Stats That DON'T Matter: 2 Overblown Philadelphia Eagles Stats to Ignore

Sometimes, statistics can tell a story. Other times, they tell only part of a story. And on some occasions, they're absolutely useless. While the majority of football statistics carry at least some meaning, here are two particular stats from 2011 that Philadelphia Eagles fans can safely ignore heading into 2012:

Passing yards allowed per game

Somewhere, some doofus decided that it'd be best to, by default, rank offenses and defenses in terms of yardage gained and yardage given up. Yet when we note that the Eages' pass defense was "ranked" 10th in football with only 212.3 yards per game against last year, we should qualify that with this:

• Their opponent passer rating of 85.7 was well below average. 

• They still gave up an average 7.2 yards per attempt, a mediocre 6.9 adjusted yards per attempt* and a subpar 12.3 yards per completion (probably because their tackling was so bad).

• They gave up 27 passing touchdowns, more than all but eight teams.

* (Passing Yards + 20 * Passing TD - 45 * Interceptions) / (Passes Attempted)

So don't be fooled into believing that this secondary is A-OK, because only nine teams gave up fewer yards than they did. They need to improve dramatically in 2012, especially considering that top 2011 performer Asante Samuel is now gone.

Sacks allowed

Only eight teams gave up fewer sacks than the Eagles last year, but sacks are rarely the problem. The issue is pressure.

The broad sack numbers indicate that Philly dealt with pressure better in 2011 than they did in 2011. Michael Vick was sacked 11 fewer times (34 to 23) and the team as a whole dropped that number from 49 to 32. 

Yes, that represents progress, and it helps not to lose yardage like that. But unfortunately, the Eagles only improved from 24th to 16th in terms of Pro Football Focus' pass-blocking efficiency metric. After giving up 200 total pressures in 2010, they gave up 162 in 2011. 

Again, progress, but not enough to keep Vick healthy. 

Another reason why that stat is now useless is because Jason Peters is no longer part of the equation. The All-Pro left tackle was the fourth-most efficient pass-blocker in the league last season, giving up only 1.5 pressures per game, according to PFF.

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