15. Stat Kings & Cinderella NFL Teams - Our First Stats-Based Episode!

0:11I'm Victoria. I'm Giovanna. The game's on. Welcome back to another episode of your favorite football-based podcast by the girls for everyone, the game. Welcome to our new format this week. So Tuesday, we had a yap and recap, talking casually about the game episode. Today, we are diving a little bit deeper into stats, storylines, and headlines. So we are going to give you what we are calling four downs. So a down for every topic in the stats world. And And we're very excited to dive into kind of more details on gameplay, talk a little bit more specifically about players and what's going on and give you more about the game that you love to watch.

0:58So thank you for being here. Also, just a huge thank you for being a part of our community, being here with us and listening in every single week. We're so grateful for you. We're having a great time and we hope that you are loving it as well. So without further ado, we're going into our first down, the stat king, who is dominating right now? Yeah. And it's interesting because I feel like the obvious answer is looking at this Colts offense team, starting with Daniel Jones at quarterback. I mean, he's leading the league with 2 ,659 passing yards. That in itself, and like, mind you, we're only mid-season.

1:38That in itself is crazy because it's Daniel Jones. Like for me, thinking that Daniel Jones would have 2 ,600 passing yards in this season is insane. And then you have the running back with Jonathan Taylor, who is also going off and has 1 ,139 rushing yards on the season so far. He's already broken NFL records. He's already broken Colts team records. And so that is like a given when it comes to like who's dominating right now, looking at Daniel Jones and his counterpart, Jonathan Taylor on the Colts offense. Yeah. And he's not only had, you know, 2 ,600 plus passing yards, 69.9 % completion rating, 15 touchdowns so far this season.

2:27And the weapon like Jonathan Taylor on the team, like I said, in the Monday episode at the game, the only name I felt like we heard over the loudspeaker was Jonathan Taylor, Jonathan Taylor, Jonathan Taylor. So you really can't talk about players that are statistically playing extremely well, not even just objectively playing well without talking about the Colts offensive team. And Daniel Jones, like he was, I would venture to say, barely to not even on the map in in previous years. And both of them just kind of broke out out of nowhere. Very much Cinderella story. And even in a tough game like they had against the Falcons last week, we're watching them thrive and be able to pull out a win.

3:15And it's very similarly to how we praise the Chiefs, right, is even at the end of the game, the Chiefs are very much able. and Patrick Mahomes is able to make a play when it matters. And, you know, Daniel Jones and the Colts were able to show that they were able to make it happen even at the, you know, nth hour and then even in overtime as well. So 15 touchdowns, the 2 ,600 passing yards are obviously huge, but they're also showing team quality that just doesn't come around that often. And he was previously known as turnover prone. And this year has thrown much fewer turnovers than in previous years.

3:59So seven interceptions this season so far. Maybe not the perfect number, but in, what are we in, week 13? Not the best, not the worst, but definitely not turnover prone with his ability to actually get a touchdown. Yeah. No, I think we're going into week 11. but I also have to shout out Alec Pierce who's probably when when you look at this Colts offense they're not like there's not a clear number one guy and it's like similarly it's like the Packers they spread the ball around a lot and like this Colts offense runs like that so they have Michael Pittman Josh Downs and Alec Pierce all really good wide receivers on this Colts team but Alec Pierce is like kind of starting to be this game changer for Daniel Jones.

4:50Right now, Alec is currently averaging in the 2025 season, 20.9 yards. He has 585 yards total, 28 receptions. He only has one touchdown, but if you look at the yards and like how much he's averaging, I think that kind of gives you like an idea of how much of a impact he is on this team. He's not going to get in the end zone, but he's going to make those big plays. And like a lot of those passing yards that Daniel Jones has are because of Alec Pierce can go up and get the ball. So I really like Alex Pierce on this team as well. Yeah, I agree. And I think that, you know, the league is changing in a couple of ways.

5:29One is with rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, using running backs a little bit more aggressively than maybe before. But we're also seeing many teams have multiple weapons on their offense. It is not just a quarterback and his receiver anymore. It is multiple receivers. How dynamic can you be? How many people can make a play? And I think Alec Pierce, along with Jonathan Taylor, along with running backs on the team, are showing that diversity and ability to be successful, like we talked about some of the other top teams in the league, the Bills, the Chiefs, the Eagles, the Lions, who also have really dynamic teams in terms of offensive ability for multiple players to, to make a play.

