Sports Science: Wide Receivers By The Numbers

[Sons Of Shula]

By Tristan Jones

The sports science department may sound like a subject you studied in school, but at the Miami Dolphins it is an incredibly important department that focuses on optimizing athletic performance through injury prevention and rehabilitation.

The players wear GPS devices throughout practice that monitor many variables from heart rate and maximum velocity to distance ran and energy expended. Those numbers are monitored through a computer system the entirety of practice and then individually assessed afterwards. This process is all part of the sports science philosophy. Below are some of the numbers the Miami’s wide receivers averaged from Tuesday’s practice when the players were wearing pads:

• 1,985 Energy Expenditure: This is a fancy term for the amount of calories (energy) burned throughout the course of physical activity.
• 21 MPH: The receivers averaged a speed of 21 MPH on the field.
• 5,000 Yards: The receivers averaged a distance of 5,000 yards at practice.
• 100 degrees: The field temperature at practice.

There is a lot more that goes into sports science than just the numbers, but it is always interesting to see the work the players are putting in by the numbers.

I know it takes some time to accrue and apply all of this data, but we have had it now for at least a year or so. Philbin has mentioned that he spends a certain amount of time on the study of player's out put in practice as I'm sure other staff members do the same and I'd be very interested in seeing how this all adds up into organizing player's practice's and delegating their activities.

 

[maralieus]

I believe this sort of thing will be the future for injury prevention in sports. Something has the change. Injuries have been rampant in the NFL and NBA for years now. Seems to be getting worse.

 

[Penthos]

Confused, was 21 MPH the Max Speed? Or the Average Speed? The infographic says the latter while the text says the former. If it includes all the time walking around on the field, then it has to be max.

 

[Sons Of Shula]

Confused, was 21 MPH the Max Speed? Or the Average Speed? The infographic says the latter while the text says the former. If it includes all the time walking around on the field, then it has to be max.

I caught that as well. Unless they were driving around turbo golf carts from drill to drill, then it has to be "max".

 

[randomname]

Confused, was 21 MPH the Max Speed? Or the Average Speed? The infographic says the latter while the text says the former. If it includes all the time walking around on the field, then it has to be max.

The average -between all the WRs- max speed I believe.

 

[oasis]

21 mph is pretty dang fast for an average, considering Usain Bolt was clocked at 28 during a 100yd dash. Definitely an average of the max speeds of these guys in pads at practice.

 

[cafinfan408]

would be 23 if Stills was healthy

 

[Daytona Fin]

I believe this sort of thing will be the future for injury prevention in sports. Something has the change. Injuries have been rampant in the NFL and NBA for years now. Seems to be getting worse.

I am sure it will ,he sport is evolving right before us. I heard the Broncos hired an analytics guy the other day and he is going to be in Kubiaks ear/headset during games.

Recently hired director of analytics, Mitch Tanney, has been trailing coach Gary Kubiak during game-simulation portions of Broncos practice early in training camp.

"If we're moving the ball or we're doing formatting," Kubiak explained, via the team's official website, "I've got Mitch with me because he's going to be on the headset."

Tanney's role is to feed Kubiak quick reports on the statistical probabilities of key situations.

Rivera discovered that passively settling for field goals or punts rather than aggressively going for first downs and extended possessions was a losing philosophy.

Tanney will advise Kubiak on the risk-reward ratios that can be used to improve decision-making on fourth downs and at the goal line.

"Sometimes you play by the book and you miss opportunities," Rivera said of his 2013 conversion. "It's been an enlightening situation for me. One of the things that I want to try to do is to make sure we are in the best position to win. And the other realization is kicking field goals is obviously not good enough."

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...analytics-director-will-be-in-kubiaks-headset