Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Inside The Data: What Does The Projections For Eagles Vs. Titans In Week 2?
Transcript
- 0:09Speaker 1: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Inside the Data on Inside
- 0:12Speaker 1: the Birds. I'm Jeff Mosher. That's Sam Finkel, our data
- 0:15Speaker 1: and analytics expert. And this is a great new concept.
- 0:18Speaker 1: We've got all year long, two editions of Inside the
- 0:21Speaker 1: Data each week. One recaps the game. We already did that.
- 0:25Speaker 1: The other one previews the game. And we will be previewing.
- 0:29Speaker 1: And thank you for the intro music, Sam. Just playing.
- 0:32Speaker 1: We will be previewing the Eagles week two game in
- 0:34Speaker 1: Nashville against the Titans in from an analytics standpoint, a
- 0:39Speaker 1: data standpoint. There were some really interesting things that Sam
- 0:42Speaker 1: had in this data that we will discuss as we
- 0:45Speaker 1: match up these two teams. As always, Sam has some charts,
- 0:48Speaker 1: so our YouTube viewers will be able to see them.
- 0:51Speaker 1: But for our podcast listeners, we'll go through everything, what
- 0:55Speaker 1: certain things mean, what the numbers say, so that if
- 0:57Speaker 1: you're listening, you will not lose out on anything, I promise.
- 1:00Speaker 1: So with that, Sam, Let's get started. Before I put
- 1:03Speaker 1: the charts up, you know, I always ask you this,
- 1:05Speaker 1: like while you were going through the data of both
- 1:07Speaker 1: teams and how they match up, is there anything that
- 1:09Speaker 1: really jumped out at you from an analytical standpoint?
- 1:12Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, something that's interesting is that, you know,
- 1:16Speaker 2: both the Jets and the Titans were not expected to
- 1:19Speaker 2: be great teams. But it is interesting that the win
- 1:23Speaker 2: percentage basically started in favor of the Titans and then very, very,
- 1:27Speaker 2: very quickly went in the other direction.
- 1:30Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean, the Jets and Titans were two
- 1:32Speaker 1: of the worst teams. And with that, I'm glad you
- 1:35Speaker 1: brought that up because I wanted to ask you about it.
- 1:37Speaker 1: So we will right away bring up the Monte Carlo model.
- 1:41Speaker 1: So this would be for Eagles versus the Titans, correct?
- 1:44Speaker 1: But the chart does show the game against the Jets here.
- 1:49Speaker 2: So the chart itself is the win percentage that actually
- 1:54Speaker 2: happened live during the Titans and Jets game.
- 1:58Speaker 1: Yeah, not like the heart monitor like we saw in Eagles-Commanders.
- 2:02Speaker 1: This one's a little bit more, you know, obviously the
- 2:04Speaker 1: Jets were like winning, winning, winning, and then pulled away
- 2:06Speaker 1: after a little bit.
- 2:07Speaker 2: Of a lull. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it was definitely more
- 2:12Speaker 2: of a calm game if you were a Jets fan,
- 2:15Speaker 2: I suppose. Yeah.
- 2:17Speaker 1: Well, I would think if you're a Jets fan, it
- 2:19Speaker 1: might have been the other way. Like, you've never seen
- 2:20Speaker 1: something like this. It's been a while since you've seen
- 2:23Speaker 1: something like this. And obviously, if you're a Titans fan,
- 2:26Speaker 1: and we'll get into them in a second, it was
- 2:27Speaker 1: a little bit more of the same. I want to
- 2:30Speaker 1: talk about the Monte Carlo simulation that you have here. Explain,
- 2:33Speaker 1: because we did this right before the year started. We
- 2:36Speaker 1: went through every single week, every single game, what the
- 2:39Speaker 1: Monte Carlo simulation projection said for each matchup. So what
- 2:44Speaker 1: is it saying now about this one?
- 2:45Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, so it essentially, in 657 of the 1,000
- 2:50Speaker 2: simulations that I ran, it had the Eagles winning this game.
- 2:53Speaker 2: So that's where you get that 65.7% chance of winning.
- 2:57Speaker 1: So about 600, yeah, 657 times. Does that mean, has
- 3:01Speaker 1: that changed, by the way, since the original one?
- 3:04Speaker 2: I have not changed anything with the model.
- 3:06Speaker 1: Okay, so the model doesn't change. So if the Eagles
- 3:09Speaker 1: had lost to the Commanders, it would still be the
- 3:12Speaker 1: same number from the preseason, or if the Titans had
- 3:15Speaker 1: beaten the Jets?
- 3:16Speaker 2: So I just, I didn't change the model at all.
- 3:18Speaker 2: I probably can, as we're going through this in the future,
- 3:22Speaker 2: like I probably can update the model and see like this,
- 3:24Speaker 2: because once it goes down one path, it becomes a
- 3:27Speaker 2: little bit more clear, you know, which way it goes.
