<story><title>Fun with NFL Stats, Bokeh, and Pandas</title><url>https://j253.github.io/blog/fun-with-nfl-stats.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>sndean</author><text>&amp;gt; The small spikes at 5 yard increments is interesting and I don&amp;#x27;t really have a good explanation other than to think that whoever recorded the yardage data liked rounding to the nearest 5 if it was close. Anyone else have any other ideas?&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ll go with the idea that the refs are biased with their ball placement and tend to put the ball on lines [0]. Also, players&amp;#x2F;teams practice, speak, think in 5 yard increments, so that&amp;#x27;s got to bias things a bit. &amp;quot;We&amp;#x27;ve got to get to the 35 yard line for Morten to have a chance.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;gutterstats.wordpress.com&amp;#x2F;2015&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;03&amp;#x2F;are-nfl-officials-biased-with-their-ball-placement&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;gutterstats.wordpress.com&amp;#x2F;2015&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;03&amp;#x2F;are-nfl-officia...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Fun with NFL Stats, Bokeh, and Pandas</title><url>https://j253.github.io/blog/fun-with-nfl-stats.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>dbt00</author><text>As someone who&amp;#x27;s done a lot of numerical analysis and watches a lot of football, the analysis here is pretty rudimentary.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; On third down, pass attempts outnumber run attempts at almost a 4 to 1 clip. This is likely out of increased desperation to make a first down.&lt;p&gt;Running is a low variance low yardage option, passing is a high variance high yardage option. Passing on third and medium to long is an obvious dominant strategy. Pulling the goaltender in hockey or bringing the keeper forward in soccer when trailing late in games&amp;#x2F;matches serves much the same effect.</text></comment>