Bucs Back In The Stats Business
July 29th, 2020
Stat-less no more.
After completing the season reportedly being but one of two NFL teams without an analytics guy or guys running spreadsheets, it seems the Bucs are back in the numbers business.
Jenna Laine of ESPN reports the Bucs lured former Jets director of football administration Jacqueline Davidson to Tampa to lead the team’s football research.
“She’s brilliant. She’s brilliant with a lot of things, but she’s really brilliant with numbers and analytics,” general manager Jason Licht told ESPN. “It was very important to get her in here. You can’t have enough smart people. … She’s gonna help us integrate analytics into our overall football decisions.”
Joe was surprised that the Bucs and the Titans were the two reported teams without numberscrunchers. Why? Because both Licht and Titans shot-caller Jon Robinson (not to mention Titans coach Mike Vrabel) are both a couple of Bill Belichick guys.
Belichick has long dabbled in stats (he just has a public disdain for the PFF tribe, which glosses itselft as the inventors of the game). In fact, Belichick may have been one of the first NFL coaches to embrace stats as he hired his long-time pal, secretive Ernie Adams, to head up an analytics unit as well as be an assistant coach back when Belichick coached the Browns.
(While in Cleveland, then-owner Art Modell famously said of Adams, “I’ll pay anyone here $10,000 if they can tell me what Ernie Adams does.”)
July 29th, 2020 at 7:33 am
Stats have a place, but they are a tool at best. If they actually drive your decisions vice simply reinforce what you already know, you shouldn’t be in the business.
July 29th, 2020 at 8:38 am
The largest coaching staff and front office in the NFL. Let’s see some results. Go Bucs.
July 29th, 2020 at 10:02 am
I’m still flummoxed by fans and Ira that complain about coaching staff size. It doesn’t affect the cap or players we get.
We run two of the exact same practices simultaneously! That’s innovation! In a no offseason world, it’s looking pretty damn smart.
In BA I Trust!
July 29th, 2020 at 12:10 pm
If we’re going to give credit for early implementation of stats Belicheat is way behind.
Paul Brown certainly is the pioneer…using IQ tests on draft prospects…replaced now by the Wunderlic…he used game stats to design offenses and defenses as well.
In the broad group of “cerebral” coaches Belichik certainly has a spot but Paul Brown is the pioneer.
July 29th, 2020 at 12:23 pm
Maybe it is just Joe, but never heard of nor never thought of IQ tests and the Wunderlic as “stats” that are derived from the field of play.
The more Joe thinks of it, Gil Brandt may have been the pioneer but he and the Cowboys were widely mocked for this. Brandt, working with IBM, seemed more inclined to use stats from a physical angle (stamina, career longevity, wear and tear, leaping ability, etc.) than from, say, YAC. Brandt did do a lot of work on down-and-distance probabilities.
July 29th, 2020 at 11:44 pm
No one cares more stats than Bill, you just search Patriots and referees trends.
Even TB frequently asks for the “trends” such as where the FS usually goes in a specific situation. So I believe that Tom might push this hiring.