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Are the Cowboys becoming too toxic for the rest of NFL to keep up?
By: K.D. Drummond | 17 hours ago
When “they” say good teams are supposed to dominate bad teams, this game against Cleveland is what “they” are talking about. One of our favorite measures of a team’s performance (outside of outscoring opponents) is the Toxic Differential. After this game, the Cowboys lead the entire league in this category, and by a wide margin. This bodes well for the Cowboys long-term plans on the 2016 season.
The Cowboys have a margin of five above the closest competitor. To put this in perspective, the team that has lead the league in Toxic Differential has represented the NFC in the last four Super Bowls. Carolina did it in 2015, Seattle in both 2013 and 2014 and San Francisco in 2012.
The Cowboys went into the Cleveland Dawg Pound as 7.5 point favorites and after a shaky first couple of plays, proceeded to spay the Browns’ defense and neuter their offense. The Browns opened up with a 16-yard completion and followed it with the game’s first Toxic Event, a 44-yard pass over the top to RB Isaiah Crowell that quickly got them in scoring range. They never threatened again.
A Toxic Event is a term developed by former Ravens’ head coach Brian Billick that is a pass play of over 20 yards, a run over 10 yards or a turnover. His theory, which has been proven correct over the years, is that teams with the best Toxic Differential throughout a season will end up as the best of the best by year’s end.
What we do here at Cowboys Wire is attempt to use Toxic Events to tell the story of each game, and over the past three seasons, time and time again the Toxic Differential has done just that. We also count special teams scores as well as fourth down attempts as Toxic Events here. The story it told of the Cowboys domination over the Browns, though, was uncanny.
Dallas won the Toxic Differential by a +10 margin. That’s insane, to have 10 more big plays than an opponent, even with the best record in the league against the worst. Here’s the ledger.
Dallas had an unbelievable seven plays of 10 yards or more on the ground, and added insult to injury by converting two fourth downs when running out the clock.
As for on the season, after starting off the year slowly, Dallas has found their groove. We use Sporting Charts tallies of Toxic Differential, as they keep track of the entire league while we just track Dallas games.
When Dallas was heading to play San Francisco in Week 4, they ranked just 22nd in the league in Toxic Differential. They were +2 in turnover differential, but -5 in big plays. That’s pretty laughable considering where the Cowboys are now.
By: K.D. Drummond | 17 hours ago
When “they” say good teams are supposed to dominate bad teams, this game against Cleveland is what “they” are talking about. One of our favorite measures of a team’s performance (outside of outscoring opponents) is the Toxic Differential. After this game, the Cowboys lead the entire league in this category, and by a wide margin. This bodes well for the Cowboys long-term plans on the 2016 season.
The Cowboys have a margin of five above the closest competitor. To put this in perspective, the team that has lead the league in Toxic Differential has represented the NFC in the last four Super Bowls. Carolina did it in 2015, Seattle in both 2013 and 2014 and San Francisco in 2012.
The Cowboys went into the Cleveland Dawg Pound as 7.5 point favorites and after a shaky first couple of plays, proceeded to spay the Browns’ defense and neuter their offense. The Browns opened up with a 16-yard completion and followed it with the game’s first Toxic Event, a 44-yard pass over the top to RB Isaiah Crowell that quickly got them in scoring range. They never threatened again.
A Toxic Event is a term developed by former Ravens’ head coach Brian Billick that is a pass play of over 20 yards, a run over 10 yards or a turnover. His theory, which has been proven correct over the years, is that teams with the best Toxic Differential throughout a season will end up as the best of the best by year’s end.
What we do here at Cowboys Wire is attempt to use Toxic Events to tell the story of each game, and over the past three seasons, time and time again the Toxic Differential has done just that. We also count special teams scores as well as fourth down attempts as Toxic Events here. The story it told of the Cowboys domination over the Browns, though, was uncanny.
Dallas won the Toxic Differential by a +10 margin. That’s insane, to have 10 more big plays than an opponent, even with the best record in the league against the worst. Here’s the ledger.
Dallas had an unbelievable seven plays of 10 yards or more on the ground, and added insult to injury by converting two fourth downs when running out the clock.
As for on the season, after starting off the year slowly, Dallas has found their groove. We use Sporting Charts tallies of Toxic Differential, as they keep track of the entire league while we just track Dallas games.
When Dallas was heading to play San Francisco in Week 4, they ranked just 22nd in the league in Toxic Differential. They were +2 in turnover differential, but -5 in big plays. That’s pretty laughable considering where the Cowboys are now.