Woke up this morning feeling hyped about last night’s Ravens vs Giants game. Grabbed my coffee, fired up the laptop—already knew I wanted to dig into those player stats real deep.
Step one? Finding the raw data. Pulled up the NFL’s official site first. Scrolled through the play-by-play stuff. So many numbers! Felt dizzy just scanning through QB throws and RB carries. Screenshot the team stats page—stats are useless if you can’t see the big picture.
The Messy Data Phase
Copy-pasted everything into my crappy spreadsheet. Why crappy? ‘Cause the formatting got all screwed up. Receiving yards were jammed next to defensive tackles—total chaos. Spent like an hour just untangling columns. Highlighted key stats:
- Passing yards
- Rushing attempts
- Receiving TDs
- Solo tackles
- Passes defended
Realized halfway my spreadsheet didn’t even separate offense from defense properly. Cursed quietly. Split the data manually—fingers cramped by the end.
Finding the Standouts
Started sorting numbers high to low. Lamar Jackson’s stats practically screamed at me—200+ passing yards AND 50+ rushing yards? Insane dual-threat game. Then Saquon Barkley’s rushing line popped up. Dude dragged Giants downfield all night. Made a side-note: Barkley’s tough as nails.
Defense was trickier. Numbers look smaller but hit harder. Ravens’ Roquan Smith showed up everywhere—double-digit tackles jumped out. Giants’ Xavier McKinney? That interception was pure gold. Almost missed Andrew Thomas’ solid o-line work—zero sacks allowed when he was blocking.
Top 5 Check
Stared at my messy highlights. Pulled the top performers based on impact, not just stats:
- Lamar Jackson (Ravens QB)
- Saquon Barkley (Giants RB)
- Mark Andrews (Ravens TE)
- Roquan Smith (Ravens LB)
- Xavier McKinney (Giants S)
Double-checked everything. Closed the laptop feeling fried. Stats never lie—but man, they fight you every step of the way.
