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NFL DEFENSIVE POSITIONS

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 NFL DEFENSIVE POSITIONS NFL Defenses have 11 payers with the job of stopping the offence from scoring (obviously). The defensive positions are mainly divided into 3: -Defensive Linemen -Linebackers -Defensive Backs The positions of the Defensive Linemen may differ based on the defensive scheme(formation) namely the 4-3 set and 3-4 set The 4-3 has 4 Defensive Linemen and 3 Linebackers: The 3-4 has 3 Defensive Linemen and 4 Linebackers Let's look at Defensive Linemen: -Defensive Tackles(DTs): In a 4-3 set there are 2 Defensive Tackles while in the 3-4 set there is only one called the Nose Tackle(NT). They line up in the centre. The Defensive Tackles main job is to stop the running game and even to sack(tackle) the Quarterback. They take on many blockers at the same time and thus they need to be big but also quick. -Defensive Ends(DEs): Defensive Ends line up to the outside of the Defensive Tackles. Their main job is to chase and tackle the Quarterback before they pass or even when t

NFL OFFENSIVE POSITIONS EXPLAINED

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NFL OFFENSIVE POSITIONS EXPLAINED In the NFL, the game is played between two sides, the Offense and the Defense , with each side having a role to play. The offense playing the role of trying to score the most points while the Defense plays the role of stopping the offense from doing this. This is contrary to most sports where players have to play both roles. In this article, we'll focus on the positions played on the offensive side of the ball Each offense and defense has 11 players. We'll start with the Offensive Line OFFENSIVE LINE The Offensive Line includes 5 players ranging from the LT to the RT( Offensive Linemen )  It is divided into 3 positions: CENTER(C) : The Center is the player who snaps(a backward pass to start a play) the ball to the Quarterback or any other legal player. In addition to this, he also is responsible for blocking the Defensive Tackle(Soon to be explained) from rushing(getting to) the Quarterback.  GUARD(G) : There are 2 Guards on Each side of the

GOALKEEPER PERFORMANCE IN THE 21/22 PREMIER LEAGUE SEASON

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Goalkeeper Performance in 2021/22 Premier League Season With the end of the 21/22 premier league season, the awards have been given out with Son and Salah sharing the Golden Boot and Ederson and Alisson sharing the Golden Boot. Ederson has now won the award 3 years in a row, however, does this mean that he has been the best Goalkeeper in the last 3 years? Most people would disagree. Man City's defence conceded only 0.83 xG /match while Liverpool's conceded 1.03xG/match meaning that a lot of the clean sheets Ederson were influenced heavily by the defence and less on himself. But this begs the question, What Can we Use to Judge the Ability of a Goalkeeper. This is where PSxG comes in. Post-Shot Expected Goals (PSxG) is a metric to measure the likelihood of a shot going in after it has been taken. It measures the quality of the shots a team is allowing. The difference between this and xG is that xG is a pre-shot metric while PSxG is a post-shot metric. xG measures the quali
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  Expected Threat(xT) In the world of Football Analytics/Metrics there are many advanced stats such as xG(Expected Goals) and xA(Expected Assists) just to name some. A relatively new analytic is emerging-Expected Threat. According to driblab , Expected Threat  measures how the probability of scoring a goal changes before the action and after it, giving value to actions that lead your team towards more dangerous situations . Essentially it measures the value of a pass/dribble/carry towards a teams chances of scoring a goal. xT can have a positive and negative value. The Athletic             The grid above developed by the Atheltic can be used to calculate the xT of a pass/dribble/carry from one zone to the other. So a successful pass from a region of 0.004 to a region of 0.32 would have an xT of 0.316, this means that that pass would increase the chances of the team scoring by 31%! A backpass or a carry back would result in a negative percent value as well. Lets look at another example.