6.) Tennessee Titans (9-7 = 402-331)
Stat Breakdown:
= Conventional: 402 ptf (10th), 331 pta (12th), 5,805 ydf (12th), 5,752 yda (21st)
= Outsiders: 8.6% team (9th), 12.9% off (6th), 1.0% def (16th), -3.2% st (29th)
Offense: The team changed its mentality completely when it switched to Ryan Tannehill after getting shutout against Denver. They were 7-3 as a whole in Tannehills starts, scoring on average 30.2 ppg in those games, never lower than 20. Tannehill himself was sack prone, but ended with a 117.5 passer rating, largely built off of a ridiculous 9.6 y/a. He showed all the promise he only intermittently did in Miami. Obviously, Derrick Henry is the other notable star, and will be invaluable against the Patriots relatively weaker run defense, but AJ Brown is anotehr star with his 20 yards-per-catch average. It's in some ways a boom-or-bust offense, but they've boomed for ten straight weeks now, with a high, high floor. The Titans are incredibly balanced, #5 in rushing DVOA, #6 in passing DVOA, and overall, when adjusted to weigh the Tannehill games more closely, #3 overall. Rank: 3rd
Defense: On the other hand, even in the 10-game Tannehill stretch, the defense was not all that good, giving up on average of 23.9 ppg (and yes, that indicates in this win streak, it has been a lot of close wins). By DVOA, they are actually good against the run (#10), but weak against the pass (#21). They cobbled together 43 sacks without any standout pass rushers (Harold Landry led the team with 9). Their cornerbacks are better on paper than in reality. Overall the defense is not very talented, and doesn't really do anything all that well. The only potential saving grace s they are fairly healthy. Rank: 5th
Interesting Note: The Titans have now gone 9-7 in four straight seasons, under two different head coaches and multiple quarterbacks. One of those years, they made the playoffs and even won a playoff game (2017), but for some reason this year feels different.
Playoff Doppelganger: 2018 Colts. Those Colts also had a great 10-game stretch to end the season (they went 9-1), and while it wasn't a new QB, it was an Andrew Luck who was given the chance to open it up. They were a great, dynamic offense, with a cobbled-together defense of spare parts. They jumped out early in their wild card game, but lost meekly and easily to a much better bye-worth team.
Top-2 Seed they match up the best with: Baltimore, though in reality it isn't a great matchup. The relative strength of their defense is their run defense, which obviously is helpful against the Ravens historically voluminous rushing attack. Problem is for them the Ravens are a great red zone defense, and obviously can pass quite well as well.
5.) Buffalo Bills (10-6 = 314-259)
Stat Breakdown:
= Conventional: 314 ptf (23rd), 259 pta (2nd), 5,283 ydf (24th), 4,772 yda (2nd)
= Outsiders: 2.7% team (13th), -7.3% off (22nd), -11.3% def (6th), -1.2% st (21st)
Offense: The Bills aren't a good offense. That much is pretty obvious. Easily the worst in the playoffs - and yes, that includes their more notable AFC East partners. Josh Allen has improved, and may continue to do so, but at this point for him to succeed there has to be a lot of shot plays and gaming. The most helpful part of his game is cutting down on the turnovers, dropping his interception rate to 2% (perfectly average in 209 NFL). They aren't great at running (#17 in DVOA) and worse at passing (#23). They don't have long drives, they don't have great red zone numbers. I hate to overplay this point, but there's a reason they only crossed 30 points once on the season. Rank: 6th
Defense: Luckily for the Bills, the other half of the game exists, and they are great on defense. Their point total (2nd best) probably overstates how good they are - a lot is driven by a weak schedule. But even by advanced stats, they are squarely in the Top-5 (#5 in DVOA, Pass DVOA, within the Top-5 in yards per drive and forcing 3-and-outs). The secondary gets the headlines, with All-pro Tre'davious White, and great years from their safety duo. Sean McDermott has done his best to piece together a workable pass ruhs, but if there's any weakness on the defense it is that and their run defense. If you can make it a front-7 game, they are vulnerable, but if you need to pass, there's only a couple teams better positioned. Rank: 3rd
Interesting Note:
Playoff Doppelganger: 2010 Jets. They were also the last non-New England AFC East team to get into the playoffs and actually seem worth of winning a game (so, not the '16 Dolphins and '17 Bills). That Jets team also had a great pass defense, a cobbled-together pass rush, and a QB who got better by playing safer.
