In the upcoming NFL season, the Denver Broncos plan on testing out an analytics system to aid in-game decision-making. Newly appointed Director of Analytics, Mitch Tanney will be on the other end of the radio talking to Head Coach, Gary Kubiak throughout this season’s games.
In recent times it has been no secret that Kubiak has made some questionable decisions when the game is in the balance, sending fans into a spiral of frustration. The Broncos wrote about it earlier this week:
“With Tanney nearby, Kubiak can receive a quick report on the statistical probabilities of almost any situation. Say that you have fourth-and-3 from the opponent’s 45-yard-line with four minutes to go. Do the large-sample-size percentages make the risk-reward ratio acceptable enough to go for it? Tanney’s analytics can provide insight to aid Kubiak’s decision-making.”
Kubiak and Tanney have been working closely throughout the preseason, trying to form a chemistry and understanding of the technology they will be using.
“If we’re moving the ball or we’re doing formatting, I’ve got Mitch with me because he’s going to be on the headset, so we’re trying to practice,” Kubiak said.
This new implementation has the potential to make drastic changes; whether they will be good or bad changes is up for debate. In the Broncos case, it can go one of two ways. If Kubiak is open to suggestion when it comes to plays, we may see a healthy combination of technology and the human mind creating gameplay in an unconventional, entertaining manner. However, if pride gets in the way and the coach chooses to shut out the technology, the plan could fail badly.
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If the system proves to be successful, it won’t be up to the coach and whether he is willing to cooperate with analytics professionals or not. They simply won’t stay in their position because someone who is open to the idea will prove to be more valuable.
With sport becoming so heavily based on statistics, there is a good chance this idea will surface in other sports like baseball and basketball.
While coaches will never be phased out completely, we must ask ourselves if analytics is the real future of competitive sport. With such large sums of money being splashed around amongst the professional sports industry, and winning becoming more important than ever, it is no wonder we are seeing teams look for completely new and unconventional ways of going about their business.
It will basically come down to how the Broncos manage their new analytics system and whether it proves successful or not. If unsuccessful, the bold teams may continue to experiment, but if it makes a positive difference in Denver, then we could see it explode into the NFL and beyond.