Three victorious teams stood out in week eight as pass-heavy:
- New England blew out the Bills, and led 41-17 until the final minute of the game. But despite a Game Script of +13.0, that didn’t stop the Patriots from throwing on over 60% of all plays. Tom Brady has deservedly received a lot of press this week, but the ratio against Buffalo was also a sign of an emerging problem: the running game hasn’t been very good. LeGarrette Blount had 18 carries for 43 yards, and New England’s running game has been inconsistent all year. Of course, that could just lead to more Brady throws, which may not be such a bad thing.
- For Oakland, Derek Carr had 59 pass attempts (and just two sacks) in a monster game against the Bucs. The Raiders running backs had some success, but this was a competitive game throughout. That’s a sign, tho, that the Raiders want to put the ball in the hands of Carr and Michael Crabtree (16 targets) and Amari Cooper (15 targets).
- The Chiefs rolled against the Colts, but even though Alex Smith went down, Kansas City stayed pass happy under Nick Foles. Kansas City passed more than you would expect from a team with a +8.0 Game Script, but that also may be a sign that the Colts pass defense is so bad that teams will pass on it regardless of situation.
Below are the Week 8 Game Scripts numbers.
| Team | H/R | Opp | Boxscore | PF | PA | Margin | Game Script | Pass | Run | P/R Ratio | Op_P | Op_R | Opp_P/R Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TEN | JAX | Boxscore | 36 | 22 | 14 | 17.5 | 24 | 43 | 35.8% | 56 | 11 | 83.6% | |
| CAR | ARI | Boxscore | 30 | 20 | 10 | 15 | 28 | 36 | 43.8% | 54 | 10 | 84.4% | |
| NWE | @ | BUF | Boxscore | 41 | 25 | 16 | 13 | 38 | 23 | 62.3% | 42 | 25 | 62.7% |
| CHI | MIN | Boxscore | 20 | 10 | 10 | 9.8 | 32 | 29 | 52.5% | 42 | 18 | 70% | |
| KAN | @ | IND | Boxscore | 30 | 14 | 16 | 8 | 44 | 27 | 62% | 41 | 21 | 66.1% |
| HOU | DET | Boxscore | 20 | 13 | 7 | 7.1 | 31 | 31 | 50% | 42 | 14 | 75% | |
| DEN | SDG | Boxscore | 27 | 19 | 8 | 3.3 | 39 | 25 | 60.9% | 51 | 26 | 66.2% | |
| WAS | @ | CIN | Boxscore | 27 | 27 | 0 | 0.1 | 57 | 31 | 64.8% | 45 | 36 | 55.6% |
| ATL | GNB | Boxscore | 33 | 32 | 1 | -1.4 | 37 | 19 | 66.1% | 41 | 19 | 68.3% | |
| DAL | PHI | Boxscore | 29 | 23 | 6 | -1.4 | 42 | 33 | 56% | 46 | 24 | 65.7% | |
| OAK | @ | TAM | Boxscore | 30 | 24 | 6 | -2 | 61 | 24 | 71.8% | 34 | 27 | 55.7% |
| NOR | SEA | Boxscore | 25 | 20 | 5 | -2.8 | 37 | 35 | 51.4% | 35 | 17 | 67.3% | |
| NYJ | @ | CLE | Boxscore | 31 | 28 | 3 | -3.1 | 36 | 35 | 50.7% | 52 | 18 | 74.3% |
Of note: I have updated the 2016 Game Scripts page, which is generally updated weekly. You can see that the Titans win over the Jaguars on Thursday produced the 4th biggest Game Script of the season so far. And Oakland’s 71.8% pass ratio was the 3rd most pass-heavy performance in a win this year.
I’m short on time today, so please leave your thoughts in the comments.