- 3:30Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, that's certainly something I can do
- 3:32Speaker 2: as we do it, update it.
- 3:34Speaker 1: So this basically says that before the season started, the
- 3:37Speaker 1: Eagles were predicted to beat the Titans 66% of the time.
- 3:41Speaker 2: Correct.
- 3:42Speaker 1: All right. Good stuff. I am fascinated by some of
- 3:45Speaker 1: your next-gen stat insights. Anything jump out to you? I'll
- 3:50Speaker 1: just throw it to you.
- 3:51Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'll just go through it. But Jets
- 3:53Speaker 2: outgained the Titans by 172 yards. Not great if you
- 3:59Speaker 2: are part of the Titans organization or a fan of
- 4:01Speaker 2: the team. Right. But Cam Ward faced pressure on 42.1%
- 4:06Speaker 2: of the dropbacks, which was the second highest rate in
- 4:09Speaker 2: his career. The highest rate in his career was actually 50%,
- 4:12Speaker 2: which if you remember, 50% was how much the Eagles
- 4:15Speaker 2: ended up pressuring Jaden Daniels. Yeah. But under pressure, Ward
- 4:20Speaker 2: only completed three out of 10 passes, 30% for 17 yards.
- 4:25Speaker 2: When he had a clean pocket, though, he was 16
- 4:27Speaker 2: for 22 for 123 yards and a touchdown. So, I mean,
- 4:32Speaker 2: it's kind of an obvious thing to say, but you
- 4:34Speaker 2: get him under pressure, you're in a pretty good spot.
- 4:38Speaker 1: Sure, sure.
- 4:40Speaker 2: This one's really interesting. The Titans O-line allowed nine different
- 4:43Speaker 2: Jets defenders to generate at least one pressure. And then
- 4:46Speaker 2: they allowed four quick pressures, which is just a pressure
- 4:49Speaker 2: in less than a second.
- 4:50Speaker 1: Right. Now the Jets blitzed at about a 31% rate
- 4:54Speaker 1: in this game, which is a little higher than Vic Fangio,
- 4:57Speaker 1: who typically blitzes between 21 and 23%. especially when he's
- 5:02Speaker 1: still figuring things out.
- 5:03Speaker 2: Right.
- 5:03Speaker 1: So I doubt Vic is going to get it up
- 5:06Speaker 1: to 30%. You never know though, because there are after
- 5:09Speaker 1: week one, Sam, he may feel the need if they
- 5:11Speaker 1: don't have Grenard playing or playing at full strength. And
- 5:14Speaker 1: you saw at times the Eagles edge rush their interior,
- 5:17Speaker 1: not so much that, he may feel he needs to
- 5:20Speaker 1: dial it up a little bit more.
- 5:21Speaker 2: Yeah, totally possible. He may not even need to. I mean,
- 5:24Speaker 2: if they're going to keep allowing pressures at that rate,
- 5:26Speaker 2: I mean, he may not even need to blitz, but
- 5:28Speaker 2: we'll see.
- 5:28Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I guess that's true. But I'm thinking if
- 5:31Speaker 1: he was under pressure, Cam Ward on 42% of his
- 5:34Speaker 1: dropbacks and the Jets blitzed at 30%, there's probably some
- 5:39Speaker 1: correlation there.
- 5:40Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that is a great, great point for sure.
- 5:44Speaker 1: All right. Really interesting stuff. Man, what a, what a,
- 5:48Speaker 1: It was supposed to be all about the Brian Dable
- 5:50Speaker 1: debut and Cam Ward and the offense, and it's just
- 5:52Speaker 1: week one, so we won't make too big of a
- 5:54Speaker 1: deal of it. But I know the Titans were not
- 5:56Speaker 1: happy about that.
- 5:57Speaker 2: Totally agreed. Totally agreed. And can't blame them.
- 6:01Speaker 1: No, no, no. You wanted to see more. I mean, shoot,
- 6:04Speaker 1: Eagles fans aren't necessarily thrilled with how the offense looked
- 6:07Speaker 1: in Shannon Mannion's debut. And they won and scored at
- 6:13Speaker 1: least 20 points. So the Titans were really, really dry offensively.
- 6:17Speaker 2: Absolutely.
- 6:18Speaker 1: Their offensive line is a problem, by the way. I
- 6:19Speaker 1: know they have their tackle. Well, they got Latham at tackle.
- 6:23Speaker 1: He's a first-rounder. He's been heard. He's not always played great.
- 6:26Speaker 1: And then Skronsky got an extension from them. But overall,
- 6:31Speaker 1: they're not very good on the offensive line.
- 6:33Speaker 2: No, they're not. So it'll be really interesting to see
- 6:36Speaker 2: how the Eagles' defensive line kind of takes advantage of
- 6:40Speaker 2: that opportunity. Right.
