Would analytics have helped the Commanders win more games in 2022?
Warren Sharp confidently supplied listeners with several analytics markers/statistics Wednesday when he was a guest on the “Al Galdi Podcast.”
In his opening comments, Sharp expressed that last season (2022) could have been much better for Washington had they utilized some emphasis on analytics.
Sharp has graded out the Commanders offense quite lowly amongst the 32 NFL teams. On the other hand, Sharp graded the Commanders defense much higher.
However, Sharp rated Ron Rivera as 28th out of 32 NFL head coaches.
Here are some selected quotes from Sharp directed at Ron Rivera.
“To me, the whole tenure of Ron Rivera has gone massively sideways.”
“Ron Rivera is a defensive-minded head coach. The concern, in general, is a defensive coach wants his defense to look good because that is why he was brought to town. He will sacrifice some things offensively to help the defense look a little bit better potentially. What they tend to sacrifice is quarterbacks passing the ball and trying to score quickly.”
“In lieu of this, they try to control the football, run the football, have time of possession because they feel it drives the defense to give them their rest to play better. It is such an old-school process.”
“Look, last year Washington executed it to a T. They had the most time of possession of any football team since 2019. They controlled the ball over 33:00 minutes a game. But the offense averaged .57 points per minute. (Ranked 31 in NFL).”
“You guys ranked 32 in pass rate in the first half of games. You were running the ball a ton and these runs were abysmal. Early-down runs in the first half you guys were last in the NFL.”
“He (Rivera) hasn’t delivered a single winning season in three years. He still hasn’t figured out the quarterback position.”
There was much more from Sharp being critical of Washington’s 2022 offense in general and Ron Rivera in particular. See the above link to listen.
However, one thing my father taught me while still in grade school: “There are two sides to every coin.” In response to this criticism of Rivera and the 2022 Washington offense.
I think Ron Rivera might perhaps man up and say, “Yes, we stunk on offense most of the time in 2022. Yes, our quarterbacks struggled last season, and that is why we have two other quarterbacks this season.
Yes, we ran the ball too much, and we have gone out and hired Eric Bieniemy to provide an entirely new offensive philosophy for this season. It will be his offense, and we needed to do this.
Yes, our two starting guards really struggled last season (Andrew Norwell, Trai Turner). This is why neither of them are with us this season. We need to be able to run the ball more effectively inside. Also, we need to be more athletic in our line to be able to throw screens behind the line of scrimmage to make it easier on Sam Howell as much as we can.”
Rivera has defended his use of analytics over the years. New owner Josh Harris is known for his reliance on analytics as owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils.
