07 Jan Glossary and FAQs (CFB)

Q: How is the performance on mobile devices?

A: Desktop is still the recommended viewing platform for our site. Due to the amount of data we are providing in each view, optimizing for mobile performance is stripping away what makes us unique. We are working to build mobile products in the near future, and the site can still be accessed on mobile; however, the optimal interactive experience is through a laptop or desktop machine.

This glossary provides definitions for all of the non-standard metrics available on ExpandTheBoxscore.com. Metrics are sorted in alphabetical order and include the dashboards where you can find it. We are continually rolling out new metrics so be sure to check back on this page often.

1st Down – The number of plays where this player ran or caught the ball for a first down. (Found in: Player Profile Page, Compare Players, Rushing Leaderboard, Receiving Leaderboard).

RZ Share (Red Zone Share) – Of all the plays a team has run in the Red Zone, the percentage ending with a touch for this player. Quantifies the amount of attention this player receives on offense when his team is about to score. If you filter for a specific team in the leaderboard page, the total value will always equal 100%. (Found in: Player Profile Page, Rushing Leaderboard, and Receiving Leaderboard).

RZ Touch (Red Zone Touches) – Counts the number of times the player ran or caught the ball when the play started in the opponents Red Zone. (Found in: Player Profile Page, Rusher Leaderboard, and Receiver Leaderboard).

Touch Distribution by Field Position – Shows the distribution of where on the field the player received his touches. The buckets are broken down by “0 to 20 yard line”, “21 to 35 yard line” and “36 yard line to Midfield” for both sides of the field. (Found in: Player Profile Page).

Touch% – Of all the plays a team runs, the percentage ending in a rush or reception for this player. If you filter for a specific team in the leaderboard page, this number may not equal 100% as those players who have only caught passes will not be on the Rushing Leaderboard but will hold a share of the total Touch%. (Found in: Player Profile Page, Rusher Leaderboard, and Receiver Leaderboard).

Touches by Quarter – A breakdown of how many touches (rushes and receptions) the player received by quarter. Overtime is included if the player received a touch in OT. (Found in: Player Profile Page).

Yardage per Touch – Shows the distribution of yards gained for every time a player touched the ball. Each cell represents one play, and the play details can be viewed by hovering your mouse over the cell. Green cells represent plays that ended in touchdowns, blue is all other plays. (Found in: Player Profile Page, QB Profile, and Compare Player dashboards).

Yards per Touch by Quarter – A breakdown of yards per touch (rushes and receptions) by the quarter the touch occurred. This metric attempts to quantify when the player does most of his damage. Does fatigue cause a decline in the fourth quarter? Is he a player getting most of his yards in garbage time of the 4th quarter? (Found in: Player Profile Page).

If you would like more detail on a specific metric, or want to suggest adding more to our inventory please reach us at info@expandtheboxscore.com

Player Profile PageThe Player Profile Page gives a detailed breakdown of a single player’s performance. It is divided into four sections plus a bio section that includes the player’s measurables and recruiting info. The first section is the Yardage per Touch distribution, which shows every touch from a player and buckets them based on the success of the play. The numbers on the top of each bar give an overall breakdown of number of touches and then the percent of total. This view allows you to see how many “big plays” a player has made, how they score their touchdowns, and how many low-impact plays he has made. The view is interactive, and if you hover over a specific cell (like the example below for Ohio’s A.J. Ouellette) you can get specific play details for the touch in question.

Player Profile PageThe Player Profile Page gives a detailed breakdown of a single player’s performance. It is divided into four sections plus a bio section that includes the player’s measurables and recruiting info. The first section is the Yardage per Touch distribution, which shows every touch from a player and buckets them based on the success of the play. The numbers on the top of each bar give an overall breakdown of number of touches and then the percent of total. This view allows you to see how many “big plays” a player has made, how they score their touchdowns, and how many low-impact plays he has made. The view is interactive, and if you hover over a specific cell (like the example below for Ohio’s A.J. Ouellette) you can get specific play details for the touch in question.

Next are the donut charts for touches by quarter and yards per touch by quarter. These graphs give a breakdown of when in the game a player gets his opportunities and when he does the most damage. The graphs are measured by touch, so if a running back is heavily involved in the passing game that will show up in this metric as well. Passes are not included and it is only rushes and receptions. If a player received a touch in overtime, that will show up in this graphic. The number in the center of each donut chart represents the season total for both touches and yards per touch.

Next is the Touch Distribution by Field Position, which demontrates where on the field the player is receiving his touches. Is he a weapon used primarily in the red zone, or is he running back on a poor offense consistently stuck operating from his own side of the field? These questions can be answered on this graphic.

Finally are the Game Logs for each player. It includes the opponent, date, and all the metrics highlighted in the Glossary above. The Grand Totals are highlighted in white at the top of the game logs table for easy access to season long totals.

Now to tie all of this together, the game log serves as a filter for all of the other reports on the dashboard. If you click on a specific Opponent, the row will be highlighted and after a few seconds of recalculations the other dashboards will update to reflect only that one game. You can also “Ctrl” + click on multiple weeks to aggregate multiple games. For example, remember Travis Etienne’s insane three game stretch with 9 total TDs? Well here’s how the dashboard looks when filtered for just those three games. You can see his touchdowns were driven by a ton of goal-line work, and some a lot of damage in the fourth and first quarters.

Similar to the Player Profile Page, the QB Profiles is an overview of a single player with the difference being this dashboard is geared towards quarterback metrics. The page is divided into four sections. First is the Yardage by Completion distribution. All completed passes are bucketed based on the length of the completion and touchdowns are colored in green.

Next is the target distribution page. It ranks all the receivers for that quarterback by the number of times he was targeted throughout the season. It also includes number of completions, completion percentage, overall target share, number of touchdowns and red zone target percentage. The spark lines at the end of the view show how the players target share has evolved throughout the season. Here’s an example for Tua Tagovailoa.

Brian Creagh

• A native of Chicago, IL, Brian had been providing sports data and content for the past seven years. An avid fantasy football and baseball player, his goal as a content creator has always been to get data into the hands of the reader and present it in a way to help make an informed decision.
• When not watching or gambling on sports, Brian works in the analytics department for a Chicago insurance company.