Who wants analytics? Typically in soccer you need to belief your intestine in actual time, and Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald bumped into that scenario in the course of the workforce’s season-opening loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
“It was a troublesome one,” Macdonald mentioned throughout his radio present on Seattle Sports activities 710 on Monday with hosts Brock Huard and Mike Salk (beginning at 9:45 above). The Seattle Occasions broke down the play name here.
Macdonald was recounting the state of affairs late within the fourth quarter, with the sport tied at 10 and the Seahawks dealing with a 4th-and-1 from the 49ers’ 19-yard line.
The second-year coach admitted that the workforce’s analytical mannequin favored going for it and making an attempt to select up the primary down in that scenario. The purpose can be a brand new set of downs and the elevated odds to return away with a landing.
“However you’re making these [calls] in actual time,” Macdonald mentioned, illustrating the dynamic at play in tense soccer conditions the place elevated entry to information and predictive evaluation in-game can run up in opposition to the human instincts and expertise of coaches making the calls.
Ticking off a wide range of causes for why he selected to disregard the mannequin, Macdonald kicked the sphere purpose to take a 13-10 lead. The 49ers got here again and scored a landing and received the sport 17-13.
Whereas Macdonald mentioned he felt fairly strongly about his choice to kick, there was “undoubtedly an argument to go the opposite method.”
In a previous interview with GeekWire, Macdonald mentioned his philosophy in Seattle is a mixture of “old style ideas and new faculty strategies,” the place the workforce is embracing tech for any edge it might get. That features round choices about whether or not to go for it on fourth down.
“We now have a method to measure the benefit you get for going for it on fourth down,” Macdonald mentioned. “Each workforce has that.”
By way of its partnership with Microsoft, the NFL makes a wide range of tech instruments out there to gamers and coaches throughout video games. This 12 months, a brand new GitHub Copilot function is introducing enhanced AI capabilities for faster filtering when reviewing performs. Generative AI will not be getting used to make in-game choices, in line with the league.
“We really feel AI can streamline processes, however can’t be a substitute or complement for coaches growing changes and techniques on sport day,” the NFL mentioned.
Beforehand:
Trending Merchandise
