The Pack rocks in Fox-Tox
Posted: Dec. 2, 2009
One of the pro football statistics that has caught our fancy this season is the one former coach Brian Billick, now a Fox game analyst, has helped popularize.
Billick orders teams by a metric he calls "Fox-Tox Ranking," which combines explosive-play differential with turnover differential. An explosive play is one of 20 yards or more. Teams are then ordered from top to bottom in terms of the results from adding the two differentials.
Billick contends there is a correlation between teams that have high rankings in Fox-Tox and those that get into the playoffs.
Through Week 12 in the National Football League season, the Packers are ranked fourth in this category, with a Fox-Tox of 24. They have created 46 explosive plays but given up 39 for a net gain of seven.
By way of comparison, the San Diego Chargers are ranked just ahead of the Packers in Fox-Tox with 25. San Diego has created about the same number of explosive plays on offense as the Packers (45), but their defense has given up just 28, 11 fewer than the Packers.
However, what makes Green Bay special in this calculation is its turnover ratio, which is plus-17.
Here are the Fox-Tox leaders through Week 12:
1. Indianapolis 31
2. New Orleans 30
3. San Diego 25
4. Green Bay 24
5. Minnesota 22
6. Philadelphia 17
7. Dallas 15
8. New England 15
All eight of those teams are in the playoff hunt.
The division leaders not in the top eight in Fox-Tox are the 7-4 Arizona Cardinals and the 8-3 Cincinnati Bengals.