"Life's this game of inches, so is football."
Those were Coach Tony D'Amato's wise words in "Any Given Sunday." Actually I've never seen that movie, but my editor thought it fit and I'm no idiot: I know who cuts my paychecks. And I did watch a 4-minute YouTube clip of the scene now, so I've basically seen it.
But my editor's point: Fantasy football is also a game of inches. And on that part we certainly agree.
One extra running lane can turn into a breakaway score. One extra target can be the difference between winning and losing. The key is finding them. That's what we're trying to do in this space each week by combining two key elements: data and football. Player vs. player, player vs. team, scheme vs. scheme.
The matchups we need exist all around the field, on a macro and a micro level, on any given Sunday. Each week, we'll dive deep into the NFL Next Gen Stats player tracking numbers to try to identify where they can be exploited.
To start off in Week 1, we're going to focus in on three areas.
• Schematic advantages for players based on the routes they run and the coverages their opponent runs.
• The strength of an opposing defense's run-stopping unit based on the players in its front.
• Weak points along offensive lines (and QB sack rate tendencies) that ought to yield a high sack chance for particular pass-rushers.
In other words, we're looking for specific advantages or disadvantages for receivers, rushers and pass-rushers based on whom they play this week. Those are the inches. Small edges -- one more open route for a receiver, an extra foot of space before contact for a running back and an easier path to the QB for a sack artist -- that can make the difference for a player you choose to start or sit.
