Football Is a Numbers Game

Pro Football Focus and How a Data-Driven Approach Shook Up the Sport

By: Matthew Coller

Narrated by: Matthew Coller

In the 1980s, Neil Hornsby was one of very few National Football League fans in England. Never one to do anything casually, he began keeping hand-written score sheets of every game using his own tracking system. Soon he'd enlisted some fellow British super fans in his mission to take football information an extra layer deeper.

This was the beginning of Pro Football Focus, an analytics company that now supplies data to all 32 NFL teams and every major broadcasting corporation. PFF player grades appear on the screen during Sunday Night Football broadcasts, and PFF's pioneering research and analysis informs discussions at the highest level, from coaching to drafting to game-planning and player evaluation.

In Football Is a Numbers Game, Matthew Coller chronicles this improbable start-up tale with unprecedented access, exploring the company's origin as a band of obsessive outsiders, its pivotal acquisition by Cris Collinsworth, and its role in the proliferation of data in the NFL and professional sports. Featuring a cast of memorable characters, this is a portrait of an unlikely business success as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the forces guiding modern NFL teams as they search for a competitive edge.

©2023 Matthew Coller (P)2023 Dreamscape Media

A unique listen on data and the NFL!

This was a super fun listen, it was cool to see how NFL fans in England started tracking data for fun and it became something much bigger. The NFL has already changed so much with analytics and as I watched SNF with Cris Collinsworth and saw the PFF grades for each player I smiled and thought about this book. It even made watching the game a bit more fun and had me guessing and paying attention to the play calls and analytics a bit more. It made me respect the PFF system more and in the future I will pay closer attention to their grades.

our moneyball

I loved the comprehensive coverage of this story from so many angles; the data, the league and especially the people. These people have become part of our fan experience and it’s great to learn more about them. Couldn’t stop listening

The story of the hall of famer you never heard of

Neal is by far a football legends perhaps as important as your favorite QB. When you think about the most innovative ideas that have been developed, they start with a passion and understanding there is a gap. Neal loves football and deeply believes in the use of data to improve the assessment process. Thank you Matthew for telling this untold story.

Professional Football Fascination

Great to listen about how PFF came to be. Lots of great info about analytics in football. Interesting to learn more about Cris Collinsworth's business savvy. Solid insight about effective business policies in growing companies. I highly recommend this for any NFL fans as well as entrepreneurs.

The people in the book

Great book about a small company and its people within. What can be accomplished when driven like minded people join forces. Matthew Coller did this under appreciated subject justice. Given how well he handles his podcast it should be no surprise.