Top-2 Seed they match up the best with: Kansas City. It goes to being better pass defense than run defense, a more workable matchup against a pass-defense first team like the Chiefs. Again, I don't see either of the two wild card teams being able to really have much of a chance if they were to win this week.
4.) Houston Texans (10-6 = 378-385)
Stat Breakdown:
= Conventional: 378 ptf (14th), 385 pta (19th), 5,792 ydf (13th), 6,213 yda (28th)
= Outsiders: -5.8% team (19th), 0.3% off (17th), 8.9% def (26th), 2.9% st (5th)
Offense: The Texans are a weird team that looks on paper much better than they actually performed. They had some notable high moments on offense - the 53 points against Atlanta, the 28 points against New England, but the list is sparse. Honestly, it is hard to point out what exactly they do well other than have some top weapons. They are bottom half on turnover rate, and #15 passing and #11 rushing. Will Fuller seems to be out, and for some reason, he seems to be the necessary chess piece to make the offense work. Rank: 5th
Defense: As scattershot as the offense seems, the defense is worse. In reality, it is a bit surprising they held off the Titans - though credit them for the Week 15 win in Tennessee that essentially clinched it. Defensively, the one good thing they do is force turnovers, but between that they give up the 2nd most yards per drive, and are bottom-10 against both pass and run by DVOA. JJ Watt's potential return could bring back some strength to a pass rush that has been meek throughout the season, but if you're counting on a player who missed 10 games to magically come back you know you're in a bad spot. Rank: 6th
Interesting Note: The Texans have now won the AFC South six times this decade ('11, '12, '15, '16, '18, '19), tying them for 2nd league-wide for most division titles in the 2010s (Pats obviously #1 with all 10; Houston tied with the Packers).
Playoff Doppelganger:
Top-2 Seed they match up the best with: Kansas City. Really only because Baltimore is just better. They did beat a Mahomes-led Chiefs team earlier this year, but Mahomes does seem healthier now than he did then. Defensively they match up pretty horrifically with both, but their offense has a better chance against a relatively weaker Chiefs defense.
3.) New England Patriots (12-4 = 420-225)
Stat Breakdown:
= Conventional: 420 ptf (7th), 225 pta (1st), 5,664 ydf (15th), 4T,414 yda (1st)
= Outsiders: 29.9% team (3rd), 4.1% off (11th), -24.6% def (1st), 1.2% st (11th)
Offense: So, what do the Patriots actually do well on offense. At this point, it really is one thing: limiting turnovers. They are #3 in turnover rate on offense, and it is more than Brady. Now, a lot of it has to do with the league-high throwaways, but the lack of turnovers is a key skill for a defense-first team. Aside from that, they have a high 3-and-out rate, a poor red-zone rate, and are squarely a bottom half offense if you take out turnovers (or lack of them, in their case). They are #14 passing by DVOA and #16 rushing - if it means anything they play to their relative strength as the pass-happiest team in the league. Though given Brady's accuracy struggles, that may not be a great thing. Rank: 5th
Defense: In their first seven games, the Patriots never gave up more than one TD on defense. Halfway through the season, they were on historic pace for scoring defense. Of course, everyone pointed out the truly awful schedule they faced, a parade of the worst teams in the league. And you know what? They were somewhat right. At the end, the Patriots are just a ho-hum best defense in the league, pretty similar statistically to the 2017 Jaguars, or 2013-14 Seahawks, Rank:or 2011 Ravens. That's not a bad thing. They are still the best defense in the league, at preventing yards, at preventing points, at turning you over, all of it. But not historically so, and it should be noted when they played good offenses, the defense looked only above average. Rank: 1st
Interesting Note: This is the first time since 2009 the Patriots are playing on Wild Card Weekend, but like most things, this comes down to luck. Until this season, the Patriots had gone 12-4 or better twelve times, and got a bye 11 of those years ('06 the exception), but had also gone 11-5 twice and gotten a bye ('01, '18).
Playoff Doppelganger: 2018 Bears. Yes, I just compared this team to one QBed by Mitch Trubisky. The Bears last year had a truly great defense, with a super high turnover rate, and ability to completely erase bad teams. They also had a low-accuracy QB who could muster 20-30 points when required, but had a penchant for wild displays of spraying passes.
Top-2 Seed they match up best with: Kansas CIty. The Patriots have a historic pass defense. They have a merely good rush defense. As they showed already, the Ravens cut them up drive after drive, and the Chiefs, while doing enough to win, were placcid in the second half stuck on 23 points.
