Packers 2015 Offseason News and Notes non Draft non FA Edition

[vince]

Analytics in the Four Major Sports. Packers rank in the second group, get dinged for McCarthy's non-use in games and Thompson only beginning to dabble. But have respected researcher (Eayrs) and have adjusted their practice schedules to data on athletic performance.

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/stor...nkings#nfl-gnb

This is an interesting and rapidly evolving subject for the game of football.

I think the use of analytics has strong potential to differentiate and/or validate what people see - because so many people watch the exact same thing yet see things radically different. So many different variables impact outcomes that it's difficult (at best) to model and analyze.

And at the same time the game changes so rapidly and players develop so much that they sometimes outpace reliable sample sizes for how various teams and players are likely to respond in different situations. So you've got to be careful about what data you look at and how you use it all.

I think there's a national conference on cybermetrics in football if I'm not mistaken. Or perhaps it encompasses all sports. There's a lot to be learned yet in using analytics in football I'd say, but it's time to dive in, build up the data and start making some models at minimum. Practice situations, injury probabilities, officiating tendencies...those seem to be good places to start but I do think analytics can aid coaching and GMing decisions too. Again those get very complex very quickly though. Not including all the variables that impact an outcome can lead to bad conclusions.

For the time being, I'll take Ted's experience and gut over some Moneyballer all day long. He's analytical enough on his own. RoboTed can wait until the real deal is gone.

[pbmax]

Analytics should support experience and knowledge in the field, not replace it.

/ begin rant
Please allow me a tangential vent. Colin Cowherd mocks analytics (often mere hours after offering them in support of his position, but save that for later) and nerds for being stat obsessed. He even has a nerd voice for the routine. But what completes the circle jerk is that when he is discussing Hall of Fame cases, he starts by decrying stats nerds, claims he knows a Hall of Famer when he sees it, and then begins to rattle off total career numbers (All-Pro, Pro Bowl, HRs, doubles, rebounds, etc.).

One day you will here about a sports radio listener who has wrapped his car around a tree because instead of driving, he was yelling at Cowherd in the car. That will be me, sometime between 9AM and 1PM or so. I actively try to avoid him, but n some places in the State, you can't get any other sports station.
/end rant

Back to the topic at hand, analytics offer support and context, occasionally clarity where there was fog before. M3 didn't have clue one why his team was always more injured until he hired a sports science and nutrition guy who changed the way the players were fed, hydrated and altered the schedule to something unheard of in M3's experience. If you want to solve a problem that has resisted your solutions for a long period of time, you have to look for information and expertise elsewhere. This is something analytics and data can help with.

They also help you correct normal human biases and help place context around events. Thompson doesn't need help identifying who can play, but data and analytics might help him project better where the player should be drafted (possibly even where he likely will be drafted) and might help identify the blindspots.

I don't want RoboTed to be GM, but I want RoboTed sitting next to mostly human Ted.

[vince]

Agree on all fronts. Cowherd's a punk hack who knows radio but not football.

[mraynrand]

One day you will here about a sports radio listener who has wrapped his car around a tree because instead of driving, he was yelling at Cowherd in the car. That will be me, sometime between 9AM and 1PM or so. I actively try to avoid him, but n some places in the State, you can't get any other sports station.

you could try listening to music

[mraynrand]

I don't want RoboTed to be GM, but I want RoboTed sitting next to mostly human Ted.

[pbmax]

you could try listening to music

Burned out on music radio a long time ago. After that burned out on talk radio. I need to switch to satellite.

Or drive less.

[mraynrand]

I need to switch to satellite.

Good luck with that

[pbmax]

That skit was fantastic. The pleading to come home, those mobile satellite uplinks are heavy.

[pbmax]

Does anyone remember an elbow or bicep injury for Matthews? Was this pic from this year?

[Patler]

Ya, I think he was on the injury list for his bicep at one point. I think it happened in practice.

[Patler]

December 17:

T Bryan Bulaga (concussion, did not practice)
CB Davon House (shoulder, did not practice)
RB Eddie Lacy (eye, limited participant)
G T.J. Lang (ankle, limited participant)
LB Clay Matthews (biceps, limited participant)
OLB Mike Neal (abdomen, limited participant)
OLB Nick Perry (shoulder, limited participant)
G Josh Sitton (toe, did not practice)

[pbmax]

Pete Dougherty @PeteDougherty 9m9 minutes ago
Peppers doesn't hit any of up to $2M in salary escalators, will make $9.5M in salary, Rstr bonus & W/O bonus in '15 http://pck.rs/1BuLiXa

[pbmax]

Good lord is Mulumba big. And I think Clay is taking his Pitch Perfect movie co-stars to heart. He looks like Lang's younger brother.

[pbmax]

I usually think of Hayward as not having outside speed, but he was 4.47 and Twill was 4.59. Haven't seen much of Hayward outside due to injury and seniority, so maybe it's just a matter of playing time. It seems the Packers are comfortable with where they are, so it must have something to do with Hayward, because Hyde isn't that guy.

From GBPG:

Hayward's 40-yard dash time at the NFL scouting combine ranged from 4.53 seconds (the average hand-held time of his two 40s) to 4.57 seconds (his fastest electronic time), both of which are a little below average for his position. For instance, according to data from 1999 through 2014 compiled by Tony Villioti of the National Football Post, the average time for a cornerback at the combine is 4.48 seconds, based primarily on players' fastest electronic timing.

[pbmax]

Same Article: http://www.packersnews.com/story/spo...back/24876911/

The Packers also are paying for Thompson's chintzy handling of former cornerback Jumal Rolle, who last October signed from their practice squad to the Houston Texans' 53-man roster.

Rolle outplayed Goodson in training camp, but Goodson made the final 53 on potential. That's not uncommon in personnel decisions, and Goodson's concussion at the end of camp complicated matters. But what made no sense was Thompson leaving a spot open on the 53-man roster for nearly two weeks early in the season while Rolle still was on the practice squad.