Previously:
This was the least notable week in a long time, at least from a Game Scripts perspective. No team won with a negative Game Script. There weren’t any really large Game Scripts (Chicago had the biggest, but it was lower than the average best Game Script of the week), and no team stood out on the extreme end for being very pass-happy or very run-heavy.
The Raiders, Texans, and Titans were the most run-happy teams in week 9. Oakland gave up on the game — and the season, and football as a city — in an embarrassing performance against San Francisco. Despite a Game Script of -16.0, Oakland finished with only a 57% pass ratio. If you need more evidence of Oakland quitting, the Raiders punted with 2 minutes left at midfield on 4th-and-9, trailing by 31 points.
In more meaningful games, Houston and Tennessee, with a pair of young mobile quarterbacks, stuck to the ground game. Deshaun Watson had another efficient passing game (although he did take 4 sacks on 28 dropbacks), and also had 6 carries for 38 yards. And while he averaged 6.9 net yards per pass attempt and 6.3 YPC, the rest of the Houston offense was not so effective: Alfred Blue and Lamar Miller somehow were given 27 carries, despite only gaining 60 yards, in a game that was tight the whole way. If there was a takeaway, it’s that the Texans need to run more effectively, or rely on Watson more.
The graph below shows the amount of yards gained on each play by Houston (Y-Axis), plotted against time elapsed into the game (X-Axis). Plays with Watson (passes, sacks, and Watson rushes) are in red, while Texans running back rushing plays are in blue.
Meanwhile, Marcus Mariota had 10 carries as part of a very run-heavy attack for Tennessee. The Titans finished with a Game Script of only +2.0, but still had more rushing attempts than pass plays. There have been 45 games this season where a team had more rushing plays than pass plays: this was just the 6th where the team had a Game Script of +2.0 or worse (the Saints against the Ravens were the only team to have more rushes than passes in a game with a negative Game Script this year).
The full week 9 Game Scripts data below:
| Team | H/R | Opp | Boxscore | PF | PA | Margin | Game Script | Pass | Run | P/R Ratio | Op_P | Op_R | Opp_P/R Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHI | @ | BUF | Boxscore | 41 | 9 | 32 | 17.3 | 21 | 25 | 45.7% | 53 | 28 | 65.4% |
| SFO | OAK | Boxscore | 34 | 3 | 31 | 16 | 22 | 32 | 40.7% | 32 | 24 | 57.1% | |
| CAR | TAM | Boxscore | 42 | 28 | 14 | 13.3 | 27 | 32 | 45.8% | 43 | 21 | 67.2% | |
| ATL | @ | WAS | Boxscore | 38 | 14 | 24 | 12.2 | 40 | 24 | 62.5% | 49 | 15 | 76.6% |
| KAN | @ | CLE | Boxscore | 37 | 21 | 16 | 10.2 | 34 | 24 | 58.6% | 45 | 25 | 64.3% |
| MIN | DET | Boxscore | 24 | 9 | 15 | 8.5 | 23 | 23 | 50% | 46 | 25 | 64.8% | |
| NOR | LAR | Boxscore | 45 | 35 | 10 | 6.2 | 36 | 34 | 51.4% | 40 | 18 | 69% | |
| PIT | @ | BAL | Boxscore | 23 | 16 | 7 | 5.6 | 49 | 27 | 64.5% | 40 | 16 | 71.4% |
| LAC | @ | SEA | Boxscore | 25 | 17 | 8 | 5.1 | 28 | 22 | 56% | 43 | 32 | 57.3% |
| NWE | GNB | Boxscore | 31 | 17 | 14 | 4.9 | 38 | 31 | 55.1% | 44 | 25 | 63.8% | |
| HOU | @ | DEN | Boxscore | 19 | 17 | 2 | 3.9 | 28 | 33 | 45.9% | 44 | 20 | 68.8% |
| MIA | NYJ | Boxscore | 13 | 6 | 7 | 3.1 | 28 | 27 | 50.9% | 43 | 21 | 67.2% | |
| TEN | @ | DAL | Boxscore | 28 | 14 | 14 | 2 | 33 | 36 | 47.8% | 36 | 19 | 65.5% |
The most pass-heavy team of the week was Atlanta, who are clearly missing Devonta Freeman. On Sunday, Matt Ryan dropped back 40 times in a game Atlanta led 21-7 at halftime and 28-7 early in the third quarter. Atlanta finished with a Game Script of +12.2 and won by 24 points, and yet still passed on 5 out of every 8 plays.