Stat Analysis

When kickoffs go into the end zone, should returners try to make a play, or just take a knee and settle for a touchback? Guest columnist Jack Duffin breaks down the numbers and finds teams are making the wrong decision more often than not.

Guest columnist Spencer Harrison looks at which plays are most and least successful at the goal line. Yes, the fade route is as bad as you think.

Guest columnist Ben Baldwin returns for another look at play-action passing in the NFL. Does a team's effectiveness on standard passes have an effect on play-action success? Do teams that run the ball a lot use play-action more often? Do teams that run well use play-action more? And finally, is play-action more effective when it's used sparingly?

Guest columnist Ajit Kirpekar applies machine learning techniques to pressure rates from a dozen NFL seasons and comes up with some interesting conclusions -- most notably, that quarterbacks might be even more responsible than we thought for the pressure they do or do not face.

Alex Vigderman of Sports Info Solutions introduces Total Points, a tool for player evaluation. Like DVOA, it starts with play-by-play data, but then it adds charting information to more accurately measure the contributions of each player on the field. And it will tell you that Matt Ryan has been the NFL's best quarterback for several years now.

The Ohio State Buckeyes have one of the most talented rosters in college football. Their opponents, however, do not. Guest columnist Akshay Ramprakash looks at the caliber of athlete at every school to see which teams are heavyweights and which are punching bags.

Drew Brees needs 201 passing yards to surpass Peyton Manning as the NFL's new passing king. How long can his reign last, and who are the top challengers to the record?

Is it possible to use player, coach, and stadium data to perfectly predict player injuries in the NFL? No -- but analyzing all three at once can show some surprising trends, including that the Eagles (Carson Wentz aside) seem to be ahead of the curve in keeping their players healthy.

Carson Wentz may not be ready for Week 1 after tearing his ACL in Week 14 last year. We look through our injury database to see just what a reasonable timetable of return is for one of the game's most serious injuries. Also: how have the other 2017 starters with torn ACLs been used this preseason?

In the second part of his look at scrambling quarterbacks, guest columnist Keegan Abdoo shows how Lamar Jackson and similar mobile quarterbacks can limit the playbooks of opposing defensive coordinators.