Happy Third Birthday to Football Outsiders

On July 30, 2003, we opened up Football Outsiders to the world by announcing our presence on Boston Sports Media Watch [1]. We had 738 visitors that day and didn't reach 700 visitors in a day again until mid-October. The staff originally consisted of me and a few college buddies, and the only regular columns were the DVOA ratings and Scramble for the Ball. Three years later, there's a staff of over a dozen people, we've got a content deal with FOXSports.com, FO writers are appearing regularly in the New York Sun and occasionally in the New York Times, and we just released our second book. So, there's been some growth. Thanks to all of you, our readers, for making this possible.

Once again, in honor of our birthday, I've put together a list of some of our best articles as well as a few of Jason Beattie's best cartoons. (If you want to see the best of the first two years of Football Outsiders, here's the first anniversary article [2], and here's the second anniversary article [3].) This year, in addition, we asked readers to nominate the best discussion threads in the three-year history of Football Outsiders -- not the best articles, but the best conversations spawned by them. You'll find those at the end.

Another news item for the day: with PFP 2006 now shipping, we thought our birthday was a good time to update the numbers on the site, so all the team stats pages (above, the pull-down menu "JUST THE STATS") have been updated to reflect the new DVOA v5.0 from the book. 1998 and 1999 numbers are also now up on the site for offense, defense, and special teams. 1997 numbers will come when I run the commentary, probably sometime in the next month.

Finally, we've done some format tweaking over the past couple weeks, which gives me a chance to thank the most important FO staffer that none of you ever see, technical design guy Benjy Rose. He's stuck with me since that day back in 2003 when I called him and said, "Hey, nobody seems to want these articles I wrote, could you help me design a website I could stick them on?" If you need design work, show your love for FO by contacting his company [4].

-- Aaron Schatz

THE 2006 NFL PLAYOFFS AFC Second Round Preview [5] (1/13/06) Super Bowl Preview [6] (2/3/06) Refs Were Bad, But They Weren't The Only Ones [7] (2/7/06) DVOA RATINGS Week 8 DVOA Ratings (explanations of why we count blowouts, why we count games where stars are injured, and why fumble recoveries are random) [8] (10/25/05) Week 11 DVOA Ratings (the week the Colts broke the system) [9] (11/15/05) Final Regular Season FOXSports.com Power Rankings [10] (1/4/06) ANY GIVEN SUNDAY Packers over Falcons [11] (11/15/05) Chargers over Colts [12] (12/20/05) Steelers over Colts [13] (1/17/06) BEYOND SIZE AND SPEED Footwork [14] (4/18/06) Trunk Strength [15] (4/21/06) Pocket Presence [16] (4/26/06) TOO DEEP ZONE Enemies Enshrined [17] (9/16/05) The Bone is Back [18] (10/28/05) Walkin' the Walk* [19](11/4/05) The Fantasy Football Hall of Fame [20] (12/16/05) The Big Jaworski (we visit EA Sports NFL Matchup) [21] (1/6/06) *WARNING: After reading this article, you will never, ever be able to take the word "swagger" seriously again.	CONFESSIONS OF A FOOTBALL JUNKIE How Much is Too Much? [22] (10/3/05) Junkie's "Other" All-Americans [23] (12/19/05) EVERY PLAY COUNTS Ogden-Freeney II [24] (9/13/05) Houston Offensive Line [25] (10/20/05) Cincinnati Defensive Line [26] (10/27/05) New Monsters of the Midway [27] (12/1/05) Sean Locklear and the 22 Uncalled Holds [28] (2/9/06) SCRAMBLE FOR THE BALL Playoff Smackdown [29] (11/30/05) The 2004 All Keep Choppin' Wood Team [30] (1/12/06) All The Things We Said (review of FO preseason predictions) [31] (1/25/06) SEVENTH DAY ADVENTURE SDA Bowl Spectacular Part II [32] (12/30/05) STRATEGY MINICAMPS Man Coverage [33] (8/7/05) Zone Coverage [34] (8/15/05) OTHER Third Down is the Charm for NFL Turnarounds [35] (8/7/05) 2005 Staff Season Predictions [36] (9/8/05) Guts and Stomps [37] (12/2/05) 2005 Football Outsiders Awards [38] (2/21/06) College Quarterbacks Through the Prism of Statistics [39] (3/23/06)
THE BEST DISCUSSION THREADS THAT EVER WAS Four Downs: AFC South [40] (5/30/06): This is the infamous ROBO-Punter thread. Week 14 Game Discussion Thread [41] (12/8/05): A good example of the active threads we run on game day, with two games decided by missed field goals, various Simpsons and Office Space quotes, and that weird play where a Samkon Gado fumble mysteriously became an incomplete pass. Plus, Nathaniel Freedman wanted this nominated because twice he predicts the future: that Eli Manning will stink in the playoffs, and that Joey Harrington will be traded to Miami after the season. Official Thread for Irrational Brady-Manning Comments [42] (7/19/04): This is called "irrational" for a reason. 855 posts as of Friday morning. Splitting the Overtime Pizza [43] (11/24/03): Good debate on various ways to fix overtime. This was Michael David Smith's first article for FO. Ye Gods: Tuesday Morning Quarterback Returns! [44] (11/11/03): From the two-week period where we hosted Gregg Easterbrook's article between ESPN.com and NFL.com. Also enjoy some of the later, very active TMQ discussion threads here [45] and here [46]. Week 10 DVOA Ratings, Shot to Hell Version [47] and its sister thread, Week 10 DVOA Ratings, Atlanta-Free Version [48]. (11/8/05) Comment 35 in the first thread is the infamous "FO Angry Troll Mad Lib" by reader zlionsfan. The original 2004 FO Reader Participation Mock Draft [49] (4/9/04): With 1,610 posts as of Friday morning, this is the longest thread on the site. The wild world of 2005 Extra Points: Panthers Cheerleaders Arrested after Sex at Bar [50] (11/6/05), Officials Investigate Alleged Sex Party on Boats [51] (10/11/05), and Michael Vick Hit with Sex Suit [52] (4/6/05).

