luckadjusted

Week 16 2019 · December 22, 2019

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

Cowboys at Eagles, Week 16 2019: who deserved to win?

The Eagles beat the Cowboys 17–9, but it was a coin flip: replayed with the way both teams played, the Eagles win 5 of 10. Luck ran their way: fumble bounces alone were worth 3.1 points to the Eagles.

Before kickoff the Cowboys were 56% favorites. The biggest swing (Q3, 10:19 left): the Cowboys were stopped on 3rd & 1, worth 27 points of win probability to the Eagles.

Final

Dallas Cowboys 9
Philadelphia Eagles 17

December 22, 2019 · Lincoln Financial Field · Closing line: Cowboys −2

Luck index +45 Eagles lucky · −45 Cowboys

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. Cowboys win 5, Eagles win 5.

  1. 1 DAL 51 PHI 27
  2. 2 DAL 30 PHI 16
  3. 3 DAL 26 PHI 17
  4. 4 DAL 33 PHI 28
  5. 5 DAL 26 PHI 23
  6. 6 DAL 27 PHI 29
  7. 7 DAL 13 PHI 19
  8. 8 DAL 31 PHI 41
  9. 9 DAL 23 PHI 38
  10. 10 DAL 30 PHI 55

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

Cowboys win 45% of them, Eagles 55%, counting the 6% still level after regulation as half each. The line is what actually happened: Eagles by 8.

Show as a table
Final margin in the replaysShare of replays
Cowboys by 17+9.8%
Cowboys by 9–1614.2%
Cowboys by 1–820.3%
Level after regulation6.2%
Eagles by 1–821.9%
Eagles by 9–1615.4%
Eagles by 17+12.2%

Where the luck was

Take the luck out

The final margin was Eagles by 8. Remove the luck, one kind at a time, and it becomes Eagles by 14.8.

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. Elliott, 36 yds made · 92% expected
  • K. Forbath, 49 yds made · 73% expected
  • J. Elliott, 53 yds missed · 65% expected
  • K. Forbath, 32 yds made · 95% expected
  • J. Elliott, 55 yds missed · 61% expected
  • K. Forbath, 49 yds made · 74% expected
Bar: expected chance of a make. Filled dot: made. Open dot: missed or blocked.

When it happened

Eagles’ chance of winning

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 Eagles were ahead in it, below while the Cowboys were.
#WhenWhat happenedWin probability forNext drive
1 Q1 12:45 The Eagles converted 3rd & 73rd & 4th downs · 36% expected +10% PHI PHI: Field goal
2 Q1 11:15 The Eagles converted 3rd & 103rd & 4th downs · 29% expected +7% PHI PHI: Field goal
3 Q2 14:56 The Cowboys converted 3rd & 103rd & 4th downs · 28% expected +7% DAL DAL: Field goal
4 Q2 1:19 Illegal Block Above the Waist on the Eagles, 10 yards, wiping out the playJudgment calls +7% DAL DAL: Field goal
5 Q2 0:34 J. Elliott missed 53-yard field goalKicks · 65% expected for him, 2 of 4 from 45+ before +10% DAL PHI: End of half
6 Q3 10:19 The Cowboys were stopped on 3rd & 13rd & 4th downs · 74% expectedThe Cowboys fumbled and the Eagles recoveredFumble bounces · loose balls are close to 50/50 +27% PHI DAL: Punt
7 Q4 11:02 J. Elliott missed 55-yard field goalKicks · 61% expected for him, 2 of 5 from 45+ before +6% DAL PHI: Punt
8 Q4 1:21 The Cowboys were stopped on 4th & 83rd & 4th downs · 32% expected +7% PHI –

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.

  • Lane Johnson (PHI T), out · 1.2 pts
  • Alshon Jeffery (PHI WR), out (IR) · 0.9 pts
  • Nelson Agholor (PHI WR), out · 0.6 pts
  • Jordan Howard (PHI RB), out · 0.2 pts
  • Kamu Grugier-Hill (PHI LB), out (IR) · 0.1 pts
  • Leighton Vander Esch (DAL LB), out · 0.5 pts
  • Connor Williams (DAL G), out (IR) · 0.4 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

Cowboys 2% · Eagles 98%

Final margin
Eagles by 8
Luck in points
6.8 for the Cowboys
Luck-adjusted margin
Eagles by 14.8
Replay with same day's form
Cowboys 45% · Eagles 55% 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 16 2019 games · Cowboys · Eagles

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