Beyond the Stats - Vol. 34 - Preseason Tidbits

Posted 9/8 by Jeff Haseley - Exclusive to Footballguys.com

Beyond the Stats is formerly the weekly in-season column titled "Needles from the Haystack". Are you a fan of interesting stats or tidbits of information about what's happening in the NFL? I make it my goal to unearth the most useful and useless stats that you can or can't think of. If that kind of thing excites you, sit back, relax and read on, as I take you - Beyond the Stats.

Note Worthy or Not Worthy?

There has long been talk about how much emphasis we should place on preseason games or their stats. Preseason rushing statistics have shown some recent trends to justify a close correlation to regular season stats, but make no mistake, it is far from definitive. However for those who just want to know, here's some interesting stats and tidbits from the 2009 NFL preseason.

Arizona QB Comparison

Anything to see here? Probably not, but Matt Leinart definitely outplayed Kurt Warner in the preseason

Kurt Warner, 47.4 QB rating, 24 completions, 52.2 comp %, 0 TD passes, 3 INTs, 320 yards, 3 sacks
Matt Leinart, 85.9 QB rating, 39 completions, 59.1 comp %, 3 TD passes, 2 INTs, 507 yards, 2 sacks

Airing it out?

The Cardinals and Eagles averaged 45.5 and 44.7 pass attempts per game respectively in the preseason. By far the most of any two teams.

Well, they are the Super Bowl Champs

The Steelers were the only team in the preseason that did not throw an interception.

The Vaunted NFC West Defense

Three of the four teams in the NFC West are in the top three in turnover ratios. +9 STL, +8 SF, +8 SEA and in case you're wondering the other team in the NFC West - Arizona is dead last at -11.

Aaron Rodgers - Preseason MVP?

The Packers had six passing TDs in the preseason. Aaron Rodgers had all six. He finished with a 70.7% completion percentage with an uber-impressive 11.3 yards per attempt in 41 attempts. His QB rating was a gaudy 147.9

Is the Saints Defense for real?

Only 38 points allowed in four preseason games - Only the Steelers allowed fewer (37)

Speaking of Defense

The Dolphins allowed only two offensive TDs in the preseason, including zero passing TDs allowed - the only team to do so.

David Clowney emerging as the Jets WR2?

Clowney had five receptions of 20 yards or more to lead all WRs in the preseason. He also had three receptions of 40 yards or more, which also led the league (tie with Hakim Nicks)

The Seahawks led all teams with 10 passing TDs

Here's the breakdown

Passing

4 Matt Hasselbeck
3 Mike Teel
2 Seneca Wallace

Receiving

2 T.J. Houshmandzadeh
2 Deon Butler
1 John Carlson
1 Ben Obomanu
1 Logan Payne
1 Joe Newton
1 Mike Hass
1 John Owens

Rushing TD leaders

6 - OAK, NO
5 - CAR, GB, NYJ, PIT

Breakdown

Oakland (6)
- 3 Gary Russell
- 2 Louis Rankin
- 1 Charlie Frye
New Orleans (6)
- 3 P.J. Hill
- 1 Herb Donaldson
- 1 Mike Bell
- 1 Heath Evans
Carolina (5)
- 2 DeCori Birmingham
- 1 DeAngelo Williams
- 1 Mike Goodson
- 1 Jamall Lee
Green Bay (5)
- 2 Ryan Grant
- 1 Kregg Lumpkin
- 1 Tyrell Sutton
- 1 John Kuhn
NY Jets (5)
- 2 Thomas Jones
- 2 Danny Woodhead
- 1 Erik Ainge
Pittsburgh (5)

3 Isaac Redman
1 Rashard Mendenhall
1 Willie Parker

Third Down Conversion Leaders

Some interesting results here

51% - SD
48% - SF, CIN, DET
45% - PIT
44% - BAL, ARI, TEN
43% - BUF
42% - DAL, NO, SEA
41% - ATL, GB
40% - MIN, NYJ
39% - PHI
38% - NE, TB
37% - CHI, IND
36% - JAC, MIA, DEN
35% - CLE
34% - WAS
33% - STL
32% - NYG
30% - HOU
28% - KC
26% - CAR
25% - OAK

A sign of things to come?

