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Football Outsiders is primarily a group who does statistical analysis on the NFL. They take a lot into consideration when evaluating teams and individual players.
Below is a long read that is not very hard to understand as they explain their thinking in trying to evaluate the running game. Some of it will make no sense without a bit of background on their terminology, but within it one can get an idea of many of the variables that have to be taken into consideration when trying to evaluate the NFL by using stats.
They admit that there are just too many variables to account for to expect any true indication of any real value using stats alone. But they try their best to make sense of it all.
In the end, as many are saying, the stats are there to be interpreted or misinterpreted as one sees fit. But the best and most reliable method of evaluating teams and individual players is by watching them to see for yourself what is happening.
You may understand all of this better than I was able to do. But if you do what I've done and read for the education of all the different variables that take place during a play you will quickly see that no amout of mathmatical genius will ever be able to make any valid determination through the use of stats alone.
In fact, the task of trying to evaluate using stats is so daunting that none of us will ever be able to do any more than merely brush the surface without making it our life's occupation as these guys have.
Football Outsiders is the website that made me realize that stats really are for losers if people are trying to use stats alone as a basis for their evaluation of teams, units or individual players. Although stats are facts, they just do not contain enough facts to make an educated evaluation. You must watch for yourself to put it all in perspective.
The following is their explanation of how they statistically evaluate the running game. It doesn't mention it in this explanation but they have the 2007 Browns ranked 3rd best run blocking offensive line. (They have us listed as the 6th best pass blocking line).
2007 Offensive Line This is but a portion of the article, near the end, which discusses the running game...
One of the most difficult goals of statistical analysis in football is somehow isolating how much responsibility for a play lies with each of the 22 men on the field. Nowhere is this as obvious as the running game, where one player runs while up to nine other players -- including wideouts, tight ends, and fullback -- block in different directions. None of the statistics we use for measuring rushing -- yards, touchdowns, yards per carry -- differentiate between the contribution of the running back and the contribution of the offensive line. Neither do our advanced metrics DVOA and DPAR.
We have enough data amassed that we can try to separate the effect that the running back has on a particular play from the effect of the offensive line (and other offensive blockers) and the effect of the defense. A team might have two running backs in its stable: RB A, who averages 3.0 yards per carry, and RB B, who averages 3.5 yards per carry. Who is the better back? Imagine that RB A doesn�t just average 3.0 yards per carry, but gets exactly 3 yards on every single carry, while RB B has a highly variable yardage output: sometimes 5 yards, sometimes �2 yards, sometimes 20 yards. The difference in variability between the runners can be exploited to not only determine the difference between the runners, but the effect the offensive line has on every running play.
We know that at some point in every long running play, the running back has gotten past all of his offensive line blocks. From here on, the rest of the play is dependent on the runner's own speed and elusiveness, combined with the speed and tackling ability of the defensive players. If Tiki Barber breaks through the line for 50 yards, avoiding tacklers all the way to the goal line, his offensive line has done a great job -- but they aren't responsible for most of that run. How much are they responsible for?
For each running back carry, we calculated the probability that the back involved would run for the specific yardage on that play, based on that back�s average yardage per carry and the variability of their yardage on every play. We also calculated the probability that the offense would get the yardage based on the team�s rushing average and variability without the back involved in the play, and the probability that the defense would give up the specific amount of yardage based on its average rushing yards allowed per carry and variability. For example, based on his rushing average and variability, the probability in 2004 that Tiki Barber would have a positive carry was 80% while the probability that Giants would have a positive carry without Barber running was only 73%.
Yardage ends up falling into roughly the following combinations: Losses, 0-4 yards, 5-10 yards, and 11+ yards. In general, the offensive line is 20% more responsible for lost yardage than it is for yardage gained up to four yards, but 50% less responsible for yardage gained from 5-10 yards, and not responsible for yardage past that. Thus, the creation of Adjusted Line Yards.
Adjusted Line Yards take every carry by a running back and apply those percentages. (We don�t include carries by receivers, which are usually based on deception rather than straight blocking, or carries by quarterbacks, which are generally busted passing plays except in Atlanta.) Those numbers are then adjusted based on down, distance, and situation as well as opponent (similar to DVOA) and then normalized so that the league average for Adjusted Line Yards per carry is the same as the league average for RB yards per carry (in 2005, 4.07).
Runs are listed by the NFL in seven different directions: left/right end, left/right tackle, left/right guard, and middle. Further research showed no statistically significant difference between how well a team performed on runs listed middle, left guard, and right guard, so we also list runs separated into five different directions. Note that there may not be a statistically significant difference between right tackle and middle/guard either, but until we can research further (and for the sake of symmetry) we do still split out runs behind the right tackle separately.
The system is far from perfect. We don't know when a guard is pulling and when a guard is blocking straight ahead. We know that some runners are just inherently better going up the middle, and some are better going side to side, and we can't measure how much that impacts these numbers. We have no way of knowing the blocking contribution made by fullbacks, tight ends, or wide receivers.
Other numbers we use to measure the running game:
10+ Yards gives the percentage of the team's rushing yards that come from double-digit runs, past the first 10 yards of each run. So for a 15-yard run, five yards are counted; for an 80-yard run, 70 yards are counted. This number gives you an idea of how much of a team's running game was based on the breakaway speed of the running backs -- not to mention the opportunity provided by getting past the front seven with a lot of field in front of you. After all, you can only run 80 yards if you're on your own 20. This number is not adjusted in any way.
Power success measures the success of specific running plays rather than the distance. This number represents how often a running attempt on third or fourth down, with two yards or less to go, achieved a first down or touchdown. Since quarterback sneaks, unlike scrambles, are heavily dependent on the offensive line, this percentage does include runs by all players, not just running backs. This is the only stat given that includes quarterback runs. It is not adjusted based on game situation or opponent.
Stuffed measures the percentage of runs that result in (on first down) zero or negative gain or (on second through fourth down) less than one-fourth the yards needed for another first down. Note that this is slightly different from the definition of "stuffed" used by STATS, Inc.
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