On average, the fumbling team has recovered 56% of all fumbles this year. But that hasn’t been the case with the Giants. New York has fumbled 11 times this year, which means you would expect them to recover 6.2 of those fumbles. But the Giants have 8 lost fumbles this year, which means the team has recovered only 3 of those 11 fumbles, or 3.2 fewer fumbles than expected.
That’s really bad, although not the worst in the league. Carolina has fumbled 7 times, so we would expect the Panthers to have recovered 3.9 of those fumbles. Instead? Carolina is 0-for-7, so the Panthers have recovered 3.9 fewer fumbles than expected.
But the Giants haven’t recovered the ball frequently when their opponent fumbles, either. New York’s opponents have 8 fumbles, so you would expect the Giants to have recovered 3.5 of them (or, stated another way, that their opponents should have recovered 4.5 of them). But Giants opponents have lost just one fumble this year, so New York has recovered 2.5 fewer fumbles than expected in this area of the game, too. Add it up, and that means the Giants have recovered 5.7 fewer fumbles than you would think. And that New York has recovered just 21% of all footballs to hit the ground in their games, regardless of the fumbling team
Here’s the data for all 32 teams through week 8 plus Thursday night. Here’s how to read the Steelers line. Pittsburgh has 9 fumbles of its own, but has only lost 2 fumbles, so the Steelers own fumble recovery percentage is a robust 78%, and Pittsburgh has recovered 2.0 more fumbles than expected. Meanwhile, Steelers opponents have 10 fumbles, and Steelers opponents have lost 5 of them, so the Steelers have recovered 50% of all fumbles here, too. [1]Note that “Opp FR%” means percentage of opponents fumbles that your team recovers. So Denver, at 72.7%, has recovered a lot of those fumbles. This means the Steelers have recovered 0.6 more fumbles than expected of their opponents, and therefore 2.6 more fumbles overall than expected. The final column shows that Pittsburgh has recovered 63.2% of all fumbles in play this year, second most to those always-lucky Browns.
| Rk | Team | Own Fum | Own FL | Own FR% | Own vs. Exp | Opp Fum | Opp FL | Opp FR % | Opp vs. Exp | Total FR vs. Exp | Fum Rec % (All) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.5 | Pittsburgh Steelers | 9 | 2 | 78% | 2.0 | 10 | 5 | 50% | 0.6 | 2.6 | 63.2% |
| 1.5 | Philadelphia Eagles | 13 | 4 | 69% | 1.7 | 14 | 7 | 50% | 0.8 | 2.6 | 59.3% |
| 3 | Cleveland Browns | 14 | 3 | 79% | 3.2 | 6 | 2 | 33.3% | -0.6 | 2.5 | 65% |
| 4.5 | Denver Broncos | 12 | 6 | 50% | -0.7 | 11 | 8 | 72.7% | 3.2 | 2.4 | 60.9% |
| 4.5 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 12 | 5 | 58% | 0.3 | 11 | 7 | 63.6% | 2.2 | 2.4 | 60.9% |
| 6.5 | Minnesota Vikings | 10 | 4 | 60% | 0.4 | 12 | 7 | 58.3% | 1.7 | 2.1 | 59.1% |
| 6.5 | Los Angeles Rams | 9 | 3 | 67% | 1.0 | 11 | 6 | 54.5% | 1.2 | 2.1 | 60% |
| 8 | Arizona Cardinals | 14 | 4 | 71% | 2.2 | 14 | 6 | 42.9% | -0.2 | 2.0 | 57.1% |
| 9 | Buffalo Bills | 10 | 2 | 80% | 2.4 | 16 | 6 | 37.5% | -1.0 | 1.4 | 53.8% |
| 10 | Indianapolis Colts | 9 | 3 | 67% | 1.0 | 11 | 5 | 45.5% | 0.2 | 1.1 | 55% |
| 11 | Seattle Seahawks | 11 | 3 | 73% | 1.8 | 7 | 2 | 28.6% | -1.1 | 0.8 | 55.6% |
| 12 | Washington Redskins | 11 | 4 | 64% | 0.8 | 14 | 6 | 42.9% | -0.2 | 0.7 | 52% |
| 13 | New Orleans Saints | 7 | 4 | 43% | -0.9 | 10 | 6 | 60% | 1.6 | 0.7 | 52.9% |
| 14 | Tennessee Titans | 10 | 4 | 60% | 0.4 | 2 | 1 | 50% | 0.1 | 0.5 | 58.3% |
| 15 | Green Bay Packers | 14 | 6 | 57% | 0.2 | 6 | 3 | 50% | 0.4 | 0.5 | 55% |
| 16.5 | Baltimore Ravens | 10 | 5 | 50% | -0.6 | 9 | 5 | 55.6% | 1.0 | 0.4 | 52.6% |
| 16.5 | San Francisco 49ers | 12 | 6 | 50% | -0.7 | 11 | 6 | 54.5% | 1.2 | 0.4 | 52.2% |
| 18 | Dallas Cowboys | 10 | 4 | 60% | 0.4 | 14 | 6 | 42.9% | -0.2 | 0.2 | 50% |
| 19 | Houston Texans | 10 | 4 | 60% | 0.4 | 8 | 3 | 37.5% | -0.5 | -0.1 | 50% |
| 20 | New England Patriots | 15 | 6 | 60% | 0.6 | 11 | 4 | 36.4% | -0.8 | -0.2 | 50% |
| 21 | Chicago Bears | 12 | 5 | 58% | 0.3 | 9 | 3 | 33.3% | -1.0 | -0.7 | 47.6% |
| 22 | Oakland Raiders | 7 | 3 | 57% | 0.1 | 16 | 6 | 37.5% | -1.0 | -1.0 | 43.5% |
| 23 | Detroit Lions | 2 | 1 | 50% | -0.1 | 9 | 3 | 33.3% | -1.0 | -1.1 | 36.4% |
| 24 | Cincinnati Bengals | 9 | 5 | 44% | -1.0 | 7 | 3 | 42.9% | -0.1 | -1.1 | 43.8% |
| 25 | San Diego Chargers | 17 | 11 | 35% | -3.5 | 9 | 6 | 66.7% | 2.0 | -1.5 | 46.2% |
| 26 | New York Jets | 11 | 5 | 55% | -0.2 | 11 | 3 | 27.3% | -1.8 | -2.0 | 40.9% |
| 27 | Jacksonville Jaguars | 8 | 4 | 50% | -0.5 | 8 | 2 | 25% | -1.5 | -2.0 | 37.5% |
| 28 | Atlanta Falcons | 5 | 3 | 40% | -0.8 | 12 | 4 | 33.3% | -1.3 | -2.1 | 35.3% |
| 29 | Kansas City Chiefs | 7 | 5 | 29% | -1.9 | 12 | 5 | 41.7% | -0.3 | -2.2 | 36.8% |
| 30 | Miami Dolphins | 7 | 4 | 43% | -0.9 | 10 | 3 | 30% | -1.4 | -2.3 | 35.3% |
| 31 | Carolina Panthers | 7 | 7 | 0% | -3.9 | 6 | 3 | 50% | 0.4 | -3.6 | 23.1% |
| 32 | New York Giants | 11 | 8 | 27% | -3.2 | 8 | 1 | 12.5% | -2.5 | -5.7 | 21.1% |
A lot has been written about the Panthers (and to a lesser extent, Giants) under-performing. Bad fumble recovery numbers certainly haven’t helped.
References
| ↑1 | Note that “Opp FR%” means percentage of opponents fumbles that your team recovers. So Denver, at 72.7%, has recovered a lot of those fumbles. |
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