Alright folks, today I wanted to see if I could actually guess who’d win between the Jets and Titans just by staring at old player numbers. Honestly, I love this stuff – digging through stats feels like treasure hunting sometimes, even if it makes your eyes cross after a while. Here’s exactly how I went about it, step by messy step.
Why Even Bother with This Mess?
Simple. The Jets look painful to watch this year, like they’re actively trying not to score points. Titans? Who even knows week to week. Past performance isn’t magic, but it’s gotta show something, right? Plus, I was bored Saturday afternoon and needed an excuse to drink coffee and stare at spreadsheets.
Step 1: Digging Up the Bones
First thing? Grab the stuff. Not pretty. I had to crawl through a bunch of places:
- Player pages: Looking for guys who actually play a lot lately for both teams. No point dragging in that injured dude from three seasons ago.
- Team totals: Stuff like yards-per-play (that’s how far teams move each snap, basically), how often they turn the ball over, how many points they cough up on average. Found most of this buried in team sections.
- Head-to-head sludge: Tried seeing how they played each other last couple of years. Wasn’t much help – different players, different messes.
Felt like doing homework my teacher forgot to assign. Took way longer than I thought, mostly ’cause finding consistent info is half the battle.
Step 2: Trying to Find a Pattern (Good Luck)
Okay, data dumped into my sheet. Now what? Stared at it. Hoped for magic. None came. Sipped more coffee. Started comparing:
- Quarterback Disaster Zones: Looked at completions, yards, touchdowns, and the big one – picks. Who throws it to the other team more? Let’s just say both QBs gave me heartburn looking at the numbers.
- Running Back Roulette: How many yards per carry? Can they actually get into the end zone? Titans have someone kinda okay here… sometimes.
- Defense? What Defense?: Checked how many points and yards each team usually gives up. Jets D tries hard, bless ’em, but it’s tough when your offense gives the ball away near their goal line constantly.
Tried looking for players who always played well against this specific other team. Found maybe one guy. Useless.
Step 3: Running the Numbers (Sorta)
Fine, time for some… well, let’s call it very light math. Don’t panic, I barely remember algebra either.
- Made simple averages for the key players I figured actually mattered – QB1, RB1, maybe WR1.
- Looked at how those team averages (points for, points against) stacked up.
- Tried adding up projected scores based on past points scored/allowed. Got two numbers that felt like random guesses.
- Stared at the turnover stats. Said a small prayer for fewer interceptions. Mostly for my own sanity while watching.
Felt like fitting puzzle pieces together that were clearly from different puzzles.
What Crawled Out of the Spreadsheet?
After much sighing and realizing stats are kinda dumb when teams are this chaotic, here’s what my scribbles seemed to whisper, kinda:
- Titans Might Slither By: Their offense, especially the run, looked slightly less awful based on the last few games. Slightly.
- Jets Defense Might Be Tired: They spend so much time on the field ’cause their offense vanishes faster than my paycheck. Eventually, that wears you out. Titans could grind down clock.
- Low Score Painfest: Neither side screams “We score tons!”. My gut and the points-allowed averages screamed a close, ugly game decided by maybe a single touchdown or a field goal. Like, 20-17 territory. Or 13-10. Gross.
- Who Knows About Wilson?: Seriously. The Jets QB stats were all over the map. One game okay, next game dumpster fire. Impossible to predict him. He could throw for 250 yards or 3 picks. Coin flip.
Basically, the Titans seemed slightly less likely to actively lose the game for themselves? Maybe? Honestly, it was hard to feel good about either side. The stats whispered “low scoring, probably Titans win but don’t bet your lunch money.” If the Jets QB didn’t implode? Maybe they steal it. But the numbers showed implosion is pretty standard.
Wrapping Up This Exercise in Futility
Look, this wasn’t about finding a magic formula. It was about seeing if past player numbers, mashed with team trends, could give even a tiny clue. For two messy teams like this? They kinda do, but it’s fuzzy.
It pointed towards a slog, Titans favored by a nose, mainly ’cause their floor seems a tiny bit higher lately. But honestly? It mostly confirmed why watching these two play gives me a headache. Stats don’t lie about that pain.
Would I bet based on this? Heck no. But it passed an afternoon, and now I feel slightly smarter than my buddy who picks winners based on team colors. Slightly.
