TOP

Tip to SB, Advanced NFL Stats has a good article about the Colts/Dolphins game and TOP

Admittedly, this game was very fluky, and I don’t intend to draw any conclusions from any single game. Indianapolis had a couple of very quick scores, including one on the first play from scrimmage. But that’s part of the problem when looking at TOP. In an example taken to the extreme, consider a team that scores a TD on every play. They would never lose, and their TOP might not total five minutes in an entire game.

So next time you hear a coach or analyst talking about needing to improve a team’s 3rd down percentage or focus on “ball control,” you can tune him out. Sure, there are some differences in particular situations, but to get better on 3rd down or to control the ball at the end of games, a team simply needs to be better at passing and running in general.