Data and Method Behind the Two Minute Drill Game
The two minute drill game is a simulation built on real data. This page explains exactly what comes from the NFL record and what the two minute drill game models, so you know what the results of every two minute drill game mean.
What is real in the two minute drill game
- Openings: 754 real late-fourth-quarter situations from 855 NFL games across the 2023, 2024 and 2025 seasons, including playoffs. Score, clock, possession, down, distance, field position and timeouts are copied from the play-by-play record.
- Outcome samples: about 35,000 real run and pass plays from late-game situations. Each carries its real down, distance, field zone, yards gained, air yards and result.
- Teams and weeks: shown as they were, so you know which real game inspired your two minute drill game drill.
- Players on the field: in the two minute drill game the 22 names, numbers and positions shown on the field are the players who were actually on the field for the first snap, from nflverse participation data. The dots are placed by position as a diagram, not from tracking data.
- The real result: after your drive the game shows how the real game finished, so you can see whether your two minute drill game call beat the real coach.
What the two minute drill game simulates
- Every snap after the opening. Your call picks a matching pool of real plays, for example short passes for Quick slants or deep passes for Go route, then the two minute drill game draws one at random for the same down, distance and field zone.
- Defensive calls, tempo, timeouts, sideline preference, kicks, punts, onside kicks, conversions and overtime use simplified models.
- Penalties are left out of the outcome pool. Player names and individual player ratings are not used. The dots on the field are a diagram, not tracking data.
How the two minute drill game coach review works
Before each snap the two minute drill game runs a few hundred simulated finishes for each option, with a basic AI calling plays for both teams after your first call. It compares the average result of your option with the best one. The numbers have sampling noise of a couple of points, which is why green allows a small gap.
The win chance shown in the two minute drill game is the result of this model. It is not an NFL win probability, not a prediction of any real game and not betting advice.
Sources and licence
- nflverse play-by-play releases, 2023 to 2025.
- nflverse data dictionary for field definitions.
- CC BY 4.0 licence: the data is attributed to nflverse. nflverse has not endorsed this two minute drill game.
- NFL rulebook as the rules reference. This two minute drill game deliberately simplifies many rules.
The data is processed by a script that reads the public files and writes a compact binary of plays plus a list of openings. Nothing is scraped from a live feed and the two minute drill game never shows real-time scores.