Urschel: You know what makes me cringe? When I hear people-not sports analytics people, but people who claim to be empowered by sports analytics-that claim you should go for it on fourth down all the time. I thoroughly enjoy talking to them, and we do spitball sometimes.ī/R: Is there a nugget of football statistical wisdom that makes you cringe? ![]() Not the analytics guys for the Ravens, who are at the top of their field. They are perhaps living in medieval times, let's say. Urschel: The Stone Age is a little extreme. They aren't in the Dark Ages compared to the actual people who work for the teams, and compared to some of the team-employed sports analysts, these people are very much ahead of the game.ī/R: So there are team-employed analytics experts who are still in the Stone Age? I keep up with a variety of different outlets. ![]() Nate Silver and the FiveThirtyEight guys: I have a great respect for the work they do. Ed Feng of PowerRank is also a good friend. Urschel: Brian Burke is a good friend of mine. But I do keep myself abreast of new things that are going on, and I am aware of key components of football analytics, like the extra point change.ī/R: Most analysts think that moving extra-point kick attempts back to the 15-yard line won't change strategy at all, because the kick is still nearly automatic. It's not necessarily a huge area that I am involved in. I'm not sure Slacker John Urschel exists in any alternate universe.ī/R: Do you follow any of the analysis-based football websites? Urschel: Right! Except, somehow this "slacker" John Urschel would be doing math research and reading things. There's still 90 percent left for him to do, so there are many things that can be done.ī/R: So you create a normal John Urschel and an extra "slacker" John Urschel. I try to imagine that I give all I have, 100 percent, then I make a copy of myself, and I require that copy to give 10 percent. We’d love to feature your opinions and ideas on this blog.He also visits schools to talk STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) to future scholars, presents research findings to the NSA and goes anywhere a mathematician who also happens to play professional football may be needed.īleacher Report recently caught up with Urschel after Ravens OTAs and a MoMath event, to talk about how to statistically analyze offensive linemen, punting and extra-point trends in the NFL and just how easy it is to live off endorsement money when you are Rob Gronkowski.īleacher Report: When a coach asks you to give a 110 percent effort, do you ever have the urge to correct him? If you would like to be interviewed about your ideas, experiences and philosophy regarding teaching mathematics then please contact us. We are very interested to talk with past scholars, existing scholars and anyone who is involved in maths teaching. We are hoping to launch year five of the Maths Scholars scheme in October and urge anyone who is considering teaching maths to contact us before the scheme reopens. Will you be someone that decides to inspire young people to take up your own passion for mathematics? Will you be a “mathlete” who can inspire the next generation by becoming a Maths Scholar? ![]() So it’s of enormous value to champion Maths to encourage others to take up the mathematics baton. Problem solving is becoming more increasingly important. General numerical skills still have value but using statistics and probability is effectively integral to a variety of tasks such as costing, risk assessment, quality control and modelling. ![]() We are a digital society and as individuals we must embrace this. If we educate all our students about the power of mathematics and the kinds of jobs that require a sound knowledge of it, things might be clearer for some. Perhaps the days of students asking: “Why are we doing this?” or “When will I actually use this in the real world?” will soon be gone. So why aren’t people taking to maths like ducks to water? Quantitative skills are also key to the contemporary job market Personal finance is an area where mathematical skills are more than helpful. Anyone working in the field of digital marketing for example will know the importance of big data. We know that we need to interrogate any data critically. It is clear that many debates centre around statistics.
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