Previously:
Buffalo, Baltimore, and Washington stood out as the three most run-heavy teams of week nine. Those three have something in common: all have young, mobile quarterbacks drafted in the first round of the 2018 or 2019 Drafts.
The Redskins finished the day with more rushing yards than passing yards, mostly thanks to Adrian Peterson. Rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins was not very good as a passer, although he didn’t add too much on the ground, either (3 scrambles for 14 yards). The Redskins strategy seemed designed to limit big mistakes, as Haskins averaged under 10 yards per completion and took 4 sacks, but threw no interceptions.
His opponent on the other side of the field was led by Josh Allen, who had 8 “runs” this week (3 kneels, 1 scramble, 3 QB sneaks, and one other carry). Allen had only 22 pass plays, while handing off to Devin Singletary and Frank Gore 21 times. The Bills finished with 10 first downs on the ground (3 on Allen’s sneaks) and 7 through the air. Including those kneels, Buffalo finished with a 36% pass ratio in week 9, the lowest of the week.
Baltimore passed on only 37% of plays in an upset over New England, with Lamar Jackson stealing the show. The second-year quarterback had 3 kneels and 2 scrambles, and finished with 16 carries for 61 yards and 5 first downs, including 2 touchdowns. Mark Ingram and the other running backs also had 25 rushes, while Jackson himself had just 24 dropbacks.
The table below shows the week 9 Game Scripts:
| Team | H/R | Opp | Boxscore | PF | PA | Margin | Game Script | Pass | Run | P/R Ratio | Op_P | Op_R | Opp_P/R Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAC | GNB | Boxscore | 26 | 11 | 15 | 9.3 | 30 | 38 | 44.1% | 38 | 11 | 77.6% | |
| CAR | TEN | Boxscore | 30 | 20 | 10 | 8.7 | 35 | 33 | 51.5% | 43 | 21 | 67.2% | |
| BUF | WAS | Boxscore | 24 | 9 | 15 | 8.2 | 22 | 39 | 36.1% | 26 | 23 | 53.1% | |
| HOU | @ | JAX | Boxscore | 26 | 3 | 23 | 7.9 | 29 | 34 | 46% | 50 | 16 | 75.8% |
| BAL | NWE | Boxscore | 37 | 20 | 17 | 7.8 | 24 | 41 | 36.9% | 48 | 17 | 73.8% | |
| PHI | CHI | Boxscore | 22 | 14 | 8 | 7.4 | 43 | 35 | 55.1% | 24 | 18 | 57.1% | |
| DEN | CLE | Boxscore | 24 | 19 | 5 | 5.8 | 23 | 20 | 53.5% | 44 | 29 | 60.3% | |
| SFO | @ | ARI | Boxscore | 28 | 25 | 3 | 5.1 | 38 | 31 | 55.1% | 27 | 23 | 54% |
| MIA | NYJ | Boxscore | 26 | 18 | 8 | 4.2 | 40 | 24 | 62.5% | 42 | 21 | 66.7% | |
| OAK | DET | Boxscore | 31 | 24 | 7 | 1.8 | 32 | 36 | 47.1% | 43 | 20 | 68.3% | |
| DAL | @ | NYG | Boxscore | 37 | 18 | 19 | 1 | 35 | 30 | 53.8% | 46 | 22 | 67.6% |
| KAN | MIN | Boxscore | 26 | 23 | 3 | 0.3 | 40 | 18 | 69% | 39 | 27 | 59.1% | |
| PIT | IND | Boxscore | 26 | 24 | 2 | -1 | 36 | 25 | 59% | 36 | 29 | 55.4% | |
| SEA | TAM | Boxscore | 40 | 34 | 6 | -2.9 | 46 | 22 | 67.6% | 46 | 26 | 63.9% |
The Lions, Giants, and Chiefs all were in even games and still passed on over two-thirds of all plays. The Chiefs have backup quarterback Matt Moore playing, and won with a Game Script of +0.3. Kansas City rushed for only two first downs all game, while Moore picked up 15 through the air. Of course, one of those rushing first downs was a 91-yard touchdown, the biggest play of the game that helped the Chiefs win despite getting outplayed through the air. Some head coaches would go run-heavy with a backup quarterback in town, but that is not Andy Reid’s style.
The Lions once again put together a pass-happy game plan with Matthew Stafford; it will be interesting to see what Detroit does today with Jeff Driskell starting in Stafford’s place (back). Stafford finished with 45 dropbacks (41 passes, 2 sacks, 2 scrambles) while the Lions had just 16 designed rushing plays in a game with a pretty neutral Game Script. Detroit had a relatively strong pass identity prior to week 9, but had one of the strongest pass identities of the week.
Finally, let’s get to the Giants and Daniel Jones. The final score looks like a Dallas blowout (37-18), but the Cowboys only had a Game Script of +1.0. The Giants led 3-0, 9-3, and 12-3, and trailed only 16-15 entering the 4th quarter. Jones finished with 50 dropbacks (41 passes, 5 sacks, 4 scrambles) while the Giants had only 18 designed rushing plays. That is a very high pass ratio, but perhaps it’s a bit misleading. Jones averaged just 2.0 air yards per attempt, and a look at his pass chart shows a lot of very short throws.