2.) Kansas City Chiefs (12-4 = 451-308)
Stat Breakdown:
= Conventional: 451 ptf (5th), 308 pta (7th), 6,067 ydf (6th), 5,594 yda (17th)
= Outsiders: 30.2% team (2nd), 22.7% off (3rd), -3.4% def (14th), 4.1% st (2nd)
Offense: It's good that Matt Moore played fairly well and that Mahomes took a few weeks to get back in rhythm as we don't really have to adjust out stats for those games. On the whole, even with some growing pains and Mahomes injury, the Chiefs remain a superb offense. A quick summary: They are #3 in offensive DVOA (#2 passing), they were #3 in yards per drive, #3 in limiting turnvoers (and some of that was a flukily high fumble rate), and of course they have probably still the best pure-passing threat at QB in Mahomes, who improved his pocket presence and cut down his interceptions. There is one otherworldly offense this year, but in the crowded mix of great offenses (most of them in the NFC), the Chiefs are still very much holding their own. Rank: 2nd
Defense: The Chiefs defense improved over the second half of the season, though a lot of that improvement was due to playing worse teams (see the back-to-back three points allowed to the Broncos and Bears). They are to some degree the inverse of the offense, ranking 25th in yards allowed per drive, but #5 in forcing interceptions, and having a vastly improved red zone defense. With Frank Clark back fully healthy, their pass rush improved heavily late in teh season, and their low sack rate compared to pressure rate speaks to a higher potential. The Chiefs need to be a complementary unit on defense, and that they did quite well. Rank: 4th
Interesting Note: The Chiefs are the first team not QBed by Tom Brady or Peyton Manning to earn a bye in back-to-back seasons since the 2013-14 Seahawks. Before them, you have to go back to the 2011-12 49ers and then surprisingly, the 05-06 Bears.
Playoff Doppelganger: 2014 Broncos, but with a healthy QB. The 2014 Broncos got a #2 seed with a similar record and scoring margins. Their offense was following up a historic season and was still good (Manning injuries aside). Their defense ranked a whole lot better on advanced stats than conventional, and if Manning was healthy, probably would have pushed them to the Championship game.
1.) Baltimore Ravens (14-2 = 531-282)
Stat Breakdown:
= Conventional: 531 ptf (1st), 282 pta (3rd), 6,521 ydf (2nd), 4,809 (4th)
= Outsiders: 41.5% team (1st), 27.5% off (1st), -12.7% def (4th), 1.3% st (10th)
Offense: Obviously, everyone realizes how good the Ravens rushing attack was. They were the first team in decades to average more than 200 yards a game rushing, setting the all-time team rushing record in teh process. It isn't just Lamar. The OL is great at run blocking, and both Ingram and Edwards averaged 5+ ypc. But the real story is while they are that good at rushing, they also ended the season ranked #1 in passing DVOA. It isn't a fluke either, Lamar Jackson had a tremendous TD rate, a low turnover rate, and a great y/a. It isn't high volume, to be sure, but it is dynamic, whether it be to Hollywood Brown or Mark Andrews or others. They ranked #1 in yards and points per drive, and in the Top-10 in turnover rate, and #1 in lowest punt rate. It is unconventional to other amazing offenses of recent times, but make no mistake, the 2019 Ravens were a truly great offense. Rank: 1st
Defense: Since the Marcus Peters trade, the Ravens were the 2nd or 3rd best defense in the league. By Football Outsiders 'weighted' DVOA that weighs more heavily the 2nd half of the season, they ranked #2 (#1 was Pittsburgh, New England was #4). They are #4 against the pass, and while they were #10 in yards per drive allowed, they were #2 in teh red zone, and #5 in turnover rate. It is done unconvetionally, as they had by far the highest blitz rate in the league, both out of necessity to cover for a relatively weak pass rush, and out of luxury as they can blitz in front of a deep, talented secondary. Marcus Peters was the missing link, unlocking a great unit out of one that was always there. Rank: 2nd
Interesting Note: The Ravens are the first team to enter the playoffs on a 10-game win streak since the 2015 Chiefs (who started 1-5). That team lost its divisional round game.
Playoff Doppelganger: 1999 Rams. Obviously, there is one key difference in taht the 1999 Rams were most notably a passing team, and this is a rushing team, but in one sense, the 1999 Rams run-game was underrated (Faulk was the best RB in teh league) and the 2019 Ravens passing game is underrated. The 1999 Rams also had a quietly great defense. Their point differentials also somewhat mirror each other - the '99 Rams being 526-242 (+284) and these Ravens at 531-282 (+249).
