Playoff Stat Update

Turnover Battles for the Playoffs

Winner	+/-	Loser
DAL	+3	PHI
NYJ	+2	CIN
BAL	+2	NE
ARI	+2	GB
IND	+3	BAL
MIN	+3	DAL
NO	+2	ARI
NYJ	+1	SD
NO	+4	MIN
IND	E	NYJ
Totals for Playoffs	9-0-1, 100%

Table Tutorial

The winning team won the turnover battle in every game of this postseason (except the Colts tying the Jets). This is not a likely result, but it's probably more understandable than you might think. Consider it: For a team to win a game despite losing the turnover battle, they usually have to amass a considerable advantage in total yards. In the playoffs, the teams are much closer in talent, making it much harder to gain that advantage. They are so closely matched that it is not surprising that the game would come down to a few key plays and it is further not surprising that those plays would mostly be turnovers.

100 Yard Rushers

Name	Team	Opp	Yards	W/L
Cedric Benson	CIN	NYJ	169	L
Ray Rice	BAL	NE	159	W
Felix Jones	DAL	PHI	148	W
Shonn Greene	NYJ	CIN	135	W
Shonn Greene	NYJ	SD	128	W
Adrian Peterson	MIN	NO	122	L
Totals for Playoffs				4-2, 67%

Table Tutorial

During the regular season, running backs turned out 100-yard performances at about a 22% rate (unneccessary explanation you might want to skip: there were 32 teams playing in 16 games each, so 256 actual games, since the teams were playing each other, but 512 opportunities for a team to produce a 100-yard rusher. Running backs capitalized on that 112 times. Thus the 22% rate). There have been 10 games so far in the playoffs with six rushers, so that rate is considerably higher than the season average. I don't think I have a definitive answer to explain all of this. Some of it is probably just small sample size. Another element is probably that the bad running teams that are unlikely to have a 100-yard rusher have been eliminated. It's possible to make the playoffs with a bottom-of-the-barrel running game, like the Colts did, but it's difficult. Everything else you do has to be pretty stellar. Still, those don't totally explain the rate nearly tripling. It's funny how sports happen.
As to the win percentage, it's right in line with the regular season. Reassuringly so.

300 Yard Passers

Name	Team	Opponent	Yards	W/L
Aaron Rodgers	GB	ARI	423	L
Kurt Warner	ARI	GB	379	W
Peyton Manning	IND	NYJ	377	W
Brett Favre	MIN	NO	310	L
Totals for Playoffs				2-2, 50%

Table Tutorial

We again have the same effect as with the 100-yard rushers. 300-yard passers occurred at about a 19% rate in the regular season, while they jumped to a 40% rate in the playoffs. Not as much as the rushers, but still by quite a bit, and I think for the same reasons. Great players carry their teams to the playoffs, and once there, they continue to be great. That manifests itself in racking up excellent performances at a higher rate. It just reminds us all how awesome the playoffs are. Cherish them, friends.