The Hidden Game of Football
Encyclopedia
The Hidden Game of Football is an influential book on American football
statistics published in 1988 and written by Bob Carroll
, John Thorn
, and Pete Palmer
. It was the first systematic statistical approach to analyzing American football
in a book and is still considered the seminal work on the topic.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
statistics published in 1988 and written by Bob Carroll
Bob Carroll (author)
Robert Nuehardt Carroll, Jr. was an American historian and author.Carroll was best known for his contributions to American football research. He was the founder and executive director of the Professional Football Researchers Association , and edited the group's newsletter, The Coffin Corner until...
, John Thorn
John Thorn
John Thorn is a noted sports historian, and the Official Baseball Historian for Major League Baseball.-Early life:Thorn was born in Stuttgart, West Germany. His Polish Jewish parents had come there as refugees. He immigrated to the United States in 1949...
, and Pete Palmer
Pete Palmer
Pete Palmer is a major contributor to the applied mathematical field referred to as sabermetrics. Along with the Bill James Baseball Abstracts, Palmer's book The Hidden Game of Baseball is often referred to as providing the foundation upon which the field of sabermetrics was built.Palmer began his...
. It was the first systematic statistical approach to analyzing American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
in a book and is still considered the seminal work on the topic.
See also
- SabermetricsSabermetricsSabermetrics is the specialized analysis of baseball through objective, empirical evidence, specifically baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. The term is derived from the acronym SABR, which stands for the Society for American Baseball Research...
, statistical analysis of baseball. - APBRmetricsAPBRmetricsAPBRmetrics is a term sometimes used to refer to the analysis of basketball through objective evidence, especially basketball statistics. APBRmetrics is a cousin to the study of baseball statistics, known as Sabermetrics, and similarly takes its name from the acronym APBR, which stands for the...
, statistical analysis of basketball. - Advanced NFL StatsAdvanced NFL StatsAdvanced NFL Stats is a website dedicated to the analysis of the National Football League using advanced mathematical and statistical methods. The site's lead author is noted football researcher and analyst Brian Burke...
, website dedicated to the statistical analysis of the NFL. - American football strategyAmerican football strategyAmerican football strategy concerns the deployment of offensive, defensive, and special teams players in American football.-Offensive strategy:The goal of offensive strategy is to score points...
- The Blind Side: Evolution of a GameThe Blind Side: Evolution of a GameThe Blind Side: Evolution of a Game is a book by Michael Lewis released in 2006 about American football.-Plot:It features two dominant storylines...
, a book by the author of Moneyball. - Ernie Adams, a Phillips AcademyPhillips AcademyPhillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...
classmate of Bill BelichickBill BelichickWilliam Stephen "Bill" Belichick is an American football head coach for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. After spending his first 15 seasons in the league as an assistant coach, Belichick got his first head coaching job with the Cleveland Browns in 1991...
whose role with the PatriotsNew England PatriotsThe New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
is compared to Bill JamesBill JamesGeorge William “Bill” James is a baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics...
's role with the Boston Red SoxBoston Red SoxThe Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
. - Fantasy football (American)Fantasy football (American)Fantasy football is an interactive, virtual competition in which people manage professional football players versus one another and that allows people to act as general managers of a pseudo-football team. The players that an individual is able to manage are professional American Football players...
- Football OutsidersFootball OutsidersFootball Outsiders is a website started in July 2003 which focuses on advanced statistical analysis of the NFL. The site is run by a staff of regular writers, who produce a series of weekly columns using both the site's in-house statistics and their personal analyses of NFL games.In 2005 and 2006,...
, a website dedicated to the statistical analysis of football based on some the concepts from The Hidden Game of Football. - Front Office FootballFront Office FootballFront Office Football is a sports management game which places you at the helm of an NFL football team. Designed by Jim Gindin, as part of his one man company, Solecismic Software, it has had six sequels: Front Office Football 2, Front Office Football 2001, Front Office Football 2002, Front Office...
, a sports management game. - Jeff MaJeff MaJeff Ma or was a member of the MIT Blackjack Team in the mid 1990s. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy. He attended MIT where he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1994. He was the basis for the main character of the book Bringing Down the House and the film 21...
, cofounder of Protrade, a website using statistical analysis. - Jim SchwartzJim SchwartzJim Schwartz is an American football head coach for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League.-Early life:Born just outside Baltimore, Maryland, Schwartz attended Mount Saint Joseph High School, an all male Catholic school, where he played football.Schwartz was a four-year letterman at...
, NFL coach who uses statistical analysis. - John T. ReedJohn T. ReedJohn T. Reed is an American author and investor. He is a former real estate investor who has authored and self-published books on real estate investing, football coaching, baseball coaching, success, and self-publishing...
, expert on Clock managementClock managementIn American football, clock management is an important aspect of game strategy. The team who holds the lead in the game will want to use as much time as possible, while the team that is trailing will want to conserve time so that there is enough to try to score....
. - NFL Scouting Combine
- Professional Football Researchers AssociationProfessional Football Researchers AssociationThe Professional Football Researchers Association is an organization of researchers whose mission is to preserve and, in some cases, reconstruct professional football history. It was founded on June 22, 1979 in Canton, Ohio by writer/historian Bob Carroll and six other football researchers and is...
- Sean LahmanSean LahmanSean Lahman is an award-winning author and journalist.-Sports Research:He is most noted for the Lahman Baseball Database, a collection of baseball statistics for every team and player in Major League history...
, creator of the Pro Football ProspectusPro Football ProspectusPro Football Prospectus is a book series, with a new edition published each year. It reviews the previous NFL season and previews the upcoming season...
series, author of The Pro Football Historical Abstract, and editor of ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia - Scout (sport)Scout (sport)In professional sports, scouts are trained talent evaluators who travel extensively for the purposes of watching athletes play their chosen sports and determining whether their set of skills and talents represent what is needed by the scout's organization...
- Sports bettingSports bettingSports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome.-United States of America:Aside from simple wagers such as betting a friend that one's favorite baseball team will win its division or buying a football "square" for the Super Bowl, sports betting is...
- Sports rating systemSports rating systemA sports rating system is a system that analyzes the results of sports competitions to provide objective ratings for each team or player. Rankings are then derived by sorting each team's ratings and assigning an ordinal rank to each team starting with the highest rated team earning the #1 rank...
- Tex SchrammTex SchrammTexas Earnest "Tex" Schramm, Jr. was the original president and general manager of the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys franchise. Schramm became the head of the Cowboys when the former expansion team started operations in 1960.-Early life and career:Despite his name, Schramm was not born...
, influential in using computers to aid scouting. - ZeusZeus (football computer program)Zeus is a computer program developed by End Game Technologies that models and predicts the outcomes of coaching decisions in American football games. The program is designed to produce statistical outputs showing the expected odds of winning given choices of potential play calls and roster choices...
, Computer program that analyzes coaching decisions. - Win probabilityWin probabilityWin Probability is a multi-sport statistical analytical tool which measures a team's chances of winning at any point in the game. Win Probability is based on historical analysis of statistics. For example: A football win probability system would take several variables into consideration most...