by Aaron Schatz (DVOA) and Vincent Verhei (Quick Reads)

So, how 'bout them Iggles?

As you can imagine from a game that set the all-time record for total yardage in NFL history, the offensive DVOA ratings were a lot better than the defensive DVOA ratings in Super Bowl LII. However, you might be surprised to see that the Patriots came out with a higher DVOA than the Eagles, despite losing the game.

DVOA (with opponent adjustments) TEAM TOT OFF DEF ST PHI -5% 23% 34% 6% NE 16% 63% 29% -18%

VOA (no opponent adjustments) TEAM TOT OFF DEF ST PHI -20% 30% 56% 6% NE -7% 51% 39% -18%

The Patriots gained 8.5 yards per play compared to 7.6 yards per play for the Eagles. Both teams ran about 70 plays. Special teams cost the Patriots, a sentence nobody expected to write before the game was played. The Eagles also benefited from aggressive coaching decisions such as going for it on fourth downs as well as recovery of the game's only fumble. (If that strip-sack ball bounces back into Brady's hands, it's third-and-long and the Patriots get two opportunities to keep that next-to-last drive going.)

There might be some suggestion that the difference here is because of the yardage that the Patriots gained on end-of-half drives that didn't end in scores. The drive at the end of the second quarter gained 48 yards on four plays, not counting a clock-stopping spike, but that last 23-yard gain to Danny Amendola was totally meaningless as long as the Eagles didn't let him score. The Patriots then gained another 40 yards on the final drive of the game, with eight plays not counting a clock-stopping spike, but of course they couldn't get the catch on the 51-yard Hail Mary attempt.

However, the fact that the final drive was 40 yards in eight plays should be a good indication of why these drives did not artificially pump up DVOA. If you remove these drives, the Patriots still have the higher DVOA in this game, 11% to -2%.

Super Bowl LII continued a crazy trend where the losing team actually ends up with a higher rating in Patriots Super Bowls. This isn't always the case in DVOA because of opponent adjustments, but the losing team has come out with the higher VOA (without opponent adjustments) in six of eight Super Bowls featuring the Brady/Belichick Patriots. The only exceptions were Super Bowl XXXVI, where the Patriots and Rams had identical VOA ratings but the Patriots had a much higher DVOA because of opponent adjustments, and Super Bowl XXXIX, where the Patriots really dominated the Eagles even though Philadelphia did get the score within a field goal by the end of the game.

DVOA and VOA in Brady/Belichick Super Bowls DVOA VOA Season Opponent Patriots Opponent Patriots Opponent Score 2001 STL 60% -2% 7% 7% NE, 20-17 2003 CAR -1% 24% -2% 4% NE, 32-29 2004 PHI 64% 1% 43% -31% NE, 24-21 2007 NYG 6% 47% 9% -12% NYG, 17-14 2011 NYG 13% 15% 10% -3% NYG, 21-17 2014 SEA 22% 41% -6% 23% NE, 28-24 2015 ATL 6% 39% -20% 15% NE, 34-28 (OT) 2017 PHI 16% -5% -7% -20% PHI, 41-33

Thanks again to everyone for a great season at Football Outsiders. Please stick around into the offseason. We don't have anything huge for this offseason like last year's release of 1986-1988 DVOA ratings, but we will have the long-awaited return of our Futures column breaking down college prospects before the draft (by Film Room writers Charles McDonald and Derrik Klassen) as well as the 2017 Football Outsiders reader awards results and another update of Scott Kacsmar's historical quarterback postseason drive stats. In a couple days, we'll start talking about how to rebuild the Bears and Giants, and the whole cycle starts anew.

Congratulations to Brian Linzmeier of Long Beach, California, who is the winner of this year's FO Playoff Challenge. He was the best of the Tom Brady-Alshon Jeffrey combos that led our scoring, and wins a copy of the 2018 KUBIAK fantasy football projections. His full roster:

QB Tom Brady NE

QB Drew Brees NO

RB LeSean McCoy BUF

RB Leonard Fournette JAC

RB Todd Gurley LARM

RB Derrick Henry TEN

WR Julio Jones ATL

WR Stefon Diggs MIN

WR Alshon Jeffery PHI

WR Antonio Brown PIT

TE Greg Olsen CAR

TE Travis Kelce KC

Full standings are here.

Now let's turn it over to Vince for some Quick Reads. Remember that these numbers are heavily influenced by opponent adjustments, since Philadelphia finished the season No. 5 in defensive DVOA while New England finished the season No. 31.

