Why don't teams hire game theory experts? (1 Viewer)

[Ditkaless Wonders]

I disagree. Words don't have fixed meanings. They evolve to reflect common usage. "Literally" is widely understood to be used as a way to emphasize something.

Literally everyone who read @Walking Boot's post knew what he meant. 

I prefer to not succumb to the tyranny of idiots.  That misunderstanding and stupidity is so rampant that a word is now commonly used to mean something else entirely is no reason to allow idiots to win the day.  Instead idiots should be excoriated, embarrassed, and forced into silence.  Hell, I want to knock them into bolivian. 

 

[Skoo]

Not even game theory really, but the fact that Blake Bortles was snapping the ball with 13 seconds left on the play clock, while ahead in the 4th quarter against freaking Tom Brady of all people just completely blows my mind.

 

[zftcg]

I prefer to not succumb to the tyranny of idiots.  That misunderstanding and stupidity is so rampant that a word is now commonly used to mean something else entirely is no reason to allow idiots to win the day.  Instead idiots should be excoriated, embarrassed, and forced into silence.  Hell, I want to knock them into bolivian. 

I thought this article made two good points: First, the literal meaning of the word "literal" is "by the letter" ("He copied the translation literally"). So even the supposed "correct" usage is actually metaphorical. Second, for some reason nobody imposes the same standard on "really". If someone says, "I'm really starving," not even the most persnickety grammar snob would correct them by saying that their starvation isn't "real".

</digression>

 

[RUSF18]

Not even game theory really, but the fact that Blake Bortles was snapping the ball with 13 seconds left on the play clock, while ahead in the 4th quarter against freaking Tom Brady of all people just completely blows my mind.

So instead of starting their last possession with 2:48 left on the clock, how much less time would they have had?

This is like the "kick the XP" when scoring to get within 8 because you want to keep it a one score game, forgetting that the game isn't guaranteed to stay a one score game. 

 

[Biabreakable]

Not even game theory really, but the fact that Blake Bortles was snapping the ball with 13 seconds left on the play clock, while ahead in the 4th quarter against freaking Tom Brady of all people just completely blows my mind.

You make an interesting point.

If the coaches and QB are fully aware of the game situation, it makes a certain degree of sense to use up more clock than that, especially with a lead. But maybe not if the lead can be matched or exceeded by a field goal.

The team still has to either get a first down or give up the ball. It isn't always easy as you don't know if your offense will get a 1st down or not. Slow roll the offense then sputer could leave the opposing team too much time and leave your offense too little time to respond if they do score. Again this depends on the situation, how much time is left and what is the score at the time.

Generally while I think it is good strategy to allow your opponents the fewest number of opportunities as possible, I think it gives the defense a slight advantage, if they know the offense will run it down to 5 second or less remaining. That helps the defense get off the ball at the right time and less risk of a offsides or encroachment when the team snaps the ball with the same amount of time left every play.

To vary this and keep the defense guessing, the team should not be consistent in how many seconds are left on the play clock. So the defense is never entirely sure if the offense will nsap the ball early, or act like they are until there is no time left.

I think tactically varying the timing of the snap, and the time remaining helps the offense. If a team is snapping it at 5 seconds left too much, the defense gets in rhythm with that unless the offense changes it up.

Some QBs do not read the defense well and these QB tend to use all of the play clock pretty consistently. Even have delay of game calls because they are cutting it close so often.