Podcast Episode 34 - Neil Paine Written by Dave Collins Written by Dave Collins

Details Published: 13 November 2014

Neil Paine (Senior Sportswriter, FiveThirtyEight) discusses with Dave how he and the team at FiveThirtyEight use Elo scores to rank NFL teams and explains how his research on backup quarterbacks led to surprising conclusions on the importance of backup QB skill level. Dave then digs up some of Neil’s older research examining how much individual wide receivers are responsible for their quarterback’s success. They close out the show with a look at the structure of the NFL playoffs and weigh the pros and cons of Neil’s proposal to make the NFL postseason more “fair”.

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