- 6:42Speaker 1: All right. So, and by the way, that offensive line,
- 6:44Speaker 1: Eagles offensive line, that's already down a starter. So that's
- 6:47Speaker 1: a big, big topic going in.
- 6:49Speaker 2: Yeah. Especially with Jeffrey Simmons comments.
- 6:52Speaker 1: For sure.
- 6:53Speaker 2: That's very interesting. I mean, honestly, I hope Jalen Hurts
- 6:57Speaker 2: plays quarterback.
- 6:59Speaker 1: So yeah, I'm sure. All right. Eagles offense versus the
- 7:04Speaker 1: Titans defense from an analytical standpoint, what stands out about,
- 7:07Speaker 1: about the EPA for, you know, play pass and rush
- 7:10Speaker 1: for one versus the other.
- 7:11Speaker 2: Yeah, so again, if your defense has a positive EPA,
- 7:16Speaker 2: that is really bad, just to be clear. The good
- 7:20Speaker 2: defensive units have a negative EPA, and so their EPA
- 7:26Speaker 2: per play is higher than what the Eagles' EPA per
- 7:29Speaker 2: play generated last game. So they allowed a lot more points,
- 7:35Speaker 2: expected points added, than the Eagles actually produced. So my
- 7:40Speaker 2: guess is next week, that number for the entire per
- 7:43Speaker 2: play will be somewhere in the middle of that 0.01
- 7:47Speaker 2: and 0.13. Sure. Yeah.
- 7:49Speaker 1: And for those listening, the Titans have a positive EPA
- 7:53Speaker 1: on everything defense per play is 0.13 per pass 0.34. Well,
- 7:57Speaker 1: I should say rush is neutral. It's 0.00. Although you
- 8:00Speaker 1: could definitely make an argument that the Jets did a
- 8:03Speaker 1: nice job running the ball to the edges. against the
- 8:05Speaker 1: Titans defense.
- 8:06Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, again, I think all the
- 8:09Speaker 2: numbers will be somewhere in the middle. I don't think
- 8:12Speaker 2: the Eagles will generate 0.34 EPA per pass, but I
- 8:16Speaker 2: certainly also don't expect them to be minus 0.06.
- 8:21Speaker 1: Correct.
- 8:21Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 8:23Speaker 1: Yeah. Their passing game, you would think would be a
- 8:27Speaker 1: lot better. I think it'll be interesting to see what
- 8:31Speaker 1: their EPA per rush is in this game. I think
- 8:33Speaker 1: we'll really get a good, it was 0.1, as you
- 8:37Speaker 1: mentioned against the commanders, which is how it's positive. So
- 8:40Speaker 1: I guess that's good, but that also incorporates the Jalen
- 8:43Speaker 1: Hurts scrambles.
- 8:44Speaker 2: It does.
- 8:45Speaker 1: I wonder if we can ever get just like EPA
- 8:47Speaker 1: per rush, non quarterback scrambles. I mean, you'd have to
- 8:50Speaker 1: almost do individuals.
- 8:51Speaker 2: Like what was, I would have to calculate it myself. Yeah.
- 8:54Speaker 2: That's the only, only way to actually get that, which
- 8:58Speaker 2: theoretically we could do is just would have to, it
- 9:02Speaker 2: would take a lot of the prep time for sure,
- 9:04Speaker 2: which is fine. It's not a problem. Right.
- 9:05Speaker 1: Right. Well, it doesn't NFL pro don't they have individual,
- 9:09Speaker 1: like if you just went to Saquon Barclays, wouldn't it
- 9:11Speaker 1: have his EPA per run or is that not considered
- 9:14Speaker 1: an individual stat?
- 9:16Speaker 2: Well, they have EPA per player.
- 9:18Speaker 1: Per player.
- 9:19Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 9:19Speaker 1: But that incorporates everything.
- 9:21Speaker 2: It does. Yeah. Yeah.
- 9:23Speaker 3: Okay.
- 9:24Speaker 2: All right. We can talk about that offline. We can move,
- 9:27Speaker 2: see what we got to do. I mean, there's definitely
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- 12:45Speaker 1: How about being the ability to time to throw versus
- 12:47Speaker 1: time to pressure from the Titans defense compared to the
- 12:50Speaker 1: Eagles offense?
- 12:51Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, Hertz is usually in that negative category
- 12:56Speaker 2: just because he has the ability to extend plays. So,
- 12:59Speaker 2: I mean, I guess that is part of what they
- 13:02Speaker 2: try to do with that rhythm and timing is to
- 13:04Speaker 2: try to get him to throw the ball before he's
- 13:07Speaker 2: pressured and not have to extend it as much. But
- 13:11Speaker 2: I mean, they made the Titans made the Jets hold
- 13:15Speaker 2: the ball a little bit longer, which again, this negative 0.13
- 13:20Speaker 2: is not necessarily indicative of anything bad. Obviously not because
- 13:24Speaker 2: they won the game. It It just means that they
- 13:28Speaker 2: were getting pressure before the throw was, on average, they
- 13:31Speaker 2: were getting pressure before the throw was getting out.
