luckadjusted
NFL Week 9 · 2026

Wild Card 2019 · January 4, 2020

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

Titans at Patriots, Wild Card 2019: who deserved to win?

The Titans beat the Patriots 20–13, but the replays call it close to a coin flip: with the way both teams played, the Titans win 4 of 10. Luck ran their way: fumble bounces alone were worth 15 points of win probability to the Titans.

Before kickoff the Patriots were 63% favorites. The biggest swing (Q4, 0:15 left): Return touchdown by the Titans, worth 20 points of win probability to the Titans.

Final

Tennessee Titans 20
New England Patriots 13

January 4, 2020 · Gillette Stadium · Closing line: Patriots −4.5

Luck index +59 Titans lucky · −59 Patriots

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. Titans win 4, Patriots win 6.

  1. 1 TEN 38 NE 17
  2. 2 TEN 33 NE 19
  3. 3 TEN 24 NE 17
  4. 4 TEN 20 NE 17
  5. 5 TEN 17 NE 19
  6. 6 TEN 23 NE 27
  7. 7 TEN 3 NE 10
  8. 8 TEN 16 NE 27
  9. 9 TEN 16 NE 33
  10. 10 TEN 19 NE 44

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

Titans win 41% of them, Patriots 59%, counting the 3% still level after regulation as half each. The line is what actually happened: Titans by 7.

Show as a table
Final margin in the replaysShare of replays
Titans by 17+7.3%
Titans by 9–1612.1%
Titans by 1–820.1%
Level after regulation3.1%
Patriots by 1–827.2%
Patriots by 9–1616.4%
Patriots by 17+13.8%

Where the luck was

What the luck was worth

Every lucky and unlucky play, weighted by the moment it happened: its swing in win probability, added up by kind. A missed kick in a decided game counts for nothing; the same kick at the end of a tie game can be most of a win.

Swings add up across a game, so in one that went back and forth they can pass 100%. On the scoreboard the same luck was worth +6.1 points to the Titans: the final margin was Titans by 7, without the luck Titans by 0.9. Luck shares are the fitted ones (how much of each kind is luck).

The kicks

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

  • N. Folk, 36 yds made · 92% expected
  • N. Folk, 21 yds made · 98% expected
Bar: expected chance of a make. Filled dot: made. Open dot: missed or blocked.

Penalties: Titans 5 for 25 yards, Patriots 3 for 28 yards

Every accepted flag, in order, and what it did to the helped team’s chance of winning at that moment, including any play it wiped out (points on the scoreboard in grey). A flag in a decided game is worth nothing; one at the turn of a close game can be worth most of a win. Judgment calls count half toward luck; pre-snap fouls, which repeat, don’t count. How calls are valued

WhenFlagWin probability for
Q1 6:59 False Start on the Titans (Jonnu Smith), 5 yards · pre-snap +1% NE +0.5 pts
Q3 9:14 Ineligible Downfield Pass on the Patriots, 5 yards, wiping out the play +17% TEN +4.1 pts
Q3 7:19 Defensive Pass Interference on the Patriots, 18 yards +7% TEN +2.1 pts
Q4 14:45 Defensive Holding on the Titans (Logan Ryan), 5 yards, wiping out the play 0% NE +0.3 pts
Q4 5:52 Delay of Game on the Titans, 5 yards · pre-snap +2% NE +0.6 pts
Q4 5:29 False Start on the Titans, 5 yards · pre-snap +2% NE +0.5 pts
Q4 5:14 Neutral Zone Infraction on the Patriots (Justin Bethel), 5 yards · pre-snap +2% TEN +0.4 pts
Q4 3:04 Illegal Formation on the Titans, 5 yards, wiping out the play · pre-snap +14% NE +1.2 pts

Titans penalties, every game · Patriots penalties, every game · All teams, 2019

When it happened

Patriots’ chance of winning

As low as 0% and as high as 79%. 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 Patriots were ahead in it, below while the Titans were.
#WhenWhat happenedWin probability forNext drive
1 Q1 14:51 The Patriots converted 3rd & 103rd & 4th downs · 27% expected +7% NE NE: Field goal
2 Q1 5:44 The Titans converted 3rd & 103rd & 4th downs · 26% expected +7% TEN TEN: Touchdown
3 Q3 9:14 Ineligible Downfield Pass on the Patriots, 5 yards, wiping out the playJudgment calls +17% TEN TEN: Punt
4 Q3 7:19 Defensive Pass Interference on the Patriots, 18 yardsJudgment calls +7% TEN TEN: Punt
5 Q3 6:35 The Titans fumbled and recovered it themselvesFumble bounces · loose balls are close to 50/50 +8% TEN TEN: Punt
6 Q4 3:04 Illegal Formation on the Titans, 5 yards, wiping out the playPre-snap flags +14% NE NE: Opp touchdown
7 Q4 2:54 The Titans converted 3rd & 83rd & 4th downs · 30% expected +14% TEN TEN: Punt
8 Q4 0:15 Return touchdown by the TitansSpecial teams +20% TEN TEN: Opp touchdown

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.

  • Adam Humphries (TEN WR), out · 0.4 pts
  • Ryan Succop (TEN K), 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

Titans 55% · Patriots 45%

Final margin
Titans by 7
Luck in points
6.1 for the Titans
Luck-adjusted margin
Titans by 0.9
Replay with same day's form
Titans 41% · Patriots 59% unchanged: why
How much of each is luck?

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

What counts

None by default: our tests measured no carryover after a lucky break. Slide it up to count a break for more than its own swing. 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 Wild Card 2019 games · Titans · Patriots

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