ESPN and Chicago Bears fans have always sort of waged a cold war against each other. People have felt for a long time that the sports giant has found several ways over the years to overlook and even insult the franchise in favor of other, less-deserving candidates. Now here they are. The Bears are 3-1 and feature one of the best defenses in football. There’s no way the “worldwide leader in sports” can overlook them now.
Here’s the thing though. When it’s clear there’s an agenda at play, people always find a way. ESPN did just that. Brian Burke of the analytics division decided it was time to create a fancy new pair of stat categories. These centered around pass rush and pass blocking efficiency. The supposed idea behind it was simple enough.
“Our new Pass Block Win Rate metric tells us the rate at which linemen can sustain their blocks for 2.5 seconds or longer. Likewise, our Pass Rush Win Rate metric tells us how often a pass-rusher is able to beat his block within 2.5 seconds. Our model of pass blocking harnesses player tracking data from NFL Next Gen Stats.”
By the way they make it sound, there’s no way anybody could ever argue against these new stats. They’re perfect. Except that’s never true no matter how hard these stat junkies try. All one has to do is take a glance at their top 10 ranking of best pass rushers to realize how stupid this new metric is.
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Fancy way of disregarding Khalil Mack showcased ESPN folly
Let’s get this straight. The list is supposed to include the best of the best pass rushers in football and yet somehow finds a way to omit the current favorite for Defensive Player of the Year Khalil Mack? The man who’s currently tied for the second-most sacks in the league with five? Oh no, right on. That makes perfect sense.
Look sometimes the intention behind new stats is good. It’s another way to help illustrated why great players are great. This is not one of those times. It is apparent immediately that the new metrics ESPN installed are deeply flawed. Anybody who can read a sack stat and also watches actual game tape can clearly see Mack is one of the top 3 pass rushers in football. If not the best period.
I think it might be time for a little self-reflection and see if that algorithm can’t be tweaked a little bit.
