Tag: next gen stats

Jared Goff blowing away the NFL QB field in passing under pressure

Detroit’s Jared Goff blowing away the NFL QB field in passing under pressure according to data from Next Gen Stats

Jared Goff has played his way into the NFL most valuable player conversation in leading the Lions to a 5-1 start. One of the reasons why is how well the Detroit quarterback is performing when pressured by the opposing defense.

That was on serious display in the Lions’ Week 7 win in Minnesota. Goff carved up the Vikings defensive pressure. No. 16 completed 10 of his 11 pass attempts under pressure, netting 180 yards and two touchdowns. That outstanding pressure management against the previously unbeaten Vikings adds more evidence that no quarterback is playing better under pressure in 2024 than Jared Goff.

From the Next Gen Stats newsletter,

Goff is averaging a league-high 11.6 YPA under pressure this season; no other QB is over 9.0. He leads all qualified QBs in yards per attempt (11.6), completion percentage (71.6%), CPOE (+9.6%) and passer rating (125.7) under pressure this season.

Goff’s poise and command of the offense, even when under pressure, are the envy of the league through Week 7.

Saints have to prioritize getting Spencer Rattler out of the pocket

Spencer Rattler was effective throwing outside of the pocket, until the Buccaneers adjusted. Klint Kubiak must make his own changes this week:

New Orleans Saints rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler showed potential in his NFL debut, especially in the first half. Things began to go downhill in the second half after Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles adjusted his pressure packages to send more exotic blitzes after the first-year pro. But the connection between Rattler’s success and struggles is his ability to work outside of the pocket.

Rattler completed 7 of 12 attempts for 111 yards when he was throwing from outside the pocket, per Next Gen Stats.

Against the Denver Broncos, Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak has to come up with a better plan to get Rattler on the move and outside of the pocket more consistently. Vance Joseph is a good defensive coordinator and he’ll likely use some of the principles Bowles and the Buccaneers used to keep Rattler in the pocket.

In the first half, Rattler looked in control of the offense. He rolled out on the first play of the game and delivered a 27-yard pass to Juwan Johnson. The formula of rolling out and allowing Rattler to read multiple levels of the field was effective until Tampa Bay adjusted.

They began flaring their defensive ends out to stop Rattler’s ability to get outside. It’s no coincidence the offense stalled because that was New Orleans’ best offensive strategy.

The injuries on the offensive line make it difficult to run and consistently keep a clean pocket. Moving the pocket was clearly effective. Kubiak has to find a way to adjust and keep that as a positive aspect in the offense.

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Jared Goff set NFL season passing mark while under pressure vs. Cowboys

Goff isn’t known for his passing under pressure, but he lit up the Cowboys in Week 6 when Dallas pressured him

One of the persistent knocks on Jared Goff throughout his lengthy NFL career has been his decline in play when under pressure. It’s dogged Goff back to his days as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams, and it’s followed him to his successful renaissance in Detroit.

So when Goff does handle pressure with aplomb, it’s noteworthy. And that’s exactly what Goff did in Detroit’s 47-9 blowout win in Dallas in Week 6.

The Cowboys brought some pressure on Goff, including some heavy blitzes. They did get home for two sacks on No. 16, but Goff largely played great while under pressure in Dallas.

Per Next Gen Stats, Goff completed six of his seven pass attempts while under pressure in the game. The six completions netted 178 yards and two touchdowns. It was Goff’s best performance under pressure in the last five years, and it was also the most passing yards under pressure by any NFL quarterback in 2024.

For the full game, Goff completed 18-of-25 passes for 315 yards and three touchdowns in the win.

Derek Carr connects with Rashid Shaheed for another deep TD

It’s been a while since Derek Carr and Rashid Shaheed connected on a deep shot. Shaheed continues to show why he’s an elite threat downfield:


The New Orleans Saints are on the board. Derek Carr connected with Rashid Shaheed streaking down the middle of the field for a 43-yard touchdown. This is the first time the two have connected for a deep touchdown since Week 2.

This is Shaheed’s 9th touchdown reception of 30 or more yards since entering the league. That ties him with Hypothetical Future Saint Davante Adams for the most touchdown catches of that distance in the timeframe. Nevermind, this isn’t time for that.

