With one massive exception, the 2016 playoffs were not very interesting. The home team usually won, the favorite usually won, and usually by a large margin. In 8 of 10 games (ignoring the neutral site Super Bowl), the home team was the favorite and won by 13+ points.
And the Game Scripts weren’t all that exciting, either. Most of the games weren’t Super Bowl, and there was just one comeback. Of course, it wasn’t just any comeback; it was perhaps the comeback. Take a look:
| Wk | Team | H/R | Opp | Boxscore | PF | PA | Margin | Game Script | Pass | Run | P/R Ratio | Op_P | Op_R | Opp_P/R Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | ATL | GNB | Boxscore | 44 | 21 | 23 | 17.2 | 38 | 30 | 55.9% | 47 | 17 | 73.4% | |
| W | PIT | MIA | Boxscore | 30 | 12 | 18 | 15.3 | 19 | 35 | 35.2% | 41 | 21 | 66.1% | |
| C | NWE | PIT | Boxscore | 36 | 17 | 19 | 11.8 | 44 | 27 | 62% | 47 | 20 | 70.1% | |
| W | HOU | OAK | Boxscore | 27 | 14 | 13 | 9.4 | 25 | 44 | 36.2% | 48 | 21 | 69.6% | |
| D | GNB | @ | DAL | Boxscore | 34 | 31 | 3 | 8.8 | 46 | 17 | 73% | 40 | 23 | 63.5% |
| D | NWE | HOU | Boxscore | 34 | 16 | 18 | 7.9 | 40 | 27 | 59.7% | 43 | 23 | 65.2% | |
| D | ATL | SEA | Boxscore | 36 | 20 | 16 | 6.3 | 40 | 29 | 58% | 33 | 20 | 62.3% | |
| W | SEA | DET | Boxscore | 26 | 6 | 20 | 5.3 | 33 | 38 | 46.5% | 35 | 15 | 70% | |
| W | GNB | NYG | Boxscore | 38 | 13 | 25 | 4.6 | 45 | 25 | 64.3% | 46 | 17 | 73% | |
| D | PIT | @ | KAN | Boxscore | 18 | 16 | 2 | 3.5 | 32 | 34 | 48.5% | 35 | 14 | 71.4% |
| S | NWE | N | ATL | Boxscore | 34 | 28 | 6 | -11.3 | 68 | 25 | 73.1% | 28 | 18 | 60.9% |
From a pass/run ratio standpoint, the game that really stands out is Green Bay’s win over Dallas. The Packers led 21-3 and were ahead most of the game, but wound up with 46 dropbacks against just 17 carries. That turned out to be a winning formula for Aaron Rodgers and a Packers team that saw its running back depth chart decimated, but it’s also a pretty unusual one. To put it in perspective, the Patriots had the same pass/run ratio in the Super Bowl, a game with a completely different Game Script.