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NFL @ CFB Notes 10/31 - 11/1

The initial College Football rankings are due out next week and they are sure to create a stir.  When the first rankings were release in 2014, fans freaked out as the top four featured three SEC teams.  Clearly, the final rankings didn't turn out that way.  Ohio State, the eventual champion, opened up with the #16 ranking in 2014.

Keep in mind that there are a lot of games to play.  The resume for each team is being judged.  Not the recent history, not the media perception, but the numerical data for each team clearly weighed heavily with the committee last season. 

The most important aspect to remember for the committee rankings is to know what is the most important factor in their evaluation: championships won.  If your team has a shot at winning their conference title, they are always alive for the CFB Playoffs.

 

Teams in strong contention for Top 4

Clemson (22 SOS, 2 SOR, 1 GC)

LSU (24 SOS, 3 SOR, 2 GC)

Alabama (3 SOS, 1 SOR, 4 GC)

 

Second Tier of undefeated

Ohio State (74 SOS, 12 SOR, 13 GC)

Baylor (107 SOS, 14 SOR, 3 GC)

TCU (60 SOS, 9 SOR, 16 GC)

Michigan State (61 SOS, 4 SOR, 17 GC)

 

Outside, but not by much.

Florida (9 SOS, 9 SOR, 12 GC)

Notre Dame (18 SOS,  11 SOR, 14 GC)

Stanford (28 SOS, 13 SOR, 6 GC)

 

My Top 4:

  1. Clemson

  2. LSU

  3. TCU

  4. Michigan State

 

The next tier:

  1. Ohio State

  2. Baylor

  3. Alabama

  4. Florida

  5. Notre Dame

  6. Stanford

  7. Utah

  8. Iowa

  9. Oklahoma State

  10. Memphis

 

NFL Players on the block:

TE - Vernon Davis (31 – FA in 2016) – WHY NOT DENVER

RB - Matt Forte (29 – FA in 2016) – Why not Denver…

CB – Sean Smith (28 – FA in 2016) – Teams who need CB help.

OLB/DE – Tamba Ali (31 – FA in 2016) – Teams who need experienced pass rusher

Ron Leary – G –Dallas (26 – RFA in 2016, possible knee issue)

 

Seattle @ Dallas

Two very simple issues for this game:

-Can Seattle handle the Cowboys pass rush?  Seattle has surrendered the most sacks in the NFL so far this season.  Dallas, with the addition of Greg Hardy, has had the most amount of sacks per drop back in the NFL since Hardy came on board.

-Can Dallas score… well, run the football.  For all of the talk about DeMarco Murray.  Dallas has been able to run.

 

Green Bay @ Denver

The turnover brothers in the NFL this year have been Matthew Stafford (9 ints), Sam Bradford (10 ints), and Peyton Manning.  Manning has been intercepted 7 times in the last 3 games.  The Packers are 2nd in the league in sacks.  Can Manning take care of the football against a Packers team that will score.

 

Takeaways - NFL Week 7

The Panthers are 6-0 for the first time in their history.  Dating back to last December when they had to make their run, the Panthers are now 10-0 in their last 10 regular season games. (Elias): 24 of 32 NFL teams have put a streak of 10 straight regular season wins together.  The eight teams that have never done that are the Eagles, Jets, Chiefs, Falcons, Bengals, Buccaneers, Ravens, and Texans.

 

The Atlanta Falcons broke a big trend on Sunday.  (Elias) Atlanta was the first team to win a game in which it scored 10 or fewer points since November 10, 2013, when Carolina defeated San Francisco, 10-9.  That ended a run of 111 losses by teams that scored 10 points or fewer.  Atlanta last won one of these 10-7 games in 2009 when the Falcons beat the Jets.

 

The Miami Dolphins led the Houston Texans 41-0 at halftime.  That is the 4th highest margin in NFL history.  The 2009 Patriots hold the record by beating the Tennessee Titans 45-0 at the half.

