Ravens are 1-0 and quickly as we look ahead to week 2, a trip to Cleveland looks like a very nice way to end up 2-0. The Browns are still….. trying to find a winning combination. Good article by Stoner on Ravens Week 1 covering personnel and unit performance as the game unfolded. Good read.
(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)
This analysis will focus on the Ravens-Bills GameMap created over at www.theQ5.com using a proprietary performance metric to transform drive data into a visualization game graphic. What does the data in this completely visual format tell us? Tutorial here.
GameMap: – A glance tells you that BAL was unable to take it away from the Bills. And except for BUF’s touchdown drive, very few blue circles (representing BAL defense/BUF offense) are in the unsuccessful range. Only the missed FG drive for the defense lies in the unsuccessful range. Limit a team to 10 points every week and yes, you’ll win. Take a closer look at the green circles (Q-Scores on drives by the offense) and you’ll see only three in the successful range – the touchdown and two field goals. That reflects the fact that they had to drive the ball to kick the field goals. Field goal drives could be unsuccessful if the drive begins on a short field. In that instance the evaluation of the drive for the offense would be in the unsuccessful range as great field position was squandered. All in all, 13 points won’t work in a league where teams average somewhere around 22 points per game but in this game it worked. They won both halves by 3 points combining for a 6-point win.
Another takeaway form the GameMap is that the field position battle was very even. Boxes show up all over the place meaning that the Ravens had a mix of both successful and unsuccessful field position where neutral field position starts around the 25 yardline. Although the Ravens outgained the Bills in yardage 308-160, those yards were not well converted by the Ravens outside of their scoring drives. Something to keep an eye on moving forward. If you almost double the yardage of your opponent, you should probably have a 4th quarter where the back-ups are getting reps. Not so in this game.
Where did this visualization come from….
Eventually hover-over technology will be employed as will active links to game film and the GameMap will be a one-stop shop for any and all play, drive and player performance information.
BROWNS week 2:
How did the Browns do last week? A loss to the Eagles on the road is nothing to ashamed of but looking a little closer at the details – the loss does not look good for the 2016 Browns. The GameMap shows the Browns with very little in the successful region. Very little successful field position (boxes) and except for the TD drive and FG, no other green circles sit in the successful region. Similar to the Ravens in that regard. One turnover, a safety and two turnover on downs shows poorly for the offense. The defense responds in the 3rd quarter with a stop after the Browns tighten the game to 10-13 on a field goal to start the 3rd quarter. The offense gives up a safety and the Eagles take possession to score a TD – game over. The rookie QB for the Eagles stacks a W in his first start and the Browns miss an opportunity to steal one on the road by confusing that same QB. Clean game for the Eagles on offense or bad game for the Browns on defense – probably a little bit of both. Either way, the Ravens with Joe Flacco at QB must be excited to tee it up in Cleveland on Sunday.
Never a shortage of question out there about the Browns. This one hurts a little bit….
JAGUARS Week 3:
Although we should never look past an opponent – we are going to also keep an eye on the Raven’s third week opponent. The Jaguars played well against the Packers. The GameMap reinforces the word around the league that Jacksonville’s offense is good and their defense is bad. Middle of the second quarter on reveals a bifurcation of performance for the Jags when looking at offense and defense separately. Interestingly the second half of this game yielded no touchdowns but instead two field goals for each team. Good on the Jags defense over the last 30 minutes. Jags may look at this game and say they just need to play better at the end of the 2nd quarter on defense and they get this thing fixed. We’ll take a closer look at the Jags next week after they travel to San Diego this week.
Dr. Guyader is the Owner / Founder of The Q5.com, which specializes in Football Visualizations and Drive Analytics. Additionally, Guyader has 10 years of Division I football experience coaching top-tier and historic programs. From guiding third round NFL draft pick Ramses Barden for four seasons at Cal Poly to converting 6-foot 10-inch lineman Ali Villanueva to wide receiver at the United States Military Academy at West Point, Andy knows how to coach on the field and how to game-plan in a meeting.