- 13:34Speaker 1: So Gino was making a couple of quick, couple of
- 13:37Speaker 1: throws under duress is basically what he said.
- 13:38Speaker 2: Yes. Okay. And the fact that he did that and
- 13:41Speaker 2: still had 0.34 EPA per pass means he handled it
- 13:46Speaker 2: pretty well. Right. That's why you can't just look at
- 13:48Speaker 2: one stat. You have to kind of like see, you
- 13:51Speaker 2: have to look at a couple of stats and say
- 13:52Speaker 2: this stat plus this stat means this, essentially.
- 13:55Speaker 1: Very good. Pressure rate. Eagles offense gave up a pressure.
- 13:59Speaker 1: Is it they gave up a pressure rate of 36.4
- 14:01Speaker 1: against the Commanders? Is that right? And the Titans pressured
- 14:05Speaker 1: the Jets at a 33% rate.
- 14:07Speaker 2: Correct.
- 14:10Speaker 1: Is that a high rate for a total defense? What
- 14:13Speaker 1: is considered a really good pressure rate for a defense?
- 14:15Speaker 2: Yeah, I think for a defense, a really good pressure
- 14:18Speaker 2: rate is anything over like 30%. Okay.
- 14:19Speaker 1: So, again, the Titans did generate some pressure. Geno did
- 14:25Speaker 1: a good job of getting rid of the ball. They
- 14:27Speaker 1: ran the ball well. But it is something to watch
- 14:28Speaker 1: with the Eagles having some of their interior offensive line
- 14:32Speaker 1: banged up right now. And, again, the Titans' best pass
- 14:35Speaker 1: rusher being an interior rusher.
- 14:37Speaker 2: Yeah, but also you have to convert them into sacks. Yep.
- 14:41Speaker 2: And the Titans and Eagles kind of both struggle. I mean,
- 14:45Speaker 2: we'll get to the Eagles' defense eventually because the thing
- 14:48Speaker 2: is the commanders did convert them into sacks, right?
- 14:51Speaker 1: Correct.
- 14:51Speaker 2: They got 10.7% of their 36.4% converting. And then the
- 14:58Speaker 2: Titans subsequently had 0% sack percentage on 33% pressure. So really,
- 15:04Speaker 2: I mean, pressure is great, but you have to convert
- 15:06Speaker 2: it into sacks.
- 15:07Speaker 1: For sure. And this will be an interesting one because
- 15:09Speaker 1: it's like Jalen Hurts is a quarterback who as good
- 15:12Speaker 1: as he is takes and as mobile as he is,
- 15:14Speaker 1: does have a high sack percentage. And again, 10.7 in
- 15:18Speaker 1: game one, right. Which is a high percentage for a quarterback,
- 15:21Speaker 1: I would imagine. And then the Titans did not, they
- 15:24Speaker 1: generated pressure, but did not get any sacks. So it's like,
- 15:26Speaker 1: which one's going to give here in this matchup?
- 15:29Speaker 2: Well, again, I kind of almost want to retract what
- 15:32Speaker 2: I said. It's okay if it doesn't turn into sacks necessarily,
- 15:38Speaker 2: if you can get turnovers off of it or negative
- 15:40Speaker 2: plays or, you know, limits, get them off schedule. But
- 15:43Speaker 2: like sacks are king to some extent. I, I just
- 15:48Speaker 2: want to amend what I said a little bit because
- 15:50Speaker 2: there are other ways that pressure can be very advantageous
- 15:53Speaker 2: for a defense. Right.
- 15:55Speaker 1: But I think your point is on because Jalen doesn't
- 15:58Speaker 1: throw a lot of interceptions. Jalen doesn't fumble a lot,
- 16:00Speaker 1: but he does take a lot of hits and he
- 16:02Speaker 1: does take a lot of sacks. So I do think
- 16:04Speaker 1: for the Titans, getting pressure at a high rate may
- 16:08Speaker 1: not always do that. Other teams, maybe right for the
- 16:11Speaker 1: Titans who are really leaking the, secondary, I think it's
- 16:14Speaker 1: really important that they finish off those pressures and get sacks.
- 16:17Speaker 2: Exactly. Yeah, that's all. Contextually, that's a really good point
- 16:21Speaker 2: as well. Cool.
- 16:22Speaker 1: What do you make of the separation at 2.8 for
- 16:25Speaker 1: the Eagles offense yards per separation and the Titans allowing 4.1?
