Tag: Leaders

Who are the Miami Dolphins’ all-time sack leaders?

Who are the Miami Dolphins’ all-time sack leaders?

National Football League and Miami Dolphins historians, rejoice! There’s some new history to sort through over at one of football’s most in-depth databases.

The Dolphins boast two of the NFL’s most impressive sack artists in NFL history — with first ballot Hall of Famer Jason Taylor leading the way in team history with 131.0 career sacks made while playing in Miami. But with much of the Dolphins’ defensive heyday taking place before sacks became an official stat back in 1982, the “official” stat books on sacks were missing some of the most prominent names to lace up the pads for Coach Don Shula during Miami’s championship runs. That’s where the good news comes into play. Pro Football Reference, courtesy of some significant research, has been able to update the sack figures for NFL player going all the way back to 1960 — a year that is comfortably before the Dolphins were ever a team.

“The NFL has only officially counted player sacks since 1982, which means sack records and leaderboards present an incomplete history of pass rushing. In many cases we accept these holes in the official record and move on. After all, we don’t know how many rushing yards Jim Thorpe had, passing yards Paddy Driscoll had or even how many blocked shots Wilt Chamberlain had. Heck, we don’t even “officially” know how many tackles anyone had in 2020 (or any other season). However, thanks to Official Gamebooks, ‘unofficial’ tackle totals get published in many places (including here). In the case of sacks, thanks to decades of research by John Turney and Nick Webster, we have a very thorough accounting of the statistic all the way back to 1960. Given that accounting for these ‘unofficial’ statistics allows us to paint a richer picture of the history of the game, we think it is a no-brainer to present them on Pro Football Reference, allowing fans to gain a deeper appreciation of some of football’s biggest stars in the 1960s and 1970s.” — Mike Lynch, Pro Football Reference

So with the books “unofficially” updated over at Pro Football Reference, what does the Miami Dolphins’ all-time sack leaderboard look like? Here’s the top-20; with nearly half (8) of them enjoying a new boost in their career totals courtesy of Pro Football Reference’s database update:

Rk Player From To G Pos Sk
▼
1 Jason Taylor 1997 2011 204 RDE 131.0
2 Cameron Wake 2009 2018 146 LB 98.0
3 Bill Stanfill 1969 1976 109 RDE 69.5
4 Doug Betters 1978 1987 146 LDE 64.5
5 Vern Den Herder 1971 1982 166 LDE 64.0
6 Jeff Cross 1988 1995 125 RDE 59.5
7 Trace Armstrong 1995 2000 95 LDE 56.5
8 Kim Bokamper 1977 1985 127 LOLB 40.0
9 Bob Baumhower 1977 1986 130 NT 39.5
10 A.J. Duhe 1977 1984 108 LILB 38.5
11 Manny Fernandez 1968 1975 103 LDT 35.0
12 Joey Porter 2007 2009 46 ROLB 32.0
13 Bryan Cox 1991 1995 77 MLB 31.5
14 Randy Starks 2008 2014 111 RDT 30.5
15 Olivier Vernon 2012 2015 64 DE 29.0
16 Adewale Ogunleye 2001 2003 39 LDE 25.0
17 Marco Coleman 1992 1995 63 RDE 24.0
18 Mel Branch 1966 1968 42 RDE 23.0
19 Tim Bowens 1994 2004 157 LDT 22.0
20 Hugh Green 1985 1991 82 ROLB 22.0

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com

Stars, Studs, and Duds, Week 12: Saints vs. Broncos standouts

The New Orleans Saints defeated the Denver Broncos with help from Latavius Murray and Demario Davis, despite Taysom Hill’s ugly moments.

Who stood out the most in Week 12’s road win for the New Orleans Saints? The Denver Broncos were beaten badly in their own building by a dominant performance from the Saints defense, but the offense won enough reps of their own against the Broncos to pour on the points.

Here are my picks for this week’s Stars, Studs, and Duds:

Trey Hendrickson tied for the most sacks in the NFL

New Orleans Saints defensive end Trey Hendrickson is tied with Myles Garrett for the NFL lead in sacks, at least until Aaron Donald plays.

[sendtonews_embed video_id=”ENhb6gUYvE-1046407-7498″]

Don’t look now, but Trey Hendrickson is tied with Cleveland Browns $125 million man Myles Garrett for the league lead in sacks (9.5) after his impressive day against the Atlanta Falcons. The New Orleans Saints pass rusher has really come into his own in 2020, and he’s on track to cash in during the offseason.

But he and Garrett may not hold onto their lead for long. Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald has already bagged 9 sacks on the year so far, and he’s waiting until his matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night to get back in the race.

Another player in the thick of it is T.J. Watt, who has 9 sacks of his own with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He didn’t add a sack this week but seems to always be on the verge of notching a couple of takedowns at a moment’s notice.

It’ll be interesting to see who ends up on top. Garrett and Hendrickson are in very different situations, where Garrett is his team’s best pass-rush threat and commands the most attention, whereas Hendrickson is the second or even third threat rushing off the edge for New Orleans. He’s seeing more favorable blocking assignments in that role, and should continue to rack up the sacks as the season progresses down the stretch.

