Warrior General Games

Hey guys, don't usually post much, but I did a ranking of the starting strong safeties in the western conference of the USA A#3 League.

The rankings took into account: FF, INT, Tackles, and PD. Each player was ranked 1-16 amongst the other starting safeties in the conference in those four categories. When a tie took place, the player who was on a team with a better win/loss record was seeded higher. When all players were ranked in each of the four categories, the sum was taken of their ranking in each for categories. The sums were compared amongst players and the players were seeded with the lowest number being the #1 ranked Starting Strong Safety in the conference. The same tie rule applied here as well.

The rankings are as follows:


1. B. Barbosa (Mustangs)
2. L. Bearden (Raiders)
3. S. Painer (Aggies)
4. I. Great (Panthers)
5. J. Ballstar (Lions)
5. B. Bates (Texans)
7. B. Matlock (Fortleza)
8. S. Wesson (Cowbells)
9. . Radiohead (Manbearpigs)
10. J. Samples (Cougars)
11. G. Brown (Snipers)
12. D. Diminoff (Orangebloods)
13. B. Jones (Pirates)
14. N. Tran (Omaha)
15. B. Lovin (Extreme)
16. G. Atkinson (Psychos)

I'm sorry if I mis-spelled anyone's name, my chicken scratch writing is getting tough to read. I hope no one is offended by the list, was just messing around and wanted to see how my SS stacked up against the rest of the conference. Opinions and comments are appreciated.

FWIW: The leaders as of the 13 game in each statistical category are:

Tackles: B. Bates (108)
FF: B. Bates, S. Painer (5 each)
INT: J. Ballstar, L. Bearden, B. Barbosa (4 each)
PD: J. Ballstar (27)
TD: B. Matlock (1)

Like I said, I hope all names and numbers are correct, I can't read my writing anymore...everyone have a good one

Interesting... unfortunately your rankings don't take into account the other 10 starters on the defenses and their backups.

A Strong Safety with a good supporting cast isn't going to have huge numbers.

your absolutely right. If you will notice, many of the top safeties are on teams that are a little farther down in the standings.

tackles is such a worthless stat. the top teams play less defensive snaps.

Why would he take into account the other 10 players on the team? This is a SS statistical standings, not a team statistical standings.

rather than tackles, why don't you use percentage of team tackles?

Originally posted by Lout84
Why would he take into account the other 10 players on the team? This is a SS statistical standings, not a team statistical standings.

Because, as a SS, if my linemen and LBs kick ass I'm going to see fewer opportunities at tackles because the RB is tackled well before I get there. If my CB's can defend well and tackle well I have fewer chances at tackles there too.

Originally posted by JKates
tackles is such a worthless stat. the top teams play less defensive snaps.

Yup. And our two strong safeties split time equally (99/0) so obviously neither of our guys is going to have a ton of stats.

Originally posted by JKates
rather than tackles, why don't you use percentage of team tackles?

Even that's going to be skewed. The top guy, Barbosa, has almost exactly twice the plays that our starting SS has (1010 snaps vs 509). Matlock (our guy) has 3 INTs to Barbosa's 4, in half the plays. And 12 PDs in half the plays, to Barbosa's 18. And your SS having 110 tackles is nothing to be proud of as a team.

For everyone saying Barbosa's tackles are a worthless stat why don't you watch some footage of him playing? Most of his tackles are 2-4 yards down the field, these aren't after 10 yard gains man.


Considering our offense turns the ball over 5~ times a game our defense is REALLY good. Seriously before you start saying that Barbosa isn't the best SS in the league look at some stats and watch some footage. The guy made the right decision putting him at #1.

Barbosa isn't the best SS in the west conference, nevermind the league. As Geandily knows, I have watched plenty of game film from the Mustangs for the first two seasons.
I'll grant that he is the best player on his team's defense.

Didn't figure this would cause such a stink.

I know these rankings don't reflect which safety has the best build, just did it based on the actual statistics.

In retrospect, it would have been a good idea to take into account: % of teams tackles, and number of plays (if thats even possible). But, like I said, I just wanted to see how my safety stacked up to some of the rest in the league...statistically that is

Strong Safeties on great teams won't have great numbers.

Coulda woulda shoulda... The rankings are taking into account actual statistical outcomes - not the quality of the team that safety plays for. So a good safety on a bad team has more oppurtunities to make plays than a good safety on a good team. So what? They still have to make the plays. All of you bitching about tackles being a worthless stat should look at like this: tackles are only 25% of the ranking. 75% of the rankings are determined by tremendous individual play. It may not be a perfect ranking system but I don't see anyone here coming up with an alternative.

Originally posted by flamingmonkeyass
but I don't see anyone here coming up with an alternative.
Why do we need an alternative? It's not like the one thing this board needed was a statistical analysis of the starting SS's in the USA A#3 West.

Team rankings cause a little bit of a stir from time to time, but when you start comparing players (no matter how) people get their panties in a bunch.