New dynamic kickoff -- where have teams kicked the ball thru week 4?

Luck dashboard thru wk 4.

Most impactful plays:
- GB made FG at end of Q4 to tie (-22% for DAL)
- SEA made FG at end of Q4 to win (-18% for ARI)
- ARI dropped pass to interception in Q2 (+17% for SEA)

Thanks to NextGenStats and @awscloud.bsky.social for the partnership, @kaggle.com for hosting, and to all of our loyal participants for ensuring that our competition is changing the game

#BigDataBowl

The analytics competition will allow folks to creatively identify characteristics or visualizations of player movement, either on the offensive or defensive sides of the ball

www.kaggle.com/c/nfl-big-da...

The leaderboard competition will use the last 5 weeks of 2025 to identify who builds the best model/algorithm

www.kaggle.com/c/nfl-big-da...

The 2026 Big Data Bowl #BigDataBowl is live!

Participants can sign up for two competitions:
- leaderboard
- traditional analytics competition

This year's task: predict/understand player movement when the ball is in the air

🏈 The 8th annual NFL Big Data Bowl is here!

This year, we’re excited to launch two competitions in collaboration with NFL. Participants will use NFL player tracking (Next Gen Stats) to generate insights that enhance the game.

Pro tip: you can compete in both 😎
More info 👇

2025 Luck dashboard thru wk 3.

Most impactful plays:
- W1: PIT 60-yd FG in Q4 (-57% for NYJ)
- W2: DAL 64-yd FG in Q4 (-43% for NYG)
- W1: CLE dropped pass to int in Q4 (+43% for CIN)
- W1: DAL dropped pass in Q4 (+40% for PHI)
- W2: KC dropped pass to int in Q4 (+34% for PHI)

Here is how non-Power conferences would look if they were created purely to minimize the average distance between teams (17 teams per conf).

Avg distance between teams in same conference:
- Current: 625 miles
- Optimal: 516 miles

When trailing by one score on the last play of a game, offenses face a choice: attempt a Hail Mary (deep pass to the end zone) or a Hook & Ladder (lateralling between teammates moving towards end zone).

Here's how often teams chose each strategy since 2018, by field position:

With the college football returning, here is how Power 4 conferences would look if they were created purely to minimize the average distance between teams (17 teams per conf).

Avg distance between teams in same conference:
- Current: 787 miles
- Optimal: 479 miles

Correlation between preseason and regular season performance in NFL has decreased significantly in the last 5 years.

My friend Michael Mackelvie put together an IG short summarizing this finding:

www.instagram.com/reel/DN0oUFX...

Note: Distances calculated using haversine formula (great circle distance). Lines on the map represent the shortest path between points on Earth's surface, even if the alternative route around Earth is shorter.

#USOpen 🎾 weekend! Here's a comparison of observed vs optimal WTA player travel between WTA 1000s & Grand Slams:
- Tournament Schedule route: 4,503 km/2,798 mi average b/w tournaments
- Optimal route: 2,621 km/1,629 mi average b/w tournaments

With the NFL season starting in two weeks, here is how NFL conferences would look if they were created purely to minimize the average distance between teams.

Avg distance between teams in same conference:
- Current: 1103 miles
- Optimal: 785 miles

How has preseason playtime impacted the link between preseason and regular season performance?

From 2000–2017, there was a weak positive correlation (R = 0.24) between preseason and regular season net points per game.

From 2017–2024, that correlation dropped to just 0.05.

I know you are haha. Yeah between Athletics (when they move to Vegas) and Mariners one of them would be given quite a bit more travel)

Haha - I do not have a positive/negative opinion of any MLB team!

Also, regardless of whether the Athletics are in Oakland, Sacramento or Las Vegas, they would be in same reimagined division in this optimization.

NOTE -- instead of using the full optimization, a simpler problem (assuming teams like SF/Boston cant be in same division) was used instead -- this almost definitely gives same results as full optimization though.

With the MLB All-Star game tonight, here is how MLB divisions would look if they were created purely to minimize the average distance between teams.

Avg distance between teams in same division:
- Current: 606 miles
- Optimal: 421 miles

Instructions for folks who want feedback on their 2025 #BigDataBowl Submissions:

www.kaggle.com/competitions...

Analyzing NFL Pro Bowl Flag Football — Tom Bliss

Details on how these metrics are calculated can be found here: www.datawithbliss.com/analyzing-nf...

Baker Mayfield boasted the highest EPA/play, Success Rate and Completion % Over Expected for all passers in the 2025 #ProBowlGames .

Gardner Minshew still leads in career EPA/Play & Success Rate from his 2023 appearance.

Congratulations to the Finalists, Semi-Finalists, and Honorable Mention finishers in the 2025 Big Data Bowl #BigDataBowl

Congratulations to the Finalists, Semi-Finalists, and Honorable Mention finishers in the 2025 Big Data Bowl #BigDataBowl

2025 Big Data Bowl finalists will be announced tomorrow, Weds 1/29, at 12 noon EST #BigDataBowl