Tag: pressures

Carl Granderson tied for second-most QB pressures going into Week 4

Carl Granderson is tied for the second-most QB pressures going into Week 4. The Saints’ breakout star from 2023 has picked up where he left off in 2024:

Take a bow, Carl Granderson. Pro Football Focus charting found that the New Orleans Saints defensive end is tied for the second-most quarterback pressures around the NFL going into Week 4. The Saints’ breakout playmaker from 2023 has picked up where he left off in 2024.

Like Granderson, Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons also has 18 pressures through the first three weeks, and only Detroit Lions fan-favorite Aidan Hutchinson has more (25). And Granderson is consistently producing. He had three pressures in Week 1, eight of them in Week 2, and seven more in Week 3. Officially, Granderson has been credited with 3.0 sacks this season after notching 1.5 sacks in each of his last two games. But PFF gives full credit for half-sacks, so by their tracking he’s up to 4.0 of them.

Hopefully he can sustain this pace. Chase Young isn’t far behind with 15 pressures but unlike Granderson he isn’t finishing many pass-rush attempts with sacks. And after those two, no other Saints defender has more than 5 pressures on the season thus far. That’s disappointing. Hopefully someone like Cameron Jordan or Bryan Breseee steps up against the Atlanta Falcons this Sunday so Granderson and Young aren’t shouldering the load alone.

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PFF: Chiefs’ pass rush among NFL’s best through Week 2

According to Pro Football Focus, the #Chiefs have generated the fourth-most pressures in the NFL through two weeks of the regular season.

The Kansas City Chiefs have continued their reign of dominance over the NFL through two weeks of the 2024 regular season, and their defense has been among the league’s best.

Kansas City’s young secondary has thrived in the absence of cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, and the Chiefs’ defensive line has done a great job of pressuring opposing quarterbacks their first two games.

Led by star defensive tackle Chris Jones, Kansas City’s front four is beginning to show flashes of excellence, and the experts at Pro Football Focus have officially taken notice.

On Wednesday, PFF released its list of teams with the most quarterback pressures this season.

The Chiefs came in fourth, with 42 heading into Week 3:

Though Kansas City is near the top of the league in pressures, the Chiefs have only accumulated four sacks through their first two contests.

Expect Jones and the rest of Kansas City’s line to convert more of these pressures into sacks as the season continues.

Trevor Penning took an important step forward against the Panthers

It’s just one game, and it’s just the Carolina Panthers. But Trevor Penning showed what his New Orleans Saints coaches needed to see in Week 1:

Here’s a tip of the hat to Trevor Penning — he’s earned it. The New Orleans Saints right tackle held his own in his first real start. Sure, it’s just one game. Sure, it’s just the Carolina Panthers. But Penning showed head coach Dennis Allen what he needed to see on Sunday.

“I thought it was a big step forward for him. I thought this was going to be a tough challenge going against (Jadeveon) Clowney,” Allen said on WWL Radio Monday evening. “I thought he did a good job there. I thought he was really tough and nasty in the run game.”

That lines up with what Allen said immediately after the game on Sunday: “When you look at the offensive performance and being able to put points up like that, being able to run the football like that – three touchdown passes, is that right? You don’t do those things without your offensive line playing at a high level. I thought they played well.”

Penning was one of three offensive players to stay on the field for all 66 snaps against the Panthers, along with his fellow linemen Taliese Fuaga and Erik McCoy. Pro Football Focus charting dinged him with allowing just one pressure on 26 snaps in pass protection, and the Saints’ runners averaged a solid 2.2 yards per carry before contact when following the right side of the line.

Again, it’s just one game. He’s about to run up against one of the best defenders in the league with Micah Parsons leading the Dallas Cowboys in Week 2. Penning has a long ways to go to fully win over his doubters. But every journey starts with one step, and he took a big step forward in Week 1.

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Aaron Donald retires with most pressures in NFL since 2018 but Maxx Crosby isn’t far behind

Aaron Donald’s pressure numbers are incredible. Maxx Crosby being just 3 spots behind him is astounding for two crucial reasons.

Today Aaron Donald delivered the stunning news that he is retiring from the NFL after ten seasons. It’s an announcement he has teased for a couple years now, but still comes as somewhat of a shock considering he is clearly still at the top of the NFL hierarchy at age 32.

How dominant has Aaron Donald been? And I don’t mean over his entire career. I mean lately.

While Pro Bowls and All Pros tell the story of how he is easily the best interior defender of his era — and possibly of all time — his pressure numbers top all players, including edge rushers whose job is literally in the title.

According to Next Gen Stats, since 2018, Donald has faced more double teams (117) than any other player in the league by a pretty considerable margin.

  1. Aaron Donald — 117
  2. Jonathan Allen 84
  3. Chris Jones 81
  4. Leonard Williams 71
  5. DeForest Buckner 70

And yet he still leads the NFL pressures. And one name in the top five may surprise you.

