Saturday, 18 January 2014
Statistically speaking: A preview of the AFC Championship Game solely through numbers
Posted on 08:21 by RAJA BABU
As the long awaited AFC Title Game sits so tantalizingly close to us Go, Titletown looks at some key stats and trends that might play a role in this game.
New England Patriots (12-4-0, AFC East Champions, 2nd seed)
Denver Broncos (13-3-0, AFC West Champions, 1st seed)
The History...
Tom Brady has never lost to a defense coached by current Broncos defensive coordinator, Jack Delrio. He has pitched an 8-0 record with no interceptions thrown.
Bill Belichick is 2-1 against Peyton Manning in the playoffs and has held the star QB to just 18.33 points per game in those 3 playoff games
In 3 Brady vs Manning playoff games, Brady has outscored Manning 78-55
Two quarterbacks have respective TD/INT lines of 3/2 for Brady and 2/6 for Peyton Manning in their 3 games vs one another.
In the biggest game of John Fox vs Bill Belichick Bill beat John in the Panthers 32-29 in the 2003 Super Bowl.
The Last Time They met...
The Patriots pulled off the biggest comeback in franchise history erasing a 23 point half time deficit en route to a thrilling OT win.
In that game, Tom Brady out dueled Manning by throwing for 354 passing yards over the 150 Manning threw for. Brady tossed 3 touchdowns to the 2 thrown by Manning and the 1 interception.
After fumbling 3 times in the first quarter, Stephan Ridley and LeGarette Blount were both benched as the Patriots run game rushed for just 116 yards in the game. By comparison, top Denver rusher, Knowshon Moreno alone rushed for 224 yards on 37 carries in the game.
Julian Edelman led the game in receptions as well as yards hauling in 9 passes for 110 yards and 2 touchdowns.
And now the big one...
Since these two teams week 12 game, the Patriots have actually outscored the Broncos by a margin of 190 to 177.
The running game of the Patriots is drastically better than that of the Broncos. Since week 12, a combination of LeGarrette Blount and Stephan Ridley have rushed for 914 yards, that is 239 more than the 675 rushed by Denver.
According to Sports Center's twitter feed, of the 3 times Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have met in the playoffs the home team has not only won every time but also has won the Super Bowl.
At last check, Sports Illustrated is reporting the odds for this one as being -5.5 for Denver. That signals that the Broncos are a heavy favorite.
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