The Buccaneers are one of many NFL teams that have an analytics manager tasked with using statistics to find an edge, but it doesn’t sound like everyone on the coaching staff is on board.
Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter was asked today if he uses statistical research to prepare the plays he calls. Koetter took umbrage with the question.
“No. I trust my eyes,’' Koetter said. “I trust my eyes, OK? I watch the tape. I watch a lot of tape and I trust what my eyes tell me. So I don’t need a freaking piece of paper with a bunch of numbers on there to tell me something my eyes can see. I mean, not to get pissed off, but that whole thing of looking at a piece of paper and telling you how to call a football game is a freaking joke in my opinion. That’s why I watch tape. Half the stuff on that paper, you can sort those stats out any way you want to. But I’m sticking by eyes. It’s worked OK for me so far.”
Whether it’s worked OK for Koetter is debatable: The Buccaneers’ offense hasn’t played particularly well this year. But the 56-year-old Koetter is like a lot of coaches who came of age in the days before Moneyball. He doesn’t understand what all those numbers on that freaking piece of paper mean, and he doesn’t particularly care to find out.