Despite what most historical NFL Stats would indicate, NFL teams in 2021 hit the road and came away with far better success than expected. While travel issues, especially across multiple time zones and causing adjustments in team routines, are the norm in professional sports, it’s apparent some teams can handle them much better than others.
While more details can be found on NFL Stats for the 2021-2022 season, one of the teams that had to travel the most miles in 2021 also had the best road record in the league.
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The Arizona Cardinals logged the seventh most miles in the NFL, although they lagged every other team in their division, still ended up with a record of 8-1 on the road, best in the league.
Despite flying almost 25,000 miles for their nine away games, Arizona also had an 8-1 road record against the spread, the top mark in the NFL.
This is quite an accomplishment for a team that had to play six of those contests in the 1:00 pm ET slot, a 10:00 am or 11:00 am MT or PT start for Arizona, depending on the date because their state doesn’t recognize daylight savings time.
A normal rule of thumb for the NFL, at least among oddsmakers, is that home teams enjoy around a three-point advantage over the visiting team.
Given the parity in the league and the number of close finishes, it would stand to reason that the home teams would enjoy a rather substantial edge in the actual outcomes of the contests.
In 2021, that just wasn’t the case, with 16 teams, exactly half the league, winning more games on the road than they lost. Just behind the Cardinals were the Rams, who were 7-2 away from home, while logging the fourth-most miles in the entire league, seemingly countering the notion that not only do teams have problems on the road, but how far they travel is also a serious factor to consider when placing wagers.
Another team with a 7-2 road record was Dallas, which is particularly impressive considering they play in the NFC East. The other three members of their division are closely clustered within 225 miles of each other. At the same time, the Cowboys are at least 1400 miles from their nearest division foe.
The Cowboys were also able to run up a road record of 8-1 against the spread, making them a potential source of wagering income for bettors that picked up on and took advantage of that trend.
The four teams at the bottom of the list for road game success, the NY Jets, NY Giants, Detroit Lions, and Jacksonville Jaguars, were a combined 2-30 away from their home stadiums.
However, that isn’t that reflective of their inability to travel well, but primarily because they were lousy football teams who had difficulty winning anywhere, including at home.
They had the worst road records and were at the league’s bottom in overall won-loss success in 2021, collectively winning just 14 games while losing 57 contests and tying one for this season.
Going on the road just seemed to make their dismal plight a little worse, so it’s challenging to determine what impact, if any, travel circumstances meant to bad teams.
Home teams won six more games than the visitors for the NFL as a whole, which is much a closer NFL Stat than would ordinarily be presumed, especially since home field advantage is generally considered one of the most significant determinants of the outcome of a game.
Even with the NFC West having particular travel burdens because of the schedule, the teams in that division went 25-11 on the road and 22-14 against the spread in those games.
Perhaps that speaks to the relative strength of the NFC West versus the other divisions they were matched up against. It could also be a trend that teams find better ways to stay more competitive, whether through conditioning or travel routines while playing away from home.
It’s a big factor to consider when wagering on the NFL.
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