Most TDs allowed in the preseason

Rushing TDs allowed

The Bad

7 - BUF
6 - DAL, NYG
5 - ARI, CHI, GB, DET, OAK
4 - CAR, HOU, NYJ, TEN, SEA

The Good

1 - CIN, CLE, KC, MIN, NO, PIT, SD
2 - ATL, BAL, DEN, IND, MIA, PHI, SF, WAS

Receiving TDs allowed

The Bad

8 - OAK, PHI
7 - ATL, IND
6 - CLE, DEN, GB, NE, JAC, SF, TB
5 - BUF, HOU, KC, NYG, NYJ, SD

The Good

0 - MIA
1 - DET
2 - BAL, CHI, SEA
3 - MIN, PIT, STL

Preseason QB Rating Breakdown

Current starters only

147.9 - Aaron Rodgers, GB
136.0 - Peyton Manning, IND
132.7 - Drew Brees, NO
118.8 - Marc Bulger, STL (only 4 attempts)
114.2 - Philip Rivers, SD
114.0 - Matt Ryan, ATL
111.7 - Matt Hasselbeck, SEA
111.0 - Mark Sanchez, NYJ
106.0 - Tom Brady, NE
101.1 - Chad Pennington, MIA
99.5 - Ben Roethlisberger, PIT
97.9 - Brett Favre, MIN
95.9 - David Garrard, JAC
94.3 - Joe Flacco, BAL
93.9 - Matt Schaub, HOU
92.9 - Matt Cassel, KC
92.0 - Jay Cutler, CHI
90.1 - Tony Romo, DAL
89.6 - Daunte Culpepper, DET
88.2 - Jake Delhomme, CAR
86.1 - Brady Quinn, CLE
85.7 - Donovan McNabb, PHI
85.4 - Eli Manning, NYG
76.2 - Kerry Collins, TEN
74.2 - Jason Campbell, WAS
72.2 - Byron Leftwich, TB
71.5 - Shaun Hill, SF
67.6 - Carson Palmer, CIN
61.5 - Kyle Orton, DEN
52.8 - Matthew Stafford, DET
47.4 - Kurt Warner, ARI
46.9 - Trent Edwards, BUF

Preseason rushing statistics

Should we pay attention? Last year Both DeAngelo Williams and Chris Johnson had impressive preseason rushing totals.

Perhaps we should pay attention to the following RBs

Glen Coffee, SF 249 yards rushing, 5.9 YPC
BenJarvus Green-Ellis, NE 249 yards rushing, 3 TDs
James Davis, CLE 186 yards rushing including an 81-yd TD run

Rookies - Who's impressing?

In 37 attempts, Jets QB Mark Sanchez had 9.4 yards per attempt in the preseason. Very impressive.
Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez both had seven passes of 20 yards or more to lead all rookies. They tied for fourth overall among all QBs in that category.
WAS QB Chase Daniel had a 115.1 QB rating in the preseason and he averaged a TD pass every 8 attempts.
CLE RB James Davis averaged 7.8 YPC on 24 carries. Take away his 81-yd TD run and his YPC drops to a very respectable 4.5 YPC in 23 carries

Rookie Reception Leaders

Running Backs

10 - LeSean McCoy, PHI
8 - Mike Goodson, CAR
7 - James Davis, CLE
7 - Chris Jennings, CLE
7 - Gartrell Johnson, SD
6 - Aaron Brown, DET
6 - Ian Johnson, MIN
5 - Herb Donaldson, NO

Tight Ends

17 - Jared Cook, TEN
9 - Brandon Myers, OAK
8 - John Phillips, DAL
7 - Shawn Nelson, BU
6 - James Casey, HOU

Wide Receivers

16 - Kenny McKinley, DEN
12 - Brandon Gibson, PHI
11 - Jeremy Maclin, PHI
11 - Marko Mitchell, WAS
10 - Quinten Lawrence, KC
9 - Hakim Nicks, NYG
8 - Kenny Britt, TEN
8 - Deon Butler, SEA
8 - Austin Collie, IND
8 - Jarett Dillard, JAC

As always, feedback is welcome: e-mail - haseley@footballguys.com, Twitter - JeffHaseley