2014 DynaBowl Post Season Performance Analysis – Part 2

So last time I looked at scores and consistency. This time, I wanted to kick things off by examing a league of two halves.

The DynaBowl is something new for all of us and had a steep learning curve. While our overall season performance may have been greatly defined by the players bought at auction, in theory each team could have used the waiver wire and trades to improve their team. Granted, injuries may have scuppered some performances so we shouldn’t necessarily expect improvement, but improvement would be good.

So, starting with the overall figures, let’s split the league into the first 8 and last 8 games of the year and see who got better and who got worse…

It’s no surprise, after what was looked at last time, to see DFO at the top of the list. A 40 point per game improvement from one half of the year to the next is pretty extraordinary and shows how the title was won.

It’s interesting how the next 4 teams are not playoff teams though. You could argue that they had the most improving to do, but Champions of the Sun improved from the 4th highest scoring team across the first half of the year to the 2nd highest scoring team in the second half and still failed to make the leap.

One team that leapt out to me, precisely because they look so anonymous here, is Here Comes The Brees, who registered a 1% rise in scoring despite the majority of their team being the victim of Billy Cole, the running back in Last Boy Scout.

On the flip side, some serious questions may need to be asked in the owners offices at the Tamworth Two and Kelkowski.

Kelkowski and Dynasore Losers are in the bottom 4 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. Coincidence? Maybe.

So now, of course, it’s time to see where the gains and losses were made. Let’s start on offence:

So pick your own team out and tell the story. That’s what I’m going to do.

I know that the Bombermen suffered injuries to Ellington, Bernard and AJ Green, while also trading FHTWMIJ to Kelkowski and so the reduction in average points is explicable. And given we were second in terms of increased performance through the year, we must have hit big on defence. Unless it was on special teams. But seriously, it was on defence…

Everybody got better on defense! Well done everyone.

No, wait. Who’s that down the bottom? The Tamworth Two. They had the second highest increase in offensive performance, gaining 11 points per game in the second half of the season, but then giving away nearly 20 on the defensive side. Tamworth sprinted out to a 2-0 start and looked like the team to beat. Or one of them. But it’s not difficult to see where things went wrong.

On the other side, I am very happy with the improvement on the defence. I drafted the defence really badly, but Dan and I made some really solid moves through the year to gain more than 20 points per game from the unit. Over the second half of the year, the Bombermen defence scored more than 5 points per game more than any other defence, and that was without a JJ Watt, Justin Houston or Cameron Wake defensive star to do the majority of the damage. It turned into a really good all round unit.

Now, special teams. Probably nothing to see here, right?

To be honest, while that setup might have seemed like I was going to have some shocking revelation, I really don’t. There are some numbers up there. The percentages get high, but does that tell us much about special teams? You decide…

Now as a teaser for what’s to come, here’s the same information presented in this and the last post, but for QBs only… First, total points scored:

It’s interesting that only two teams had a minimum score of at least 10, and neither made the playoffs, while 3 of the top 4 QBs made the playoffs. Coincidence? Yes.

So how about QB consistancy? Well…

Inconsistent QBs made the playoffs. Must be a boom or bust type thing, I guess.

Finally, a league of 2 halves:

Only 4 teams saw an improvement in the second half of the season. Interesting. Obviously the Dynasty of Sadness was helped by Cam getting his mojo back. Unless he didn’t start Cammy-Cam. I don’t know. I know Cam was benched for a bit. Did the Dynasty get the big scoring performances at the end of the season, or was it that he played Cam early in the season when he scored nothing?

Especially interesting that those inconsistent QBs for the playoff teams all regressed in the second half of the year. Obviously couldn’t bring their A game when it mattered and had to be dug out of it by the rest of the team…