Efficiency Indicators Explained
Point/Possession: This is fairly obvious. I take the net offensive points and divide it by the number of meaningful possessions. In this game, there was no secondary scoring (D/ST points) and Denver had 2 possessions that didn't count because all they did was kneel down.
Points/Play and Points/Yard: These stats take the number of net offensive points and divide it by the total number of meaningful plays and yards. In essence, the number is a percentage. The easiest way to read the score for these stats is to read it as "30.00" points per 100 plays or "5.00" points per 100 yards.
Negative Plays: This is also a percentage that takes the number of plays that end in negative yards (pass play, run and sack, even though some are for 0 yards) and divides it by the total number of meaningful plays.
Points and Yards Efficiency (PYE): This measures points per possession and yards gained. The Pts/Poss total stays the same and add a weighted total of the percentage of yards gained compared to the possible yards gained based on average starting field position. This helps us measure how efficient teams were at scoring and how efficient they were at moving the ball.
Points %: This takes the percentage of possessions that ended in a touchdown and adds a weighted value to possessions that ended in a field goal.
Yards %: This is a percentage of a the total yards gained divided by the total possible yards.
Team QBR: This includes points/play, turnovers, 3rd/4th down conversion, negative plays and special teams scoring into a rating that measures total team success. Teams with the higher Team QBR for the game end up winning it around 90% of the time.
Here are the 4 charts for Denver's home game against KC.
MISC Stats KC DEN
SCORING KC DEN
Rushing Attempts 26 18
Rushing Tds 2 0
Rushing Yards 91 89
Passing Tds 0 3
Rushing YPC 3.50 4.94
Defensive Tds 0 0
3D/4D Conversions 11 4
Defensive Safeties 0 0
3D/4D Attempts 17 9
Special Teams Tds 0 0
Failed 4D Attempts 1 0
Special Teams Safeties 0 0
Punts Blocked 0 0
Offensive Extra Points 2 3
Fgs Blocked/Missed 1 0
Offensive 2-Pt Conv. 0 0
On-Side Kick Recovery 0 0
Defensive Extra Points 0 0
Penalties 7 11
Defensive 2-Pt Conv. 0 0
Penalty Yards 62 71
Spec. Teams Extra Pts 0 0
Fumbles Lost 0 0
Spec. Teams 2-Pt Conv. 0 0
Meaningful Possessions 7 7
Field Goals 1 1
Total Plays 75 46
Total Score 17 24
Meaningful Plays 75 45
Net Offensive Points 17 24
Kneel Downs/Rushes 0 1
Defensive Points 0 0
Kneel Down Yards 0 -1
Special Teams Points 0 0
Total Yards 380 326
Red Zone Conversions 2 3
Yards Per Play 5.07 7.24
Red Zone Attempts 4 4
Negative Pass Plays 2 1
Goal to Go Conversions 2 2
Negative Run Plays 2 2
Goal to Go Attempts 4 3
Total Turnovers 2 0
Starting Field Position 178 161
Average 25.4 23.0
QB STATS KC DEN
Rushing Attempts 5 0
Rushing Yards 42 0
Completions 26 21
Passing Attempts 42 26
Passing Yards 255 242
Sacks 2 1
Sack Yards Lost 8 5
Passing Tds 0 3
Rushing Tds 0 0
Interceptions 0 0
Fumbles Lost 0 0
Safeties 0 0
Yards Per Attempt 5.90 8.81
Quarterback Rating 59.65 175.78
EFFICIENCY INDICATORS KC DEN
Points Per Possession 2.43 3.43
Points Per Play (%) 22.67 53.33
Points Per Yard (%) 4.47 7.36
Negative Plays 8.00 8.89
Points/Yards Eff. (PYE) 4.61 5.24
Points % 33.33 47.62
Yards % 72.80 60.48
Team QBR 68.27 114.56
Observations
Denver ran the ball much better against KC than they did against IND. I understand KC lost a bunch of key defenders, but Denver has struggled to run successfully against many teams over the past couple of seasons, whether they appeared to be good or not. In this game, Denver averaged 4.94 YPC compared to only 3.75 against IND.
It may appear that Denver didn't try to run the ball very often (with only 18 rushing attempts), but Denver ran only 45 meaningful plays. The 18 rushing attempts accounted for 40% of the offensive plays, which leads me to my next point.
Denver's offense was incredibly efficient, scoring 24 points on only 7 meaningful possessions (3.43 Pts/Poss). Denver's offense in 2013, for comparison, had a Net Pts/Poss total of 2.98.
Unfortunately, that means the KC offense also had a pretty good day, efficiency-wise. They scored 17 points on only 7 meaningful possessions (2.43 Pts/Poss). That score would have ranked 2nd in the NFL last season. Denver may have made some plays on defense, but allowing 17 points on only 7 possessions is horrible.
One of the biggest issues for Denver's defense was its performance on 3rd and 4th down, where KC converted 11 of 17 (0 for 1 on 4th down). It is true that Denver was pretty good on 1st and 2nd downs, but if the other team converts third downs 68.8% of the time, that becomes irrelevant. Denver, meanwhile, only converted 4 of 9 3rd/4th downs. That needs to improve, especially at home against a team that is hogging the ball.
This game was simply sloppy in almost every way, and kind of resembled a preseason game. The penalties (11) have got to go, especially because it seems they always happen at the worst times (pick-6). This is preventable and fixable, but the coaching staff should be making the entire team run wind-sprints all week for playing like a bunch of rookies out there. At some point, the team has got to become more disciplined.
However, Denver had no turnovers in this game after only have one in game one against IND (on-side kick). Meanwhile, KC had 2 (missed FG, turnover on downs). Denver was not very good last season and so far has been very good in this department for 2014 (+5).
Teams that win the QB battles win the game about 83% of the time, and Denver's QBR with Manning and Co. was 175.78, which is ridiculously efficient. Despite forcing a turnover by KC's QB, Denver only allowed a QBR of 59.65, which is very good. I am not defending the Denver defensive scheme, because it allowed the KC offense to get into position for their RB to score 2 touchdowns, but they did do a decent job limiting QB A. Smith on many of the plays throughout the game.
Although Denver only scored 1 more touchdown than KC, they ran 30 fewer plays than KC. Since Denver did "force" two turnovers (yes, missed field goals are like turnovers even if they aren't really forced), Denver limited the impact of the long drives by KC. As a result, KC's offensive Pts/Play score was only 22.67 (meaning their net offensive points scored was only 22.67% of their meaningful plays run on offense). Denver, on the other hand, was very efficient on offense with a score of 53.33. Again, just like the Pts/Poss score, this score exceed the score Denver's offense had for 2013.
Denver did score a good percentage of the points that were possible (47.62%), but they did not gain a ton of yards. KC actually gained a higher % of yards/possible yards (72.80 KC - 60.48 DEN). I say (or type) this all of the time - yards are mostly meaningless. I say mostly, because if Denver's defense had been stingier on third downs, then they would have had more possessions and, most likely, more points. However, in general, yards totals in a vacuum are rather meaningless.
In the end, after everything had been calculated, Denver's defense allowed a Team QBR score of 68.27, almost 25 points higher than the score they allowed against IND last week. Even though IND scored 7 more points against DEN than KC did, they also had 5 more meaningful possessions and 2 more turnovers. Denver's defense was simply average against KC. They did some things well and some things very poorly.
Offensively, Denver's Team QBR score of 114.56 was excellent, and over 17 points higher in this score than it was against IND. Denver's offense wasn't perfect, but they played very well (when they were on the field).