THE BEST OF JASON BEATTIE

Links:
[1] http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/archives/000291.php
[2] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/ramblings.php?p=238&cat=1
[3] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/07/29/ramblings/2742/
[4] http://www.bcomplexcreative.com/
[5] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2006/01/13/ramblings/game-previews/3523/
[6] http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5300680
[7] http://foxsports.foxnews.com/nfl/story/5310090
[8] http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5023840
[9] http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5087100
[10] http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5217274
[11] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/11/15/ramblings/any-given-sunday/3215/
[12] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/12/20/ramblings/any-given-sunday/3389/
[13] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2006/01/17/ramblings/any-given-sunday/3534/
[14] http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5493908
[15] http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5511470
[16] http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5516418
[17] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/09/16/ramblings/too-deep-zone/2858/
[18] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/10/28/ramblings/too-deep-zone/3119/
[19] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/11/04/ramblings/too-deep-zone/3162/
[20] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/12/16/ramblings/too-deep-zone/3357/
[21] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2006/01/06/ramblings/too-deep-zone/3469/
[22] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/10/03/ramblings/confessions/2978/
[23] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/12/19/ramblings/confessions/3387/
[24] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/09/13/ramblings/every-play-counts/2888/
[25] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/10/20/ramblings/every-play-counts/3073/
[26] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/10/27/ramblings/every-play-counts/3115/
[27] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/12/01/ramblings/every-play-counts/3292/
[28] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2006/02/09/ramblings/every-play-counts/3640/
[29] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/11/30/ramblings/scramble/3291/
[30] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2006/01/12/ramblings/scramble/3505/
[31] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2006/01/25/ramblings/scramble/3579/
[32] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/12/30/ramblings/7th-day-adventure/3442/
[33] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/08/07/ramblings/strategy-minicamps/2711/
[34] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/08/15/ramblings/strategy-minicamps/2765/
[35] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/NYTimes080705.htm
[36] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/09/08/ramblings/2860
[37] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/12/02/ramblings/stat-analysis/3303/
[38] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2006/02/21/ramblings/3678/
[39] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2006/03/23/ramblings/stat-analysis/3774/
[40] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2006/05/30/ramblings/four-downs/3917/
[41] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/12/08/open-discussion/3338
[42] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/ramblings.php?p=232&cat=1
[43] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/ramblings.php?p=87&cat=1
[44] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/ramblings.php?p=76&cat=7
[45] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/ramblings.php?p=2910&cat=1
[46] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/ramblings.php?p=2832&cat=1
[47] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/ramblings.php?p=3180&cat=0
[48] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2005/11/09/ramblings/dvoa-rankings/3190/
[49] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/ramblings.php?p=194&cat=10
[50] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/ramblings.php?p=3170&cat=0
[51] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/ramblings.php?p=3034&cat=1
[52] http://www.footballoutsiders.com/ramblings.php?p=2499&cat=1

Happy Third Birthday to Football Outsiders

THE 2006 NFL PLAYOFFS

DVOA RATINGS

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY

BEYOND SIZE AND SPEED

TOO DEEP ZONE

CONFESSIONS OF A FOOTBALL JUNKIE

EVERY PLAY COUNTS

SCRAMBLE FOR THE BALL

SEVENTH DAY ADVENTURE

STRATEGY MINICAMPS

OTHER

THE BEST DISCUSSION THREADS THAT EVER WAS

THE BEST OF JASON BEATTIE