Previously: Week 1 Game Scripts
The Chargers produced a Game Script of +20.0 in a blowout win over the Jaguars that was worse than the final score indicated; San Diego was up by 21 points before the 21-minute mark of the game! The Cardinals (+15.9 vs. Tampa Bay) and Patriots (+15.6 in a 7-point win over Miami) also had monster Game Scripts in week 2.
Two teams did pull off massive comebacks on Sunday. The first was in Cleveland, where the Ravens came back from a 20-0 deficit to beat the Browns, 25-20. Cleveland became just the 5th team to score 20+ points in the 1st quarter, and then lose while getting shut out for the rest of the game. The game seemed to turn on a blocked extra point returned by Tavon Young for two points after Cleveland’s final score; that was just the second time an extra point has been returned for two since the rule change was instituted last year. The other comeback was in Detroit, where the Titans scored 13 4th quarter points to beat Detroit, 16-15, and tank my survivor dreams in the process.
Below are the week 2 Game Scripts:
| Team | H/R | Opp | Boxscore | PF | PA | Margin | Game Script | Pass | Run | P/R Ratio | Op_P | Op_R | Opp_P/R Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SDG | JAX | Boxscore | 38 | 14 | 24 | 20 | 28 | 30 | 48.3% | 52 | 11 | 82.5% | |
| ARI | TAM | Boxscore | 40 | 7 | 33 | 15.9 | 36 | 29 | 55.4% | 55 | 21 | 72.4% | |
| NWE | MIA | Boxscore | 31 | 24 | 7 | 15.6 | 38 | 37 | 50.7% | 45 | 15 | 75% | |
| CAR | SFO | Boxscore | 46 | 27 | 19 | 7.5 | 40 | 37 | 51.9% | 38 | 26 | 59.4% | |
| HOU | KAN | Boxscore | 19 | 12 | 7 | 6.6 | 35 | 34 | 50.7% | 41 | 18 | 69.5% | |
| PIT | CIN | Boxscore | 24 | 16 | 8 | 5.5 | 38 | 36 | 51.4% | 55 | 18 | 75.3% | |
| PHI | @ | CHI | Boxscore | 29 | 14 | 15 | 4.8 | 35 | 32 | 52.2% | 32 | 18 | 64% |
| DEN | IND | Boxscore | 34 | 20 | 14 | 4.1 | 34 | 31 | 52.3% | 45 | 21 | 68.2% | |
| RAM | SEA | Boxscore | 9 | 3 | 6 | 2.8 | 33 | 25 | 56.9% | 38 | 24 | 61.3% | |
| NYJ | @ | BUF | Boxscore | 37 | 31 | 6 | 2.6 | 35 | 36 | 49.3% | 31 | 19 | 62% |
| ATL | @ | OAK | Boxscore | 35 | 28 | 7 | 2.6 | 35 | 29 | 54.7% | 46 | 25 | 64.8% |
| NYG | NOR | Boxscore | 16 | 13 | 3 | 1.9 | 43 | 32 | 57.3% | 47 | 13 | 78.3% | |
| DAL | @ | WAS | Boxscore | 27 | 23 | 4 | 1.6 | 34 | 30 | 53.1% | 48 | 17 | 73.8% |
| MIN | GNB | Boxscore | 17 | 14 | 3 | 0.8 | 35 | 22 | 61.4% | 41 | 23 | 64.1% | |
| TEN | @ | DET | Boxscore | 16 | 15 | 1 | -4.1 | 36 | 24 | 60% | 44 | 23 | 65.7% |
| BAL | @ | CLE | Boxscore | 25 | 20 | 5 | -6.7 | 45 | 26 | 63.4% | 36 | 22 | 62.1% |
The Jets were pretty run-heavy in week 2, finishing as one of only two teams to run on at least 50% of their plays. That does include 5 Ryan Fitzpatrick runs (four runs, 1 kneel), but even still, Matt Forte had a whopping 30 carries in week 2. Given that the Jets-Bills game was competitive — New York had a Game Script of +2.6 — that makes the Jets the most run-heavy team of the week.
The 49ers were pretty run-heavy in a losing effort, despite being completely ineffective. Carlos Hyde and Shaun Draughn rushed 22 times for 37 yards other than one 18-yard run by Draughn. But despite that, and losing by 19 points, the 49ers still passed on only about 60% of plays.
On the pass-heavy side, Washington was at it again. In a game where Washington led for much of the second half before ultimately losing to Dallas, Kirk Cousins had 48 dropbacks (50, if you include the two scrambles), while the team rushed just 17 times (15, if you exclude the two scrambles). Matt Jones wasn’t bad against Dallas, and Cousins wasn’t very good, so it will be interesting to see if anything changes in week 3 against the Giants.
As it turns out, the team that was the most pass-happy in week 2? Well that was the Giants opponent last week, the Saints. In a very close game throughout, the Saints simply decided not to run the ball. Mark Ingram had 9 carries for 30 yards, and the team had just four other carries for 11 yards. Brees, meanwhile, had 46 dropbacks, but wasn’t even that effective, averaging only 5.4 net yards per attempt. The Saints passed on 78% of all plays, the second-highest rate of the week.