6:15So I love the call out of Alex Pierce. He's not, he's not putting up like crazy numbers, but he is available and can make a play when he needs to. Yeah. Yeah. And actually it kind of brings me to my next point, shouting out receivers. I have to mention this kid because he has also been a dog for a fairly, I wouldn't say new team, but when you talk about the Seattle Seahawks, you have a new quarterback in Sam Darnold who's on this team for his first year. And we'll talk about Sam a little bit because he also was leading in some quarterback categories, which I think is really impressive. But Jackson Smith Ninjigba for the Seattle Seahawks wide receiver has also had a crazy year this far.

6:56And like, if you remember those Alec Pierce stats, this is going to be night and day. Let me just read this off to you. 63 receptions, 1 ,041 yards. He averages about 16.5 yards per game, five touchdowns, which is pretty on brand for Jackson, but his 2024 stats, in 2024, he had 1 ,130 yards and he had six touchdowns. He already has a little less than that in 2025. So I can only imagine what he's going to finish with on this 2025 season, especially if the Seahawks end up being in the playoff race, in the playoff push. So when we talk about leaders, we have to include J.S.N. in this conversation because he has been playing some really good football lately.

7:45Yeah, and it's kind of wild if you actually look at the wide receivers all in a line. So Jackson Smith Njigba does have the highest number of yards. Then we have Jamar Chase, who's in the 800s. And then we've been talking a lot about Puka Nakua, receiver on the Rams. He's 775. Then we have George Pickens, Amon Ross St. Brown, Christian McCaffrey. Christian McCaffrey and Amon Ross are at 692, 693 for the season so far. So just to look at Jackson's numbers to be the first one to hit over 1 ,000 receiving yards in that wide receiver category doing nearly 40 to 50 percent more is pretty impressive I think the Seahawks in general we I just wasn't expecting them to have the season that they have and to have a weapon like Jackson I think is contributing so much to their success yeah and then talking about who's throwing Jackson the ball and Sam Darnold, he leads the league in some of those niche stats.

8:53But what's interesting, and I think probably the most impressive stat right now that he's leading the league in is QBR. And what QBR is, is basically your quarterback rating. Typically, you want, obviously, your quarterback to have a good QBR. Top three in the stat line right now is Sam Darnold, Patrick Mahomes, and Dak Prescott. So Sam Darnold leading the pack in that quarterback rating is impressive for me. And mainly because he's throwing like three, four touchdowns in one game and most of them being to JSN. Yeah, yeah. Do you know how QBR is calculated? Yes. Okay, so it calculates four components.

9:40Completion percentage, yards per attempt, touchdown percentage, and interception percentage. So basically all those things are compiled into one and then your QBR gets out, which again, makes sense because Sam Darnold's completions percentage, very high yards per attempt, very high because he's throwing bombs to Jason touchdown percentage, very high. Like I just mentioned, and then interceptions very low. So it makes sense. Makes sense. You know, I think that it's interesting when you look at, you know, Jackson Smith and Njigaba on yards alone is a standout, but Devontae Adams has the highest number of touchdowns right now with nine.

10:20So 40 % more, even though his yardage is only 568 yards. So I think this is why stats are so interesting to talk about because you can pick one stat and highlight it till the cows come home. But then if you actually look at like who's scoring, does it matter really how far you're getting the ball or does it matter if you're scoring? And I think that's up to interpretation dependent. It's team dependent. It's offensive line dependent. It's play calling dependent. But if we look at receiving touchdowns for receivers only, Devontae Adams, Amonra St. Brown, and Dallas Goddard, which is interesting because you said that Dak Prescott is, you know, up there with that, with his QBR being in the top three or third, I wouldn't have necessarily put him there if I was, you know, assuming.

11:10And I think that that's interesting to look at. If you guys have a favorite stat that you guys like to talk about or that you like to go off of, like DM us, let us know because we can highlight also stats that you guys are most interested in hearing about or do you have a hot take on which one matters more than the other? Yeah. And it's also like stats are with a grain of salt. And I always like to say like, for instance, Sam Darnold on the Seattle Seahawks, you mentioned play calling and like their type of team. Their team is a very pass heavy team. So when you look at teams who might run the ball more, their quarterback is not going to have that high QBR because they're running the ball on more downs than often.

