Wizard of Ahs

I think that's what SI called the great TE and current Ravens' GM Ozzie Newsome once. I had a chance to talk to him in the press box on Sunday about stats the Ravens use to more objectively measure their on-field performance.But I could tell by Ozzie's sideways glance at me that the Ravens are more interested in hitting people in the mouth than any numbers that could be crunched by geeks like me. And there's always something to be said for hitting someone in the mouth in football.

Seriously, Ozzie thought total yards were more important than any yards-per-attempt equation in both running and passing. I get the sense that the Ravens are a team that some of the stat-savvy teams accuse of playing to the NFL rankings, which have long been based strictly on total yardage.

He couldn't understand why an interception could be more impactful on winning or losing than a fumble. For a while there, it was like we reversed roles. His, "Who cares about the whys of statistics when we're keeping score," was replaced by my, "Who cares why interceptions are more impactful, they just are." I tried to explain that fumbles can sometimes be a sign of strength in that the team that runs the most is usually winning and thus more likely to fumble. But I could tell I was losing him like he lost so many linebackers between the hashmarks. So, I quickly switched the topic to the "move" stat, which is runs plus completions. That he liked a lot. I didn't have the heart to tell him that the Ravens entered Sunday ranked a pedestiran 16th in that category.

He also agreed with Parcells (who wasn't named because, if he was, people would always agree with him) that sack yardage is more important than total sacks. Then I asked him to choose between three three-yard sacks and one 10-yard sack. His silence suggested that he preferred the former. Or maybe he was just looking for a security guard.

Then Ozzie came alive in suggesting that I focus on red zone stats. He thinks all these plays are much more consequential in the red zone and that should be assessed individually. Off the top of my head, I asked if he thought that points per red zone possessions on offense minus that same cateory on defense would suffice. He liked that. Now I have to see if that data is available through conventional means.