tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4787923283560259129.post8427025836359631864..comments2024-03-18T14:57:52.489-04:00Comments on The Skeptical Statistician: NFL 2012: Point-pocolypse?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4787923283560259129.post-66763530174426294662012-09-19T13:03:03.287-04:002012-09-19T13:03:03.287-04:00Good point - that's something interesting to c...Good point - that's something interesting to check out for another week. It seems could almost be a little bit like rubber-band AI.PChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08117994254588618600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4787923283560259129.post-15552735549089711062012-09-19T13:01:28.517-04:002012-09-19T13:01:28.517-04:00Yeah, I see that a lot too - people are always foc...Yeah, I see that a lot too - people are always focused on totals and never think of averages. Your example is a good one, and it would be fun to look at that in a future post. <br /><br />Think about if, for example, the MLB added 20 extra games in each team's season. People would probably still be making a big fuss when someone hit 74 home runs. <br /><br />PChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08117994254588618600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4787923283560259129.post-4766839550194875732012-09-14T12:53:25.785-04:002012-09-14T12:53:25.785-04:00Isn't it interesting that the winning and losi...Isn't it interesting that the winning and losing teams' scores in the last graph seem to trend together year-to-year (i.e., there appears to a be a correlation between winning and losing team average score)? What might that mean?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14756498878469031374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4787923283560259129.post-48906040015083365052012-09-14T09:28:27.086-04:002012-09-14T09:28:27.086-04:00Interesting breakdown. I think about this kind of ...Interesting breakdown. I think about this kind of stuff all the time when watching football, baseball, etc. It seems like the analysts (if you can call them that) are always focused on totals and almost never on averages. One place this has come up recently was with passing yards per season. The magical number for this seems to be 5,000. Before last year, there were two players who hit the mark - Marino and Brees. Last year three players eclipsed it IN ONE SEASON. People took this as good evidence that the recent rule changes have made it easier for quarterbacks (the same argument is being made in baseball for pitchers after the "steroid era"). With passing yards this doesn't make sense. We know that the length of NFL seasons has changed at different points in history. Wouldn't averages be a better metric? I don't doubt that you will still find very few people who average 312 yards a game, but I wonder if the number will be larger than people who have made the 5,000 yard mark. The real test will be whether anyone even gets close to the 5,000 yard mark this year. As you data suggests, few data points do not a trend make.Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14119987576654193079noreply@blogger.com