Who will win? Broncos vs. Steelers Ronald Parks 1 to 1 Connections Homework Assignment
Introduction The Denver Broncos defeated the two-time defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots to take on the Pittsburg Steelers in the 2006 AFC Championship Game. This activity will compare the passing games of the Broncos and Steelers, based on the regular game statistics for the season. Can we use this information to predict the outcome of the game? How can we analyze this information to best predict the outcome of the game? What other information would help you in making your choice as who will win the game?
Before the Activity The table found on the following page shows the yards gained from passing for the regular season games during the NFL season for the two teams. Enter this data into two list in your calculators or Microsoft Office Excel. What statistical measuring tools will you use to help make your decision?
Yards Gained from Passing DenverPittsburg – – – – – – – – 259`149 – 84
Activity Look over the numbers and speculate about whether either team has a better passing game. Calculate the mean, medium, mode, maximum, minimum. We will do a box-and-whisker plot and look at the outlier from the plots.
Extension Discuss how outliers are determined and how they affect the mean and medium of the data. Discuss how picking one statistical tool gives us part of the picture but often is not enough to predict. What other information would you like to know? How could use this lesson to help you in what you are interested is?