Breaking Down the NFL's Biggest Analytic Trends

Every NFL season brings us some sort of advance in analytics and schematics, and spending some time every December looking back at this season's developments is one of our favorite things to do before we turn the page to the playoffs. Sam Schwartzstein, Amazon Prime's analytics expert, joins Robert Mays on this episode of The Athletic Football Show to dive deep on this season's analytic and schematic trends, and preview the monster Week 16 TNF game between the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks.

0:00 Welcome to the show
1:15 Analytics that have shaped the 2025-26 season
4:08 Rams innovations that change other teams’ schemes
11:26 Changing 4th down strategy
16:14 The “all in” trend
20:03 Analytics around dynamic kickoff changes
23:06 Game management analytics
30:36 Facebook sponsorship
32:42 Emergence of positionless football
39:44 O-line pressures/pocket health
43:07 Pocket health improvement: Caleb Williams
49:11 Good pocket health: Bo Nix
53:19 Rams-Seahawks preview

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