RolandDeschain":15zt5hr8 said:
68% over three years? I don't remember that specific number. Got linkage?
Apparently from 2003 to 2008 (five year sample), the win rate for teams with the time of possession advantage was 65.4%.
http://www.stampedeblue.com/2009/4/14/8 ... ctors-time
Not surprising. Time of possession can sometimes be a causality stat (meaning that a team won time of possession because they were running the clock out late after establishing a big lead earlier in the game for reasons that had nothing to do with ball control). So that stat has to be taken with a grain of salt.
Of course, in instances when TOP isn't being deceptive, it is a great stat for illustrating how well a team controlled the game. Teams that control a game usually win, as we've seen up close and personal the last couple years with SF and SEA.
You can tell that TOP matters to Pete. He orders his QBs to snap the ball when the play clock is almost up, and his team led the NFL by far in rush percentage last year. Pete is obsessed with a controlling style of football. Because he knows how hard it is to beat.
34.6% of winners lose TOP. In those instances, teams won by methods other than control. There are many ways to win a football game, but winning by control seems to have the numbers on its side.
The Vikings, especially with Ponder, are a team that hopes to win with control (because putting the game on Ponder's shoulders isn't exactly the greatest game plan). But playing a control style of game requires a certain amount of effectiveness and talent. The 1992 Seahawks were a control type of team too, and they went 2-14 because their QBs were historically bad.