11:50So it's, it's like, yes, these stats are impressive to look at. And like, yes, they're leading in these categories, but it also, like you said, is very dependent on the type of team that they're on and so on and so forth. Because we're in this new format and because we're doing four downs, we're really trying to keep all things under 10 minutes. And I love this idea because it really makes Victoria and I like step on the gas. So we're getting out of first down. We completed, we got into second down or actually we didn't complete. We are still in second down and second down is going to be our conference check-in NFC versus AFC outlook.

12:28We're going to look at who's separating, who's slipping, and what this really means because we're, like we mentioned earlier, we're in week 11. We're getting to the point of the season where teams are either going to rise to the top or fall to the bottom and be in Cancun before December is over. So in the AFC, I'll give you a quick rundown of your leaders. So AFC South Colts are eight and two, AFC East New England's at eight and two as well. AFC North Steelers are at the top of the pack with a five and four record. Broncos are at an eight and two record in the AFC West. So all of these teams are really interesting.

13:09I think what stands out to me the most is that New England and the Colts have the same record essentially right now. Yeah. I think this is another media. I always love to talk to the cows, come home about like media perpetuated stories because I mean, and you guys know, I love the Colts, but like all we hear about is the Colts in generalized media, but the Patriots are back, you know, like they're really making a statement and a name for themselves and playing well and their record shows it. And so it's surprising that they have the same record with 15 % of the coverage. However, we know that that is changing.

13:56We're getting a lot more Drake May content out there, a lot more deep dives, a lot more confidence in announcers in the actual games, the way that they're presenting the Patriots than the verbiage that they would have used last year. So, I mean, eight and two for the Patriots is just insane. And the Broncos as well. Like, how do we have three teams that are eight and two in in the AFC and I do feel like majority of what we're hearing about at least in whatever algorithm is showing up for me is you know Bills and Colts are what I'm hearing a lot of but the Patriots the Broncos and the Colts are really those top tier teams in the AFC yeah and the Broncos had some struggles on the offensive side of the ball It's interesting because their defense is really good.

14:49Like they, when it comes to like pressuring quarterbacks and getting sacks, they have a really good defense. But Bo Nix has been suspect to say the least. And so I'm interested to see. And I like, I can personally attest to this because I have Cortland Sutton on my fantasy team. And I look at, I debate playing him every single week because I don't know if he's going to get the ball. Like Troy Franklin looks like he's emerging as number one guy for this Broncos team when it comes to this pass offense. And I'm like second doubt, like Cortland Sutton is getting targets, but he's not getting in the end zone.

15:27And Troy Franklin is eating a lot of his touches up. And we can dive into a little bit of that maybe in some of the next episodes when it comes to like target share and touches with different receivers and quarterbacks. But if you're a fantasy nerd like me, it's really interesting to see kind of your top players fall to like a player that you would never expect. And that's kind of what this Broncos offense is kind of operating like right now. Yeah. Yeah. But they're still winning. They are. They're fighting a way to win games. They're not clean, but they're winning. And I might be ugly. And, you know, one of the reasons why I was interested in starting this show in the first place was that I think people have a big tendency to get into the weeds about why teams are winning or losing.

16:18And I'm like, but are they winning or are they losing? And right now the Broncos are winning. They're tied. Like they literally have the same record as some of the best teams in the NFL right now, which is also so interesting. because when you look at the NFC, one team that we have not mentioned is the Chiefs. Mind you, Kansas City is in the same division as the Broncos, but they are currently third. The Broncos are number one. The Chargers are sitting at seven and three in the West. And then the Chiefs are at five and four. Yeah. Which again, rough start to your season, but crazy. Yeah, yeah.

16:56And I mean, their losses have been Bills, Jags, Eagles, and Chargers, which is interesting. I mean, like Eagles, Chargers, Jags was a wild card and Bills was a toss up. But I don't know. I think the Chiefs conversation happens so often. And I think that the reason why nobody rules out the Chiefs is because the Chiefs are a playoff team. They always, they're known for finding a way in situations where there shouldn't be a way. And I think that's why we continue to talk about them even when we're not, like, we're not talking about them. We're still talking about them. Right. So I think that if they can get to the playoffs, we'll see playoff Mahomes and playoff Kelsey.

17:54but can they absolutely different but can they turn it on before to even get there yeah and that's going to be a big like that's kind of the position that they're sitting in right now it's like okay yes we had some like adversity in the beginning of the season but how are we going to turn this around so we can get to the playoffs and then we can see Mahomes, his magic in the playoffs, which is crazy. Mahomes was on college game day this past week because Texas Tech, his alma mater, is currently ranked in the top 25 in college football. So I'm hoping that might, well, I don't really care about the Chiefs.

