FOXBORO, Mass. — Sunday’s game between the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills will feature several players well into their 30s still playing at the top of their respective games.
The Patriots roster quarterback Tom Brady, 42, Matthew Slater, 34, Julian Edelman and Michael Bennett, both 33, and Devin McCourty, Jason McCourty and Patrick Chung, all 32. The Bills’ starting running back is Frank Gore, 36. One of their best defensive players is linebacker Lorenzo Alexander, also 36.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was asked Friday if he’s noticed a trend of players lengthening their careers. Belichick took this as an opportunity to reiterate his stance on analytics.
“Personally, I just try to take everything based on what I see and not try to maybe read too much into other numbers and so forth,” Belichick said. “As you know, analytics is not really my thing. I just try to evaluate what I see.”
Belichick was asked a follow-up on analytics.
“It works for some people, and that’s great,” the head coach said.
Belichick was asked a third question about how much analytics plays a part in the Patriots’ decision to go for it on fourth down or to attempt a two-point conversion.
“For me? For us? Less than zero,” Belichick said.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a gut thing. It’s an individual analysis based on the things that are pertinent to that game and that situation. I don’t really care what happened in 1973 and what those teams did or didn’t do. I don’t really think that matters in this game or ’83 or ’90, pick out whatever year you want. It’s not really my thing. And I like math too, by the way. I really do. I like math.”
This comes in the same week Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh discussed how he weighs his gut feeling vs. analytics.
While Belichick and his right-hand man Ernie Adams might not use analytics for in-game decision making, the franchise is still forward-thinking in other avenues.