This throw from Carr traveled 50.6 yards in the air. If you remove the touchdown caveat, this is Shaheed’s 9th catch of his career that traveled more than 50 yards in the air. That’s the most in the NFL since 2022. Shaheed holds that title all by himself, per Next Gen Stats.

The Saints hadn’t utilized Chris Olave much to start the game. He’d only seen one targe, while Carr threw to Shaheed five times in the first half. This was the first big connection.

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NFL Next Gen Stats: Falcons defense had a season-high pressure rate vs. Saints

NFL Next Gen Stats found the Falcons defense had a season-high pressure rate against the Saints, even though Derek Carr had his fastest windup to throw this year:

Everyone knew the New Orleans Saints offensive line was going to be at a disadvantage against the Atlanta Falcons. They were working without two injured starters in Erik McCoy and Cesar Ruiz, and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak tried to coach around those absences by speeding up Derek Carr’s windup. It worked, for a time, but ultimately the backups blocking for him fell apart.

Here’s what Week 4’s newsletter from NFL Next Gen Stats and Zebra Technologies had to say about the game:

“The Falcons defense generated a season-high 28.9% pressure rate despite Derek Carr averaging just 2.39 seconds to throw. Entering Sunday, the Falcons generated pressure on only 20.0% of dropbacks, the lowest rate in the NFL.”

Carr averaged 2.64 seconds to throw in Week 3, 2.81 seconds in Week 2, and 2.83 seconds in Week 1. So he was taking the snap, dropping back, reading the field and winding up to throw almost half a second faster in Week 4 than in the season opener. No wonder he wasn’t able to get off his first or second read very often.

Everyone’s hands are dirty here. Carr needs to both make better decisions with the ball and throw better passes, even if he’s facing more pressure than usual. That’s why he’s paid the big bucks. At the same time his offensive line needs to do a better job keeping him clean, even if guys like Shane Lemieux and Landon Young are normally spectators on gameday, not starters. And inexperienced starters like Trevor Penning must keep improving, too. The unit did some things well as a whole on Sunday. Connecting those positive moments and sustaining success is going to be their challenge moving forward.

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Jayden Daniels’ touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin was the most improbable of 2024 season

Next Gen Stats weighs in with how impressive this connection was.

For the first two weeks, Washington fans wondered when rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels and star wide receiver Terry McLaurin would get on the same page.

In Washington’s season-opening loss to Tampa Bay, McLaurin broke open deep on a couple of occasions, and either Daniels missed him or didn’t throw it.

McLaurin, as always, remained patient. Daniels missed McLaurin deep again in the first half of Monday night’s 38-33 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. However, that disappointment was short-lived as the rookie passer finally connected deep with McLaurin for a 55-yard completion to set up first-and-goal and the Commanders’ second touchdown.

The duo wasn’t finished, though. In the fourth quarter, up 31-26 with over two minutes remaining, the Commanders faced a third-and-7. Would offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury play it safe and go for the field goal?

Of course, he wouldn’t. Instead, Kingsbury showed complete faith in his rookie quarterback, who delivered a strike to McLaurin in the end zone for a 27-yard touchdown. It was a picture-perfect throw and catch.

Here’s the play:

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1838409377935691793

Next Gen Stats tracked the throw and catch, calling it the most improbable touchdown reception at 10.3% of the 2024 season thus far. And, more incredibly, the most improbable Commanders’ completion in the Next Gen Stats (2016 to now).

https://twitter.com/NextGenStats/status/1838411501516063050

It was a breakout night for the Daniels/McLaurin connection as Washington’s passing game continues to evolve.

Browns RB Jerome Ford was NFL’s fastest ball carrier in Week 2

Cleveland Browns RB Jerome Ford was the fastest ball carrier in the NFL during Week 2.

According to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, the Cleveland Browns running back, Jerome Ford is one of the fastest players in the league. Ford hit 21.29 MPH on his 36-yard run on fourth down against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was the fastest ball carrier in Week 2.

Ford had one of his best games in Jacksonville. The running back had seven carries for 64 yards. Ford displayed great vision on a 12-yard gain in the first quarter. The running back feinted toward an inside hole before busting the play outside.

