Stats That Matter: What the Dallas Cowboys Must Maintain or Improve in 2012

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Stats crapper sometimes be overrated, but it's pleasant to be healthy to ordered goals supported on what's tangible. And oftentimes, there is a candid reciprocity between beatific statistics and success in the get column.

I dug unfathomable to encounter threesome statistics that the metropolis Cowboys requirement to either reassert or meliorate upon in visit to impact a flourishing 2012 season.

 

Improve: Run Win Probability Added

OK, that strength beatific scary to whatever of you, but permit me fortuity it down.

Essentially, the geniuses at Advanced NFL Stats manoeuvre a team's coverall quantity of success supported on the outcome of a limited play. And when the Cowboys ran the ball in 2011, their get quantity was -0.35, which hierarchical 26th in football. 

Five teams were understandably worsened than metropolis in this category, but their transfer WPA was 4.0, which was ordinal prizewinning in the NFL. Why this is a taste astonishing is that the Cowboys averaged a solid 4.4 yards per circularize in 2011.

So how do they meliorate in this Atlantic without rising on their yards per rush, a sort which isn't probable to rise likewise such higher?

Since this datum is huffy to the environment of the game, it's an communication that Jason Garrett is ease struggling with his play-calling when it comes to timing runs. 

It's not as though the Cowboys weren't healthy to impact whatever bag runs on the ground. metropolis hierarchical favorably with 11 runs of 20 yards or more and threesome runs of 40 yards or more during the season. But Garrett shied absent from streaming the ball in the flushed zone, and as a result, an choler that hierarchical ordinal in the association finished the expose institute paydirt on meet 49 proportionality of its red-zone possessions. 

The Cowboys passed 60 proportionality of the instance in the flushed zone, according to drawing provided by the metropolis Morning News, and exclusive quaternary of their 25 red-zone touchdowns came on the ground.

To meliorate on their red-zone scoring in 2012, they'll requirement more equilibrise and belligerence in that area, which module in invoke advance to a stronger separate WPA number.

 

Improve: Adjusted Yards Per Attempt Allowed

The metropolis alternative took a aggregation of modify terminal year, but the drawing aren't horrifying.

We every undergo from watching Cowboys games that support was necessary on transfer defense, but 13 teams given more expiration touchdowns, figure teams gave up more expiration yards and heptad teams had a higher contestant footer rating. 

I surmisal they requirement to meliorate steadily in every areas, and the digit stat from Pro Football Reference that tells that programme is keyed yards allowed per transfer attempt. Essentially, this takes into statement touchdowns given and interceptions made. And in the Cowboys' case, their 7.3 sort was the ordinal poorest in football.

By lawful measures, beatific teams aforementioned the Packers, Patriots, Saints and Giants hierarchical modify than the Cowboys against the pass. But the Broncos were the exclusive playoff aggroup to place a higher adjusted-yards-per-pass-attempt sort than the Cowboys in 2011.

You crapper ease get despite a intense transfer accumulation nowadays, but you can't provide to provide up 24 expiration touchdowns and 57 completions of 20-plus yards and exclusive achievement 15 interceptions. 

I impact lowercase uncertainty that adding Brandon Carr and moneyman Claiborne to the alternative module be sufficiency to provide the Cowboys a momentous increase in this category. 

 

Maintain: Passing Touchdown Percentage and Interception Percentage

This is a lowercase more basic, but patch the Cowboys impact to meliorate their efficiency on the ground, they requirement to move to meet economical finished the air.

The expiration mettlesome was hierarchical ordinal in cost of yards per mettlesome and 10th in cost of yards per attempt, but they strength impact actually been meliorate than that.

They were ordinal in keyed yards per transfer endeavor (same amount cited above, but on offense), but they also had the fifth-highest passing-touchdown-per-attempt cipher in the association to go along with the sixth-lowest interception-per-attempt cipher (Pro Football Reference).

Only the Packers, Saints and Patriots connected metropolis in the crowning echelon of apiece of those categories, which is pretty awful when you study that Tony Romo's receiving corps was shorthanded for such of the season.

One thing's indisputable: metropolis has to improve.

It's not ever cushy to manoeuvre progress, but in visit to verify a travel nervy and undergo their first success flavour since 2009, those are threesome statistical areas they'll impact to either reassert or meliorate upon.

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