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Bills hire away Dolphins Director of Analytics


YoloinOhio

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8 minutes ago, SWATeam said:

It is impossible to know if this guy is even the least bit responsible for anything you are inferring.

If he had no say, that is a problem. If he had a say, he did a bad job. EVERY analytics person has a voice in today’s professional sports.

8 minutes ago, Josh "Real Deal" Allen said:

Or and indictment of Gase and his staff!

Gase didn’t pick players. This guys likely had as much to do with that as Gase. Now they are talking about tearing it down.

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41 minutes ago, Mark80 said:

Curious, how did this guys work on analytics work out for the Dolphins?  Seems to me the Dolphins have been pretty crappy since 2015.

 

There is a difference between understanding / creating analytics and actually applying them effectively to an organization.

It depends on his job, does he just collect data and compile it together for the front office, or does he also interpret it and provide recommendations to them? If it's the first, then it's not necessarily his fault the guys up top could do anything with it. If it's the latter, then it's not impressive since the Dolphins haven't really been all that great or prove that analytics is working for them......

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6 minutes ago, WideNine said:

 

Analytics are just another tool in the toolbox. It is not some magical cure-all that creates success.

 

It is like any other tool, it is all about the judicious application of the tool. 

 

We all know that putting good information in front of decision-makers does not mean they make the right decisions with it. Look no further than our government for proof.

 

I would not judge this guy too harshly for the Dolphins lack of success.

 

 

 

 

I’m not trying to judge him too harshly and I’m sorry if it is coming across as that. I’m not trying to give the guy a free pass either. The only thing we have to formulate opinions at this point is the work with the Dolphins. I don’t think that any reasonable person can look at that situation and say that they did well. 

 

Maybe he was constantly overruled and would have been right? Maybe he was a big part of these bad decisions? We don’t know that. We just know that the results were bad. 

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6 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

If he had no say, that is a problem. If he had a say, he did a bad job. EVERY analytics person has a voice in today’s professional sports.

Gase didn’t pick players. This guys likely had as much to do with that as Gase. Now they are talking about tearing it down.

But, keep in mind, Gase did have a HUGE hand in some good talent leaving... Ajayi, Jarvis Landry, Jordan Phillips.. So just because they're a little short on talent, i wouldn't necessarily blame the analytics guys... seems like they had some good talent that the HC ran off... if those are the ones we know about, I'm sure there are more out there as well.

 

I respect your opinion more than most on here, Kirby, just playing Devil's Advocate...

Edited by CLTbills
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14 minutes ago, CLTbills said:

But, keep in mind, Gase did have a HUGE hand in some good talent leaving... Ajayi, Jarvis Landry, Jordan Phillips.. So just because they're a little short on talent, i wouldn't necessarily blame the analytics guys... seems like they had some good talent that the HC ran off... if those are the ones we know about, I'm sure there are more out there as well.

 

I respect your opinion more than most on here, Kirby, just playing Devil's Advocate...

That is actually a really fair point. Gase did drive off a lot of guys. I wasn’t thinking about that. Things may have been different if he didn’t create a toxic culture. I can’t wait for him to bring that to the Jets :)

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8 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

That is actually a really fair point. Gase did drive off a lot of guys. I wasn’t thinking about that. Things may have been different if he didn’t create a toxic culture. I can’t wait for him to bring that to the Jets :)

I can certainly second that. Cant wait for the Rex 2.0 S***show in NY

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54 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

No, they are a team in a bad cap situation with a lack of talent. I see that as an indictment on the numbers people. This guy absolutely had a say in all of these deals. He was either, a part of the problem, or didn’t have enough respect in the room to have his voice heard. Either way you slice it, that’s is not a good look IMO. 

I think they had and still have some good talent outside of QB.

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35 minutes ago, CLTbills said:

But, keep in mind, Gase did have a HUGE hand in some good talent leaving... Ajayi, Jarvis Landry, Jordan Phillips.. So just because they're a little short on talent, i wouldn't necessarily blame the analytics guys... seems like they had some good talent that the HC ran off... if those are the ones we know about, I'm sure there are more out there as well.

 

I respect your opinion more than most on here, Kirby, just playing Devil's Advocate...

It's not Gase's fault his players couldn't look him in the eyes.

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45 minutes ago, BuffaloHokie13 said:

Iowa State? I guess we're drafting Hakeem Butler & David Montgomery.

You would get no complaints from me! I love these two players and having done s little research on Matt Campbell when he was being considered for the Ohio state opening, I also feel very confident about anyone coming from that program the way that it is run. 

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1 hour ago, Mark80 said:

Curious, how did this guys work on analytics work out for the Dolphins?  Seems to me the Dolphins have been pretty crappy since 2015.

