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The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/OnlyMamaKnows on 2023-12-09 16:17:43.
The Cowboys hired five people this offseason to make up a brand-new analytics staff, the first analytics expansion in Dallas during the McCarthy era. There are more Brains in Dallas than ever before, and this year, they’re actually welcome to sit with the Football Guys. Literally: The Brains are now given a seat in the coaches booth on game day (three seats, to be exact) and are included in all meetings.
Just before he was hired in Dallas in January 2020, McCarthy touted his interest in analytics — a buzzy topic and something he wasn’t particularly known for in his 13 years in Green Bay, where he was often criticized for clock management. He told reporters he’d spent his year away from coaching studying league-wide trends and watching every play of the top 10 NFL offenses. He visited Pro Football Focus’ office in Cincinnati to learn more about the information the sports analytics company could provide, and he made an analytics vision board imagining his dream eight-person staff, complete with an imaginative role called the Coordinator of Mathematical Innovation.
“Everybody has analytics,” McCarthy told NFL Network at the time. “But it has to be part of your everyday operation to show up on Sundays.”
Even if it’s too early to definitively evaluate the new analytics staff, there are a few analytically accepted on-field concepts that hint at its impact.
As mentioned, McCarthy is calling more passes this season, and the Cowboys are passing way more on first down, traditionally a low-risk run down, which is a sign of analytics influence. Per PFF, this season Dallas is passing at the fifth-highest rate above expectation on first down, 5.4 percent, the highest in McCarthy’s tenure.
They Cowboys have used play action more this year than any other under McCarthy (17 percent of plays, fourth in the NFL), up from 14.7 percent in 2022, and they’ve diversified their personnel groupings. Dallas has already run 30-plus snaps with an NFL-high six personnel groupings; it had never before run more than three personnel groupings at that rate.
In 2020, per PFF, Dallas’ offense motioned slightly above league average, but then dipped below league average in 2021 and 2022. That trend continued until their Week 7 bye this season. After the bye, a time of introspection when an analytics staff and coaching staff will combine to incorporate any edge they can find, Dallas has jumped up to using motion on 56.1 percent of plays, ninth in the NFL. This looks like the analytics staff’s impact, but as one of the wolves in a coach’s head might argue: You can twist the numbers to tell any story.