= Conventional: 402 ptf (10th), 331 pta (12th), 5,805 ydf (12th), 5,752 yda (21st)
= Outsiders: 8.6% team (9th), 12.9% off (6th), 1.0% def (16th), -3.2% st (29th)
Offense: The team changed its mentality completely when it switched to Ryan Tannehill after getting shutout against Denver. They were 7-3 as a whole in Tannehills starts, scoring on average 30.2 ppg in those games, never lower than 20. Tannehill himself was sack prone, but ended with a 117.5 passer rating, largely built off of a ridiculous 9.6 y/a. He showed all the promise he only intermittently did in Miami. Obviously, Derrick Henry is the other notable star, and will be invaluable against the Patriots relatively weaker run defense, but AJ Brown is anotehr star with his 20 yards-per-catch average. It's in some ways a boom-or-bust offense, but they've boomed for ten straight weeks now, with a high, high floor. The Titans are incredibly balanced, #5 in rushing DVOA, #6 in passing DVOA, and overall, when adjusted to weigh the Tannehill games more closely, #3 overall. Rank: 3rd
Defense: On the other hand, even in the 10-game Tannehill stretch, the defense was not all that good, giving up on average of 23.9 ppg (and yes, that indicates in this win streak, it has been a lot of close wins). By DVOA, they are actually good against the run (#10), but weak against the pass (#21). They cobbled together 43 sacks without any standout pass rushers (Harold Landry led the team with 9). Their cornerbacks are better on paper than in reality. Overall the defense is not very talented, and doesn't really do anything all that well. The only potential saving grace s they are fairly healthy. Rank: 5th
Interesting Note: The Titans have now gone 9-7 in four straight seasons, under two different head coaches and multiple quarterbacks. One of those years, they made the playoffs and even won a playoff game (2017), but for some reason this year feels different.
Playoff Doppelganger: 2018 Colts. Those Colts also had a great 10-game stretch to end the season (they went 9-1), and while it wasn't a new QB, it was an Andrew Luck who was given the chance to open it up. They were a great, dynamic offense, with a cobbled-together defense of spare parts. They jumped out early in their wild card game, but lost meekly and easily to a much better bye-worth team.
Top-2 Seed they match up the best with: Baltimore, though in reality it isn't a great matchup. The relative strength of their defense is their run defense, which obviously is helpful against the Ravens historically voluminous rushing attack. Problem is for them the Ravens are a great red zone defense, and obviously can pass quite well as well.
5.) Buffalo Bills (10-6 = 314-259)
= Conventional: 314 ptf (23rd), 259 pta (2nd), 5,283 ydf (24th), 4,772 yda (2nd)
= Outsiders: 2.7% team (13th), -7.3% off (22nd), -11.3% def (6th), -1.2% st (21st)
Offense: The Bills aren't a good offense. That much is pretty obvious. Easily the worst in the playoffs - and yes, that includes their more notable AFC East partners. Josh Allen has improved, and may continue to do so, but at this point for him to succeed there has to be a lot of shot plays and gaming. The most helpful part of his game is cutting down on the turnovers, dropping his interception rate to 2% (perfectly average in 209 NFL). They aren't great at running (#17 in DVOA) and worse at passing (#23). They don't have long drives, they don't have great red zone numbers. I hate to overplay this point, but there's a reason they only crossed 30 points once on the season. Rank: 6th
Defense: Luckily for the Bills, the other half of the game exists, and they are great on defense. Their point total (2nd best) probably overstates how good they are - a lot is driven by a weak schedule. But even by advanced stats, they are squarely in the Top-5 (#5 in DVOA, Pass DVOA, within the Top-5 in yards per drive and forcing 3-and-outs). The secondary gets the headlines, with All-pro Tre'davious White, and great years from their safety duo. Sean McDermott has done his best to piece together a workable pass ruhs, but if there's any weakness on the defense it is that and their run defense. If you can make it a front-7 game, they are vulnerable, but if you need to pass, there's only a couple teams better positioned. Rank: 3rd
Interesting Note:
Playoff Doppelganger: 2010 Jets. They were also the last non-New England AFC East team to get into the playoffs and actually seem worth of winning a game (so, not the '16 Dolphins and '17 Bills). That Jets team also had a great pass defense, a cobbled-together pass rush, and a QB who got better by playing safer.
