When Doug Pederson called the Philly Special on fourth-and-goal in Super Bowl LII, nobody asked whether it was analytics or instinct. It worked, so it was genius. That’s the unspoken rule of NFL coaching: the process only matters when the result goes wrong. It’s the tension behind Troy Aikman’s latest comments on analytics.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
“I think analytics is a good way to lose your job as a head coach,” Aikman said. “And I think you’ve got to be smart about it. Kyle certainly is, and the analytics, by the way, does say go for it. But as you mentioned, it’s not something that Kyle Shanahan pays that much attention to. It’s more gut than anything else.”
The play that sparked the entire conversation was a 7-yard scramble by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy on a fourth down in the first quarter.
The 49ers were leading the Washington Commanders 7-3 with 5:42 remaining in the first quarter. San Francisco faced a fourth-and-3 from the Commanders’ 11-yard line. Instead of taking the safe option and kicking a short field goal, head coach Kyle Shanahan opted to leave his offense on the field.
As the 49ers lined up, play-by-play announcer Joe Buck noted that Shanahan has a history of relying on his “gut feel” in situations like this. That prompted the viral anti-analytics response from Troy Aikman, which further sparked a reaction from Cynthia Frelund.
“No one asked, but I really couldn’t care less if Troy Aikman said something about analytics. That’s the whole tweet,” Frelund wrote on X. “Oh wait, one more thing, maybe it’s ok if he doesn’t like it? It sells itself when done right. I kinda like that hates it, what a hill to die on!
Cynthia Frelund serves as the On-Air Predictive Analytics Expert for the NFL Network. Despite being one of the NFL Network’s most prominent data and analytics experts, Frelund supported Aikman’s right to dislike the metrics.
That said, the heavy scrutiny over Aikman’s comments was amplified by the media storm surrounding his ESPN broadcasting contract.
Aikman is currently in the final year of his five-year, $90 million deal. While his longtime partner Joe Buck recently signed a lucrative six-year extension keeping him with ESPN until 2032, Aikman has not yet been extended and has publicly stated he expects to enter free agency after calling Super Bowl LXI in February 2027.
As a result, many even linked Aikman’s hot take with ESPN not extending his contract.
However, Troy Aikman’s underlying philosophy about analytics is shared by many old-school football purists. He believes that when head coaches treat analytics like a rigid religion, they strip away the human element of football.
According to many, a mathematical model cannot look a player in the eyes to see if they are exhausted, feel shifting momentum, or gauge how a sudden change in wind or weather is affecting the field.
“In some ways, coaches use analytics as a crutch,” Aikman’s former head coach at the Dallas Cowboys, Jimmy Johnson, told USA TODAY Sports in 2024. “There’s more that goes into it than analytics give you.”
So, the opinion around analytics in NFL games is quite subjective. While onlookers bashed Troy Aikman’s comments, Cynthia Frelund came in the former veteran analyst’s defense.