Off The Charts Football Podcast

Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) of Sports Info Solutions and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) look at the most important games on the NFL Week 9 schedule. Matt and Aaron open with an in-depth breakdown of the Saints-Buccaneers matchup (1:51) before moving on to a look at the Ravens-Colts (9:35), Raiders-Chargers (13:46), and Dolphins-Cardinals (18:45). The show closes with a discussion between Matt and SIS Lead Football Researcher Alex Vigderman (@VigManOnCampus) on a new rankings list: The World's No. 1 Quarterback (24:44). You can email the show with feedback at offthecharts@sportsinfosolutions.com and don't forget to follow on Twitter @SportsInfo_SIS and Instagram @sportsinfosolutions. For more, check out: sportsinfosolutions.com footballoutsiders.com sportsinfosolutionsblog.com SISDataHub.com

Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) of Sports Info Solutions and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) look at the most important games on the NFL Week 8 schedule. Matt and Aaron jump right into the top games for this week, breaking down the Steelers at Ravens (0:37), 49ers at Seahawks (7:30), Raiders at Browns (14:31), and Saints at Bears (18:59). The show closes with a visit from SIS scout Nathan Cooper (@coopaloop08) to discuss his scouting report on Minnesota Golden Gophers WR Rashod Bateman (@R_bateman2) (24:28). You can email the show with feedback at offthecharts@sportsinfosolutions.com and don't forget to follow on Twitter @SportsInfo_SIS and Instagram @sportsinfosolutions. For more, check out: sportsinfosolutions.com footballoutsiders.com sportsinfosolutionsblog.com SISDataHub.com

Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) of Sports Info Solutions and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) look at the most important games on the NFL Week 7 schedule. Matt and Aaron discuss the trade of Yannick Ngakoue to the Ravens (0:36) and break down the most important games for Week 7: Steelers at Titans (4:07), Seahawks at Cardinals (12:59), and Bears at Rams (23:33). You can email the show with feedback at offthecharts@sportsinfosolutions.com and don't forget to follow on Twitter @SportsInfo_SIS and Instagram @sportsinfosolutions. For more, check out: sportsinfosolutions.com footballoutsiders.com sportsinfosolutionsblog.com SISDataHub.com

Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) of Sports Info Solutions and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) look at the most important games on the NFL Week 6 schedule. Matt and Aaron open with a brief discussion about the Tuesday night game between the Bills and Titans (0:31) before moving on to the most important games of the week: Chiefs at Bills (2:51), Browns at Steelers (9:55), and Packers at Buccaneers (14:47). You can email the show with feedback at offthecharts@sportsinfosolutions.com and don't forget to follow on Twitter @SportsInfo_SIS and Instagram @sportsinfosolutions. For more, check out: sportsinfosolutions.com footballoutsiders.com sportsinfosolutionsblog.com SISDataHub.com

Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) of Sports Info Solutions and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) look at the most important games on the NFL Week 5 schedule. The duo opens with a discussion about the fallout from recent COVID-19 outbreaks in the NFL (0:37) before moving on to look at the most important games for Week 5: Colts at Browns (7:08), Giants at Cowboys (yes, really) (13:18), and the Raiders at Chiefs (21:00). You can email the show with feedback at offthecharts@sportsinfosolutions.com and don't forget to follow on Twitter @SportsInfo_SIS and Instagram @sportsinfosolutions. For more, check out: sportsinfosolutions.com footballoutsiders.com sportsinfosolutionsblog.com SISDataHub.com

Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) of Sports Info Solutions and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) look at the most important games on the NFL Week 4 schedule. The show opens with a brief discussion about Adam Gase and his future with the Jets heading into their Week 4 Thursday Night Football game against the also-winless Broncos (0:31) before moving to a preview of the most important games on this week's NFL slate: Saints-Lions (3:41), Bills-Raiders (10:18), Eagles-49ers (17:03), and Patriots-Chiefs (23:10). You can email the show with feedback at offthecharts@sportsinfosolutions.com and don't forget to follow on Twitter @SportsInfo_SIS and Instagram @sportsinfosolutions. For more, check out: sportsinfosolutions.com footballoutsiders.com sportsinfosolutionsblog.com SISDataHub.com

Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) of Sports Info Solutions and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) look at the most important games on the NFL Week 3 schedule. The show opens with a brief discussion about the rash of injuries in Week 2 (1:35) before moving on to the most important games of a stacked Week 3: Chiefs-Ravens (4:29), Packers-Saints (11:20), Cowboys-Seahawks (19:18), and Rams-Bills (23:46). You can email the show with feedback at offthecharts@sportsinfosolutions.com and don't forget to follow on Twitter @SportsInfo_SIS and Instagram @sportsinfosolutions. For more, check out: sportsinfosolutions.com footballoutsiders.com sportsinfosolutionsblog.com SISDataHub.com

Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) of Sports Info Solutions and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) look at trends from Week 1 of the NFL season (0:34) and compare the play of Cam Newton and Tom Brady in their first games in new uniforms (6:45) before breaking down the most important games for Week 2: the Jaguars-Titans (12:19), Lions-Packers (17:06), and Ravens-Texans (25:00). You can email the show with feedback at offthecharts@sportsinfosolutions.com and don't forget to follow on Twitter @SportsInfo_SIS and Instagram @sportsinfosolutions. For more, check out: sportsinfosolutions.com footballoutsiders.com sportsinfosolutionsblog.com SISDataHub.com

Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) of Sports Info Solutions and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) welcome The Athletic's Mike Sando (@SandoNFL) to the show to discuss his annual article on NFL QB Tiers, including background on the how the tiers are compiled (3:40), Dak Prescott being surprisingly low (7:29), Cam Newton getting votes in four different tiers (18:44), Tom Brady at the top of Tier 2 (22:28), a revival of the Aaron Rodgers debate (26:33), what to expect from rookies (33:15), using the tier system as a tool for Hall of Fame balloting (39:41), and his article about concerns for each team heading into the season (43:11).  You can email the show with feedback at offthecharts@sportsinfosolutions.com and don't forget to follow on Twitter @SportsInfo_SIS and Instagram @sportsinfosolutions. For more, check out: sportsinfosolutions.com footballoutsiders.com sportsinfosolutionsblog.com SISDataHub.com

Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) of Sports Info Solutions and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) welcome Neil Stratton (@InsideTheLeague) of Inside the League back to the show to talk about his new book: "Scout Speak: Thinking & Talking About Being an NFL Evaluator", which is available now on Amazon. Neil talks about what he's been up to (1:06), what it's like for agents trying to sign college players who have opted out of this season (3:22), and his expectations for the upcoming NCAA season (10:27). He then discusses his book, including the target audience (12:28), an insider take on the drafting of Mario Williams over Reggie Bush in 2006 (16:05), and how scouting has changed (22:53). Check out Neil's work at both Inside The League and Succeed In Football. You can email the show with feedback at offthecharts@sportsinfosolutions.com and don't forget to follow on Twitter @SportsInfo_SIS and Instagram @sportsi

Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) of Sports Info Solutions and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) turn their focus to highlighting women working in football analytics in this week's episode. Matt and Aaron first talk to Los Angeles Rams Manager of Analytics and Data Sarah Bailey (@sarahrunbailey) (1:16) before transitioning to a discussion with Atlanta Falcons Salary Cap and Contracts Analyst Emily Badis (@EmilyBadis) (20:50). Both women talk about their backgrounds, how they got into football analytics, the experience they've gained in their positions, challenges they've faced, and give advice for others looking to break into working in football. You can email the show with feedback at offthecharts@sportsinfosolutions.com and don't forget to follow on Twitter @SportsInfo_SIS and Instagram @sportsinfosolutions. For more, check out: sportsinfosolutions.com footballoutsiders.com sportsinfosolutionsblog.com SISDataHub.com

Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) of Sports Info Solutions and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) go one-on-one this week to talk potential surprise teams for the 2020 NFL season. They open with a discussion of how cutdowns are going to work with no preseason games (0:46) and good news on the COVID front (so far) (2:31), before transitioning to a look at teams on the lower end of projections who could be better than expected (4:08) and teams on the higher end of projections who could be worse than expected (11:31). They finish with an examination of how depth could impact the outcomes for some teams if injuries strike (15:22). You can email the show with feedback at offthecharts@sportsinfosolutions.com and don't forget to follow on Twitter @SportsInfo_SIS and Instagram @sportsinfosolutions. For more, check out: sportsinfosolutions.com footballoutsiders.com sportsinfosolutionsblog.com SISDataHub.com

Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) of Sports Info Solutions and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) welcome epidemiologist and FO contributor Zachary Binney (@zbinney_NFLinj) to the show to discuss the 2020 football season in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The group opens with some general talk about how the virus has impacted sports (1:13) before moving to whether football is worse for virus transmission than other sports (3:42), some guidelines for restarting a sport (8:12), how football teams specifically can mitigate some of the risk of outbreak (17:36), if fans in the stands is a good idea (20:37), if there is a way to quantify the benefits of sports returning (23:24), how things could play out over the NFL and NCAA seasons (25:54), and how a potential vaccine could impact a Spring NCAA season (28:20). You can email the show with feedback at offthecharts@sportsinfosolutions.com and don't forget to follow on Twitter @SportsInfo_SIS

Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) of Sports Info Solutions and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) welcome Emmett Kiernan - winner of the SIS Football Analytics Challenge - to the show. The group opens with a brief discussion about opt-outs in the NFL (0:39) before diving into Emmett's contest-winning project, beginning with his background and how he got into analytics (2:37), an explanation of his submission and what led him to pursue the angle he took (9:48), the modeling he decided to use (16:40), his ultimate findings (22:43), an interesting outlier (25:30), and how the findings agree with what we know about analytics (27:55).  You can email the show with feedback at offthecharts@sportsinfosolutions.com and don't forget to follow on Twitter @SportsInfo_SIS and Instagram @sportsinfosolutions. For more, check out: sportsinfosolutions.com footballoutsiders.com sportsinfosolutionsblog.com SISDataHub.com

