The story of Pro Football Focus (PFF) from its inception to seemingly its end is both ironic and empowering. PFF started as a hobby for a British man, Neil Hornsby, who felt underwhelmed by traditional box score statistics and was compelled to find a better way. His vision permanently changed America’s favorite sport and the way tight-lipped NFL teams operate.
“Football is a Numbers Game: Pro Football Focus and How a Data-Driven Approach Shook Up the Sport” by Matthew Coller details both the improbable rise and collapse of the analytics firm, if the full story interests you. Even in 2023 Coller recognized that PFF was amidst a downturn. NBC commentator Cris Collinsworth made an investment and incorporated their data into the Sunday Night Football broadcast. Collinsworth tasked his son to run the business during the season and soon after the firm began hemorrhaging front-facing talent that left to work for professional front offices, coaching staffs, and major media outlets.
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Just this week the turmoil arrived at a boil. Collinsworth sold PFF’s data platform and business-to-business portfolio that includes most if not all NFL teams to Teamworks. The firm will maintain its consumer-facing business that will rely on data now owned by Teamworks. The front-facing talent were nearly all let go as part of the transaction and numerous individuals took to social media to share their news.
It remains to be seen whether PFF’s consumer platform will remain useful and relevant. We do know that PFF as we know it has come to an end.
A moment to reflect on how PFF shaped the way we talk about football is in order.
What PFF meant to me
Our understanding of football is ever evolving at an individual level. We all start at the same rudimentary level of statistics and then learn how to distill down to what is meaningful for each player and position in order to draw more informed conclusions.
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I was once the guy who said, “Quarterback X through 6 more interceptions so he is more turnover prone than quarterback Y.” The epiphany hit me like a freight train the time I listened to the PFF NFL Podcast with Steve Palazzolo and Sam Monson in roughly 2013. Their premise matched what I saw with my own eyes. Quarterbacks often throw interceptions that aren’t their fault. We shouldn’t use completion percentage as gospel when receivers drop passes at varying rates across the league. The box score often lies to us. We needed a better way.
Eventually their approach gave way to the monikers we often use to describe quarterback play today, from “big-time throws” to “turnover-worthy plays”. When discussing running backs we now measure individual performance by gauging how much of their production is blocked for them (yards before contact) and how much they create on their own (yards beyond expected and yards after contact). Historically we had no indicators of offensive line performance outside of how many snaps or games they played, and that changed too.
I listened to countless conversations between Palazzolo and Monson trying to win fans over to their better way to see the game. Eventually I saw no other alternative way to quantify football. We talked about the game unintelligently for so long.
The Rams’ history with PFF
Fans often like to poo poo the impact of PFF and the meaningfulness of its data. What is undeniable is that teams value this information, especially the Rams.
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First, PFF had to reinvent its grading system because of the dominance of JJ Watt and Aaron Donald. They converted to a 0-100 grading scale because Watt and Donald were breaking the previous model.
The Rams themselves have hired coaches from PFF too, including Zac Robinson who was an offensive assistant under Sean McVay for five seasons from 2019 to 2023. Robinson departed Los Angeles to take the offensive coordinator role with the Atlanta Falcons under Raheem Morris.
Even recently McVay commented that he categorizes quarterback plays as turnover-worthy in the context of Matthew Stafford’s play. It’s clear that even the Rams themselves are impacted and changed by the rise of PFF.
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