Off The Charts Football Podcast

Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders break down the AFC West race.  They explain their thoughts on Denver's recent losing streak and fading offense, the impact of the Chiefs' 2-0 division start on their playoff odds, and Oakland's and San Diego's front-loaded schedules.  Then, they discuss the rising playoff odds of the Washington Redskin...

Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders break down how the Vikings have become the No. 1 DVOA team in football.  Will their inability to run the ball be a problem for them, and is there anything they can do about that weakness?  Then, they discuss whether they were too quick to write off the Bills and how good their defense can become.  Finally, Scott laments a...

Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders discuss how Seattle joined the top 4 in DVOA despite a soft schedule and a porous offensive line.  Then, they hit on a trio of offensive-skewing teams in the Raiders, Falcons, and Cowboys.  And, finally, they close talking the Jets, who are now 32nd in the league in DVOA--yes, they are behind the Browns.

Joe Rosales of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders discuss the Bengals' start to the season. Is the Bengals offense really one of the better offenses in the league? How much do they miss Marvin Jones, Mohamed Sanu, and Tyler Eifert? Then, they move on to one of the more surprising games of Week 2, Philadelphia's blowout of Pittsburgh. How does Carson Wentz and th...

Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders discuss the Vikings win over the Packers on Sunday night.  Was Bradford impressive?  Is something wrong with Aaron Rodgers?  Then, they hit on a couple of surprising teams in the top 10 of overall DVOA in the Lions and Chargers.  Finally, they close with some other DVOA discussion, such as the DVOA-leading Eagles and the...

Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders discuss all of the major topics from Week 1 of the new NFL season.  They cover how Jimmy Garoppolo looked against the Cardinals, why the Patriots finished below the Cardinals in Week 1 DVOA, whether we should change our mind on the 49ers or Eagles, and whether Jameis Winson is ready to take the leap this season.

Following up on their NFC preview episode, Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz from Football Outsiders are back to discuss all things AFC.  Their preview touches on how the Patriots will fare without Tom Brady for the first four games, why the Ravens are projected for a massive turnaround from last season, and which teams with lower projections could be dark horses to make the p...

With preseason of the NFL underway, Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders are back with their first of a few preseason episodes of the Off the Charts Football podcast.  This episode is part 1 of a two-episode discussion of Football Outsiders' preseason DVOA projections, which can be found in the 2016 Football Outsiders Almanac.  This one covers the NFC,...

Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders are back with an offseason show to talk about Aaron's latest articles on ESPN Insider, which show the first run of the Football Outsiders team projections.  In this episode, they go division by division to discuss which teams should improve, which should fall off, and whether they disagree with any of the objective p...

Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders debate all things Super Bowl.  Will the Panthers be able to handle Denver's pressure better than the Patriots did?  What will Denver change if anything with their approach against Cam under center?  How can the Broncos offense avoid committing turnovers against the No. 1 turnover-forcing defense, the Panthers?

Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders breakdown the final four teams in the NFL playoffs.  Will the Broncos defense be able to limit the Patriots short passing attack?  Can the Patriots offensive line protect Brady?  What was wrong with Carson Palmer against Green Bay, and will he look better vs. the Panthers?  Should the Cardinals change their blitzing ways...

Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders break down the second week of playoff games.  For the Chiefs vs. Patriots game, they discuss whether the dominant Chiefs win last week has any carryover effect.  For the Packers vs. Cardinals game, they debate whether the Packers found themselves against the Redskins and just how good David Johnson has been.  For the Seah...

Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders are back in the new year to preview the Wild Card games.  They discuss where these Wild Card teams measure up to previous seasons, and then they go game by game, discussing teams advantages and disadvantages for their matchups.

Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders play a game of "do the simple stats mesh with the advanced stats" with Blake Bortles of the Jaguars, Ryan Fitzpatrick of the Jets, DeAngelo Williams of the Steelers, and Dez Bryant of the Cowboys.

Greg Thomas of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders discuss the flip side of having a bunched top of the DVOA standings, the abundance of below-average teams. They discuss the stacking of teams this year as well as briefly touch on a matchup between the lowest and highest variance weekly DVOA teams. They also delve into the list of historically low Total DVOA teams that hav...

Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders debate whether the NFC North and NFC East are up for grabs.  In particular, has the Lions' and Bears' recent play put them back in the playoff mix, and does the Redskins' win over the Giants make them the best team in their division.  Finally, they close with a discussion of the suddenly bunched top of the...

Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders discuss two 5-5 teams who have recently entered the playoff discussion: the Houston Texans and the Tampa Bay Bucs.  For Houston, has J.J. Watt dragged this team to where it is?  With their schedule, how do their playoff odds stack up against other AFC South teams?  Could they win a Wild Card?  Meanwhile, for Tampa, how ha...

Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders discuss three teams with records and DVOA that are not in sync.  First, the Vikings are 7-2, but Aaron explains why schedule, sequencing, and fumble recovery luck have them at only 19th in DVOA.  Next, they talk about two teams with the opposite situation, the Chiefs and Seahawks, both of whom are among the best under-.50...

There were several major injuries for playoff contenders in Week 9, and Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders debate the impact of Andrew Luck's injury to the Colts, Ben Roethlisberger's injury to the Steelers, and Dion Lewis's injury to the Patriots.  Then, the two discuss whether there is reason to be concerned with the Packers defense and wh...

With half the season over with in the NFL, Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders discuss the teams with easy and hard schedules the rest of the season and the impacts of that on the playoff race.  In addition, they break down the big Packers vs. Panthers game in Week 9 and explain how the Raiders became the 8th best team in DVOA.

Going into the game as the No. 2 and 5 DVOA teams, and coming out of it as the No. 1 and 5 DVOA teams, the Patriots and Jets continued to show why they were both so highly ranked. Greg Thomas of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders explain what went into both teams combining for such a high single-game DVOA. The two also discuss what is behind the Dolphins’ two-week turnaro...

With their big win over the No. 1 DVOA team, the Arizona Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Steelers are showing that they can remain competitive even without Ben Roethlisberger.  Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders explain what has surprised them about the Steelers and what has made them effective.  In addition, the two discuss the undefeated Panthers and Broncos a...

The New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals will not play each other this season unless they meet in the Super Bowl, but Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders still broke down the #1 and #2 teams in DVOA if they were to play each other.  Who will generate pass pressure?  Can New England stop Arizona's running attack?  Can anyone on Arizona cover Gronk...

Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders discuss the 4-and-0 Bengals.  Does DYAR show that Andy Dalton has made improvements?  Does the team's undefeated record mesh with their DVOA standing?  Speaking of DVOA, the top four DVOA teams are well clear of the rest of the field.  Aaron explains how rare that is and what the implications of that gap are on Super...

Arizona continues to dominate the DVOA rankings, and Scott Spratt of Sports Info Solutions and Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders explain how rare their performance has been historically.  From there, they segue into discussing the anti-Cardinals, the Chicago Bears, who have been far and away the worst team in DVOA this season.  Which of their other players could be on the trading block in additio...