Below is a comparison of the efficiency stats for playoff teams that make up the factors in the prediction model. Data from week 17 is not included because most teams rested starters for some or all of the game.
O Pass, D Run, etc. is in yards per attempt. O Int, and D Int are the percent of pass attempts resulting in an interception. O Fum is percentage of all plays in which a fumble occurs. Pen is penalty yards per all plays.
Click on the table headers to sort.
Team | O Pass | O Run | O Int | O Fum | D Pass | D Run | D Int | Pen |
DAL | 7.5 | 4.3 | 3.6 | 2.1 | 5.4 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 0.31 |
GB | 7.3 | 3.9 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 6.0 | 3.9 | 3.5 | 0.33 |
IND | 7.3 | 3.8 | 2.7 | 1.3 | 5.1 | 3.9 | 4.7 | 0.29 |
JAX | 6.6 | 4.6 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 5.9 | 4.0 | 3.6 | 0.34 |
NE | 7.8 | 4.2 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 5.2 | 4.4 | 3.6 | 0.35 |
NYG | 5.4 | 4.6 | 3.7 | 2.8 | 5.6 | 4.0 | 3.1 | 0.31 |
PIT | 6.2 | 4.3 | 2.9 | 2.0 | 4.9 | 3.9 | 2.2 | 0.34 |
SD | 6.1 | 4.2 | 3.6 | 1.9 | 5.7 | 4.1 | 5.5 | 0.37 |
SEA | 6.3 | 3.6 | 2.2 | 1.8 | 5.6 | 3.9 | 3.7 | 0.18 |
TB | 6.4 | 4.2 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 5.1 | 3.7 | 3.2 | 0.32 |
TEN | 5.7 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 2.8 | 5.4 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 0.39 |
WAS | 6.2 | 3.8 | 2.2 | 3.6 | 5.4 | 3.9 | 2.3 | 0.36 |
How much would the numbers change if you included Week 17 performances? Granted, including the TB or IND practice squad stats would make this comparison less useful, but TN, NE, NYG, DAL, WAS all played starters for most or all of their games.
Many of the teams you cite played against teams that did not play at full strength.
But I did check, especially because of the Giants. They did so well against a very strong team in week 17. However, by using wk 17 data their probability against TB only goes from 0.21 to 0.22.
Maybe "many" is not correct. But WAS and TN did not play against full strength teams. IND, PIT, SEA, TB, JAX, and GB all played backups themselves.
But I can rerun the probabilities with week 17 data just to see how much it would change things.