Monday, October 24, 2005

ESPN's Approval Ratings

Espn has a new feature this year in the NFL. Head coach approval
ratings. It is a simple poll for every coach, Do you approve of the
job __ is doing for __? Yes or no?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/sportsnation/ratings

And it gives the voting % for that week. Well, I'm not so much angered
by the poll itself, then I am by the fickle fans voting in the polls.
It seems that they might as well be asking did this team win? Take a
look at Mike Shanahan for the Broncos. Coming into the game he was
5-1, and above 90% for the last 3 weeks. This week he loses by 1 point
on a last second eli touchdown into coverage, and the denver kicker
also missed a field goal earlier. So somehow because Eli was able to
thread the needle, and the Broncos miss a field goal, that means the
coach drops to 74%. If that pass gets knocked down, then he is still
90%, and that seems wrong. He is still doing a good job.

Likewise you can see how Herm Edwards fluctuates with each win and
loss. Is it his fault Pennington got injured?

Or what about Bellicheck, widely recognized as a coaching genius. I
think that if anyone really thought about do you approve of Bill's
coaching ability, they would have to say yes. But dropped from 68 to
59 in a bye week!

Basically, I think that you should can approve or disapprove of a
coach, but it shouldn't be based on how each game turns out.

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