Sean Payton takes jab at PFF for misrepresenting Broncos' offense

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton worked for an entire year as a member of the media, so he knows how the game is played. Not only that, but Payton has always seemed pretty in tune with the media, what people are saying about his teams, and he always seems to have more knowledge of what's being put out there regarding advanced analytics than you would anticipate from a head coach.

Payton hears the noise, there's no doubt, and there are plenty of folks out there who put data, statistics, trends, and other metrics on paper and claim it as fact. Things that are totally subjective like the expected success rate of a passing play or whether a pass was dropped or uncatchable are just a couple of examples of data being collected and put out there to the masses as though it's official.

While some stuff that gets put out there is very useful, it's important to take some of these analytics and metrics with a huge grain of salt knowing that these people putting them together are not all-seeing, all-knowing football oracles. Sean Payton was recently asked about his team's usage of play-action, and even though the question wasn't in reference to a Pro Football Focus stat, Payton used the question as an opportunity to take a little bit of a dig at PFF.

Broncos HC Sean Payton seemingly takes a dig at Pro Football Focus

“I would question the numbers because I think we have used it a lot, so it would all start with who’s charting it. If we’re looking at PFF (Pro Football Focus) then I understand why the numbers might not say we’ve used it a lot. It’s something that’s a big part of our game, so I think it will continue to be.”

- Broncos HC Sean Payton (via team PR)

Now, my immediate reaction to this is that finally, someone said it. Far too often, people put out these fancy-looking analytics and grades and they are taken as pure gospel, when the reality is, so much of it is subjective and 10 different people could look at a play and tell you 10 different things about it. The reality is, most of us who are just watching games and aren't in an NFL locker room or film room don't know the responsibilities of a player on a given play. We can only judge whether a play was bad, or whether technique by a player led to a good result.

And this is a major issue with Pro Football Focus, specifically. In fact, I would say the Broncos have a pretty major bone to pick with PFF given the way PFF has critiqued Denver's roster, calling it one of the worst rosters in the NFL. They put it out there before the season that the Broncos had arguably the worst defensive front in football. And for whatever reason, PFF has been extremely harsh on Broncos defensive lineman Zach Allen with their grades, despite Allen playing as well as any interior defensive lineman in the league this season.

Even though the question about frequently/infrequently using play-action had nothing to do with PFF, it was perfect timing for Payton to put something like this out into the universe. He said it's understandable, if the data came from them, why it would be inaccurate. Players and coaches around the league poke fun at PFF all the time. Even though there are some metrics that are very useful from PFF (because they are more black and white), there are too many things that are subjective within the framework of what they do that they can often misrepresent teams, players, and tendencies.

You have to give them credit for all the work they put in, obviously, but PFF has become such a major voice and a source used even by the NFL itself on programming like Sunday Night Football. Heck, the Broncos themselves even referenced PFF coverage grades in a recent press release. With that being said, Payton is spot on in calling them out in this way, and more around the NFL should follow his example.