Kornheiser: Just look at points

I'm an avid fan of PTI, but Tony Kornheiser was way off the mark when he said that the only offensive stat that matters is point per game. The subject came up because, despite being 6th in yards per game, the Denver Broncos are 26th in the NFL in scoring. One problem for the Broncos is that they are dead last in starting field position.

Kornheiser is on the right track. For a team, the only stat that really matters is your record. Wins and losses are determined by points scored compared to points allowed (on a game by game basis). It's pretty simple. But, it is not right to say that the Broncos have the 26th best offense based on the Broncos being 26th in scoring. It's not that simple.

Yesterday, Vinny Testaverde and the Carolina Panthers chewed through 11 minutes on their first drive against the Colts. If the Panthers had been able to replicate that drive on each of their drives in the game, the Colts offense wouldn't have had enough opportunities to rack up their usual points and yards. So, obviously, offense and defense are related.

Additionally, defense and special teams can create easy opportunities for the offense to score (or take the load off the offense by scoring themselves). The longer you have to drive to score, the more likely you are to make a drive killing mistake.

This doesn't apply to the Patriots, but some teams take their foot off the gas when they are way up. Thus, it is possible that a lights out defense actually works against an offense at times. Not that being way up in games and cruising to victory is a bad thing.

I agree with Tony that looking at yards per game is a bad way to quantify offensive effectiveness. But, points per game alone isn't much better.