We have a new leader in the clubhouse for most lopsided game of the season. The St. Louis Rams pulled off one of the biggest blowouts by a heavy underdog in league history in week ten, defeating the Colts in Indianapolis, 38-8. In the process, the Rams also held an average lead of 23.2 points, the largest Game Script score of the season.

Indianapolis kept it close early, and the only first quarter score came via the St. Louis defense. On that play, Robert Quinn — who with 12 sacks through 10 games, is a legitimate Defensive Player of the Year candidate — stripsacked Andrew Luck, and Chris Long picked up the fumble and raced 45 yards for the touchdown. Incredibly, the Colts are lucky this game wasn’t even more one-sided. Late in the first quarter, Kellen Clemens and Zac Stacy botched the exchange on a handoff on the goal line with the Rams looking to go up 14-0, and Indianapolis recovered to end the scoring threat. That didn’t set back the Rams for long, however, as St. Louis scored 21 points in the third quarter to take a 28-0 lead into the locker room. Tavon Austin — who had a day for the ages — scored in the third quarter to give St. Louis a 35-0 lead early in the third quarter, effectively ending any hopes for another Luck comeback.

Three teams lost with positive Game Scripts in week 10, but unlike in week nine, there were no big comebacks, as all three games were back-and-forth affairs. The Panthers won with the worst Game Script of the week, holding an average deficit of 2.6 points against the 49ers. San Francisco jumped out to a 9-0 early, but Carolina eventually won 10-9 on a late field goal. Since I wrote about how the 3-9 Panthers were about to turn things around, Carolina has gone 9-3. In an unrelated note, I recently injured my hand on my back.

The table below shows the Game Scripts data from week 10:



Winner H/R Loser Boxscore PF PA Margin Game Script Pass Run P/R Ratio Op_P Op_R Opp_P/R Ratio STL @ IND Boxscore 38 8 30 23.2 18 36 33.3% 55 14 79.7% SEA @ ATL Boxscore 33 10 23 12.5 27 42 39.1% 38 16 70.4% NOR DAL Boxscore 49 17 32 11.5 42 38 52.5% 27 16 62.8% BAL CIN Boxscore 20 17 3 9.5 41 30 57.7% 56 31 64.4% PHI @ GNB Boxscore 27 13 14 9.3 21 37 36.2% 44 30 59.5% JAX @ TEN Boxscore 29 27 2 9.2 26 29 47.3% 43 26 62.3% DEN @ SDG Boxscore 28 20 8 9 38 22 63.3% 33 33 50% TAM MIA Boxscore 22 19 3 6.4 22 38 36.7% 44 13 77.2% PIT BUF Boxscore 23 10 13 5.9 34 33 50.7% 42 22 65.6% ARI HOU Boxscore 27 24 3 1.8 33 28 54.1% 46 21 68.7% DET @ CHI Boxscore 21 19 2 1.1 35 25 58.3% 51 20 71.8% NYG OAK Boxscore 24 20 4 -0.9 25 38 39.7% 30 25 54.5% MIN WAS Boxscore 34 27 7 -1.2 28 24 53.8% 41 36 53.2% CAR @ SFO Boxscore 10 9 1 -2.6 36 29 55.4% 27 24 52.9%

Only two of the teams with positive Game Scripts passed more frequently than their opponents. San Diego is normally one of the most pass-happy teams in the NFL, as Philip Rivers (who still leads the league in completion percentage) executes a high-percentage passing game that takes the place of many runs. But boldness apparently has its limits, and against Peyton Manning and the Broncos, the Chargers called 33 pass plays and 33 runs in an attempt to keep the Denver offense off the field. That helped San Diego win the all-important time of possession battle, 38:03 to 12:57, which enabled San Diego to still lose by 8 points.

The other game that went off Script was in New York, where the Giants remain terrified that Eli Manning will throw a pick six at any moment. He threw another one against the Raiders, but the story of the day was Tom Coughlin giving perhaps the most injury prone running back in the NFL, Andre Brown, 30 carries in his first game of the season. For what it’s worth, 16 of New York’s 38 rush attempts came with the team leading in the fourth quarter. Over the last four weeks, New York has passed on just 52% of all pass plays, but actually passed less frequently in the games with negative Game Scripts.

The Ravens had a very high pass/run ratio for a team that held a large lead most of the game, due to the continuing ineffectiveness of the team’s running backs. The passing game has not been good this season — Baltimore ranks 7th in pass attempts but only 17th in yards and 20th in touchdowns — but the running game isn’t getting the team anywhere. Against Cincinnati, Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce combined for just 61 yards on 26 carries.

As always, you can view the Game Scripts from every game this season at this page.

Team Boxscore # plays Avg Yardline New Orleans Saints Boxscore 80 56.2 Washington Redskins Boxscore 77 54.3 Minnesota Vikings Boxscore 52 53.6 Seattle Seahawks Boxscore 69 53.2 Buffalo Bills Boxscore 64 51.8 Oakland Raiders Boxscore 55 49.3 Philadelphia Eagles Boxscore 58 49.2 Pittsburgh Steelers Boxscore 67 48.6 Jacksonville Jaguars Boxscore 55 48.5 Green Bay Packers Boxscore 74 48.2 Chicago Bears Boxscore 71 47.9 San Diego Chargers Boxscore 66 47.8 Arizona Cardinals Boxscore 61 47.5 Baltimore Ravens Boxscore 71 46.8 Detroit Lions Boxscore 60 46.8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Boxscore 60 46.7 Indianapolis Colts Boxscore 69 46.6 New York Giants Boxscore 63 46.4 Cincinnati Bengals Boxscore 87 46.2 Tennessee Titans Boxscore 69 44.6 Houston Texans Boxscore 67 43.3 St. Louis Rams Boxscore 54 42.8 Carolina Panthers Boxscore 65 41.8 Atlanta Falcons Boxscore 54 41 Dallas Cowboys Boxscore 43 39 Miami Dolphins Boxscore 57 38.7 Denver Broncos Boxscore 60 37.6 San Francisco 49ers Boxscore 51 34.2

Three things stand out to me: