Week 8 2021 NFL Score Report

Really, NFL?

Second to last Giants possession:  2nd down intentional drop, 3rd down intentional drop, punt

KC possession, Holding, one stop, no desire by the Giants to tackle shit (AND a refball non-facemask facemask, but the NFL miscalculates), couple of other big plays, winning FG.

Final Giants possession:  3 yard pass, incomplete, sack, sack.  Thanks for coming.  Enjoy your NFL Scripted Production.

The only thing they DIDN'T get right was the field goal was ten seconds too soon, so they are one short, now (with two this week), of the record for eight weeks for the last-minute/OT SuperCliffhangers...

But they did get four Cliffhangers this week, including the Game of the Week -- which was NOT a one-score game because of a second New Orleans score (the intentional right-to-the-defender Brady Pick Six), the Sunday nighter, and the Monday nighter.

• Scoring:  45.73 PPG this week, season PPG is now 47.10.  (Last year:  47.64 for the week, 50.39 for the eight weeks)
• Home teams sucking rocks this year:  6-9 for the week, 57-62 for the year.  (Last year:  9-5 for 62-54-3.)
• Over was, predictably, 6-8-1 for 53-67-2 for the season.  (9-5 for 62-54-3 last year for Week 8.)
• Vegas wins again this week:  4-10-1 against the number.  This includes Thursday night, Sunday night, and Bucs-Saints)  54-67-1 for the year (Last year:  4-10 for 49-67-1)
• Straight up:  Favorites lost this week.  7-8 for favorites straight up.  Season is 74-48.  (Last year:  7-7 for 75-41-1.)
• Probably the biggest news of the week (and one of the reasons the scoring was down to about 47 PPG):  206 penalties in the 15 games (13.7 per game).  Most penalties since Week 2.  1,526 penalties, now, in the 122 games played.  (12.4 per game)  (Last year:  161 in 14 games (11.5) for a season total of 1,357 in 119 games played (11.4))
• Teams with more penalties were 7-5 for 52-55 for the season.  (Last year:  2-8 for 43-59)
• Four Cliffhangers, as noted above, 31 for the year. (Last year had 2 in Week 8 and 23 through 8 weeks.)
• Record Watch:  As noted above, only two games finished with a winning score in the last minute or OT, and that makes 26 -- 2015 had four for the week and 27 through eight weeks.  Week 9, 2015 had four again -- three in overtime.  So next week, the NFL would need five such results to match the 31 results in 2015 which had a winning score in the last minute or in overtime.
• Nine of the 15 games this week finished within eight points.  That makes 57 of the 122 -- still under 50%.  (Last year:  7 for 60, in three fewer games)
• Three non-competitive games this week for 44 total.  (Last year:  4 for 38)
• And four Last Chance Misses for the week for 28 total.  (Last year:  5 for 38)

Some interesting side numbers:

• If you bet $100 that every NFL game would go over the Vegas total (Source:  Caesar's Sportsbook/ESPN) this year, you would now be down $1382.
• If you bet $100 that every NFL game would go under the Vegas total, you'd be up almost $691.  (A little bit of a lesson there on why the 9.09% "juice" -- I think it's technically called "vinigrish" or some arcane word like that -- the casino takes from all winning bets is so important.  To make money on a consistent basis, you would have to hit, given equal bets, somewhere between 52-55% of your bets.)
• And it's about the same if you bet favorites vs. underdogs.  If you just HAVE TO, and the NFL does not change it's strategy, you might want to look underdogs and the under.
• 2015 had only two games in which the winning score came between 1 and 2 minutes to go.  So they totalled 29 Cliffhangers, meaning this year's 31 should be an NFL record for full Cliffhangers (2021 has had five such games in which the final score was 1-2 minutes to go, including two this week.).  
• Looking at my 2015 chart:  I see where the one-minute/overtime record came from:  The NFL had SEVEN games in Week 4 2015 decided last minute and overtime, and SIX in Week 5.  (Of those 13, six were overtime, two at the gun, and one at two seconds.)