The Wall Street Journal must have a lot of time on their hands. The business staple did a study that tracked how many times coaches and quarterbacks are shown on the sideline during an average NFL game. The crack researchers watched two full games from the 2014 season for all 32 teams and tallied the number of times the broadcast cut to the head coach. Regardless of the duration. They performed a similar study on quarterbacks. The sample size seems small but what do I know. I wouldn't have attempted this study in the first place. Despite that, the study did provide some surprising results.
I would have guessed that Jim Harbaugh and Bill Belichick would lead the way among the coaches. Harbaugh led with an average of 45.5 shots per game. This is hardly a surprise as Harbaugh is a riot on the sidelines. Belichick is rarely as animated but he was right there at 44.5. Chip Kelly was a surprising third at 44. I would have expected Pete Carroll to be third. He was at #8. I would have expected him to be shot more than Kelly. In fact, I would have expected Kelly and Jason Garrett to be in the bottom half if you are looking for entertainment value in these sideline shots. Both were ranked ahead of Carroll. Kelly at 3 and Garrett at 6.
Here are all of the coaches and their shot tracker:
1. 45.5 Jim Harbaugh
2. 44.5 Bill Belichick
3. 44.0 Chip Kelly
4. 39.0 Tom Coughlin
5. 37.5 Mike Tomlin
6. 37.0 Jason Garrett
7. 35.0 Rex Ryan
8. 34.5 Pete Carroll
9. 34.0 Gus Bradley
10. 33.5 Mike Zimmer
11. 31.5 Bill O'Brien
12. 30.5 Ron Rivera
13. 30.0 Sean Payton
14. 29.5 Doug Marrone
15. 29.0 Chuck Pagano
16. 27.5 Dennis Allen*
16. 27.5 Jeff Fisher
18. 26.5 Marc Trestman
19. 25.0 Bruce Arians
20. 24.5 Mike Pettine
21. 23.5 Ken Whisnehut
21. 23.5 Marvin Lewis
23. 23.0 Joe Philben
24. 22.5 Mike Smith
25. 22.0 Andy Reid
26. 20.5 John Fox
27. 20.0 John Harbaugh
28. 18.5 Lovie Smith
29. 17.5 Jay Gruden
30. 15.5 Mike McCoy
31. 14.0 Jim Caldwell
32. 13.5 Mike McCarthy
*-fired
The least shot coach is a surprise. McCarthy's very low shot count is due to his stoic behavior on the sideline but he isn't any more stoic than, say, Garrett. It's a lot more fun to see McCarthy after a failed Packers play than Garrett at any time. The disparity in the shots of the Harbaugh brothers is really something. It's difficult to believe that they are even related.
The other part of the Wall Street Journal study was the quarterbacks. As with the coaches, the top two are expected. Peyton Manning at #1 and Brady at #2. Most of the top 7 fall as expected. 4-7 are Drew Brees, Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, and Aaron Rodgers. It's #3 that is the surprise of the list. Teddy Bridgewater. He's only started two games for the Minnesota Vikings. I wonder if those are the two games that were studied. One game that he didn't start was the Thursday Night game in Green Bay. He had injured his ankle in the game before so Christian Ponder started the game. Bridgewater was the Vikings quarterback that had the attention of the camera on the sideline. Ponder was rarely seen. He wasn't seen much on the field either.
Here's how the quarterbacks broke down:
1. 31.0 Peyton Manning
2. 29.5 Tom Brady
3. 22.5 Teddy Bridgewater
4. 21.5 Drew Brees
5. 20.0 Andrew Luck
6. 18.5 Cam Newton
7. 17.5 Aaron Rodgers
8. 17.0 Brian Hoyer
9. 16.5 Geno Smith
10. 16.0 Eli Manning
11. 15.5 Philip Rivers
11. 15.5 Russell Wilson
11. 15.5 Ben Roethlisberger
11. 15.5 Andy Dalton
15. 14.0 Kirk Cousins
16. 13.5 Alex Smith
17. 12.5 EJ Manuel
17. 12.5 Austin Davis
19. 11.5 Blake Bortles
19. 11.5 Tony Romo
19. 11.5 Drew Stanton
22. 11.0 Joe Flacco
22. 11.0 Ryan Tannehill
22. 11.0 Matt Ryan
25. 10.0 Nick Foles
25. 10.0 Jay Cutler
25. 10.0 Colin Kaepernick
28. 9.5 Ryan Fitzpatrick
29. 9.0 Derek Carr
30. 8.0 Charlie Whitehurst
30. 8.0 Matthew Stafford
32. 5.5 Mike Glennon
I suppose that the surprise of the quarterback list, besides Bridgewater, is the low face time of established quarterbacks like Tony Romo, Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan, Jay Cutler, Colin Kaepernick, and Matthew Stafford. Unlike the coaches, there isn't much entertainment value in sideline shots of quarterbacks. They are usually looking at the defensive pictures or talking on the phone. Cutler has had some funny moments but he's unique in that way.
There's some interesting stuff here but I still find this an odd study.
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