As a “micro-analyzing” Autistic, I fully appreciate the value of effective statistical analysis as a part of decision making. The problem with basing your decisions entirely upon data, especially if its simplified so it can be quickly accumulated and drawn upon, is that there’re usually so many variables that you can’t possibly account for every single one. The blind adherence to analytics is something that more coaches are doing more often. The problem with this mindset is there’re are multiple factors that these coaches are not considering because their simplified analytics don’t account for them. Some of which are as follows:

1) The quality of their O: Whether or not the average O are likely to convert means little if O is below average. The further below average you are, the less meaningful the analytics of what the average O is likely to do.

2) The quality of their opponents’ D: See the above explanation and invert it.

3) How many injuries both teams have and the impact those missing players are likely have on the play.

These are just a few of the reasons why coaches need to be competent leader who can accurately analyze what’s going on in front of them at that time when making their decision, not just sheep who do whatever the stat sheet tells them to.

I was motivated to start this topic by watching the Cards pass up on 3 chip shot FG attempts by going for it on 4th & 4 or less each time when it simply wasn’t necessary. So, instead of being down by 1 point with 8 minutes to go in the game, they were down by 10. When the Cards got the ball back, they went into pass on every down mode which open the door for the Seahawks pass rush absolutely abuse Murray.