The Myth of Clutch

The concept of clutch is one facet of sports where I believe I am correct and every one else is mistaken. This is to say that I do not believe that certain athletes have the ability to raise their performance when the game is on the line and their team needs a big play to get the win. There are several compelling reason for this, but in the interest of posting something on this blog I'm going to focus on one.

The common perception of clutch is that it only exists in high-leverage situations. For example, a classic clutch scenario is when a football team is down by six points with the ball on their 20 yard line and 90 seconds to play. If the team scores, they'll most likely win the game (unless they're the Seahawks). If they don't score, they'll certainly lose. Thus, a QB that can lead you on a game winning drive is the guy you want on your team because he comes through when it really counts. The problem with this definition of clutch is that it's far, far too narrow. When you broaden the scope you quickly realize that pretty much every situation in a high-profile sports game in clutch. The idea of "coming though when it counts" is highly flawed because it always counts. A certain performance by the current backup QB of the Seahawks demonstrates this perfectly.

Matt Flynn became an unrestricted free agent after the 2011 NFL season. That year the Packers had everything wrapped up by Week 16 after tearing through the regular season. This allow the Packers to rest starters for the last game of the season against Detroit Lions, a team that was playing to win as they had playoff seeding considerations. The most notable Packer on the bench was Aaron Rodgers, which gave Flynn a golden opportunity to make himself lots of money in the off-season. With a big contract on the line Flynn threw for 480 yards and a team record 6 touchdowns. To cap it off, he led the Packers to a game-winning touchdown with 16 seconds left. Flynn ended up signing a 3-year, $19.5 mil contract with Seattle in March of 2012.

Few people will consider Flynn's performance clutch, but it's hard to find a better example of excellence when so much is on the line. What's more, these hidden clutch performances happen constantly. For starters, there is a tremendous amount of pressure that comes with playing in front of 70,000 fans and millions more on TV. There is also the issue of professional sports being extraordinarily competitive. Clutch situation or not, if you're not playing well you're off the team. A few dropped passes by the wide receiver that's 5th on the depth chart in a pre-season game could be the difference between making the roster and selling cars. This is to say the clutch exists and every athlete on a professional roster is clutch.

Other reasons I do not believe in clutch include the difficulty of proving it exists and the fact that the most clutch athletes also tend to be the best athletes. Assuming there are comments, I'll expand on these ideas more later.

Toodles!