Mike Eayrs Retires

Mike Eayrs, the Packers numbers and information guy, retired on Sept 30, an odd date for someone in football to retire. But apparently that was the date they agreed upon during his last extension.

Ryan Feder has taken his place, started last spring I believe.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packe...331855511.html

The few times Eayrs work has been mentioned, it struck me to be of a sort with "when Tony Dorsett runs for 100 yards, the Cowboys are 39-1" *. But that just might be the version that is easiest for people to remember and tell reporters. But I have never gotten the sense that he is at the forefront of the football statistics revolution.

But Sherman and McCarthy and certainly Ted trusted the guy. McGinn said former Vikings scout Paul Wiggin called him the smartest man in football (Eayrs first worked for the Vikes).

* see the 4 minute offense and M3's numbers about how teams run to win games at the end. Its all correct and a great leap forward from the you must have balance and good teams need to be able to run mantras. But unless you are careful and use some constraint plays, you are never getting a first down with this strategy and that lessens your success rate.

M3 has not exactly slept on this as he has clearly used former 49er O line guy Mike Solari to alter the short yardage packages. Walker out there as an extra blocker, which might pay dividends later if Defenses change personnel to match Walker (makes passing easier if they pull a DB), is one example. They also seem to be running some more stuff inside with traps and Power.

I heard Stubby say this at a press conference this week: "The most important facet of the game of football is who has the ball. That's how you win the game."

If he really believes this, then it is never more true than in the last four minutes. Winning is about keeping the ball, not punting it away, which means getting a first down or two, not running time off the clock.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maxie the Taxi

I heard Stubby say this at a press conference this week: "The most important facet of the game of football is who has the ball. That's how you win the game."

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Well, he certainly didn't understand that concept towards the end of the NFC Championship game in Seattle.

Do as I say, not as I do.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maxie the Taxi

I heard Stubby say this at a press conference this week: "The most important facet of the game of football is who has the ball. That's how you win the game."

If he really believes this, then it is never more true than in the last four minutes. Winning is about keeping the ball, not punting it away, which means getting a first down or two, not running time off the clock.

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Just about every important factor about football gets reversed in the last 2 minutes of each, especially so at the end of the game. The closer you are to the end of the game, time, TOs and number of possessions begin to trump everything.

The problem is that time and number of possessions are sometimes in conflict. Lowering the number of possessions can mean not taking every second off the clock possible.

The weird thing is that this is especially true when you have a two score lead. Which the Packers have had a tremendous number of times. A one score game is a bad time to run three times into the line unless there are 2 minutes or less left.