Top-2 Seed they match up the best with: Kansas City. It goes to being better pass defense than run defense, a more workable matchup against a pass-defense first team like the Chiefs. Again, I don't see either of the two wild card teams being able to really have much of a chance if they were to win this week.
4.) Houston Texans (10-6 = 378-385)
= Conventional: 378 ptf (14th), 385 pta (19th), 5,792 ydf (13th), 6,213 yda (28th)
= Outsiders: -5.8% team (19th), 0.3% off (17th), 8.9% def (26th), 2.9% st (5th)
Offense: The Texans are a weird team that looks on paper much better than they actually performed. They had some notable high moments on offense - the 53 points against Atlanta, the 28 points against New England, but the list is sparse. Honestly, it is hard to point out what exactly they do well other than have some top weapons. They are bottom half on turnover rate, and #15 passing and #11 rushing. Will Fuller seems to be out, and for some reason, he seems to be the necessary chess piece to make the offense work. Rank: 5th
Defense: As scattershot as the offense seems, the defense is worse. In reality, it is a bit surprising they held off the Titans - though credit them for the Week 15 win in Tennessee that essentially clinched it. Defensively, the one good thing they do is force turnovers, but between that they give up the 2nd most yards per drive, and are bottom-10 against both pass and run by DVOA. JJ Watt's potential return could bring back some strength to a pass rush that has been meek throughout the season, but if you're counting on a player who missed 10 games to magically come back you know you're in a bad spot. Rank: 6th
Interesting Note: The Texans have now won the AFC South six times this decade ('11, '12, '15, '16, '18, '19), tying them for 2nd league-wide for most division titles in the 2010s (Pats obviously #1 with all 10; Houston tied with the Packers).
Playoff Doppelganger:
Top-2 Seed they match up the best with: Kansas City. Really only because Baltimore is just better. They did beat a Mahomes-led Chiefs team earlier this year, but Mahomes does seem healthier now than he did then. Defensively they match up pretty horrifically with both, but their offense has a better chance against a relatively weaker Chiefs defense.
3.) New England Patriots (12-4 = 420-225)
= Conventional: 420 ptf (7th), 225 pta (1st), 5,664 ydf (15th), 4T,414 yda (1st)
= Outsiders: 29.9% team (3rd), 4.1% off (11th), -24.6% def (1st), 1.2% st (11th)
Offense: So, what do the Patriots actually do well on offense. At this point, it really is one thing: limiting turnovers. They are #3 in turnover rate on offense, and it is more than Brady. Now, a lot of it has to do with the league-high throwaways, but the lack of turnovers is a key skill for a defense-first team. Aside from that, they have a high 3-and-out rate, a poor red-zone rate, and are squarely a bottom half offense if you take out turnovers (or lack of them, in their case). They are #14 passing by DVOA and #16 rushing - if it means anything they play to their relative strength as the pass-happiest team in the league. Though given Brady's accuracy struggles, that may not be a great thing. Rank: 5th
Defense: In their first seven games, the Patriots never gave up more than one TD on defense. Halfway through the season, they were on historic pace for scoring defense. Of course, everyone pointed out the truly awful schedule they faced, a parade of the worst teams in the league. And you know what? They were somewhat right. At the end, the Patriots are just a ho-hum best defense in the league, pretty similar statistically to the 2017 Jaguars, or 2013-14 Seahawks, Rank:or 2011 Ravens. That's not a bad thing. They are still the best defense in the league, at preventing yards, at preventing points, at turning you over, all of it. But not historically so, and it should be noted when they played good offenses, the defense looked only above average. Rank: 1st
Interesting Note: This is the first time since 2009 the Patriots are playing on Wild Card Weekend, but like most things, this comes down to luck. Until this season, the Patriots had gone 12-4 or better twelve times, and got a bye 11 of those years ('06 the exception), but had also gone 11-5 twice and gotten a bye ('01, '18).
Playoff Doppelganger: 2018 Bears. Yes, I just compared this team to one QBed by Mitch Trubisky. The Bears last year had a truly great defense, with a super high turnover rate, and ability to completely erase bad teams. They also had a low-accuracy QB who could muster 20-30 points when required, but had a penchant for wild displays of spraying passes.
Top-2 Seed they match up best with: Kansas CIty. The Patriots have a historic pass defense. They have a merely good rush defense. As they showed already, the Ravens cut them up drive after drive, and the Chiefs, while doing enough to win, were placcid in the second half stuck on 23 points.
