New Boss versus Old Boss: Nick Sirianni vs. Doug Pederson

Jeffrey Lurie has specific ideas on how to run his football team. Each of his last four head coach hires including current head coach Nick Sirianni—most recently the Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator— rose through the ranks as offensive assistant coaches. The organization is unusually aggressive at acquiring quarterbacks; the surprise usage of the fifty-third overall […]

The NFL’s Moneyball Players

The Moneyball principle for Major League Baseball is that, while using statistical analysis, small-market teams can compete by buying assets that are undervalued by other teams and selling ones that are overvalued. The more competitive salary cap-driven market structure of the NFL still means the Moneyball principle is important. In a league where each team […]

The case for the Eagles to draft a quarterback early (again)

To say that the Eagles shocked the league in last year’s draft would be an understatement. They had just given starting quarterback Carson Wentz a long-term, $134 million deal less than a year ago. When they were on the clock in the second round, most plugged-in fans were debating whether receiver Denzel Mims, cornerback Kristian […]

Super Bowl 55 Preview, Part II: The Bucs Offense’s Uphill Battle to Pull Off the Upset

To read the Super Bowl 55 Preview, Part I, click here The Super Bowl is being framed as “Tom Brady versus Patrick Mahomes” which seems odd because those two players will never line up on the field at the same time. It’s not like an NBA Finals game when LeBron James and Steph Curry will […]

Super Bowl 55 Preview, Part I: The Bucs Defense’s Path to Victory

Super Bowl 55 feels more like what would happen at the end of an over-the-top dramatic sports movie than reality. There is a global pandemic that has caused millions of deaths, led to severe economic ruin, and paved the way for an unpunished coup attempt on Capitol Hill incited by the outgoing President of the […]

How I Would Hire an NFL Head Coach and Who I Would Choose This Year

There are many types of coaches who have won Super Bowls. Coaches who had previously been offensive coordinators, defensive coordinators, and even a special teams coordinator. “Retreads” who failed in their first NFL head coaching job, but fared better in their next. And for those haters of college football coaches, Jimmy Johnson came straight from […]

The Modern Wishbone: The Air Raid and An Ode to Wide Line Splits

No college team in FBS passes the ball more than Mike Leach’s teams—whether it was Texas Tech, Washington State, or now Mississippi State. This is why it’s surprising when Leach says that, if he didn’t run his Air Raid scheme, the offense he’d want to use is the ultra-run-heavy Wishbone scheme that the likes of […]

Steelers On the Move: How the Hire of Matt Canada Could Change the Steelers Offense

After finishing dead last in offensive DVOA last season, the Steelers offense needed a jolt. The once-prolific offense that ranked 6th in the NFL in 2018 was suddenly the team’s glaring weakness. With Antonio Brown’s menacing isolation routes no longer a part of the offense, the remaining skill players failed to achieve anywhere close to […]

Why Isaiah Simmons should be the first defensive player selected in the 2020 NFL Draft

Isaiah Simmons was practically made in a laboratory by defensive coordinators desperate for answers to modern offenses. Linebackers aren’t supposed to run a 4.39 in the 40 yard dash and safeties aren’t supposed to be 6’4”, 238 pounds. Yet, Simmons defies the laws of physics at both positions. Merely calling Simmons a linebacker/safety hybrid understates […]

He-Man: How an Andy Reid and Carson Wentz Play May Shape Two Consecutive Super Bowls

If it weren’t for a severe clock management deficiency, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid would arguably be remembered as the Bill Walsh of his generation. The analogy isn’t totally abstract. Reid worked under Mike Holmgren, Walsh’s former offensive coordinator, in his time as the Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach. His knowledge of the […]