  1. Aaron Donald 472
  2. Myles Garrett 454
  3. TJ Watt 388
  4. Maxx Crosby 362
  5. Khalil Mack 362

Yeah, so hidden below Donald’s eye-popping dominance is the realization that Maxx Crosby has had the fourth most pressures in the NFL over the past six seasons. Tied with former Raiders edge rusher Khalil Mack.

Here’s the thing though — Crosby has only been in the NFL for five seasons.

This is compiled since 2018. Crosby came into the league in 2019. So, not only does everyone else on this list have their numbers compiled from one more season than Crosby, but he is the only one on the list whose numbers include his rookie season. All others have been in the league since at least 2017, so they were closer to their primes.

Just something worth noting.

Congrats to the most dominant defensive lineman — and possibly the great defender at any position — on an unreal ten-year career. A no-brainer first ballot Hall of Famer if there ever was one. And the kind of player who the Maxx Crosbys of the NFL can aspire to.

Chiefs center Creed Humphrey put together stellar performance vs. Raiders

Creed Humphrey didn’t allow a sack or pressure in the #Chiefs’ win over the Raiders in Week 12.

The Kansas City Chiefs have been able to rely on the interior of their offensive line all season while reigning MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes has struggled to find his footing consistently.

A key cog of the Chiefs’ offensive machine is center Creed Humphrey, who managed to help lift Mahomes to one of his best performances of the season in Week 12 against the Las Vegas Raiders.

According to Pro Football Focus, Humphrey didn’t allow a single sack or pressure in the rivalry matchup.

Showings like this are common for the third-year lineman, and while some may take his role in Kansas City’s offense for granted, his outstanding efforts every week are a key reason that the Chiefs have been able to maintain their position in the AFC playoff standings.

Expect to see Humphrey follow up his impressive showing in Las Vegas with another stellar performance in Kansas City’s Week 13 matchup against the Green Bay Packers.

The New Orleans Saints have the NFL’s slowest pass rush in 2023

Your eyes aren’t fooling you. The New Orleans Saints have the NFL’s slowest pass rush, taking more time to get to the quarterback than any other team:

If you’ve been watching the New Orleans Saints defense this year and found yourself muttering or shouting some variant of “That’s too much time!” when the opposing quarterback drops back to pass, you aren’t crazy. Research from Doug Analytics found that the Saints have posted the NFL’s slowed pass rush unit through the first 10 weeks of the season.

And that checks out when you look at other stats. The Saints are tied for the fifth-fewest sacks (18) going into their Week 11 bye. Their Pro Football Reference pressure rate is 19.4%, ninth-worst around the league. That’s a slight improvement over last year’s 17.5% pressure rate, which was fourth-lowest, but the big difference is that the Saints aren’t finishing pressures with sacks. They had 48 sacks a year ago. They would need to average 4.3 sacks per game through these last seven weeks to match that total.

The problem is a lack of speed along the defensive front. Cameron Jordan is still being asked to be their leading rusher off the edge when his body just doesn’t have that extra gear anymore. He’s never been known for his speed off the snap, so Jordan’s game should age well as a run defender and power rusher, but the Saints must compensate for that by getting faster at other spots. Carl Granderson has some speed element to his game and Bryan Bresee can move quickly along the interior, but those are just two of the eight players in the rotation most weeks.

Whiffing on so many early-round draft picks hurts. The Saints swung and missed on first-round defensive ends like Marcus Davenport and Payton Turner and their rookie second-round pick Isaiah Foskey has had few snaps to show what he can do. They badly need one of those guys to step up and add some athleticism to the mix. Jason Pierre-Paul could improve the group but he isn’t helping them get younger.

Interestingly, the next-slowest pass rush in this graph comes from the Washington Commanders. It’s a comprehensive look at teams from Weeks 1 through 10, so that includes edge rushers Montez Sweat and Chase Young, both of whom were dealt at the NFL trade deadline. There was an uproar from Saints fans about not acquiring one of them, but it sure looks like they wouldn’t have cured the specific problem ailing the Saints defense.

A lacking athleticism up front is the issue. The Saints are slow to get after the quarterback, slow to put hands on him, and slow to keep up with him when he rolls out of the pocket looking to throw downfield. We saw them get gashed consistently by Joshua Dobbs and Tyson Bagent in recent weeks after C.J. Stroud did it a few weeks earlier. Any quarterback who can use their legs can challenge them.

Dennis Allen is a believer in the idea that the secondary and pass rush must work in tandem. He’s built this defense so that the quarterback is forced to hold onto the ball long enough for the rush to get home. But even a secondary full of All-Pro corners will get beaten if they’re all asked to cover for four, five, or six seconds. The Saints can’t afford to stop investing resources in the pass rush unit. Hopefully one of those draft picks hits soon.

