Today we are going to look at the Game Scripts from the 11 games in the 2017 playoffs. There were two big blowouts in the postseason: the Eagles over the Vikings in the NFCCG and the Patriots over the Titans in the division round. Both teams won by over 20 points and had Game Scripts of over +10. But there were two other games that were very close but with blowout Game Scripts: in other words, two games that almost saw miraculous comebacks.
The Jaguars beat the Steelers with a Game Script of +10.6. Jacksonville led 21-0 early in the 2nd quarter and 28-7 late in the first half. But Pittsburgh scored 5 touchdowns on the team’s final 7 drives of the game, ultimately falling 45-42.
The Vikings led the Saints 17-0 just 20 minutes into the division round game, and that score held with just 17 minutes left in the game. From there, New Orleans staged a furious comeback, scoring 24 points in 16-minute stretch to take a 24-23 lead. This was one of the most miraculous comebacks in playoff history, but it was upstaged by an even more miraculous comeback by the Vikings just seconds later.
The full Game Scripts data from the playoffs, below:
| Wk | Team | H/R | Opp | Boxscore | PF | PA | Margin | Game Script | Pass | Run | P/R Ratio | Op_P | Op_R | Opp_P/R Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CCG | PHI | MIN | Boxscore | 38 | 7 | 31 | 14.3 | 34 | 30 | 53.1% | 49 | 18 | 73.1% | |
| Div | NWE | TEN | Boxscore | 35 | 14 | 21 | 11 | 53 | 27 | 66.3% | 45 | 16 | 73.8% | |
| Div | JAX | @ | PIT | Boxscore | 45 | 42 | 3 | 10.6 | 26 | 35 | 42.6% | 60 | 18 | 76.9% |
| Div | MIN | NOR | Boxscore | 29 | 24 | 5 | 10.1 | 42 | 29 | 59.2% | 43 | 24 | 64.2% | |
| WC | NOR | CAR | Boxscore | 31 | 26 | 5 | 6.7 | 34 | 22 | 60.7% | 45 | 26 | 63.4% | |
| WC | ATL | @ | LAR | Boxscore | 26 | 13 | 13 | 6.4 | 33 | 39 | 45.8% | 48 | 16 | 75% |
| SB | PHI | N | NWE | Boxscore | 41 | 33 | 8 | 4.7 | 44 | 27 | 62% | 50 | 22 | 69.4% |
| WC | JAX | BUF | Boxscore | 10 | 3 | 7 | 1.8 | 25 | 34 | 42.4% | 42 | 32 | 56.8% | |
| Div | PHI | ATL | Boxscore | 15 | 10 | 5 | -0.2 | 31 | 32 | 49.2% | 39 | 20 | 66.1% | |
| CCG | NWE | JAX | Boxscore | 24 | 20 | 4 | -3.7 | 42 | 19 | 68.9% | 39 | 32 | 54.9% | |
| WC | TEN | @ | KAN | Boxscore | 22 | 21 | 1 | -8.8 | 32 | 31 | 50.8% | 37 | 16 | 69.8% |
There was only one remarkable comeback that held in the playoffs: The Titans trailed by 18 points at halftime against the Chiefs in the Wild Card round, but came back to win despite a -8.8 Game Script.
Some of the pass/run ratios were pretty interesting, too. New England had a remarkably pass-heavy game against the Titans in the Division Round. Despite blowing out Tennessee, the Patriots on 69% of plays if you exclude kneels! Consider that the Patriots led the Titans by 14, 21, and 21 points following the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters of the Division Round game. Among teams who led by 10 points after each of those quarters, the Patriots (with 53 pass plays) were by far the most pass-happy team; no other team had more than 46 pass plays.
The Chiefs also went pass-happy against the Titans. Consider that Kansas City had just 16 rushing attempts, the second-fewest in playoff history by a team that led by 14+ points at halftime.
On the other hand, the Jaguars (against the Bills) were very run-heavy. There have been only 43 teams to score 10 or fewer points in a playoff game since 2002, and Jacksonville’s 23 pass attempts were the third fewest. Jacksonville had a Game Script of just +1.8, yet had the most run-heavy ratio of the playoffs.