 

Over the last 15 seasons, teams that held a 24 point lead in a game were 733-4.  The Redskins came from 24 points down to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

 

Todd Gurley rushed for 128 yards on 19 carries.  Gurley rushed for 146 and 159 in his two previous games. (Elias) Gurley is the third player in NFL history with at least 125 rushing yards in three of his first four games in the league. The others were Billy Sims in 1980 and Cadillac Williams in 2005.

 

Ryan Tannehill had the highest completion percentage for any QB in a game in which he threw at least 4 TD passes (94.7%)

 

San Diego Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers has to throw the ball a ton.  The Chargers are now 2-5 and have been outscored by 33 points so far this season.  Rivers completed 215 passes thus far, which is the most over seven games in NFL history (ESPN Stats & Info).  He is now also on pace for a 5,600 yard passing season.

 

The New England Patriots beat the New York Jets 30-23 on Sunday.  (Elias) Tom Brady had 54 pass attempts during the game.  If you count plays in which Brady was sacked, the Patriots pass to run splits were 86% pass to 14% run.  That is the highest differential for a winning team in NFL history.

 

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck has typically been very careful with the football.  Before December of last season, Luck was averaging 1 interception for every 45 passes.  With two more interceptions against the Saints, he’s now averaging 1 interception every 24 passes.

 

Oakland Raiders receiver Amari Cooper now has three 100 yard receiving games over the first six games of his career.  The last player to do that was Hall of Fame tight end Mike Ditka. (Elias)

Takeaways - NFL Week 5

Atlanta Falcons running back Devonte Freeman is the leader in the NFL in all-purpose yards.  That's rushing, receiving, along with kick and punt return yardage.  Freeman leads the league with 645, Miami Dolphins receiver Jarvis Landry is second with 643 all-purpose yards.  The next closest running back is currently Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte, who trails Freeman by 36 all-purpose yards.  Forte has also started five games this season to Freeman's three. 

Freeman's 215 all-purpose yard average in his three starts would put him on pace for 3,440 yards over 16 starts.  The NFL record over a season belongs to former Tennessee Titans receiver Derrick Mason, who had 2,690 in 2000.

(Elias Sports) Dan Quinn is now the 6th head coach since 1970 to win his first five games coached in the NFL.

One streak the Falcons did break: The Falcons came into Sunday as just the 4th team in NFL history to start 4-0 while giving up 20+ points to each opponent.  They allowed 19 on Sunday in getting to 5-0.

 (ESPN Stats and Info) The Arizona Cardinals have now beaten three teams this season by 25 points or more.  In their previous 27 years in Arizona, they won just six games by 25 points or more.

The Denver Broncos defense has given up just three touchdowns in the second half of games this season.  The Broncos offense has scored just three touchdowns in the second half of games this season.  The team is 5-0.

The Dallas Cowboys sacked Patriots quarterback Tom Brady five times during the first half on Sunday.  That actually tied for the 2nd most times Brady was sacked over the course of a game in his career.

Why is he going to get paid no matter what he says: Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy now has 10 sacks in his last five games played.  He now has 18 sacks over his last 16 games.

Charles Woodson had two interceptions on Sunday, giving him 64 in his career.  Sunday also marked the first time that Woodson had ever picked off a pass from Peyton Manning.

Jamal Charles went down due to a torn ACL on Sunday. Over the last three seasons, no player has scored more touchdowns in the league.  Charles has scored 38 times, Marshawn Lynch has scored 31 times, Dez Bryant 29 times.

(Elias Sports) The Seattle Seahawks are the second team in NFL history to lose three road games after leading in the 4th quarter of each. (2012 Steelers)

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers saw his streak of home starts without an interception end on Sunday (Week 13 2012).  Rodgers threw two in a win over the Rams.  It was the first multi-interception game at home for Rodgers since October of 2010 against the Minnesota Vikings.