- 16:28Speaker 1: It's almost like the Eagles didn't have a very high
- 16:32Speaker 1: number of it, but the Titans gave up a lot
- 16:33Speaker 1: of it.
- 16:34Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's going to be really telling this week.
- 16:36Speaker 2: I'd really, really like to see the Eagles number somewhere
- 16:39Speaker 2: in the mid to high threes. I feel really comfortable.
- 16:44Speaker 2: We're at 3.5 for the average separation. I feel like
- 16:49Speaker 2: that would be indicative of a pretty good game for
- 16:51Speaker 2: the Eagles wide receiver core or receiving core. I guess
- 16:54Speaker 2: it doesn't have to just be wide receiver. Yeah.
- 16:56Speaker 1: Yeah. So they were below average. If average is 3.5,
- 16:59Speaker 1: they were at 2.8, but the Titans were at 4.1.
- 17:01Speaker 1: So they were above average and allowing separation. They really
- 17:04Speaker 1: don't have a lot of talent corners. So it'll be
- 17:07Speaker 1: an opportunity to take advantage of for sure. We did
- 17:11Speaker 1: talk about the Eagles' offense and their run success at 40%. Again,
- 17:14Speaker 1: that also counts the scrambles, right?
- 17:17Speaker 2: It does, yeah.
- 17:18Speaker 1: So it's a little bit misleading. Now the Titans don't–
- 17:21Speaker 1: the info wasn't available on that?
- 17:22Speaker 2: So it's really annoying. I hate that it does this,
- 17:25Speaker 2: and I understand why they don't. NFL Pro doesn't keep
- 17:28Speaker 2: that statistic. And the main reason– for defense. And the
- 17:31Speaker 2: main reason they do that is because it is like
- 17:34Speaker 2: almost like a– it's counterintuitive, right? Because if I say
- 17:38Speaker 2: run success for a defense– What is that? The reason
- 17:43Speaker 2: they have the statistic, the reason they don't put it
- 17:45Speaker 2: is because they don't want people to interpret run success
- 17:48Speaker 2: as a defense, meaning that the defense was successful. So
- 17:51Speaker 2: to avoid that confusion, that statistic is not even available.
- 17:55Speaker 2: But I still wanted to put it.
- 17:56Speaker 1: I got it. That's why they have more things like
- 17:59Speaker 1: TFL or run stuff rate because that's a lot more telling.
- 18:03Speaker 2: Because it's hard to misinterpret the stuff rate, right? Because
- 18:07Speaker 2: it's pretty binary. Right. But when you put words like success,
- 18:11Speaker 2: who is the one that is successful? What is success?
- 18:14Speaker 2: It gets a little bit more complicated.
- 18:16Speaker 1: Sure. I think EPA per rush on defense. They do
- 18:19Speaker 1: do that though, right?
- 18:20Speaker 2: They do. Yeah.
- 18:21Speaker 1: That makes a little more sense.
- 18:22Speaker 2: Yeah. Because EPA is, you don't, well, you can score
- 18:26Speaker 2: points on defense, but you know what I mean? It's, it's,
- 18:29Speaker 2: it's a little bit more intuitive than success. Just like
- 18:32Speaker 2: that label. Sure.
- 18:36Speaker 1: And then just to finish off the offense, right, obviously
- 18:38Speaker 1: the Eagles, we talked about how they were stuffed at
- 18:42Speaker 1: a really high rate for them, didn't have as much
- 18:45Speaker 1: success as they wanted, and faced a ton of light
- 18:47Speaker 1: boxes and still didn't really generate a lot in the
- 18:49Speaker 1: run game. Well, the Titans, you can see they did not.
- 18:53Speaker 1: They had light boxes also, but they didn't have as
- 18:56Speaker 1: much success against the run.
- 18:59Speaker 2: Exactly.
- 19:00Speaker 1: They didn't stuff very many runs, I should say.
- 19:02Speaker 2: I knew what you meant, and the thing is, like,
- 19:06Speaker 2: I expect the Eagles stuff rate to probably be in between.
- 19:09Speaker 2: Most of the numbers are going to be in between
- 19:11Speaker 2: these numbers. Yeah.
- 19:14Speaker 1: I would also anticipate the Titans stacking the box at
- 19:17Speaker 1: a higher than 18% rate after.
- 19:19Speaker 2: Also true.
- 19:20Speaker 1: Yeah. I believe that when Robert Sala was head coach
- 19:23Speaker 1: of the jets, they were, they did a lot of that.
- 19:26Speaker 1: They put a lot of guys in the box against
- 19:28Speaker 1: Joe and they won that game. If you remember the
- 19:29Speaker 1: jets beat the, uh, Meet the Eagles a couple of
- 19:32Speaker 1: years ago when Salah was head coach.