[vertical-gallery id=40581]

Trey Hendrickson ranked 3rd in the NFL in sacks

The New Orleans Saints have seen fourth-year defensive end Trey Hendrickson blossom in 2020, matching his career sacks total in just 8 games

[sendtonews_embed video_id=”yvcHH33yuC-1030825-7498″]

There aren’t many players listed above Trey Hendrickson among this year’s NFL sacks leaders, and they’re each household names: Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald and Cleveland Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett, who have tied for the league lead with 9.0 sacks.

For his part, Hendrickson is leading the New Orleans Saints defense with 7.5 takedowns, third-most around the NFL. That’s more than a host of better-known competitors like T.J. Watt and Za’Darius Smith (7.0 sacks each), Khalil Mack and Jason Pierre-Paul (6.5 each), and his own All-Pro teammate Cameron Jordan (2.5). And Hendrickson isn’t finished yet.

“I’m hungry. I don’t think anybody in a race wants to take third,” Hendrickson told Nola.com’s Rod Walker on Monday.

Hendrickson, 25, was one of the under-sung names in the lauded 2017 Saints draft class — selected after more prominent draftees like Marshon Lattimore, Ryan Ramczyk, Marcus Williams, and Alvin Kamara. But he’s really come into his own in the final year of his rookie contract, having bagged as many sacks in his last eight games as he had in his first three seasons (34 games, including the playoffs) put together.

It might be tough for the Saints to re-sign Hendrickson in the offseason, but that’s a problem for another day. For now, they’re enjoying the fireworks along with everyone else, and waiting to see if Hendrickson can keep up the pace. Right now, he’s on track to end the year with 15.0 sacks, tying Jordan’s own career-high.

[listicle id=40101]

2 former Alabama stars projected to be NFL stat leaders

Cynthia Frelund of NFL.com projects two former Alabama stars to lead the league in their respective stats.

The Alabama Crimson Tide has stars that make headlines and top draft boards every season at the collegiate level. The program’s credibility extends beyond college and enters the NFL. Two former Alabama players are projected to lead the league in stats for their respective positions.

NFL.com’s Cynthia Frelund  wrote about her projections for each prominent NFL statistic. She included former Alabama wide receiver Julio Jones and former Crimson Tide running back Derrick Henry in the list.

Receiving yards – Julio Jones

Julio Jones
Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Jones is expected to lead the NFL in receiving yards, according to Frelund’s projection, with 1,510. Jones is no stranger to the title, as he has led the league in receiving yards twice in his career, in 2015 and 2018.

Frelund explains why she believes the Falcons wide receiver will be the leader:

“The return of the deep ball in Atlanta?! Last season, Matt Ryan only attempted a deep pass (20-plus air yards, per Next Gen Stats) on 8.9 percent of his throws — the quarterback’s lowest rate since 2016. And in the 2019 campaign, despite the fact that Atlanta’s intended starting O-line played fewer than 10 percent of snaps together, Jones still managed to earn the second-most receiving first downs in the league (77). Given better health on the offensive line, the offseason addition of tight end Hayden Hurst and the intense, high-flying competition we all expect from the NFC South, Jones slightly edges out Michael Thomas in projected receiving yards. The Falcons star earns more than 1,500 receiving yards in 55.1 percent of simulations.”

Rushing yards – Derrick Henry

Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

Frelund believes Alabama’s former Heisman-winning running back will lead the NFL in rushing yards for a second consecutive season with 1,380.

The projected amount is fewer than Henry’s 2019 season total, 1540, but is still expected to be enough.

She cites Henry’s ability to be the main contributor to the Tennessee Titans offense as the reason.

“Last season, Henry’s 1,540 rushing yards completely unlocked the Titans’ success on offense. Expect to see more of the same in 2020, with Arthur Smith’s offensive architecture maximizing the strengths of his weapons. Henry earns more than 1,300 yards in a ridiculous 66 percent of simulations and more than 1,500 in 51.6 percent.”

 

Watch: Vonn Bell recovers his fifth fumble of the season, ties NFL lead

New Orleans Saints safety Vonn Bell recovered a fumble out of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, his fifth of the year, tying the lead.

The Atlanta Falcons may have just been snakebit on Thanksgiving night against the New Orelans Saints. Things just didn’t go there way in high-leverage situations, like on this third down midway through the fourth quarter.

Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan dropped back to pass, but none of his receivers were open thanks to tight coverage by the Saints defense. The pass rush bore down on him so he burst out of the pocket and jogged upfield for what should have been a first-down conversion.

Unfortunately for Ryan, he’s not as well-rounded an athlete as Saints defensive end Marcus Davenport, who chased after the fleeing quarterback before crashing down on him, jarring the football out of Ryan’s grasp. And who should be in the right spot to recover that fumble than Saints safety Vonn Bell?

Bell went into Thursday’s game tied with several other players for the second-most fumble recoveries in the NFL (4), trailing only Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson (5). Now that Bell recovered this fumble from Ryan, he’s tied Watson for the NFL’s lead, and he’s the only defensive player to do so.

This comes two weeks after Bell recorded his first career interception off of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston, a day in which four different Saints defenders picked him off. If the Saints defense can continue making game-changing turnovers like these and cut down on a handful of mental errors, they’ll be able to compete against any unit in the lead.

[vertical-gallery id=23336]