(12-01-2020, 11:56 PM)MasonDT70 Wrote: Yeah he did a good job and presented pros and cons of them really well. I am a fan of his channel. Your old pff threads were how I got introduced to pff, and were my favorite threads. Its unfortunate how they've changed and I understand why you don't do them anymore. I'm curious if their change in grading systems coincides with Collinsworth getting involved.
As mentioned in the video, Collinsworth got involved around 2012 or so (I can't remember if it was before the season or after the season, but 2012 is the year). That coincided with a call for more employees for the site, which I went for and then pulled out of at the final cuts, because I just couldn't work it into my schedule.
2015 was when they started with the new grades and I think it was an effort to, "dumb it down," for people who couldn't understand the intricate, but much-more objective old grading system;
- The old system was, "start at 0 for the game. Neutral plays give nothing, positive plays range from .1, + or -, to 1.0, + or -." It was the same subjectivity that it is now, but at least that methodology makes sense and is much easier to follow.
- The new system is, "wait until after the game and we'll give you a grade."
They still do the +/- like they used to, but it is much-more cloudy at this point, they don't tell you where they start at (logic is that they would start each game at 50, but they haven't disclosed that) and now that they have significantly-more employees, it is no longer the, "20 hardcore fans that aren't allowed to do their own teams' games, due to bias," but rather, "one of our random guys did this game."
I also do know that Collinsworth (or someone) put more money into PFF in 2015 as well, thus they probably wanted more control/say in how things are done (the new grading system, for example, I believe is similar to how colleges have graded players for decades now).
I miss doing the old threads and what I really miss, are the oline stats for pass blocking and rushing; if PFF was still doing that, without paying 80 bucks a year, I'd still go for that, because those are objective and super helpful in evaluation.
But the grades themselves? Yeah, what was a partial science and a bit of unknown, is now COMPLETELY unknown.