Ford is a highly skilled running back with a unique blend of size and speed making him a dangerous homerun threat. Ford runs like a locomotive. He starts slow and finishes strong. He needs space to hit his top speeds. Ford recorded speeds faster than 20 MPH twice last season. 

Ford must play with more decisiveness. If he can burst through the line of scrimmage near his top speed, he’ll be one of the hardest running backs to tackle. The Browns might want to experiment with Ford as a kick returner while they shuffle between James Proche II and Jaelon Darden. Ford is a talented player and the Browns need to find him opportunities to make plays with the ball. 

Stats show how badly Jared Goff struggled under pressure vs. Bucs

The advanced stat breakdown from Next Gen Stats shows how badly Jared Goff struggled under pressure vs. Bucs

Jared Goff has always been something of a tale of two quarterbacks, as Lions legend Herman Moore recently described. The Goff playing without pressure from the defense is consistently one of the NFL’s better quarterbacks. The Goff under pressure, well, not so much…

That was certainly the case in Detroit’s Week 2 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Goff posted some solid production with 307 passing yards, completing 34 of his 55 pass attempts. However, he did not throw a touchdown pass and did get picked twice, though one of those absolutely should have been defensive pass interference (the box score doesn’t care).

Part of the problem in the Lions loss, and a big reason why they only scored 16 points despite posting over 450 total yards, was that Goff had a very rough day when pressured by the Tampa Bay defense. The analytics folks behind Next Gen Stats revealed just how much Goff sputtered when pressured in Week 2.

Sandwiched between nuggets on Jalen Hurts and Jayden Daniels in the Zebra Technologies weekly newsletter is this unsavory tidbit on Goff,

Jared Goff went 9/17 for 117 yards, 2 INTs, and had a 35.3 passer rating when under pressure in the Lions’ home loss vs. Tampa Bay.

That’s a rough split from the overall statistics, and that’s also something that has been fairly characteristic of Goff’s NFL career.

 

Paulson Adebo had one of Week 2’s longest plays, per NFL Next Gen Stats

NFL Next Gen Stats tracking found Paulson Adebo traveled over 90 yards on his interception return against the Dallas Cowboys:

New Orleans Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo delivered a major swing of momentum right before halftime when he intercepted Dak Prescott. What ensued was one of the longest plays of Week 2.

Adebo hit the ground after catching the interception, but wasn’t touched down. Instinctually, Adebo jumped up and returned the interception into Dallas Cowboys territory.

Officially, Adebo gained 47 yards. But those 47 yards didn’t come in a straight line. The beginning of the return looked disjointed and uncertain as he navigated traffic to keep the play alive. After getting up, Adebo ran forward and towards the sidelines. A couple of Cowboys players appeared in his sight. He made a loop moving backwards, and nearly went as far back as the catch point before he turned it back around.

In total, Adebo traveled 95.1 yards according to NFL Next Gen Stats. With all of the running around, Adebo ran double the amount of yards he’s credited for. That was good for the fifth-longest play in the NFL this week.

The Saints cornerback didn’t grow up far from A&T Stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play. He went to school at nearby Mansfield High, so this play was probably very special to him.

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Cesar Ruiz is the NFL’s fastest offensive lineman this season

Cesar Ruiz hit 17 miles per hour on Alvin Kamara’s 57-yard TD, making him the fastest offensive lineman in the NFL this season so far:


The New Orleans Saints Week 2 victory over the Dallas Cowboys was a fun one with many stats to go over throughout the day. One of the most fun ones is actually from right guard Cesar Ruiz, who is the first offensive lineman on the season to hit 17 miles per hour or more, per NFL Next Gen Stats.

This speed came on the 57-yard touchdown reception by Alvin Kamara where he had some exceptional blocking ahead of him, and while he was running untouched on the right side of the field, Cesar Ruiz was keeping up with him essentially until the very end.

New Orleans’ offensive line has been pretty outstanding through the first two games, and seeing the effort Ruiz put into this play to continue to block for his teammate was impressive. Having that type of blocking upfield in case a safety comes over the top is a huge benefit to prevent any late hits or miscues, and just ensuring that Kamara gets into the endzone without any problems. It’s no wonder Kamara remarked that it felt more like a practice rep than a live play.

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