2.) Kansas City Chiefs (12-4 = 451-308)
= Conventional: 451 ptf (5th), 308 pta (7th), 6,067 ydf (6th), 5,594 yda (17th)
= Outsiders: 30.2% team (2nd), 22.7% off (3rd), -3.4% def (14th), 4.1% st (2nd)
Offense: It's good that Matt Moore played fairly well and that Mahomes took a few weeks to get back in rhythm as we don't really have to adjust out stats for those games. On the whole, even with some growing pains and Mahomes injury, the Chiefs remain a superb offense. A quick summary: They are #3 in offensive DVOA (#2 passing), they were #3 in yards per drive, #3 in limiting turnvoers (and some of that was a flukily high fumble rate), and of course they have probably still the best pure-passing threat at QB in Mahomes, who improved his pocket presence and cut down his interceptions. There is one otherworldly offense this year, but in the crowded mix of great offenses (most of them in the NFC), the Chiefs are still very much holding their own. Rank: 2nd
Defense: The Chiefs defense improved over the second half of the season, though a lot of that improvement was due to playing worse teams (see the back-to-back three points allowed to the Broncos and Bears). They are to some degree the inverse of the offense, ranking 25th in yards allowed per drive, but #5 in forcing interceptions, and having a vastly improved red zone defense. With Frank Clark back fully healthy, their pass rush improved heavily late in teh season, and their low sack rate compared to pressure rate speaks to a higher potential. The Chiefs need to be a complementary unit on defense, and that they did quite well. Rank: 4th
Interesting Note: The Chiefs are the first team not QBed by Tom Brady or Peyton Manning to earn a bye in back-to-back seasons since the 2013-14 Seahawks. Before them, you have to go back to the 2011-12 49ers and then surprisingly, the 05-06 Bears.
Playoff Doppelganger: 2014 Broncos, but with a healthy QB. The 2014 Broncos got a #2 seed with a similar record and scoring margins. Their offense was following up a historic season and was still good (Manning injuries aside). Their defense ranked a whole lot better on advanced stats than conventional, and if Manning was healthy, probably would have pushed them to the Championship game.
1.) Baltimore Ravens (14-2 = 531-282)
= Conventional: 531 ptf (1st), 282 pta (3rd), 6,521 ydf (2nd), 4,809 (4th)
= Outsiders: 41.5% team (1st), 27.5% off (1st), -12.7% def (4th), 1.3% st (10th)
Offense: Obviously, everyone realizes how good the Ravens rushing attack was. They were the first team in decades to average more than 200 yards a game rushing, setting the all-time team rushing record in teh process. It isn't just Lamar. The OL is great at run blocking, and both Ingram and Edwards averaged 5+ ypc. But the real story is while they are that good at rushing, they also ended the season ranked #1 in passing DVOA. It isn't a fluke either, Lamar Jackson had a tremendous TD rate, a low turnover rate, and a great y/a. It isn't high volume, to be sure, but it is dynamic, whether it be to Hollywood Brown or Mark Andrews or others. They ranked #1 in yards and points per drive, and in the Top-10 in turnover rate, and #1 in lowest punt rate. It is unconventional to other amazing offenses of recent times, but make no mistake, the 2019 Ravens were a truly great offense. Rank: 1st
Defense: Since the Marcus Peters trade, the Ravens were the 2nd or 3rd best defense in the league. By Football Outsiders 'weighted' DVOA that weighs more heavily the 2nd half of the season, they ranked #2 (#1 was Pittsburgh, New England was #4). They are #4 against the pass, and while they were #10 in yards per drive allowed, they were #2 in teh red zone, and #5 in turnover rate. It is done unconvetionally, as they had by far the highest blitz rate in the league, both out of necessity to cover for a relatively weak pass rush, and out of luxury as they can blitz in front of a deep, talented secondary. Marcus Peters was the missing link, unlocking a great unit out of one that was always there. Rank: 2nd
Interesting Note: The Ravens are the first team to enter the playoffs on a 10-game win streak since the 2015 Chiefs (who started 1-5). That team lost its divisional round game.
Playoff Doppelganger: 1999 Rams. Obviously, there is one key difference in taht the 1999 Rams were most notably a passing team, and this is a rushing team, but in one sense, the 1999 Rams run-game was underrated (Faulk was the best RB in teh league) and the 2019 Ravens passing game is underrated. The 1999 Rams also had a quietly great defense. Their point differentials also somewhat mirror each other - the '99 Rams being 526-242 (+284) and these Ravens at 531-282 (+249).
