SCOTT SPRATT got into analytics through his baseball work for Sports Info Solutions and writing for ESPN and FanGraphs, but he loves football analytics because of the intricacies of the sport. He is a Sloan Analytics Research Paper Competition and Fantasy Sports Writers Association award winner and was a 2018 finalist for FSWA Football Writer of the Year for his writing for Pro Football Focus. He is an elusive native Charlottean and has the Jimmy Clausen-given scars to prove it.
NFL teams are using play-action more than ever, and Sean McVay is at the front of that revolution -- but he's not relying on a play-action style that's common among Andy Reid and his disciples.
Only a few offenses these days use fullbacks regularly -- which can yield some unusual results for those teams' defenses.
The I formation is not dead! The Patriots won the Super Bowl while using a lot of James Develin, while Kyle Juszczyk was a key player for San Francisco. We look at which teams still rely on fullbacks and which don't, how teams are changing in this regard.
To blitz, or not to blitz, that is the question: whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of unpressured passers, or to take arms against a sea of blockers and by sheer numbers end them.
The Khalil Mack trade, as you can imagine, had major effects on the defenses in Chicago and Oakland. Which defenses got the most pressure in 2018? Which coach has a track record out of getting the most out of his teams' pressures?
Patrick Mahomes was the best quarterback under pressure in 2018. He was also the best quarterback without pressure, becoming the first quarterback on record to lead the league in both categories in the same year.