- 19:34Speaker 2: I remember because the Eagles had like an undefeated record
- 19:36Speaker 2: against the Jets and then they squandered that. But it
- 19:41Speaker 2: was very interesting that even this long in the history
- 19:43Speaker 2: of the sport of football, there are still teams that
- 19:45Speaker 2: have undefeated record against each other. But I guess it
- 19:47Speaker 2: makes sense when you're opposite conference. and don't play each
- 19:50Speaker 2: other that much. Right. Right.
- 19:53Speaker 1: All right. Eagles defense versus the Titans offense. Now repeat
- 19:56Speaker 1: what you said about defensive EPA.
- 19:59Speaker 2: So here's the thing. If you took the Titans offense
- 20:02Speaker 2: and you put those statistics on the defense, it would
- 20:05Speaker 2: be great. I mean, negative EPA is really, really bad
- 20:10Speaker 2: for an offense. Negative EPA is really, really good for
- 20:13Speaker 2: a defense. Right.
- 20:15Speaker 1: So the Eagles are positive or negative. I mean, even
- 20:19Speaker 1: their positives are very low. They're close to negative. Zero
- 20:22Speaker 1: EPA per play on defense,. 04 per pass, and minus.
- 20:26Speaker 1: 05 per rush. So good job by the Eagles defense.
- 20:30Speaker 1: Titans offense? Minuses all across the board in play and pass, 0.17, 0.29.
- 20:35Speaker 1: And then a positive in the rush, which is 0.11.
- 20:40Speaker 1: So I ran the ball a little bit better than
- 20:43Speaker 1: the box score might have suggested.
- 20:46Speaker 2: Absolutely. And I wonder, I don't remember if they scrambled,
- 20:53Speaker 2: if Cam Ward scrambled that much.
- 20:56Speaker 1: I'm like, I thought he, I think he's not much
- 20:58Speaker 1: of a scrambler, but I think in this game he did,
- 21:00Speaker 1: I believe he did have to get out of jail
- 21:02Speaker 1: and get out, get out of Dodge.
- 21:04Speaker 2: What's whatever the, I know.
- 21:05Speaker 1: Yeah. Get out of Dodge very quickly with some of
- 21:09Speaker 1: those blitzes that the jets Aaron Glenn was cooking up.
- 21:12Speaker 2: Yeah. He had four scrambles for 21 yards. Yeah.
- 21:15Speaker 1: For him, that that's probably a decent game. Cause he
- 21:17Speaker 1: doesn't really look to run that.
- 21:19Speaker 2: Much compared to Jalen's seven for 46. So exactly. But yeah,
- 21:25Speaker 2: that's I mean, that factors in the reason why I
- 21:27Speaker 2: wanted to bring it up is because it does factor
- 21:29Speaker 2: into that rush statistic. Right.
- 21:33Speaker 1: Both offenses were I don't know how you would view it.
- 21:37Speaker 1: I mean, the Titans had far less time to throw,
- 21:40Speaker 1: but got rid of the ball. A lot quicker, right?
- 21:43Speaker 2: Yeah. I would say the Eagles defense did a really
- 21:45Speaker 2: good job of making the throws muddy by getting pressure.
- 21:51Speaker 2: And the Titans, you know, Cam Ward was able to
- 21:54Speaker 2: get the ball out while pressured pretty quickly, at least
- 21:58Speaker 2: quicker than Daniels got the ball out.
- 22:01Speaker 1: Right.
- 22:01Speaker 2: Week one.
- 22:02Speaker 1: Right. What's a good, again, what is a good quarterback
- 22:05Speaker 1: pressure rate for a team, for a defense?
- 22:08Speaker 2: Like I said, 30% is pretty fair. That's a pretty
- 22:11Speaker 2: good indicator, I'd say.
- 22:13Speaker 1: So 50% on the Eagles shows that they were doing
- 22:16Speaker 1: a really good job, at least from the edge, getting
- 22:18Speaker 1: Jalen Daniels off his mark, whereas the Titans being pressured
- 22:23Speaker 1: 41% of the time, meaning they were pressured probably more
- 22:26Speaker 1: than league average.
- 22:27Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. Definitely.
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- 25:53Speaker 2: Definitely, definitely, definitely, which is interesting. And I mean, they,
- 25:57Speaker 2: they also had that they were converted into sacks, right?
- 26:00Speaker 2: I think that's, yeah, that's huge.
- 26:02Speaker 1: That's gotta be a big number, right? The Titans have
- 26:03Speaker 1: an eight, had an 8.6 sacks sack percentage in the
- 26:07Speaker 1: first game.
- 26:08Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
- 26:09Speaker 1: That's like, what did we say? What the Eagles was?
- 26:11Speaker 1: Eagles was 10.7. So I would think anything above like
- 26:15Speaker 1: six is pretty big.
