Perfect72
It's Only Happened ONCE!
The Dolphins look like a different team heading into this December as opposed to a year ago. What’s different? Let’s look at the numbers.
Some numbers are obvious and don't even take into account the full impact of the past six games. Rushing, for instance. The Dolphins average a sixth-best 116 yards rushing this year as opposed to 93.5 yards (23rd) last year. That is a prime difference from a year ago. Here are five others:
1. Opponent third-down conversions. Vance Joseph is doing some good work on the defensive side. A year ago, the Dolphins defense ranked 28[SUP]th[/SUP] in the league by allowing opponents to convert third downs into first downs 43.4 percent of the time. This year, the Dolphins defense ranks first in the league at 33.3 percent. That’s a near-worst-to-first change that tells a big reason for the turnaround.
2. Points per game. Ultimately, this is the only stat that matters. The Dolphins’ offense has gone from 19.4 points a game (27[SUP]th[/SUP] in league) last year to 22.6 this year (17[SUP]th[/SUP]). Let’s not go crazy with this improvement as they scored 24.3 points in 2014. But couple what the offense is doing with what the defense is doing to understand this year’s turnaround. Last year, the defense gave up 24.3 points a game (19[SUP]th[/SUP]). This year, it averages 21.8 points (16[SUP]th[/SUP]). So the offense is scoring 3.2 points more a game and the defense is giving up 2.5 less a game. Together, they explain why they’re 7-4 right now.
3. Ryan Tannehill. No surprise here that every significant number is up. Because it's a year-long view it doesn't even cover the fact he's thrown just one interception on this six-game win streak. Let’s look at his numbers:
2015 vs 2016
Yards/att 7.2 vs 7.8
Rating 88.9 vs 94.4
3rd-down rating 75.7 vs 93.5
4[SUP]th[/SUP] qtr rating 81.2 vs 94.8
More at LINK: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/...aveHyde-blog+(Dave+Hyde+|+Sun+Sentinel+blogs)
Some numbers are obvious and don't even take into account the full impact of the past six games. Rushing, for instance. The Dolphins average a sixth-best 116 yards rushing this year as opposed to 93.5 yards (23rd) last year. That is a prime difference from a year ago. Here are five others:
1. Opponent third-down conversions. Vance Joseph is doing some good work on the defensive side. A year ago, the Dolphins defense ranked 28[SUP]th[/SUP] in the league by allowing opponents to convert third downs into first downs 43.4 percent of the time. This year, the Dolphins defense ranks first in the league at 33.3 percent. That’s a near-worst-to-first change that tells a big reason for the turnaround.
2. Points per game. Ultimately, this is the only stat that matters. The Dolphins’ offense has gone from 19.4 points a game (27[SUP]th[/SUP] in league) last year to 22.6 this year (17[SUP]th[/SUP]). Let’s not go crazy with this improvement as they scored 24.3 points in 2014. But couple what the offense is doing with what the defense is doing to understand this year’s turnaround. Last year, the defense gave up 24.3 points a game (19[SUP]th[/SUP]). This year, it averages 21.8 points (16[SUP]th[/SUP]). So the offense is scoring 3.2 points more a game and the defense is giving up 2.5 less a game. Together, they explain why they’re 7-4 right now.
3. Ryan Tannehill. No surprise here that every significant number is up. Because it's a year-long view it doesn't even cover the fact he's thrown just one interception on this six-game win streak. Let’s look at his numbers:
2015 vs 2016
Yards/att 7.2 vs 7.8
Rating 88.9 vs 94.4
3rd-down rating 75.7 vs 93.5
4[SUP]th[/SUP] qtr rating 81.2 vs 94.8
More at LINK: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/...aveHyde-blog+(Dave+Hyde+|+Sun+Sentinel+blogs)
