nyashfan
For Earth Below
Shouright - I had another thought pertaining to the argument that the Dolphins' rushing yards per attempt places them in the middle of the pack, implying that their unwillingness to run the ball is not related to their lack of success.
How important is the standard deviation of a team's yards per rush? The eyeball test leads one to believe that the Dolphins are among the least successful teams running the ball. It seems that the Dolphins' average yards per rush might be inflated by a handful of large gains offset by a plethora of below average gains.
I would expect that teams whose rushing average is based on a lower standard deviation would have better records as it would demonstrate that they are running the ball more consistently. Now that I think about it more, skewness of yards per rush is probably a better statistic than standard deviation. Or perhaps the coefficient of variation which is average divided by standard deviation.
I am assuming you do these calculations in Excel, so I'm sure it comes with a skewness function. Anyway, what I am trying to suggest is a means of discounting the impact of the handful of very large rushing gains.
Curious to get your thoughts...
Edit - just noticed that Egnew The Goat echoed the same sentiment.
How important is the standard deviation of a team's yards per rush? The eyeball test leads one to believe that the Dolphins are among the least successful teams running the ball. It seems that the Dolphins' average yards per rush might be inflated by a handful of large gains offset by a plethora of below average gains.
I would expect that teams whose rushing average is based on a lower standard deviation would have better records as it would demonstrate that they are running the ball more consistently. Now that I think about it more, skewness of yards per rush is probably a better statistic than standard deviation. Or perhaps the coefficient of variation which is average divided by standard deviation.
I am assuming you do these calculations in Excel, so I'm sure it comes with a skewness function. Anyway, what I am trying to suggest is a means of discounting the impact of the handful of very large rushing gains.
Curious to get your thoughts...
Edit - just noticed that Egnew The Goat echoed the same sentiment.
The Dolphins average 4.1 yards per carry, which is the league average. If the Dolphins "can't do it," then neither can half the teams in the league.
Last edited by a moderator: