Patriots deflated football science: Statistics of fumbles and air pressure for Super Bowl.
SlateWe’re just days away from kickoff, folks, and the Super Bowl of sports analysis is already underway. Its claims were bold: “The New England Patriots’ prevention of fumbles is nearly impossible,” wrote Sharp. “This is an extremely abnormal occurrence and is not simply random fluctuation.” The graphs were indeed alarming, especially the one that showed New England’s fumble rate had improved dramatically in 2007. A self-described math nerd and analyst for GrubHub questioned Sharp’s choice of a normal distribution to describe his data, and thus his conclusions about the fumble numbers’ “abnormality.” Reanalyzing the stats, this critic found that the Patriots may fumble less than other teams, but their success is not spectacular, “and not a convincing case for cheating.” Other critics were somewhat less polite. “Many outlets mindlessly reprinted shoddy analysis of fumble data.” I had nothing at all to do with Slate’s choice to go with Sharp’s analysis.
History of this topic
NFL Reacts To Patriots 'Deflategate' Verdict On Twitter
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Tom Brady probably knew about the deflated balls, according to NFL report
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New England fumbles: The Patriots’ incredible ball security is not impossible, but it’s also not meaningless.
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Stats show the New England Patriots became nearly fumble-proof after a 2006 rule change pushed by Tom Brady.
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Ballghazi: The New England Patriots lose an insanely low number of fumbles. Coincidence?
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