Offensive line is the key in Seattle and St. Louis, while San Francisco needs to work on its secondary and the Cardinals need a quarterback of the future.
If we're going to use the past two installments of Football Outsiders Almanac to trash the Dolphins for Jeff Ireland's continued employment, then it's only fair that we give them kudos for ending said employment. I, for one, am kind of shocked that this came on the heels of an 8-8 season; not because Ireland doesn't deserve it, but because accepting mediocrity has been entrenched in the franchise for the better part of two decades. So, again, kudos to Stephen Ross, and congratulations Dolphins fans. There's finally the potential for your long NFL nightmare to be over.
After six years, we think it's high time to revisit Bill Barnwell's research on the regular-season DVOA splits that predict success in the playoffs. And while we're at it, we might as well see what the updated analysis says about this postseason.
In this week's article, we cover the impact of Green Bay's tie, mention a couple of potential trap games for NFC heavyweights, and give you the probability of San Francisco being tied atop the NFC West three games from now.
Friend of FO Chase Stuart applies Bayes Theorem to a current NFL event. In our football-analytic minds, however, the meaning of this column should be much more important than that.
Over at Deadspin's new, nerd-inspired "Regressing" blog, Reuben Fischer-Baum created bubble charts for each offense based on DYAR at the four major skill positions.
Tony Gonzalez is top of the line by any measure, and top-of-the-line blocking tight ends are (unsurprisingly) singled out with Freddie Jones as poor performers.
The riddle of football value: If one the best ever plays most of his career with some of the best ever, is he really one the best ever?
No back is an island, entire of itself; every back is a piece of the continent. Though if the size of Europe, sorry, DYAR says you're on thine own, buddy.
Marshall Faulk was really good. For another running back, though, Hall of Fame voters have lost themselves. They saw him; they know him; they knew him, but it seems they can't remember his name.