 

There is a difference between understanding / creating analytics and actually applying them effectively to an organization.

 

You think this guy is involved in the application of analytics? His job is to run the numbers. The coaches and management make decisions based on them (or they don't).

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1 hour ago, Kirby Jackson said:

No, they are a team in a bad cap situation with a lack of talent. I see that as an indictment on the numbers people. This guy absolutely had a say in all of these deals. He was either, a part of the problem, or didn’t have enough respect in the room to have his voice heard. Either way you slice it, that’s is not a good look IMO. 

 

Why would an analytics guy be involved in contract negotiations? The cap has nothing to do with his job.

 

You have no idea what his job was, how much influence he had, if he was respected, what good or bad moves he was involved in, etc. You can't just make such rash inferences without any information whatsoever.

 

He took a job with a division rival. That to me says he was not super happy there,Cor happy with the direction the organization was heading.

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14 minutes ago, MJS said:

 

You think this guy is involved in the application of analytics? His job is to run the numbers. The coaches and management make decisions based on them (or they don't).

 

9 minutes ago, MJS said:

 

Why would an analytics guy be involved in contract negotiations? The cap has nothing to do with his job.

 

You have no idea what his job was, how much influence he had, if he was respected, what good or bad moves he was involved in, etc. You can't just make such rash inferences without any information whatsoever.

 

He took a job with a division rival. That to me says he was not super happy there,Cor happy with the direction the organization was heading.

According to the good doctor himself in the video Yolo posted, neither of these posts are correct. His job is not 'just to run the numbers,' it's to come to conclusions based on those statistical models. And yes, he is involved with player acquisition/team-building.

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Today, Lock uses R statistical software and an SQL database manager to manage the growing Dolphins data set he relies on throughout the NFL Scouting Combine, the NFL Draft, the 16-game season and all practices. Each move players make in practice is measured at 40 times per second via GPS and accelerometers in their shoulder pads. Likewise, every movement in games is tracked using RFID technology.

Since his first season, Lock has refined his approach in an NFL culture not accustomed to using data analysis. A mention of “random forest methodology” might get you laughed out of a meeting. But showing how a specific strategy could yield an extra half-win per season? 

“That was a lightbulb moment with a coach going, ‘There might be something to this analytics thing,’” he said. “And once we had that breakthrough, we went on to share all these other ways we could help and the relationship formed.”

Like football, sports analytics requires a team approach for success. 

“Analytics is in no way in competition with traditional scouting or coaching,” he said. “It’s all a symbiotic relationship.”

For example, during the draft Lock researches college players based on their basic and advanced statistics and evaluates every prospect. He gets a voice in the room just like a regular scout – only he speaks from a data-driven perspective.

“I consider it checks and balances in a lot of ways,” he said. “In my ideal world, if all the scouts like a player and all my models and data come back saying, ‘I don’t think he’s actually going to be that good’—if [the scouts] go back and watch more tape on the player, re-evaluate and still really like the player and we draft him, that’s completely okay. I’m happy in that situation. My role is to just make sure they have the information before making each decision.”

  Edited by YoloinOhio
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1 hour ago, Kirby Jackson said:

If there’s one team that has been masterful at their use of analytics it’s the Dolphins (sarcasm font).

 

1 hour ago, Mark80 said:

Curious, how did this guys work on analytics work out for the Dolphins?  Seems to me the Dolphins have been pretty crappy since 2015.

 

There is a difference between understanding / creating analytics and actually applying them effectively to an organization.

 

Which is why I noted it’s interesting the Fish beat writer (Salguero) thinks it’s a good hire by the Bills.  Just because the team wasn’t successful doesn’t mean they weren’t being provided relevant data.

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Russ Brandon told me years ago that we were building a robust analytics department!  Why the need for this change now?!

 

In all seriousness, better late than never.


There is an opportunity right now for any team in the league that goes deep into analytics to gain an enormous advantage over other teams, b/c most teams are still living in the dark ages.  

 

10 years from now everyone will be doing it at an extreme level and that advantage will be lost.

 

But for now this is good news.

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Just now, Nextmanup said:

Russ Brandon told me years ago that we were building a robust analytics department!  Why the need for this change now?!

 

In all seriousness, better late than never.


There is an opportunity right now for any team in the league that goes deep into analytics to gain an enormous advantage over other teams, b/c most teams are still living in the dark ages.  

 

10 years from now everyone will be doing it at an extreme level and that advantage will be lost.

 

But for now this is good news.

Yeah in terms of Russ’s “analytics” team, they were fired last year. Not sure if everyone remembers that . Apparently they were more focused on the business side than football side.

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