Game Theory used in Dallas Cowboys Offense
I found an article that talks about how coaches for the Dallas Cowboys could use game theory to help with their play calls during a game. It is interesting to me how game theory could play such a massive roll in contributing to the success of the Dallas Cowboys offense. The article mainly talks about their run offense. It says that the Cowboys have been much more successful running the ball on the weak side, than from the strong side. The Cowboys head coach, Jason Garrrett, knows they are more successful running off the weak side so he has been doing it more frequently. Even though he has increased the number of runs from that side, the Cowboys still have not completely maximized their efficiency of running on the weak side. They could still benefit more, but how much more? What is the perfect ratio? The article then talks about how game theory would suggest that they continue to call the plays until the average yards-per-carry is maximized. If we assume the cowboys are only going to perform weak side runs, and that the opposing coach is perfectly rational, then we can also assume the opposing coach will continue to draw up plays to stop the weak side run. This would happen until the opposing team minimizes the overall yards-per-carry, which in result would create a Nash equilibrium.
This concept seems pretty straightforward, but defensive and offensive coordinators are not going to run the same plays every time. Sometimes defensive coordinators will call too many or too few plays stopping the run on the weak side. At this point, it is head coach Jason Garret’s job to figure out the best possible play he can do, in response to what he assumes the defensive coordinator is going to do. If the opposing team seems to be calling a lot of weak side blitzes, then maybe Garrett might start to include more strong side runs. It is the coach’s job to be one step ahead in the game to make sure that they are taking into account what they think the defensive coordinator is going to do to make sure that they receive the maximum payoff from their play.
Coaches throughout the league should use game theory as a tool to help them make the best decisions possible. With a greater understanding of game theory, they can learn how to maximize yardage from each play they run, which in turn could lead to greater success for their team as a whole.
Source:
http://thedctimes.com/tag/football-game-theory/
Colin Giannini