Buccaneers practice 'Moneyball' and use analytics, too

[michael89156]

Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice 'Moneyball' and use analytics, too




By Sander Philipse on Jan 6, 9:19a




Hannah Foslien



Moneyball is rising in the NFL. Are the Bucs one of the teams following suit?



According to Dan Pompei of the National Football Post, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are one of the teams "riding the Moneyball wave". This comes as a little bit of a surprise, as Greg Schiano has given every indication of being an old school football coach, doing everything the old school way. But Moneyball is a crucial tool going forward in the NFL.

To be clear, Pompei doesn't mean Moneyball in the strictest sense, here. Moneyball is nothing more than finding market inefficiencies and exploiting them, and every team already tries to do that. He means it in the rough "we like stats" way. And that's certainly a good thing: statistics do not provide perfect answers, but they can be useful as a part of the bigger picture. They won't replace scouting, but they can be used to refine the tools of the job.

And by 'statistics', I don't mean traditional production. Mark Dominik, for instance, has talked about "yards after contact" as one of his favorite ways of evaluating running backs in the past. Workout numbers can be used to measure physical traits. Statistics like that are far more useful than a raw completion percentage.Hopefully, that's the kind of thing the Bucs are working on: finding different statistics, measuring how they correlate with success and then using that data in their evaluation. Not as an absolute determinant, but as one aspect of a much larger evaluation process. As is always the case with statistics, it's very important to verify that the statistic you're looking at is useful. A statistic may sound like the best thing in the world, but when it doesn't produce success, it's useless.

Teams that don't keep that in mind and just blindly apply statistics, provide us with cases like this little nugget on a Buccaneer player:
 


Case in point: a source said in 2010, the Eagles relied heavily on analytics to select Washington defensive end Daniel Te'o-Nesheim in the third round of the draft. Many were stunned he was chosen so high, and the Eagles cut him before the start of the 2011 season.
 


Te'o-Nesheim was signed off the Philadelphia practice squad in 2011 and managed to start 14 games for the Bucs this season after Adrian Clayborn went down with a knee injury (one of those starts came at defensive tackle with Clayborn healthy). The defensive end managed four sacks and didn't look great, but he was a serviceable and versatile player. A decent backup, but not much more.
 
This shows us one simple fact: statistics aren't infallible in football and they can't be all you rely on. But they are a valuable part of the bigger picture, when used properly. Every team is going to have to rely on analytics if they want to keep up, and it's good to see the Bucs mentioned as one of those teams.




http://www.bucsnation.com/2013/1/6/3842036/tampa-bay-buccaneers-moneyball-analytics

[The Anti-Java]

Teo actually played pretty well for getting thrown in there.    IIRC he is a free agent.  Would be a good guy to resign, unless he wants to break the bank somewhere else.

[Wesmon]

I've noticed this about Schiano even in his press conferences. He has referenced plenty of obscure stats when analyzing all aspects of the team.

[TBTrojan]

Yeah right, sure they practice moneyball.
That would explain the massive contract one of the worst "starting" CBs in the the league got last year.
I always knew there was a good reason for the Black/Clayton deals.

[Feel Real Good]

I'm not sure the Bucs have shown much in the way of exploiting market inefficiencies and buying low. They spend more money on offensive guards than any team in the NFL and drafted a safety and running back higher than almost all other teams choose to.

[Booker Reese]

FRG, I don't think Pompeii really knows what he's talking about here - Sanders, is right - this isn't Moneyball properly understood, it's basically the generic idea that a team will data more intensely in all areas - player acquisition, game-planning, game management.

[acacius]

Yeah, I think this is more just about them looking at advanced stats rather than their really taking a Moneyball approach.  No doubt this is distressing to the PFF-is-the-debil folks.

[MUSCLE_HAMSTER]

does he have to write everyday?

Cuz I really don't see the point of this blog post

[Benchwarmer#1]

Stats mean nothing if the players are A) not that focused on football, B) always in trouble, or C) or has mental inconsistancies.

I'd rather have a player that has his head on straight, that will play every game consistantly, than to have a guy that could run the 40 in 3 seconds, but we're always on a week to week basis.

They can practice moneyball, analytics, etc all they want, as long as they are more concerned with the overall character and whether or not they can withstand tougher parts of life in the NFL.

[tripblood]

Would be a good guy to resign, unless he wants to break the bank somewhere else.

LMAO. No one is going to break the bank for Teo-whatshisface