The Baltimore Ravens offense has looked absolutely unstoppable this season. While their 20-17 win over the NFC-leading San Francisco 49ers wasn’t quite as impressive as their 45-6 walloping of the defending NFC champion Los Angeles Rams the Monday prior, it was still enough to claim a win against the NFL’s top defense by yardage. The…
The NFL scheduled a workout for Colin Kaepernick in front of a couple dozen NFL teams on Saturday, but as with pretty much everything in Kaepernick’s career, things didn’t go as planned. Ultimately, Kaepernick did work out, but independently and for only a handful of teams, an hour later and a few miles away from…
Is anyone in the NFL more improved than Jacksonville Jaguars receiver DJ Chark? A second-round pick in the 2018 draft, Chark caught only 14 of his 32 targets as a rookie for 174 yards and zero touchdowns. He nearly eclipsed those totals in Week 1 this year, tallying 146 yards and a score in a…
The Minnesota Vikings prevailed over Washington 19-9 in a Thursday night game that featured a statistical oddity: Minnesota never punted, ran for 161 yards, quarterback Kirk Cousins completed 23 of 26 passes with no interceptions, and yet the Vikings could not even score 20 points. How does this happen? It was the lowest-scoring output by…
Expected Points Added (EPA) is a football statistic that seeks to measure the value of individual plays in terms of points. This is done by calculating the Expected Points (EP) of the down, distance, and field position situation at the start of a play and contrasting it with the situation at the end of the…
The NFL analytics community has known for a while that deep passing is more efficient than short passing. Dan Pizzuta wrote recently that “just under 18% of passes have traveled over 15 yards past the line of scrimmage and those attempts have made up for 133% of the league-wide passing EPA [Expected Points Added].” In…
When asked how much analytics informs the New England Patriots‘ decision-making in key situations, Bill Belichick answered simply, “less than zero.” This prompted several snide responses from the Twitter machine, such as: Obviously “less than zero” is a mathematical impossibility, and it’s hard to imagine that the famously thorough Belichick is utterly unfamiliar with the…
All salary figures courtesy of OverTheCap.com unless otherwise specified. These days, it seems like nothing brings out the reactions like running back news. The old school loves the smashmouth style. Analytics-minded pundits downplay the importance of what was once the game’s glamour position. Dallas Cowboys back Ezekiel Elliott has been a lightning rod for such…
The language of football is often confusing: play calls, alignments, techniques, and concepts litter the commentary and writing about the game. Inside the Pylon wants to aid in developing a deeper understanding of the game, so our glossary entries will offer clear explanations and video examples. We hope we can help you enrich your experience watching football. “Voidable years” are years of a contract…
Football is littered with specialized terminology. From punt gunner to climbing the pocket, commentators rarely get to explain everything you need to know before the next play. Inside The Pylon’s glossary was developed to give fans a deeper understanding of the game through clear explanations, as well as image and video examples. Please contact us…
Good teams almost invariably have good quarterback. Bad teams pick near the top of the draft and have the opportunity to select a top signal-caller. But what about teams in the middle, teams that are neither championship contenders, nor poor enough to have a chance at a franchise-changing QB? The 2016 Philadelphia Eagles found themselves…
Cornerback Chris Harris, Jr. is making headlines for his current contract impasse with the Denver Broncos. However that shakes out, it’s bound to end with him signing a deal making him one of the NFL’s highest-paid defensive backs. It’s an opportune time to review Harris’ journey from undrafted free agent to one of football’s best…
NFL teams prepare two draft boards in preparation for the NFL draft, a horizontal board and a vertical board. The horizontal board shows not only a round grade for each prospect but their rank within the position. This helps a team understand alternatives available at various points in the draft. If they pass on a…
NFL teams prepare two draft boards in preparation for the NFL draft, a horizontal board and a vertical board. The vertical board distills the scouting grade, need at the position, positional value, and any other relevant factors into one ranked list of the “best player available.” The first 11 players are gone? Take player 12.…
Since 2000, every franchise had selected a wide receiver in the first round—except the New England Patriots. That streak ended Thursday night, when New England tabbed Arizona State wideout N’Keal Harry with the 32nd selection. The Patriots’ spotty track record choosing receivers, along with concerns about elements of Harry’s game, raises some interesting questions. In…
The 2019 NFL wide receiver draft class is as diverse as an NFL playbook. Whether you are a looking for a true X, an undersized speedster, a big slot receiver, a contested catch monster, or a special teams maven, this draft class has something for you. We’ll borrow a page from high school yearbooks and…