Riverboatin' in Carolina: The Panthers are on a tear in winning close games

[KB_fan]

1 hour ago, Nate Dogg said:

Great article KB!  Do you know what our record is at home since 2013? It has gotta be godly. Ever since I bought my PSLs I don't remember hardly any loses.

Yes, I looked at home-away records briefly a few months ago when I was first starting my season in review series.

So, 22-6 at home since 2013, including playoffs.  Love it!

 

It might be interesting to compare close game winning % for home and away games.... but I won't have time for that today.

[ThPantherFan]

4 hours ago, KB_fan said:

I've got a new article up on the Huddle main page.

http://www.carolinahuddle.com/2016/07/15/carolina-panthers-close-games/

It takes a look at the Panthers history in close games, and most notably the five seasons under Head Coach Ron Rivera.  "Riverboat Ron" is alive and well, and the Panthers have been on quite a tear in winning close games in the 52 games they've played since Week 2 of the 2013 season when Riverboat was born...

Thanks to Sporting Charts, here's the Panthers Small Win-Loss differential for each season of their history.  We had the highest small win-loss differential ever in 2015, with 7 wins out of 8 games decided by 1 - 9 points.  (for a +6 Small W-L differential)

 

Here too is another graph from Sporting Charts that didn't make the article.  It compares Small Wins vs. Small Losses for each season.  Looking at 2011 - 2015 you can very clearly see the remarkable turnaround once Ron became Riverboat Ron:

 

And off-topic, but just for fun....  Here is the comparison of big wins and big losses ("big" = 10+ points)  over the years:

 

There's quite a bit more data in the article... so go check it out.

Excellent work!  You didn't do this while drinking a beer, for sure.  Very nice.

[PhillyB]

4 hours ago, KB_fan said:

Thanks Jeremy.  It's a fun change of pace for me to write on a totally new subject this past year. 

what do you normally write about?

[KB_fan]

9 minutes ago, PhillyB said:

what do you normally write about?

For work I write funding grant proposals, and reports related to maternal & child health, nutrition, and community development.

[PhillyB]

1 minute ago, KB_fan said:

For work I write funding grant proposals, and reports related to maternal & child health, nutrition, and community development.

awesome

[KB_fan]

Using the 7 years of team data I downloaded from Sporting Charts, last night I had a chance to compile team averages re: the close game winning% and the small W - L differential for all 32 teams.

Here's the table ranked in order of best close game win % 2009 -  2015 (the Colts) to worst (the Bucs).  For each column, the best value for that stat is highlighted in green, worst value in yellow.

As you can see, Panthers ranked 9th in terms of close game winning % for this 7 year period.  

Ravens played the most close games, Seahawks the fewest.   For the Jaguars, nearly 80% of their wins in this period came from close games, meaning they had very few big wins, Compare that with the Seahawks:  only about 30% of their wins in this period were wins in close games.

Once again, we see that almost all of the teams with an overall winning record for this 7 year period are near the top of the chart in close game wins.  San Diego with an average 8.4 wins per season in this period, and Dallas and Houston (both with 8.1 games per season averages), are the only teams with an overall win record above .500 to have a below .500 record in close games.

The Vikings, Bears & Chiefs are the only teams at or above .500 in close games to have an overall record below .500

I'll see if I can also quickly compile and post averages for 2011 - 2015, and 2013 - 2015 - at least in terms of teams close game win %.  I'm curious to see where the Panthers rank for 2013 - 2015.  Got to be at or near the top.

[KB_fan]

Here's that same table looking at close games data averages for the period 2013 - 2015.  No surprise, Panthers moved way up to #2.in overall close game win % (just behind AZ), and tied with AZ for fewest average close losses per season, and best close game W-L differential during this 3 year period.

[w280sax]

You got quoted on espn.com

http://espn.go.com/blog/onenacion/post/_/id/4634/riverboat-ron-and-his-journey-to-the-top-of-the-nfl

I love all your stats fwiw.

[TheSpecialJuan]

Tremendous work