Worst Football Game?

I was talking with somebody at work, and the topic of the old St. Louis Cardinals football team came up.  I mentioned that one of the worst football games I rememebr was the Cardinals playing the NY Giants on Monday Night Football back in 1983. 

Seems odd that I would remember that game as being bad.  But I couldn't really remember why.  Except for missed field goals.  Missed firld goals stuck in my mind.

BUT: thanks to the glory of the internet, I was able to look it up.

October 24, 1983.  One web site described it thus:  "In a battle of two mediocre NFC East rivals, the Cardinals and Giants played for nearly five hours--and STILL couldn't produce a winner, as the game ended in a 20-20 tie, the last deadlock to date on MNF."

 Looking at the stats, the game featured:

• Both teams were 2-5 on the season, not exactly a promising sign... 
• 20 penalties for 195 yards (9 for STL, 11 for NYG)
• 6 turnovers (3 for each team)
• Neither quarterback managed 50% completions, neither team managed 200 net passing yards.
• Combined, the teams missed 4 field goals (out of 8 attempts).  And STL missed 3 of 5 field goals, including a 19 yard attempt!
• Each each team gave up a defensive touchdown (1 fumble return, 1 interception return)

I'm sure it's not the worst game ever.  And perhaps I was grumpy because I was watching it from a hotel in Walnut Creek California (on a business trip), where the game started a 6pm.

There's No Place Like Home

So, last night I was watching the Pittsburgh Steelers vs Detroit Lions football game (Go Steelers!).  And at some point I was remembering the old Silverdome, the former home of the Detroit Lions.  I had an opportunity to visit the Silverdome back in the 1990's (but not during an event).  I remember thinking it was pretty far from Detroit......  Which got me thinking about teams that are near and far from their "homes".

So, ever the engineer, I decided to do an analysis.  Using google maps, I checked the driving distance from each team's stadium to the city that is home*.  What did I find?

Well over 1/3 of the teams (12/32 = 38%) are within 1.5 miles of city center.  That's within measumemnt error, IMHO.  Over 1/2 the (18/32 = 56%) are less that 5 miles away, and over 2/3 are within 10 miles (22/32 = 69%).  pretty good.

So, the most local are:
Vikings, Browns, Lions, Saints, Bengals, Colts, Panthers, Seahawks, Titans, Jaguars, Steelers and Ravens.  Interesting, that includes all of the AFC North Division.

And the least local?  Well, there are currently 6 teams that are over 15 miles from home.  And one of those (Chargers) are onlt temporary.  So, here's the bottom 5:

• San Francisco 49ers - 42.7 miles
• New England Patriots - 27.8 miles
• Dallas Cowboys - 18.3 miles
• Arizona Cardinals - 16.6 miles
• Miami Dolphins - 16.3 miles

Now, you may ask me "so what?"....  And I don't really have an answer. Besides I rather like it when a team is closely aligned with their town.....


* -  Some teams have regional names, like New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers.  But we all know that's really Boston, Nashville and Charlotte).

Martavis Bryant

I'm not sure I've ever posted a sports rant here, but I'm going to now...

Folk who know me know that I'm a die hard Steeler fan.  From the glory days of the 70's through some lean years...  and back into recent success.  And the Steelers sit atop the AFC North today, with a 5-2 record.

But there is drama.  Their wide receiver, Martavis Bryant is increasingly vocal about his dissatisfaction.  He doesn't feel that he is getting sufficient opportunities, and that the Steerlers need to use him more or trade him.

Well, ever the engineer, I decided to see what the numbers say.  Using ESPN as my reference.  To keep it simple, I looked at the stats for the top 5 receivers (by yards) for each of the teams with a 5-2 record or better (KC, LAR, MIN, NE, PHI, PIT). That's 30 receivers total.   Not an inclusive sample, but these are the top guys with the top teams.  And what does that tell us?

1) How often are you thrown to?  I looked at each receivers number of targets vs total pass attempts for the team.  By  that measure, Bryant ranks 18 of 30.  And 3 of 5 for Pittsburgh.  Hmm...  While I can see a player wanting to be higher than mid-pack, it's not like he's at the bottom.  And within the context of the Steelers, he's behind 2 of the best offensive weapons in the game (Antonio Brown and LaVeon Bell).

2)  How about yards per catch?  Well, Martavis ranks 17 out of the 30 players...  again, mid-pack.  But his 13.0 yds/catch isn't so much worse than Antonio's 14.7 yds/catch or JuJu Smith-Schuster's 13.6 yds. per catch.

2) So, why isn't Bryant getting more chances?  I mean, other than the fact that he has two superstars ahead of him...  Well, I think a key here is effectiveness.  How well does he do when the ball is thrown to him? And I think there's two big measures of that:

2a)  First, let's look at Catches/Targets.  And by that measure, Martavis Bryant ranks 29 of the 30 players I looked at.  He has only caught 50% of the balls thrown his way.  By contrast, Antonio Brown has caught 62% of the balls thrown his way and LaVeon Bell has caught 79%.

2b) How about Yards per Target?    Her, Bryant ranks 25th of the 30, at 6.5 yds /target.  Brown is at 9.5 yds/target, JuJu Smith-Schester is at 8.6... 

Really, if you're the Pittsburgh quarterback, who are you going to throw the ball to?  The guy how is going to catch it.  The guy who is going to accomplish the most with it. Seems pretty simple to me.

Last game, Martavis Bryant got the first offensive touch of the game, on a reverse run.  He gained 2 yards.  Subsequently he was thrown to twice.  He gained 2 yards on a red-zone catch, and seemed to give up on a long bomb (perhaps he lost it in the lights?)....

If Martavis wants to see the ball more, he needs to get open, make plays....  And perhaps be a good teammate. 

He's not helping himself.  He's not helping the team.