- 26:16Speaker 2: I think that's a really fair number to kind of
- 26:18Speaker 2: look at as a heuristic for sure.
- 26:20Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 26:21Speaker 2: Wow.
- 26:23Speaker 1: Uh, all right. So the Eagles defense allowed, uh, what, well,
- 26:26Speaker 1: what do you make of the separation numbers here?
- 26:28Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, 3.2 is pretty good. Uh, it's definitely
- 26:31Speaker 2: not that the 2.8 number, but it's, it's pretty good. Right. Um,
- 26:36Speaker 2: it's pretty good as a defense to limit to under,
- 26:38Speaker 2: you know, mid five, mid 3.5. Right. And then, but
- 26:42Speaker 2: the Titans were getting open. I mean, they, they had separation.
- 26:45Speaker 2: They just were under duress so much that they couldn't
- 26:47Speaker 2: get the board. Couldn't get the ball out. Right. Yeah.
- 26:50Speaker 1: The Titans have some guys who can get open now.
- 26:52Speaker 2: Right.
- 26:52Speaker 1: I mean, we know Colonel Tate was drafted very high
- 26:54Speaker 1: and we know Wanda Robinson is a very good slot receiver.
- 26:57Speaker 1: He's shifty. He's, He's just like your quintessential slot receiver.
- 27:01Speaker 2: You know my feeling on Wandale Robinson.
- 27:03Speaker 1: Yes, I know. I know you wanted him at Penn State.
- 27:05Speaker 2: I tried really hard.
- 27:07Speaker 1: Yeah, he made a lot of money, and they were
- 27:09Speaker 1: hoping that he would add that dimension to the offense.
- 27:11Speaker 1: He and Tate, I think, both had like 38 yards,
- 27:15Speaker 1: which for their game was the leading. But they can
- 27:19Speaker 1: play if you give Ward time. I think pressure, as
- 27:22Speaker 1: this data show is showing, is really going to be
- 27:26Speaker 1: essential for the Eagles.
- 27:28Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
- 27:30Speaker 1: I'm just going to go back one second. Cam Ward,
- 27:32Speaker 1: when he was not under pressure, was 16-22 for 123
- 27:36Speaker 1: in a touchdown. So that's a big number to me. Like,
- 27:39Speaker 1: he can play if his pocket is clean.
- 27:41Speaker 2: Yeah. And honestly, he can normally play when under pressure.
- 27:46Speaker 2: I just think the way they were finishing, you know,
- 27:48Speaker 2: it was a very efficient defensive effort by the Jets' D-line.
- 27:53Speaker 1: Yeah. So the Jets... So the Titans on offense had
- 27:58Speaker 1: a 0% run stuff, which means they didn't get stopped
- 28:02Speaker 1: behind the line at all, right?
- 28:04Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's at least according to the NFL Pro.
- 28:07Speaker 2: That was the statistic that came out.
- 28:09Speaker 1: And they faced the light box 85% of the time.
- 28:12Speaker 1: So the Jets clearly decided that they could defend the
- 28:15Speaker 1: Titans probably out of a nickel look.
- 28:17Speaker 2: Yep.
- 28:18Speaker 1: Which is what I anticipate. the Eagles will try to
- 28:21Speaker 1: do play mostly nickel, depending on what's going on with
- 28:24Speaker 1: the gene. He says he's going to play. We'll see,
- 28:26Speaker 1: you know?
- 28:26Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, the Eagles are a little bit more
- 28:28Speaker 2: banged up on defense than I think people originally thought. Yeah. Yeah.
- 28:33Speaker 1: But I mean, I guess Carter was dealing with a
- 28:35Speaker 1: wrist injury, you know?
- 28:36Speaker 2: Yeah. Which I hope explains, you know, how his performance
- 28:41Speaker 2: at least last week. So sure. Might be great.
- 28:46Speaker 1: No, the Eagles go ahead.
- 28:48Speaker 2: I'm sorry. They're going to need more from him for sure.
- 28:51Speaker 1: Absolutely. The Eagles did stuff runs at a 16% rate.
- 28:54Speaker 2: Yep.
- 28:56Speaker 1: Where does that fall on league average?
- 28:59Speaker 2: Um, I think the run stuff rate is around 12%.
- 29:03Speaker 2: I want to say, let me, I can verify that
- 29:05Speaker 2: right now.
- 29:06Speaker 1: Yeah, that's fine. I was just curious. Cause I, they
- 29:09Speaker 1: did all right against run. I don't remember a whole
- 29:11Speaker 1: bunch of runs blown up or anything like that though. Um, merit,
- 29:19Speaker 1: I think merit and, uh, Rashad White actually combined for
- 29:22Speaker 1: a hundred yards rushing. So it's not like they average
- 29:25Speaker 1: five yards per run, but they, they move the chains.