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Chiefs DL George Karlaftis among league leaders in QB pressures

#Chiefs DL George Karlaftis is among the NFL’s leaders in quarterback pressures after Week 8.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ resurgent pass rush has been a key part of the team’s success through eight weeks of the 2023 NFL season.

Usually led by Chris Jones, Kansas City seems to have another stud on its hands up front in George Karlaftis, who is tied for seventh among all players in the NFL with 39 total quarterback pressures.

Of these 39 pressures, six have converted to sacks for the second-year star who certainly seems to be on the rise heading into the middle part of the season. While Karlaftis has exceeded all expectations, others up front are still waiting to get into a rhythm.

The aforementioned Jones and veteran Mike Danna are tied for second place on the Chiefs’ leaderboard with 5.5 sacks. Nobody else on the team has more than three.

Expect Karlaftis to continue wreaking havoc in opposing backfields as he helps lead Kansas City’s defense to new heights in the coming weeks.

Raiders DE Maxx Crosby leading NFL EDGE in several key statistics

Maxx Crosby leads NFL EDGE players in several key statistics

We know Maxx Crosby is easily the best defender on the Raiders roster. That goes without saying. Every now and then, it helps to see how he stacks up against other players at his position across the NFL. And in those instances you are reminded that he isn’t just the best defender on this team, but arguably the best all-around edge rusher in the league.

How do I come to this conclusion? Well, just look at the stats.

Among edge rushers with at least three sacks this season, here are some of Crosby’s stats and where he ranks.

38 pressures (1st)
30 hurries (1st)
22 solo tackles (1st)
35 combined tackles (1st)
17 solo run stops (1st)
29 combined run stops (1st)
8 tackles for loss (3rd)
5.5 sacks (7th)

His sack total is only 2.5 behind Danielle Hunter and TJ Watt for the league lead (eight). Which means basically he could potentially jump up from 7th to 1st in one game. He’s had one multiple sack game this season and has only once this season been held without a sack.

Two weeks ago he was named Offensive Player of the week when he had four tackles for loss and a sack against the Packers.

Trevor Penning is developing into the player the Saints knew he could be

Trevor Penning is developing into the player the Saints knew he could be. The young left tackle is getting better each week:

There weren’t many positives to write about in the wake of the New Orleans Saints’ big loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, but left tackle Trevor Penning deserves some praise. The second-year pro was a rare bright spot on offense, allowing just two pressures on 47 snaps in pass protection and dominating as a run blocker — the Saints averaged 5.3 yards per carry running behind the left side of their line but just 3.1 yards per attempt when running to the right.

Sure, Derek Carr didn’t get great use out of the time Penning bought for him. At the end of the day the offense only put 9 points on the board. But we’ll take wins where we can get them, and Penning won most of his reps against a talented Buccaneers rotation at right end. Neither Shaquil Barrett nor Joe Tryon-Shoyinka made much headway against him. Most of their pressures came from the other end of the line.

Penning has gotten better each week. Here are the pressures he’s allowed in each of the Saints’ first four games, per Pro Football Focus charting:

  • Week 1 vs. Titans: 6 pressures (2 sacks)
  • Week 2 at Panthers: 4 pressures (1 sack)
  • Week 3 at Packers: 1 pressure (0 sacks)
  • Week 4 vs. Bucs: 2 pressures (0 sacks)

That’s progress. He’s had two solid games in back-to-back weeks, and that’s exactly what the Saints hoped to see from him. Penning needs to keep up the good work and hone his craft while stacking up wins in the trenches.

One more thing: Penning was forecast to be a penalty magnet in the NFL, owing to his violent style of play in college, and that seemed to be the case in the offseason when he was sidelined at a couple of practices for fighting with his teammates. But he’s kept himself clean in games while avoiding hurting the team with penalties. Penning has been fouled just twice on 268 snaps this season, and one of those (a holding penalty) was declined. The other was a false start. He isn’t racking up personal fouls and giving opponents chunks of yardage the way some analysts predicted.

But we’re only going into Week 5. This is encouraging progress, and we need to see more of it. Here’s hoping Penning keeps it up. We’ll take our wins where we can find them.

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Raiders DE Maxx Crosby tied for most pressures in NFL thru 4 games

No player in the NFL this season has more pressures than Maxx Crosby.

Sunday in Los Angeles Maxx Crosby added two sacks to double his season total, giving him four sacks in four games. Despite that landing him in the top six in the NFL in sacks, it’s actually low considering his overall impact on the game.

For example, his pressure numbers. Crosby has 27 pressures. And there is no one in the league who has more.

The most impressive thing about it is Crosby is a one-man wrecking crew. He has little in the way of help, whether it be from the interior defensive line getting pressure up the middle, the other end spot closing the pocket, or the secondary giving him more time to work.

No, Crosby is getting most of his pressures the old fashioned way — by beating the man in front of him and chasing down the quarterback.

Oh, and his 19 combined run stops is once again far and away better than any other pass rusher in the league.