I wanted to write something about PFF as I feel it is often wrongly maligned by fans. I understand why, as players do the same thing and fans pick up on it but I wanted to address some of those issues. Or one issue really which is the big one often spouted,
"PFF doesn't know what the play is, so they can't possibly know if X did his job properly"
This one gets kicked around a lot. By pundits, coaches and players. Although much less so than it used to as people from all 3 groups have learned more about the process.
Let's see if we can put some of those doubts to rest.
Chip Kelly was a long time critique of PFF. From his days as a HC to when he was doing color commentary he was not a fan,
Reporter: “I’m just wondering why Tiller doesn’t play more (over Martin).”
Kelly: “Josh (Garnett) obviously earned his starting position. He came here, Josh was just a little bit behind because he missed the spring with us obviously because he wasn’t available for OTAs. But, we got through training camp and knew we thought we had a pretty good one. As he got going during the season, he just passed Andrew by and then obviously Marcus is playing center. Andrew Tiller is not a center. So, when Daniel Kilgore went down, Marcus went in at center.”
Reporter: The reason I ask is if you look at the statistics, Tiller seems to be better?
Kelly: “What statistics?”
Reporter: Quarterback hurries, sacks–?
Kelly: “Where does that come from?”
Reporter: Pro Football Focus.
Kelly: “OK. Stick with that.”
Reporter: Do you not put much stock in that?
Kelly: “No, I mean I’ve said it all along, how can they grade an offensive lineman when they don’t know what the play is? I’ve had it before, our left tackle gave up a sack. He didn’t give up a sack because the guy slanted in the ‘B’ gap. The guard had ‘B’ gap and that’s not the left tackle’s responsibility, but it’s written down as a sack on the left tackle because you don’t know what play was called. We called slide protection. We didn’t call man protection. If someone can look at a film and figure out what we call for a play and know what our scheme is and then give a guy a grade on it, I think there’s a lot of players and coaches that feel the same way. I don’t know. You can do whatever you want with it. It’s like me going into a bank and grading a teller because they gave me a lollipop. I gave them a 94.3.”
After the season, though, Kelly did what the company has invited its critics to do: He studied its process. He met some of its analysts — who watch every player on every snap — and watched them make evaluations. And then, he
bought a share of the company.
“The coaches that have come in there cannot believe the process and how thorough it is,” Collinsworth said in a phone interview this week. “Is it perfect? I’m sure it’s not perfect. But it’s pretty darn close.”
Longtime Bengals offensive line coach Paul Alexander (23 years as Bengals O line coach) in 2017 reviewed about 600 plays where PFF had downgraded one of his blockers; he told company founder Neil Hornsby that he disagreed with perhaps 12, “which is pretty remarkable,” Alexander said.
So for all the talk of "PFF don't know what the play call is" only 2% of the grades that the Bengals O line coached watched of his own O line with PFF were called wrong.
xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media
Every play is graded by 3 separate analysts, many of whom are former players or coaches at NFL and college levels. Those grades are then signed off by a supervisor. If there is any disagreement on a play and they can't come to an agreement a play is never marked down.
PFF say many coaches and players visit their HQ every year and not one has ever left the building still in disagreement.
I will say this, the way PFF grading works is play by play and it is not weighted. You could for example, have a running back with 3 TD's and 70 yards with a grade of 60. If those 60 yards all came on 4 plays and his other 20 touches didn't achieve much. A 60 yard TD run can be wiped out by missing a blitzer.
I think this is where a lot of agreement on PFF stems from. You can have players that make explosive plays that catch the eye, a PBU, an INT, a 70 yard TD etc but still have a poor game grade because they didn't perform well on other snaps.
I don't think anyone should worship at the alter of PFF alone, but I also don't think it's accurate to say PFF player grades are inaccurate.