- 29:28Speaker 2: All right.
- 29:28Speaker 1: And you're, you're kind of seeing a similar tandem, right.
- 29:31Speaker 1: With Pollard and, and I guess sharp in that, you know,
- 29:38Speaker 1: they're good backs. They're not great. They can do different things.
- 29:42Speaker 1: Pollard used to be explosive back when he was with
- 29:44Speaker 1: the Cowboys, but he's had a lot of injuries.
- 29:47Speaker 2: Yeah, he has. By the way, league average is around, like, 14%.
- 29:51Speaker 1: Okay. So the Eagles are a little bit above league
- 29:54Speaker 1: average there. There you go. The Eagles did not stack
- 29:57Speaker 1: the box at all, much against the Commanders at 6.3%.
- 30:01Speaker 1: I imagine they probably will not do that against the
- 30:04Speaker 1: Titans either.
- 30:05Speaker 2: Agreed. I mean, that's just Fangio defense. You're not going
- 30:08Speaker 2: to see it so much. Right.
- 30:10Speaker 1: All right. So having said all that and broken it down, Sam,
- 30:14Speaker 1: what are you thinking?
- 30:15Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the Eagles will comfortably win this game. Yeah?
- 30:19Speaker 2: They should. Yeah. On paper, you know, if I had
- 30:24Speaker 2: the spreadsheet in front of me Any model I built,
- 30:27Speaker 2: I feel very comfortable that the Eagles should win this
- 30:30Speaker 2: game by a decent margin. But at the same time,
- 30:34Speaker 2: you know, stats don't play football and models don't play football.
- 30:37Speaker 2: So we'll have to see what happens. I do think
- 30:39Speaker 2: it's interesting that the Eagles are, they're going down tomorrow
- 30:44Speaker 2: to acclimate the climate, which they did in the Tampa Bay, right?
- 30:49Speaker 2: Those games.
- 30:50Speaker 1: They're going out today. You know, the show comes out
- 30:52Speaker 1: on Friday, so it's today.
- 30:53Speaker 2: Oh, right. Yes. Cause it's coming on Friday. Yeah. Yeah.
- 30:55Speaker 1: Correct.
- 30:57Speaker 2: I forgot about that part.
- 30:58Speaker 1: What is one data point that you're going to be
- 31:02Speaker 1: really interested in after this game that you're looking forward
- 31:05Speaker 1: to seeing?
- 31:06Speaker 2: That's a really good question. There's a, there's a couple
- 31:09Speaker 2: that are really would know.
- 31:10Speaker 1: I just want one. I just want one. That's the,
- 31:12Speaker 1: come on. That's why we ask the tough questions here
- 31:14Speaker 1: on inside.
- 31:15Speaker 2: You do. I think I would really like to see
- 31:18Speaker 2: the EPA per pass on the Eagle side, on the
- 31:21Speaker 2: Eagle side. Yeah, I agree.
- 31:24Speaker 1: I think that's a really good one. They got to
- 31:25Speaker 1: get it going. Got to see some signs of progress.
- 31:29Speaker 2: That would make me, if that number is, you know, 0.05
- 31:36Speaker 2: or more, I'd feel pretty good.
- 31:39Speaker 1: I like it. Great stuff.
- 31:40Speaker 2: What about you? Let's throw it right back at you.
- 31:43Speaker 1: One data point. Well, I think they have to get
- 31:48Speaker 1: this run game going. So even though I agree with
- 31:49Speaker 1: you about the pass, I'll probably be looking at, Either
- 31:52Speaker 1: EPA per run or run stuff rate, especially with the
- 31:56Speaker 1: change at left guard.
- 31:57Speaker 2: Run success rate, I think, might be a better. That's right.
- 32:00Speaker 1: Run success rate.
- 32:01Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
- 32:01Speaker 1: Run stuff is almost like negative. I really mean more positively.
- 32:05Speaker 1: Do they have success with it?
- 32:06Speaker 2: Yeah. They kind of work together, right? They do.
- 32:09Speaker 1: They go hand in hand.
- 32:09Speaker 2: You could do either one and feel comfortable. But maybe
- 32:12Speaker 2: next week we can talk about how we felt about
- 32:15Speaker 2: it a little bit.
- 32:16Speaker 1: Love it.
- 32:16Speaker 2: Love it.
- 32:17Speaker 1: All right. Great preview. Great job with the charts. Everybody listening,
- 32:20Speaker 1: I think we gave you a good understanding of how
- 32:22Speaker 1: this matchup is from an analytics standpoint. And now it's
- 32:25Speaker 1: left for the Eagles and Titans to play the game
- 32:27Speaker 1: on Sunday. For Sam Finkel, I'm Jeff Mosher. You've been
- 32:30Speaker 1: watching Inside the Data on Inside the Birds.