Urschel: My car is a Nissan Versa hatchback. It's the rate at which the pocket collapses, in seconds.ī/R: You wrote in The Players Tribune that you live off $25,000 per year. This is an interesting statistic for measuring an offensive line. In the passing game, I think the best stat is something that I have seen very recently in a paper I refereed for the Journal of Sports Analytics: Pocket Collapse Rate. Some running backs are very good and don't get touched for a while some running backs are very bad and run into the backs of their offensive linemen. [ Note: This is often referred to as "yards at contact" or But this doesn't always show the offensive linemen's talents. Not until he goes down, but until he gets hit. In the run game, look at how many yards the running back goes before he gets hit. But you can look at them as an offensive line. It's tough to look at offensive linemen individually. I say, "OK."ī/R: Is there a good statistic for evaluating an offensive lineman? Houshmandzadeh catches five or more passes. Oh, this team is undefeated when they run the ball 20 times and T.J. Urschel: These are good stats for ESPN or NFL Live. Do you ever want to give the speaker a lesson in cause and effect? But anyone who says they should go for it on fourth down all the time, because of the analytics, is lying to you or living in his own world.ī/R: What about when you hear that some team is, say, 10-0 when they run more than 30 times in a game. Listen: Going for it on fourth down all the time is just as bad as never going for it on fourth down and punting.Īnalytics say, "Yes, you should go for it here no you shouldn't go for it there." For the most part, coaches should go for it more. Urschel: You know what makes me cringe? When I hear people-not sports analytics people, but people who claim to be empowered by sports analytics-that claim you should go for it on fourth down all the time. I thoroughly enjoy talking to them, and we do spitball sometimes.ī/R: Is there a nugget of football statistical wisdom that makes you cringe? Not the analytics guys for the Ravens, who are at the top of their field. They are perhaps living in medieval times, let's say. Urschel: The Stone Age is a little extreme. They aren't in the Dark Ages compared to the actual people who work for the teams, and compared to some of the team-employed sports analysts, these people are very much ahead of the game.ī/R: So there are team-employed analytics experts who are still in the Stone Age? I keep up with a variety of different outlets. Nate Silver and the FiveThirtyEight guys: I have a great respect for the work they do. Ed Feng of PowerRank is also a good friend. Urschel: Brian Burke is a good friend of mine. But I do keep myself abreast of new things that are going on, and I am aware of key components of football analytics, like the extra point change.ī/R: Most analysts think that moving extra-point kick attempts back to the 15-yard line won't change strategy at all, because the kick is still nearly automatic. It's not necessarily a huge area that I am involved in. I'm not sure Slacker John Urschel exists in any alternate universe.ī/R: Do you follow any of the analysis-based football websites? Urschel: Right! Except, somehow this "slacker" John Urschel would be doing math research and reading things. There's still 90 percent left for him to do, so there are many things that can be done.ī/R: So you create a normal John Urschel and an extra "slacker" John Urschel. I try to imagine that I give all I have, 100 percent, then I make a copy of myself, and I require that copy to give 10 percent. #MATHLETE SAYINGS HOW TO#He also visits schools to talk STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) to future scholars, presents research findings to the NSA and goes anywhere a mathematician who also happens to play professional football may be needed.īleacher Report recently caught up with Urschel after Ravens OTAs and a MoMath event, to talk about how to statistically analyze offensive linemen, punting and extra-point trends in the NFL and just how easy it is to live off endorsement money when you are Rob Gronkowski.īleacher Report: When a coach asks you to give a 110 percent effort, do you ever have the urge to correct him?
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