A Different Way of Looking at Football

[GP1]

Article

If any of you get HBO, check out the story on the coach in the article above. Quite the eye opening story and it turns the whole way of how we view football upside down. Until they interviewed the economist, I had no idea how likely it is to make it on fourth down. I had no idea how stupid NFL coaches are when they punt on 4th and 2 from the other team's 36. Also, this guy onsides kicks every time...and for good reason...it works and the stats say it works. He once scored 28 points in the first four minutes of a state semi-final game.

Great TV article.

Economist from story has a book about football statistics. Can't think of the name of it. If anyone knows the name of the book from the TV article, please post.

[johnnyzip84]

Article

If any of you get HBO, check out the story on the coach in the article above. Quite the eye opening story and it turns the whole way of how we view football upside down. Until they interviewed the economist, I had no idea how likely it is to make it on fourth down. I had no idea how stupid NFL coaches are when they punt on 4th and 2 from the other team's 36. Also, this guy onsides kicks every time...and for good reason...it works and the stats say it works. He once scored 28 points in the first four minutes of a state semi-final game.

Great TV article.

Economist from story has a book about football statistics. Can't think of the name of it. If anyone knows the name of the book from the TV article, please post.

See prior ZNO discussion

[GP1]

See prior ZNO discussion

Thanks JZ84. I just bought it.

[johnnyzip84]

Thanks JZ84. I just bought it.

I was greatly intrigued by this Kelley the 1st time I ever read about him and his philosophy. It begs the obvious question. Do you think any D-1 head coach would ever have the cojones to implement such an extremely aggressive approach?

[GP1]

I was greatly intrigued by this Kelley the 1st time I ever read about him and his philosophy. It begs the obvious question. Do you think any D-1 head coach would ever have the cojones to implement such an extremely aggressive approach?

No. A part of me thinks for good reason. A part of me thinks it would be great to watch and makes a ton of sense. It really has me questioning some of my beliefs about what teams should do in various situations.

The placement of the ball on the 30 for kickoffs would make it very dangerous for a college team. I think high schools still kickoff from the 40 so if you don't get an OS kick, you still have them on their side of the 50. The quality of FG kickers comes into play as well...It wouldn't take many yards if you lose the OS kick to be in FG range for a college kicker. I do know this, over 50% of NFL FG attempts over 50 yards are successful. That's too many so I believe the goal posts should be closer to require more aggressive actions on the part of the offense so a coach like this might help change the game in that respect.

This paradigm would really change play calling and introduce more variety into all of the downs.

More than anything, I like creativity in coaching. This guy has 12 OS kicks they practice each day and they use every bit of the rule book trying them. One might think that when the other team knows it is coming, it would be easier to stop the OS try, but it isn't because of the creativity.

You called this guys philosophy "extremely aggressive". Prior to watching HBO RS, I might have called it the same thing. After looking at the stats, I'm not sure it is either extreme or aggressive as much as smart coaching. A high school coach is there to teach kids how to play football and put them in the best position to win. The number of state championships he has won proves he does his job well.

[GP1]

This segment is on HBO2 right now.