PFF adds an in-game grading feature to its NFL analysis

Pro Football Focus changed how many fans followed the NFL by providing grades and advanced statistics to help quantify how every player performed on a play-by-play basis from high-profile quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes to more anonymous guards and linebackers.

Now instead of waiting until the next day, PFF will provide grades during the game with a slight delay in hopes that rabid fans will use it as a complement to the television broadcast to get a better idea of what’s happening in every aspect of a game. The new service will begin with Thursday night’s game between Tampa Bay and Atlanta.

“It was always something that we wanted to do,” said Khaled Elsayed, vice president of data at PFF. “What we realized from ourselves from using it, is it’s a tremendous second screen experience to be able to watch the grades grow as the game is going along as well.”

PFF began in 2007 and has grown significantly over the last decade. All 32 teams and more than 200 college teams subscribe to the service, which grades every player on every play and is viewed by many as one of the better ways to evaluate players.

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The new feature comes with challenges as the grades are being given based on the television view of the game instead of the all-22 film that has every player in view on every play.

It’s also takes significant manpower to get it done in real time with PFF using one analyst to grade the home team and another for the road team with others tracking snap counts for every player and other facets of the game. In all, PFF says data from each game is collected by an average of 30 analysts spending a combined average of about 90 hours for every game.

The final grades and stats will still be produced the same way after a thorough watching of the all-22 film with cross checking to make sure it is as accurate as possible. But tests done on practice runs revealed a 93% accuracy in the live grading compared to the more complete process.

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“You get to see how your favorite players are doing and how your least favorite players are doing,” Elsayed said. “We had that experience for ourselves as PFFers. Now we want to share that experience for everyone else because this has definitely enhanced our view of the game.”

Elsayed said the accuracy varies by position with coverage by defensive backs that often isn’t shown live in the television broadcast and run blocking that requires a deeper study of angles have a little less accuracy.

The live grades will be available with a delay of about 15 to 30 minutes, with the goal to reduce that time lag in the future. They will be available to fans for about 90 minutes after the game ends. After that, they will be locked from view until the final process is done the following day.

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