Pro Football Prospectus 2005: Statistics, Analysis, and Insight for the Information Age

For the over 14 million people who play fantasy football every year; for the hardcore fan who wants information beyond sports page recaps; for everyone who bets on the NFL; and for the smart, casual enthusiast looking for entertainment and insight comes the essential preseason annual. With numerous statistical measures that go far beyond standard NFL stats, Pro Football Prospectus assesses the DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) of every single skill player and determines how many points better a starting player is over the average bench player; measures special teams; offers advanced offensive line statistics; analyzes teams’ abilities to convert draft picks into quality players; and much more. And like its sister publication, Baseball Prospectus, it’s written with a knowing dry wit that gets under the skin of America’s most popular spectator sport.

Compared by The New York Times Magazine to Bill James, the baseball statistics guru, Aaron Schatz is revolutionizing the world of football statistics. In just two years his Web site, FootballOutsiders.com, is “by a huge margin, the Web’s best independent football site,” writes Gregg Easterbrook of NFL.com. Salon calls it “a must for anyone interested in going beyond ‘This guy has more yards, so he must be better.’” Now Schatz and his team of Football Outsiders are continuing their groundbreaking work with a comprehensive, authoritative book of sophisticated statistical analysis.

It also offers solid predictions: in 2004, the Outsiders predicted six of eight division winners, including the Steelers’ champion season; the fading year of Ahman Green and Jamal Lewis; and the breakout of the New York Jets.

Members of the Football Outsiders include: Russell Levine, a football writer who lives in nothern New Jersey; Chicago-based Michael David Smith, who writes for The New Republic Online and the New York Sun; and Michael Tanier, a sports-writer who lives in southern New Jersey.

Aaron Schatz founded FootballOutsiders.com. He is a regular contributor to Foxsports.com and covers NFL for the New York Sun. He also writes for The New York Times, the Boston Globe, and The New Republic Online. He lives in Framingham, Massachusetts. Other members of the Football Outsiders include: Russell Levine, a football writer who lives in northern New Jersey; Chicago-based Michael David Smith who writes for The New Republic Online and the New York Sun; Michael Tanier, a sportswriter who lives in southern New Jersey; and Will Carroll, an award-winning columnist for Baseball Prospectus.