Quarterbacks Rk Player Team CP/AT Yds TD INT Sacks Total

DYAR Pass

DYAR Rush

DYAR Opp 1. Tom Brady NE 28/46 505 3 0 1 291 294 3 PHI Brady's totals include -5 DYAR receiving for his one target, an incomplete pass on third down. Counting the playoffs, there were six games this season with at least 250 passing DYAR. Brady had three of them: in Week 2 against New Orleans, in the AFC Championship Game against Jacksonville, and now in the Super Bowl. By DYAR, this was the best playoff game of Brady's career, surpassing his six-touchdown game against Denver in the divisional round of the 2011 season. His AFC title game against Jacksonville is third-best, so yes, at age 40, Brady is quite literally playing better than ever before. Against Philadelphia, his best performance came in the third quarter, when he went 7-of-9 for 128 yards. All seven of those completions went for first downs, including two scores. On third/fourth downs, he went 6-of-10 for 125 yards and six conversions. By his standards, he didn't complete an especially high percentage of his passes, but he made those completions count -- 23 of 28 went for first downs, and only two (a 3-yard gain on second-and-6 and a 2-yard gain on second-and-10) were failed completions. The one area he was ineffective was throwing over the middle, where he went 4-of-8 for 44 yards. 2. Nick Foles PHI 28/43 373 3 1 0 173 160 0 NE Foles' totals include 13 DYAR for his 1-yard touchdown catch on fourth-and-goal. (Trey Burton, by the way, gets 18 passing DYAR for that play, and -8 receiving DYAR for his one target, an incompletion.) Foles was at his best when the Eagles needed him most. After the Patriots took the lead in the fourth quarter, Foles went 8-of-10 for 65 yards, including first downs on five of his last six passes. He was good in scoring range; inside the New England 40, he went 8-of-14 for 99 yards and all three touchdowns. All three of those touchdowns were thrown to his left, but let's not overlook Foles' nigh-perfection when throwing up the middle: 6-of-6 for 83 yards and five first downs (the one completion that was not a first down was a 7-yard gain on first-and-10). On third and fourth downs, he went 12-of-15 for 171 yards and 10 conversions, including two scores.

Running Backs by DYAR (Total) Rk Player Team Runs Rush

Yds Rush

TD Rec Rec

Yds Rec

TD Total

DYAR Rush

DYAR Rec

DYAR Opp 1. Corey Clement PHI 3 8 0 4/5 100 1 51 -3 54 NE Clement's only successful run was a 6-yard gain on first-and-goal from the 8; his other two carries gained 1 yard each. His catches, however, were explosive: a 16-yard gain on second-and-4; a 55-yard gain on third-and-3; a 22-yard touchdown on third-and-6; and a 7-yard gain on second-and-8. 2. Rex Burkhead NE 3 18 0 1/1 46 0 35 12 23 PHI Ordinarily Burkhead would not have made our tables due to a lack of touches, but since there was only one game this week and he made such a big impact, we added him. His three runs: 4- and 5-yard gains on first-and-10, and a 9-yard gain on second-and-5. His one catch went for 46 yards on first-and-10. 3. Dion Lewis NE 9 39 0 0/0 0 0 17 17 0 PHI A long run of only 8 yards and just one first down, but each of Lewis' carries gained positive yardage. 4. James White NE 7 45 1 2/6 21 0 13 24 -10 PHI Six of White's seven carries gained 2 yards or more, including a 26-yard touchdown. He caught both of his targets in the first quarter, but went 0-for-4 after that. 5. LeGarrette Blount PHI 14 90 1 0/0 0 0 13 13 0 NE Three first downs, which came on gains of 36, 21 (the touchdown), and 10 yards, while getting hit for a loss twice. 6. Jay Ajayi PHI 9 57 0 0/0 0 0 11 11 0 NE One 26-yard gain on third-and-4, one other first down, and just one run for a loss.

Five Best Wide Receivers and Tight Ends by DYAR Rk Player Team Rec Att Yds Avg TD Total

DYAR Opp 1. Chris Hogan NE 6 8 128 21.3 1 60 PHI Hogan's totals include 57 DYAR receiving, 3 DYAR rushing for his one carry for 4 yards. Five of his six catches resulted in first downs, including a 26-yard touchdown, plus gains of 43 and 28. 2. Danny Amendola NE 8 11 152 19.0 0 53 PHI Amendola's totals include 59 DYAR receiving, -6 DYAR passing for his incomplete pass thrown to Tom Brady. On third and fourth downs, he caught 5-of-6 passes for five conversions and 111 yards. 3. Zach Ertz PHI 7 9 67 9.6 1 49 NE On first downs, Ertz had two catches in three throws for 14 yards and no first downs. On third and fourth downs, he had five catches in six throws for 53 yards and five first downs. He didn't have any targets on second down. 4. Rob Gronkowski NE 9 15 116 12.9 2 43 PHI First half: five throws, one catch, 9 yards, one first down. Second half: ten throws, eight catches, 107 yards, seven first downs. 5. Nelson Agholor PHI 9 11 84 9.3 0 13 NE Agholor's totals include 4 DYAR receiving, 9 DYAR rushing for his one carry for 9 yards. In the first half, he had three catches in four targets for 13 yards and no first downs. In the second half, he had six catches in seven targets for 71 yards and five first downs. That includes one catch that lost 8 yards on third-and-3; his other five second-half catches averaged 17.4 yards apiece.