NEW YORK (AP) – For those NFL fans whose heads are swimming as all kinds of numbers are bandied about, fear not when watching CBS telecasts this season.
Unless the statistics and analytics improve the broadcast, viewers won’t be inundated by them, the CBS announcers promise.
“You take it and integrate it into our own brand of storytelling,” says Solomon Wilcots, who will work games with play-by-play man Spero Dedes. “There is a place for it, but it always has to humanize our stories. We will use the numbers to quantify the impact a player has on a game, to distinguish him and his contributions.
“But it has to be a support, not the basis or the foundation for our story. The numbers can be an add-on, can complement the storytelling. It’s necessary to find a balance, otherwise the numbers fall flat. How does the data translate to making for a better player. Connect the dots.”
Wilcots, a former defensive back with particular expertise in matchups between receivers and the guys covering them, points to Lions star Calvin Johnson. Wilcots believes analytics and Next Gen Stats, particularly those using digital chips in players’ pads, can be very enlightening in evaluating Johnson’s advantages against opponents.