On this special edition episode of the Off The Charts Football Podcast, we bring you the finals of the Sports Info Solutions Football Analytics Challenge that aired live on YouTube on July 29. Three finalists were chosen from a large group of applicants. and those finalists presented to an esteemed panel of judges that included Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) and Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) from this podcast along with John Park (@johnpark_52) of the Indianapolis Colts. Proceeds and donations from the event went to the United Negro College Fund. The presentations include work done by the group of Andrew Rogan and Robert Bernhardt (6:58), the group of Zach Feldman, Michael Egle, and Anthony Reinhard (33:42), and solo act Emmett Kiernan (54:12), and the winner is named after all presentations have been given (89:05). You can watch the video on YouTube at SIS Football Analytics Challenge and don't forget to donate to the United Negro College Fund if you are able. We'll be back next week with a regular epis

Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) of Sports Info Solutions and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) dive into the 2020 Football Outsiders Almanac, which is now available for purchase. They open with a discussion about what's different in this year's book (2:26), potential updates that were considered for the "Pregame Show" section (5:11), and favorite quotes from "The Year in Quotes" (10:14). They then examine interesting projections from the book, including why the Ravens are a bit lower than expected (11:03), why the Steelers are a bit higher than expected (12:49), the Patriots and Bills atop the AFC East (15:04), the very even NFC West (16:30), the Lions as the biggest surprise (19:29), and the Vikings and Browns as most likely to outperform their projections (25:51). The episode closes with the Random Page Game, which includes talk about the Colts having the easiest schedule (29:41), Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and

Sports Info Solutions head of business development Corey March (@corey_march1) and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) welcome Football Outsiders Senior Analyst Scott Spratt (@Scott_Spratt) to the show to talk all things fantasy football for the 2020 season. The group discusses expectations for rookies (4:00) and roster construction strategies and league changes that could be useful during the COVID era (10:44). They then transition into an explanation of the KUBIAK fantasy rankings (16:27) before looking at under- and overvalued fantasy players at quarterback (21:51), running back (31:33), wide receiver (39:08), and tight end (45:38). You can email the show with feedback at offthecharts@sportsinfosolutions.com and don't forget to follow on Twitter @SportsInfo_SIS and Instagram @sportsinfosolutions. For more, check out: sportsinfosolutions.com footballoutsiders.com sportsinfosolutionsblog.com SISDataHub.com

Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) of Sports Info Solutions and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) devote a full episode to Patrick Mahomes after the Chiefs locked up their franchise QB with a mega-contract earlier this week. The duo discusses what the contract means (1:46), what separates him from other QBs (6:28), if there is an aspect of his game that has been unexpected (10:07), where he stands in terms of injury risk (12:46), what's the best way to try to defend him (15:44), which Chiefs receiver has the most upside (21:32), how good the offensive line is (25:03), the impact of rookie RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire (28:33), and if his stardom means anything beyond his on-field performance (32:52).  You can email the show with feedback at offthecharts@sportsinfosolutions.com and don't forget to follow on Twitter @SportsInfo_SIS and Instagram @sportsinfosolutions. For more, check out: sportsinfosolutions.com footballoutsiders.com sports

Former NFL scout Matt Manocherian (@mattmano) of Sports Info Solutions and football analytics pioneer Aaron Schatz (@FO_ASchatz) of Football Outsiders (@fboutsiders) welcome ESPN Stats and Info Research Specialist Evan Kaplan (@EpKap) to the show to discuss how football stats and analytics are represented on TV. The group opens with some Cam Newton discussion (1:01) before transitioning to an explanation of Evan's job at ESPN and how he works with hosts to prepare them for shows (9:00), how he balances serving both analytically-inclined and casual fans at the same time (12:24), how much push-back he gets from ex-players when it comes to analytics (17:26), and what the future holds for football analytics on TV (25:16). You can email the show with feedback at offthecharts@sportsinfosolutions.com and don't forget to follow on Twitter @SportsInfo_SIS and Instagram @sportsinfosolutions. For more, check out: sportsinfosolutions.com footballoutsiders.com sportsinfosolutionsblog.com SISDataHub.com

On this special edition episode, Mark Simon (@MarkASimonSays) is joined by Sports Info Solutions Director of Basketball, Jake Loos (@Jake_Loos). SIS recently announced that it would be entering the basketball business. Jake, the former director of basketball analytics and technology for the Phoenix Suns will head up our operation. Jake talks about his background, which includes an MBA from MIT and what he loves about basketball and statistics (1:12). He then details the challenges of basketball analytics and trying to explain it to non-analytically inclined fans (7:26). He also explains what SIS will be doing with basketball data and the challenges of trying to do the kind of player evaluation he wants to do (11:18). He also talks about why Joe Ingles of the Jazz is one of his favorite players (20:24), why Stephen Curry and Dwyane Wade’s stats are his favorite (22:24), and gives advice both on how to watch the game smarter (25:48) and how to pursue a career in basketball analytics (26:48). Back to our usual p