Arians Explains His Disdain For Analytics, Says Sunday Beer Drinkers Could Do A Better Job Than Replay Officials
February 27th, 2020
It’s always fun when Bucco Bruce Arians removes his head coach filter for a few minutes.
Stat nerds and spreadsheets, Arians has little or no use for them, he explained this week on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
“I’ve actually heard of guys calling plays [using analytics] and I don’t know how that works,” Arians said. “I mean, run to the right, run a sweep, throw the ball. What the hell? I don’t need a computer tell me that. If you do, you’re not a coach.
“If you gotta have a computer tell you to go for it on 4th-and-2, you’re getting your ass kicked. You ain’t going to make it. The computer said, ‘Go for it because you’re likely to win the game.’ No, you’re going to get your ass kicked.”
“I don’t have a math brain, you know, so for me [analytics] comes into play; dude is 6-5, 240, and he’s smart and he can throw, he’s probably going to be a good quarterback. Because I’ve see that. They’re named Peyton. They’re named Tom. So if that’s analytics, yeah shit, I’ll use it.'”
Joe’s not exactly in Arians’ camp but understands his sentiment. Still, data is often another form of self-scouting.
Perhaps that sweep feels right but is dumb as hell because it rarely works and the opponent snuffs it 76.7 percent of the time over the last 10 games.
As for replay review of pass interference, Arians liked the rule but then hated it. Why? Because officials changed the way they called it through the year.
Asked why the call is so challenging and whether the league is lacking enough qualified officials, Arians replied, “I don’t know. I think everybody drinking beer at Buffalo Wild Wings could make half these calls.”
February 27th, 2020 at 12:01 pm
You got to love BA’s honesty & frankness….
February 27th, 2020 at 12:05 pm
Arians replied, “I don’t know. I think everybody drinking beer at Buffalo Wild Wings could make half these calls.”
I disagree with BA…….they could make ALL the calls!!!
February 27th, 2020 at 12:09 pm
BA doing a little shameless plugging just like Joe.
Warms my heart.
February 27th, 2020 at 12:12 pm
I disagree with Arians cause analytics help you make in game decisions. Just use it as a tool to make the best informed decision also he isn’t wrong about the 4th down situations. Also somewhere Thomas bassinger is screeching about him saying that.
February 27th, 2020 at 12:16 pm
Should’ve said “ Everyone drinking beer at big storm brewery”!!!!
February 27th, 2020 at 12:18 pm
Arians should have said “ Everyone drinking beer at BIG STORM BREWERY can make half these calls”!!!
February 27th, 2020 at 12:19 pm
John Harbaugh uses analytics to tell whether to go for it on fourth down or not. Bruce Arians does not.
One of them went 14-2. The other went 7-9.
February 27th, 2020 at 12:23 pm
The “Analytics Program” crashes every time Jameis’s stats are entered
February 27th, 2020 at 12:39 pm
Eyeballs don’t lie and numbers can be misleading. Love BA’s approach.
February 27th, 2020 at 12:44 pm
Love me some Arians.
I would love to play for him if i was in the nfl.
Ultimate accountability, and a direct pipeline to bear bryant, cowher and other gofers.
Love Arians mantra, coachem hard and hug them later.
Just a good, real dude. Hope he lets his nuts hang and makes the QB decision he sees fit.
February 27th, 2020 at 1:33 pm
That’s awesome! Good for him, the NFL needs to hold those blind refs accountable!
February 27th, 2020 at 1:45 pm
Now it all comes clear. BA disdains analytics & number-crunchers. The same BA who keeps telling Jameis to ‘just keep firing’. Can hear BA & Clyde’s conversation after the last Atlanta game …
BA: ‘Clyde, some nerd sports reporter just told me that Jameis has thrown 30 interceptions this season. Why didn’t you tell me he’d thrown that many?”
Clyde: “Sorry BA, we didn’t want to get all analytical on you.”
February 27th, 2020 at 1:47 pm
I don’t agree with Arians’ general comments on analytics. There is always a statistically correct play to make in every situation. Analytics can help prevent making decisions like taking a delay of game penalty to move the kicker five yards back because it felt like the right thing to do and made sense in his head movies.
February 27th, 2020 at 3:41 pm
Jameis, oh Jameis, your coach is talking about quarterbacks and you aren’t in the conversation.
Maybe there is hope in this world after all.
February 27th, 2020 at 6:32 pm
Funny bit of “get off my lawn” from the old man. A great coach in the modern era knows how to balance old school instinctive coaching with new sources of information. Analytics won’t tell you when the flow of a game is not what you expected or your star player doesn’t seem quite right and you need to adjust your strategy. That is coaching.
But it takes a lot of ego and lack of wisdom to look at an entire industry of data science and decide that not only do you not need it, but anyone that does need it shouldn’t do the job.
February 27th, 2020 at 7:21 pm
At the end of the day replay has changed (crippled) the game. The next time we’re watching the game we should listen to ourselves we’ll be yelling at the TV “challenge that call”.
February 27th, 2020 at 7:30 pm
As for analytics go, regardless of what down it is how early are how late it is in the game the plays have to be executed plain and simple.
February 27th, 2020 at 7:38 pm
I think there’s two sides to it and I like the side Bruce is on- here’s why.
One let’s a computer suggest data implies to run to the right via sweep(76%).
The other side watches the film and goes man “the right side is a liability- especially with single back formations”.
They both are looking at the same painting. But Bruce’s side holds more accountability in my opinion- and creates more continuity(not with a computer).
Now for scouting and drafting- id deff lean analytics.
February 27th, 2020 at 8:52 pm
Arians is cool. I think that we should get rid of replay and just live without it like we used to. It’s beyond sad that plays that obviously should be overturned, are not. The game is being ruined with all of these stoppages.
Also, if you catch a ball and both of your feet are inbounds, it’s a gosh darned catch. No need for “football moves” afterwards or any other gobbledygook nonsense. Folks making simple things more complicated than they need to be is a rabbit hole with no bottom. Yes, I’m still pi$$ed about the Best Emanuel non-catch.
February 27th, 2020 at 10:48 pm
43 years of coaching, he can feel the analytics in his head.
February 28th, 2020 at 5:22 pm
He has a disdain for analytics because his mind is stuck in 1999, like his offense.
The analytics basically quantifies the result of every play in every situation in NFL history, yet it has no value?
Arians won’t win. His thinking, like his offense, is stuck in yesterday.
February 28th, 2020 at 5:23 pm
He has a disdain for analytics because his mind is stuck in 1999, like his offense.
The analytics basically quantifies the result of every play in every situation in NFL history, yet it has no value?
Arians won’t win. His thinking, like his offense, is stuck in yesterday.
March 2nd, 2020 at 6:57 pm
Sounds like a shout out to us JBF posters!