Comments on: Which analysis is worth paying for?

By: Rafe

Rafe — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:13:33 +0000

I was not particularly impressed by Bill Simmons’ take on the issue. I did find his analysis of the play that was called interesting, though.

By: Aaron Johnson

Aaron Johnson — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:15:23 +0000

And the best written / most in-depth article on the subject goes to a guy that used to have a blog:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmonsnflpicks/091120

By: Rafe

Rafe — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:36:02 +0000

Added that, thanks.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:17:09 +0000

You didn't provide it, but here is Solomon's blog entry.

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:14:53 +0000

This game was just fantastic. So exciting, it lived up to the hype.

The 4th and 2 call was definitely all or nothing, I don't mind the call Belichick made. I don't think it was lack of confidence in his defense as much as more confidence in his offense. And it is Peyton, he would've went 65 yards as easy as he went the 30 or so.

Hope they meet again in the playoffs.

By: Joe Komenda

Joe Komenda — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:53:36 +0000

My first impression was based on the colorman (Cris Collinsworth I think) of last nights game, who was decrying it loudly.

However, in thinking about it later, I realized that Manning didn't just score, he had to actively burn the clock down. Two minutes was actually too much time from that range.

In the end, the Pats defense was just worn out, figured out, or both.

By: Rafe

Rafe — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:37:06 +0000

I didn’t even know there was a National Sports Journalism Center. That’s cool.

By: Medley

Medley — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:18:53 +0000

By: Jason!

Jason! — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:47:32 +0000

Remarkably, this very choice has been in the news recently, and the statistics are in favor of ditching punting almost completely.

http://www.oregonlive.com/collegefootball/index.ssf/2009/11/what_if_football_teams_didnt_p.html

Which is fascinating, on a nerdtastic, Nate Silver level. On the one hand, we could talk about cigar chomping newspapers vs. calculator punching blogs; but I’m sort of more interested in either what’s changed about the game of football that makes the punt less effective, statistically or if the punt was never effective at all and it was simply one of those psychological things that seems right but isn’t?

But that’s a whole-nother post.

By: Rafe

Rafe — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:42:45 +0000

Quite the contrary. Punting is the conservative choice. It follows the conventional wisdom. Had New England punted and the Colts scored anyway the story would have been about what a hero Peyton Manning was to drive down the field in the last two minutes. But as it is, they see their chance to ridicule a guy widely regarded as the best coach in the NFL for being an idiot, and they're taking it. Columnists love to complain about guys playing it by the book and not taking risks, but when you take a "risk" and it doesn't pan out, they're the first to kick you in the face.

For what it's worth, I'm not a Belichick fan, but I hate the know nothings in the sports media more. I find this pattern very much holds up with other forms of news reporting as well.