luckadjusted

Week 15 2019 · December 15, 2019

No FTN charting for this game (drops and interception-worthy throws are not modelled).

Seahawks at Panthers, Week 15 2019: who deserved to win?

The Seahawks beat the Panthers 30–24 and were the better team on the day: replayed with the same form, they win 8 of 10. The Panthers had the bounces: fumble bounces alone were worth 3.1 points to the Panthers.

Before kickoff the Seahawks were 67% favorites. The biggest swing (Q4, 3:00 left): Offensive Holding on the Seahawks, 10 yards, wiping out the play, worth 10 points of win probability to the Panthers.

Final

Seattle Seahawks 30
Carolina Panthers 24

December 15, 2019 · Bank of America Stadium · Closing line: Seahawks −6

Luck index +21 Seahawks about even · −21 Panthers

Each team’s own plays from this game, resampled into new drives 4,000 times: with the way both teams actually played, how often does this performance win? How the replay works

Ten replays. Seahawks win 8, Panthers win 2.

  1. 1 SEA 55 CAR 24
  2. 2 SEA 29 CAR 6
  3. 3 SEA 45 CAR 27
  4. 4 SEA 32 CAR 17
  5. 5 SEA 35 CAR 23
  6. 6 SEA 29 CAR 20
  7. 7 SEA 37 CAR 31
  8. 8 SEA 26 CAR 23
  9. 9 SEA 27 CAR 30
  10. 10 SEA 14 CAR 29

Three other ways to ask

Each answers a different question, so none of them replaces the replay above.

The closing betting line, turned into a probability. What everyone knew before the game.

The line plus what this game showed, weighted by how much one game can tell. It stays close to the line because one game says little.

Every kick, fumble bounce, drop, conversion and judgment call redrawn; everything else fixed. The narrowest view of luck.

How 4,000 replays ended

Seahawks win 79% of them, Panthers 21%, counting the 1% still level after regulation as half each. The line is what actually happened: Seahawks by 6.

Show as a table
Final margin in the replaysShare of replays
Seahawks by 17+36.6%
Seahawks by 9–1620.1%
Seahawks by 1–821.1%
Level after regulation1.4%
Panthers by 1–812.3%
Panthers by 9–165.8%
Panthers by 17+2.8%

Where the luck was

Take the luck out

The final margin was Seahawks by 6. Remove the luck, one kind at a time, and it becomes Seahawks by 14.2.

Each row takes one kind of luck out of the margin. Color shows which team it helped. Luck shares are the fitted ones (how much of each component is luck).

The kicks

How likely each kicker was to make that kick (his own record, the distance and the weather), and what happened.

  • J. Slye, 52 yds made · 68% expected
  • J. Myers, 30 yds made · 96% expected
  • Extra point missed · 93% expected
Bar: expected chance of a make. Filled dot: made. Open dot: missed or blocked.

When it happened

Panthers’ chance of winning

As low as 0% and as high as 59%. Numbers mark the biggest luck moments, listed below.

nflfastR’s in-game win probability. It ignores the betting line, so it starts near even. Shaded above the middle while the Panthers were ahead in it, below while the Seahawks were.
#WhenWhat happenedWin probability forNext drive
1 Q1 13:49 The Seahawks converted 3rd & 13rd & 4th downs · 75% expected +5% SEA SEA: Touchdown
2 Q2 13:46 The Panthers converted 3rd & 13rd & 4th downs · 65% expected +7% CAR CAR: Touchdown
3 Q2 11:07 Defensive Offside on the Panthers (Gerald McCoy), 5 yards, wiping out the playPre-snap flags · 6 flags in 646 snaps before, position avg 1 per 242 +8% SEA SEA: Touchdown
4 Q2 0:30 The Panthers were stopped on 3rd & 103rd & 4th downs · 26% expected +7% SEA CAR: Field goal
5 Q3 6:37 The Panthers converted 3rd & 83rd & 4th downs · 29% expected +6% CAR CAR: Turnover
6 Q4 3:19 The Panthers converted 3rd & 53rd & 4th downs · 31% expected +5% CAR CAR: Touchdown
7 Q4 3:00 Offensive Holding on the Seahawks, 10 yards, wiping out the playJudgment calls +10% CAR –
8 Q4 2:24 The Seahawks converted 3rd & 113rd & 4th downs · 27% expected +5% SEA SEA: End of game

Missing players

Key players (usually on the field for half the snaps or more) who missed this game or part of it, valued by position and quality. The same players are missing in every replay, so this counts as luck in points only.

  • Greg Olsen (CAR TE), out · 1.1 pts
  • Greg Little (CAR T), out (IR) · 0.3 pts
  • Dontari Poe (CAR NT), out (IR) · 0.3 pts
  • Greg Van Roten (CAR G), out (IR) · 0.3 pts
  • Shaquill Griffin (SEA CB), out · 0.7 pts
  • Jadeveon Clowney (SEA DE), out · 0.7 pts
  • Justin Britt (SEA C), out (IR) · 0.5 pts
  • Mychal Kendricks (SEA LB), out · 0.3 pts
  • Tedric Thompson (SEA FS), out (IR) · 0.3 pts

Adjust the assumptions

Disagree with how much of a fumble bounce or a pass interference call is luck? Change it and the coin-flip replay reruns in your browser.

Only coin-flips re-rolled

Seahawks 100% · Panthers 0%

Final margin
Seahawks by 6
Luck in points
8.2 for the Panthers
Luck-adjusted margin
Seahawks by 14.2
Replay with same day's form
Seahawks 79% · Panthers 21% unchanged: why
How much of each is luck?

0% treats it as skill, 100% as pure luck. The tick is our fit.

What counts

We tested momentum on 19,000 lucky breaks and found none, so it's off by default. Why

Flip a play

Force the other outcome, in this game and in every replay: a made kick becomes a miss, a stop becomes a conversion, a flag goes the other way.

About these numbers

Play-by-play and win probability from nflfastR via nflverse; kicks valued against each kicker’s own record; drops and interception-worthy throws from FTN charting (not available for this game); injuries from snap counts and injury reports. No FTN charting for this game (drops and interception-worthy throws are not modelled).

Methodology and validation · All Week 15 2019 games · Seahawks · Panthers

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