Why progressive actions are football’s most important metrics

“Every sport needs a currency, some basic stat to keep track of the important stuff that happens along the way to scoring and winning. A good currency should be easy to count and have an obvious relationship to the point of the game. … Progressive actions are not advanced metrics. You can see them with your eyes instead of a statistical model. If you got bored enough, you could sit in the stadium and tally them up with a Sharpie on some accommodating seat-mate’s bald head. But simple as they are, progressive actions are fundamental to how the game works and can give you a pretty good idea of which teams and players are good at it. …”
The Athletic