18:32I don't know why I said I'm hoping, but I think that's going to give Mahomes a little spark because if his college team is doing really good, that means he has to keep the banner going and do good for his current team right now it's literally so insane that you're like they're in the top 25 i'm like okay i it's like i also think it's just like geographical like in texas college football is a huge thing yeah so i just like top 25 like if you told me like you're gonna go on a date with a guy who's the top 25 in your hinge matches i'd be like ew like no i'm good it's ridiculous yeah no yeah look yeah so we'll see we'll see what they do and then you know Steelers in the north five and four and I don't know what everyone like I don't know what the general consensus about the Steelers at the beginning of the season where I feel like they were that emoji that's like you know with the teeth out and it's kind of like okay like I feel like that's how everyone went in because we were like, yeah, yeah.

19:39We were like, okay, is Aaron Rogers going to be able to be Aaron Rogers or is he going to be Unk Rogers? And so I feel like the consensus was kind of unsure. So even though they're five and four, I think that they're having a decent season. I mean, it is the same record as the chiefs. They've had some really good, strong wins and they are the top of the North at the moment, which says, I guess, something. Well, yeah. When you look at the North, you have Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Cleveland. So when you look at the teams that they're like in the division with, you're like, oh, okay. It makes sense of why they're at the top.

20:22Yeah. Like if they were in the South or if they were in any other division, they have the easiest division probably in the NFL at this point. exactly now don't sleep on baltimore because now with lamar jackson back i think i'm gonna talk about the person that's leading in categories i don't even know how he's leading in categories when the man was injured and like not even playing so that's impressive in itself but i feel like the a the difference between the asc and the nfc right now for me is like a couple main things one you have like the balance of power shifting away from the chiefs which is like what we just talked about, like you have teams in the AFC that are clearly front runners.

21:06In the NFC, it is completely wide open. Like I do not, obviously you have your Lions and I am rooting for the Lions when it comes to the NFC. I do think they're going to be in that division championship game. But this NFC division is still very wide open. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I agree. I think that it's more wide open than anybody was expecting. I do think that it's annoying to me at this point that the Eagles aren't talked about as as much of a powerhouse as they are. Like they do have, you know, a couple of defensive injuries that they've had. They just signed Jair Alexander on the first of this month, and he's now stepping away.

21:55So that's a big loss for them, making the trade, making that happen, and having him step away is not great on top of, you know, other defensive injuries. However, they're also 7-2, and they're the reigning champions, and they are still Jalen Hurts and Saquon. Like, I don't know why it's still the Chiefs in the heart of the conversation and not the Eagles. I know why. Okay. Tell me. When you look at this Eagles team, like, and I'm going to, I'm going to pull up some stats to back up my theory because it's our stats episode. But when you look at this Eagles team, they haven't been operating like the Superbowl winning offense like they had.

22:43And I think that's a big part of why. Like when you look at league leaders and like passing yards and rushing yards and receiving yards and sacks, fantasy points, the Chiefs are not even in the top three. Last year, rushing yards, that would have easily been Saquon Barkley in the top three. But you have Jonathan Taylor, James Cook, Enrico Dadle in the top three rushing yards right now. Passing yards, same thing. Jalen Hurts, not on top three. It's Daniel Jones, Justin Herbert, and Drake May. And we haven't mentioned Justin Herbert's team yet, but we've talked about those two offenses with the Patriots and the Colts right now.

23:19So I think that's mainly the reason why the Eagles aren't getting talked about as much as the Chiefs and their offense. Another thing is, and again, we saw on Monday Night Football this past Monday when the Eagles played, the tush push, over it. there's too many times where they are lining up either in the neutral zone offside or they go too early and it's just like it's bad and I think people are starting to like be over it like okay you can't mention the Eagles without mentioning the Tush Push at this point because they run it so frequently in their games and when they're clearly like it's not even like are they really cheating no they're like they're kind of cheating at this point with the Tush Push and it's bad so So I think those are like the two, in my opinion, the two reasons why you might not hear Chiefs and the Eagles being mentioning at the same frequency.

24:14Yeah, I think I think you're super right on, you know, if you look at rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, passing yards, passing touchdowns, like none of their players are shining in the way that maybe they have previously shined. Like, you know, Devontae Smith is like doing well. He's doing his job. But like, I think that's the thing about the Eagles. Everyone is doing their job and no one is superseding job description at this point. And you would expect that for a Super Bowl caliber team. But we just talked about the Chiefs being able to turn it on. And why don't we talk about the Eagles that way?

