rate in the NFL.
The 36-year-old appears to be on his last legs. San Francisco 49ers: 5.5 Completed air yards per target for Brock Purdy, who leads the NFL by nearly half a yard in that category.
That offense in general is the reason you still can't count out the Niners. Seattle Seahawks: 0-4 Seattle's home record since the start of October. It was outscored by an average of 12.
0 points per game in those outings. Pretty tough to bounce back from that kind of stretch at home..
