In the last article about player value we looked at the Broncos team from a stand point of salary cap percentage and Approximate Value. There was a lot of great discussion as well in the comments about other angles too look at this idea of value and while I do have a few ideas of my own to work through, as this series keeps moving, I'll try and get through as many different sides as possible.

Today I wanted to cover two topics:

- Breaking down the Broncos roster by squad to look at which players had the best value and production at a given positions.

I feel that by looking at the team through these lens's will allow us to see what positions tend to be overvalued and whether it's true, in the case of the Broncos, if free agents are generally overpaid.

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This off-season we've discussed a very large number of topics as we've tried to keep busy during the down time. Now my desire to learn more about topics has lead me to do a lot of my own research. This have lead to a lot of articles, one of which dealt with salary and winning. It was started by a fanshot that Kirk posted with a quote from former GM Brian Xanders about how the Broncos would be more active in free agency. The comments quickly developed into a great discussion of the balance of spending and it's affect on wins. I wrote my article to build upon the discussion with a few numbers and discussion points. The main conclusion I gained from my earlier study was this:

Here we see a bit clearer picture, teams that spent efficiently also won. Teams that spent a lot of money AND spent it well won games more than those who just SPEND or those who just use money EFFICIENTLY. This is the key, while spending money is very likely to help you win, there is more volatility, or a larger difference between the top 10 when just looking at spending compared to a low volatility in the Cost per Win.

To summarize, if you spend you are more likely to win, but if you spend and spend that money efficiently, you are set.

But there is more to this than just base salary numbers. I wanted to see which players were cost efficient, which players produced but cost a lot and which players were just overpaid and never played well. To do this I set out to try a variety of metrics to measure cost efficiency.. Now this won't be a comprehensive study across all positions since some positions are incredibly hard to look at, but I hope this provides a starting point of discussion, and I will be trying to complete a study of all positions, when that happens I'll publish the results at that time.

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In the last article we summarized the offense Manning has been running for the past few years, it's main formations and what types of players best fit this offense. Today we'll be comparing our roster to that template to see how we lineup and what our current roster does well and what areas the players will need to improve in. So late time we looked at:
- Formations
- Play calling

Today we'll be looking at:
- Offensive line responsibilities and skill set
- Skill position responsibilities and skill set

It might best to review the last article, but it's not required for further reading. Now remember this isn't a depth chart, I'm just looking at this roster player by player and seeing how each fits into this style of offense.

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We've seen a number of posts looking at old Peyton Manning seasons from a number of different perspectives, but what I feel needs to be addressed is what a Manning-lead offense looks like and how the Denver Broncos parts fit into that mold. Over the past few weeks I've covered a few topics including a review of the 2011 season and a study of the idea of clutch, and while much of that may have seemed irrelevant at the time, due to free agency and the draft, I did organize my series in this order for a reason, so that we can see the weaknesses and strengths of the 2011 Broncos and see what areas the Broncos will improve or regress in 2012.

Now getting back to the topic on hand, in this article and the next we'll be covering a few different topics, today we'll be looking at:
- Formations
- Play calling

While the next article we'll be looking at:
- Offensive line responsibilities and skill set
- Skill position responsibilities and skill set

With the overview covered, it's time to start studying. I'll try to keep this to short statements rather than rambling on so that this moves quickly.

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I was planning on looking at how quarterbacks play in the playoffs compared to the regular season, but after discussing it and reviewing my interviews, I found that I wouldn't include that since many don't tie it to clutchness. Having said that I did want to write a quick review of the previous articles. Here is a quick review of the past few articles as well as previewing the last article in this series:

• How coaches and players view the clutch
• 4th quarter comebacks
  - This one is most commonly associated with clutch, and while not perfect, should be included in any study
• Improvement in the 4th quarter over the first three quarters
  - As mentioned above the 4th quarter is tied to the term clutch, and the level of play of a quarterback in the 4th compared to the first three should be looked at.
• Performance on 3rd down
  - How a player performs on a 3rd down is key, and is one of the most pressure-filled situations in game.

Today I'll just be looking over these four studies and compare the data and interviews and see if any quarterback does well in all of the areas, and which quarterbacks struggle.This likely won't be nearly as data heavy as the past articles, rather it's meant for me to give my opinion and hope to hear yours.

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This is the 4th part of my study looking at the idea of the clutch and we'll be reviewing the same group of quarterbacks that we've been looking at how quarterbacks perform on 3rd down. The last two articles we've looked at the 4th quarter, which is considered one of the best metrics for measuring clutch, if you are of the mindset that you can look at clutch from that way. Here is a quick review of the past few articles as well as previewing the last article in this series:

• How coaches and players view the clutch
• 4th quarter comebacks
  - This one is most commonly associated with clutch, and while not perfect, should be included in any study
• Improvement in the 4th quarter over the first three quarters
  - As mentioned above the 4th quarter is tied to the term clutch, and the level of play of a quarterback in the 4th compared to the first three should be looked at.
• Performance on 3rd down (This is today's topic)
  - How a player performs on a 3rd down is key, and is one of the most pressure-filled situations in game.
• Playoff numbers compared to regular season (Next time)
  - This one is important because each game in the playoffs is high pressure, and improvement under these circumstances are a good sign.

For many the 3rd down isn't as closely tied to the idea of clutch as the 4th quarter, but when a quarterback messes up consistently on 3rd down, it's clear fans think of that player as anti-clutch or a choker. Having said that as we get into the article we'll take a more indepth look at what makes a good 3rd down quarterback.

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In the last two installments of my study of the clutch we've covered two topics so far:

- How do fans, players and coaches view the clutch
- Which quarterbacks did the best when behind in the 4th

Today we'll be looking at the 3rd part of this series, the 2nd dealing with trying to narrow down who is clutch. In this statistical side of this study, here is what we'll be looking at:

• 4th quarter comebacks
  - This one is most commonly associated with clutch, and while not perfect, should be included in any study
• Improvement in the 4th quarter over the first three quarters (This is today's topic)
  - As mentioned above the 4th quarter is tied to the term clutch, and the level of play of a quarterback in the 4th compared to the first three should be looked at.
• Performance on 3rd down (Next time)
  - How a player performs on a 3rd down is key, and is one of the most pressure-filled situations in game.
• Playoff numbers compared to regular season
  - This one is important because each game in the playoffs is high pressure, and improvement under these circumstances are a good sign.

Well be looking to see how different quarterbacks played in the first 3 quarters compared to the 4th quarter. We'll also be discussing whether this is a relevant topic related to the clutch and whether 4th quarter play only matters when you are behind.

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In the last discussion we had about clutch we mulled over and asked some questions about the nature of clutch. We discussed thoughts like:

- Can a quarterback, or any player, be consider clutch when he plays smart to protect a lead?
- Does the play of a player matter early when you judge them for being clutch?
- Does the situation matter when we judge someone as clutch or not clutch?

Between the article itself and the comments section there was a lot of very good discussion about the more vague, dare I say existential, side of being clutch. After doing all these interviews with members of the NFL, as well as the staffers here on Mile High Report, the little stat man inside me got restless, and while this wasn't my goal when I began this research, it came along for the ride. With that being said, I figured while many may feel this side of the research isn't really important to the study of clutch, I understand, but for those who do, I hope it's educational. I will be looking at a number of different metrics that are often associated with the term clutch.

This will only be looking at quarterbacks due to the massive nature of trying to look at every position, but it should be noted this type of study could have been done at any position, here are a few example:

- Defensive backs (interceptions of a game winning drive)
- Offensive lineman (sacks given up on 3rd down)
- Pass rushers (tackles for a loss on 3rd down)

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