24:56Because the Eagles are also another team who has a go mode that is superior to their regular season mode. Yes, but I also think it goes back to play calling. And I think that answers your question because there has been a lot of questions around Sariani, the head coach for the Eagles, his play calling, his decision-making. Honestly, the Eagles almost lost on Monday night football. Like, thank God they missed the extra point. Not the extra point, they missed the field goal attempt or they would have lost that game because that game was about to go into overtime. Yeah, but just because it was about to go into overtime doesn't mean they were about to lose it.

25:33It just means that they didn't go into overtime. Well, when you look at the decision-making, is my point. Like, the decision-making almost lost them that game. If the Packers, I kind of believe if the Packers went into overtime, they might have pulled out a W against the Eagles. Mind you, the Eagles had one... It would have been 50-50 shot. They were tied. Yes, but... I think this is a little on the dramatic side. not that I'm not dramatic 99 % of the time so I'm not I'm not calling you out for that but I just think that like saying that they almost lost the game is like I don't know but I also let me let me say this because I also did not watch that full game I was asleep yeah because I basically live in Paris now because this is our third recording while I'm in Paris so I basically live here now and work here now.

26:24So I was unable to watch said game because I was asleep. So I only watched. I think if you watched it, you would have a different opinion. Yeah. That they like, you know, sneaked it out instead of, instead of dominating. But Packers are pretty fucking good. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. We need to keep it moving. Maybe we'll just kind of round out the NFC. The Cowboys are three and five. And Lions in the North are six and three, tied with the Bears at six and three, which is actually crazy based on the conversation around the Lions forever and just who the Lions and the Bears are. NFC South, Tampa Bay, also six and three.

27:11So we got six and three all around. around Cowboys three, five and one. I don't know. The Cowboys are such a wild card. So I wouldn't be surprised if they got a wild card slot. But I do think that you're right, that the NFC is wide open if somebody can break through the Eagles or if the Tush Push gets banned, which I believe that there was a vote that kept the Tush Push just recently. Yeah, I think it happened a little bit like either before the season or something like that. But what's interesting with the NFC too is in the West, you have like almost a three-way tie. You have the Rams are at seven and two, the Seahawks are at seven and two and San Francisco is at six and four.

27:52So they're like a game away from the Rams and the Seahawks losing and a game away from them winning to like still be in this like three-way weird like triangle situation. So, and you have the Carolina Panthers are five and five out of the NFC South behind Tampa Bay, who I think we're kind of seeing them be like an emerging really good team, primarily because Rico Dattle, shout out to me, I picked up in fantasy, pick up of the year, so proud of myself. But yes, there's only like one or two true powerhouses. And I think it's honestly the Lions and the Eagles, but I'm not ruling Tampa Bay out. I'm not ruling the Panthers out, honestly, which is crazy to say.

28:38I'm not ruling the Rams out. I'm not ruling for like, there's just so many teams you can't rule out yet. There was a chat GPT estimation of who was going to win the Super Bowl. And it had the Panthers beating the Eagles in one of the games. And one of my friends, Eric, Eric, Eric, if you're listening, hey, he DMed me and he's like, the Panthers beating the Eagles is crazy. But you guys know, I love the Panthers. And I've been saying all season, the Panthers are better. they're better in playing than their record shows. And like, I believe that like, if you really watch them and watch their plays and like watch their good moments are really, really good.

29:18And their losses are not as dramatic as we think. Like they were like a bad team for so long and now they're just kind of like hanging out in the middle. And I love that for them. And I think that they have a ton of potential and I think that confidence goes a long way. Yeah. But I do think it's kind of anyone's game. I think that the Bucs and the Lions are honestly kind of tied in my head right now. Even being a Lions fan, I think that Baker is just doing such a good job leading the Bucs. And I feel like they're playing pretty clean football up to this point. So they're kind of tied in my head.

29:56But if we look at one stat that we have here is on the offensive production, six of the top eight offenses belong to the AFC. Six of eight, which is just wild. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like those two are probably either, it's probably the Lions and the Eagles. Honestly, might not be the Eagles when it comes to offense production. But yeah, this AFC, they have a dominated football and division this year. and I'm here for it. Here for it. Well, I think we should move into third down because I love third down, which is basically where stat lines meet storylines talking about trends and matchups going into week 11 and how kind of data explains that.