I want to revisit a tremendous innovation created by Mr. Mark Zarb. Without question, the most important statistic in a football game is “Total Plays”. Why, because if these are off, guess what? All of your other statistics will be “off”, it has the ultimate trickle-down effect.
What is the purpose of an innovation? To improve or rectify an existing shortfall and enhance accuracy. Using the “out of box” rules for timing is a very “cookie-cutter” approach. I say this because it doesn’t account for all the different eras of football or the individual styles of each team. Let’s just look at the statistics from the 2016 NFL season, The New Orleans Saints ran the most plays from scrimmage with 69.06 compared to the Detroit Lions who had the least with 61.31. If interested in comparing NFL seasons from 2009 to present, https://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/team-total-offense-and-defense-plays-per-game/2012/.
Let me provide you with a quick history lesson. Mark and I have corroborated for years on a variety of APBA Football-related issues. Mark is the creator and I’m the tester for all of his incredible card sets and innovations. Never was an innovation or idea “created in a vacuum”. Each of his ideas have been thoroughly tested to determine the “cause and effect” the innovation has on the game engine.
Mark’s “Timing Method” was based off of several of “our” replays that range from the 1960s to 2011. Mark compiled our notes and created the below methodology but it did not stop there. Since then, we have tested it another 60-plus games using two different methods. Mark used the combined “total-play averages” of each team and I used the combined total plays of each team in accordance with the actual box score. What we found, is we consistently came within a plus or minus 2 or 3 plays per game. What I love best about his system is it’s easy to understand and implement. Secondly, it offers the flexibility to counter any situation ranging from the “dead ball era” of the 1970s to Chip Kelly’s Philadelphia Eagles.
Mark, I want to take a moment to thank you not only for all that you have done for me personally but for all that you have done for the APBA Football community. Without question, all of your innovations over the years as enhanced the Football gaming experience ten-fold.
