Panthers Defense DVOA - 1st in NFL, even with opponent quality considered

[Saca312]

This was an interesting thing I came across. Even with consideration for the strength of the Panthers opponents, Football Outsider's DVOA considers them #1 in the NFL through three games:

https://www.footballoutsiders.com/dvoa-ratings/2021/dvoa-week-3-schedule-will-get-harder-steelers-cardinals-and-giants

If I told you that I was applying opponent adjustments early without showing you the table of the top teams in DVOA, you probably would guess that Carolina would be one of the teams to take a big hit. Surprisingly, the Panthers stay almost exactly the same. Sure, the Panthers have played the Jets, and the Jets have been very bad. They've also played the Texans, but the Texans haven't been horrendous in the early going. They currently rank 19th in DVOA. The Panthers also dismantled a Saints team that played phenomenal in its other two games, and now ranks eighth in DVOA. So there isn't much opponent adjustment for Carolina, and the Panthers stay in the No. 1 spot (40.1%).

Ironically, if it weren't for opponent adjustments, they'd be 5th place as of this week.

Certainly encouraging to see, especially considering quality of opponents were a part of this.

[Guild]

A -38.8 DVOA seems unsustainable.  It is a sign of really good defense like we've seen but the offense and some bounces are going to have to go our way.  Great start though.

[Bartin]

ST 31st

Woof

[PleaseCutStewart]

2 hours ago, Bartin said:

ST 31st

Woof

Wait... You're telling me there is a team worse than ours?

I figured we were last in punting, kicking, kickoff coverage, punt coverage, kick returns, and punt returns...

[Snake]

We would have wiped the floor with Houston if the flag happy refs would have called a fair game. That's my only concern for Dallas. They love giving them flags too. 

[SetfreexX]

5 minutes ago, Snake said:

We would have wiped the floor with Houston if the flag happy refs would have called a fair game. That's my only concern for Dallas. They love giving them flags too. 

THIS, I don't know if there was a lot of laundry vs PHI but I can see us being the small market undefeated team the NFL doesn't want to see outshine ''America's Team'' like there isn't a total of 32, get that bs outta here. 

I hope we are able to whoop that a** like we did on Thanksgiving, and just shut all them mf'ers the f*** up!

I'm fired up!!!

[Snake]

10 minutes ago, SetfreexX said:

THIS, I don't know if there was a lot of laundry vs PHI but I can see us being the small market undefeated team the NFL doesn't want to see outshine ''America's Team'' like there isn't a total of 32, get that bs outta here. 

I hope we are able to whoop that a** like we did on Thanksgiving, and just shut all them mf'ers the f*** up!

I'm fired up!!!

Several commentators said the same thing. The Refs wanted to be on TV all night. 

[Saca312]

5 hours ago, Snake said:

We would have wiped the floor with Houston if the flag happy refs would have called a fair game. That's my only concern for Dallas. They love giving them flags too. 

Yep, that Houston game was atrocious with the reffing. Perhaps one of the most incomptent displays I've seen in a long while.

[bigdavis]

6 hours ago, PleaseCutStewart said:

Wait... You're telling me there is a team worse than ours?

I figured we were last in punting, kicking, kickoff coverage, punt coverage, kick returns, and punt returns...

IIRC, that's actually UP a notch from last week.

[Snake]

22 minutes ago, Saca312 said:

Yep, that Houston game was atrocious with the reffing. Perhaps one of the most incomptent displays I've seen in a long while.

And it's all over the league. I'm not sure why the NFL hasn't taken this seriously.