This reminds me of all the talk last year about the Hawkeyes. We had four losses but lost those games by a combined 12 points. Everyone was saying how good we were since those losses were by such a small margin, but at the end of the day we still had four losses.

The argument is a moot point, because if Tampa Bay had better players at every position, they could be 13-0. Each team has what it has and needs to make due. O-line play and penalties are such a huge part of the game that you can't just say ignore them and look at the rest of the stats. I'd rather be 13-0. But even with our record I still like our chances against any team with any record.

"nathaniel" wrote:

I just thought of something. If penalties were included in defensive stats, they would also have to include penalties by opposing offenses, or it would be misleading. So it is neater to just keep penalty yardage as a separate statistic. It makes sense to me now.

"Greg C." wrote: