TXHawk
New member
TXHawk":1kmvv61a said:Check this out: http://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/blog/?p=2932
Someone did a study of fumble tendencies and apparently the number of times the Patriots fumbled dropped dramatically beginning in 2007 and have been so abnormally off the charts for a cold weather non-dome team as to be nearly statistically impossible.
It looks to me like they've been deflating footballs since 2007.
It looks like the server that was on has been crashing. Here's a tweet with one of the charts from it.
[tweet]https://twitter.com/kevinshockey/status/558384546576490496[/tweet]
And a quote from it:
I actually went back and researched 5 year periods for the entire NFL over the last 25 years. The Patriots ratio of 187 plays to 1 fumble is the BEST of ANY team in the NFL for ANY 5 year span of time over the last 25 years. Not was it just the best, it wasn’t close:
2010-2014 Patriots: 187 plays/fumble
2009-2013 Patriots: 156 plays/fumble
2006-2010 Colts: 156 plays/fumble
2005-2009 Colts: 153 plays/fumble
2007-2011 Patriots: 149 plays/fumble
2008-2012 Patriots: 148 plays/fumble
2010-2014 Texans: 140 plays/fumble
2004-2008 Colts: 139 plays/fumble
2006-2010 Jets: 135 plays/fumble
1999-2003 Chiefs: 134 plays/fumble
So since 2007 the Patriots have had four of the top six fumble ratios over a five year period with 2010-2014 being the best in the past 25 years by a WIDE margin. Prior to 2007 they were about league average or below with the same coach/QB combo. Coincidentally or not, 2007 is also the year that Brady's passing numbers exploded over previous years and that was his seventh season as a starter. It's almost as if the Patriots' footballs suddenly developed more grip in 2007 which just also happened to be the year that the league changed the rules to allow teams to supply their own game balls, whether at home or on the road.