jumping in, if I may

by Three D, Thursday, March 05, 2009, 10:22 (6291 days ago) @ LaFortune Teller

The benchmarks listed apply nicely when you have a ball-control offense but don't even fit into the philosophy of a large-chunks-of-yard offense, of which there are plenty.

In other words, success or failure in a ball-control offense, whether that is moving the ball through ground or air, is aligned with those metrics. Or, you could turn that around and say that those metrics align with (and might be derived from) the bountiful ball-control offenses in the game.

However, there exist a handful of offenses that are not ball-control but vertical stretch offenses. Success on a given play isn't dependent upon "down & distance" because most plays, if successful, have the potential to break more than 10 yards. The philosophy is to be 'just successful enough' to string together enough almost successful plays (2,3,4 yard gains) to hold a drive together until a big-play occurs. In this philosophy, the metrics you listed don't even make sense. I'm not inclined to argue in support of this philosophy, but it does exist.

I guess this doesn't really add much to your point other than a sidebar to consider.