Tag: pressures

Packers defense generating a ton of pressures but few sacks in recent weeks

The Packers have turned 49 total pressures into just 3 sacks over the last two games against Josh Allen and Taylor Heinicke.

The Green Bay Packers defense has taken its lumps this season, but as a whole, they’ve been really good at generating quarterback pressures. Unfortunately, oftentimes pressure hasn’t turned into sacks.

Green Bay enters Week 9 of the regular season seventh in pressure rate as a team, led by Rashan Gary, Preston Smith, and Kenny Clark. Gary and Clark both rank sixth in total pressures this season among their respective position groups, while Smith ranks 22nd out of all edge rushers.

As former Packers outside linebacker coach Mike Smith often said, he will take consistent pressures over sporadic sacks every day of the week. Matt LaFleur has echoed similar sentiments, recently saying that they use pressures as their measuring stick, not sacks.

Over the last two games, in particular, the Packers have been excellent at pressuring the opposing quarterback. They were credited with a whopping 29 pressures against Washington and another 20 against Buffalo. According to PFF, Taylor Heinicke was pressured on 51.4% of his dropbacks, while Josh Allen was under duress 53.3% of the time.

However, out of 49 potential sack opportunities, the Packers converted only three. In fact, despite ranking seventh in pressure rate, they rank 18th in total sacks this season – below average.

Pressure, even without a sack, can still disrupt the play, and it did these past two weeks. Both Heinicke and Allen’s completion rates were well below the mark from when they were throwing from a clean pocket. Pressure also helped the Packers’ defense generate two interceptions.

With that said, being just a half-step shy of bringing the quarterback down also led to some big plays for the offense. Allen averaged an impressive 12.8 yards per attempt when under pressure, with a pair of touchdowns. Heinicke, meanwhile, completed seven passes at 11.5 yards per completion, including a third-down conversion that effectively ended the game. He also had defenders around him on the 37-yard touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin.

It goes without saying, but not every pressure is going to turn into a sack, and some of these big plays are still going to happen. Credit also needs to be given to Allen and Heinicke for their play under duress.

But for a Packers team that has such a small margin of error, converting a few more of these pressure opportunities into sacks could certainly have an impact on the outcome of the game. More disciplined rushing lanes and the edge rushers not getting too far upfield and basically taking themselves out of the play could take away some of the opportunities that the quarterbacks have to extend plays. Soft coverages from the secondary have also provided the quarterbacks with easy outlets at times.

This season the Packers have given themselves plenty of opportunities to get after the quarterback, which is always a good thing, but an extra sack or two per game could go a long way for an underperforming defensive unit.

Saints RT Ryan Ramczyk broke Raiders DE Maxx Crosby’s 28-game streak

#Saints RT Ryan Ramczyk did something vs. Pro Bowl Raiders DE Maxx Crosby no tackle has done in 28 games, via @RossJacksonNOLA:

For the New Orleans Saints, Sunday’s win against the Las Vegas Raiders was a statement of resurgence. A momentum-building win that the team hopes can propel them to the top of an NFC South division in disarray. A lot of talk has centered around running back Alvin Kamara and other playmakers on both sides of the ball, but one elite performance deserves to be highlighted: offensive tackle Ryan Ramczyk. The All-Pro tackle has had a stellar season so far ranking in the top-15 (along with Saints left tackle James Hurst) of Pro Football Focus’s pass rushing metric among tackles who have taken at least 250 pass blocking snaps.

But Sunday was an elite individual performance that achieved something that had not been done since Dec. 13, 2020. Week 14 of the 2020 NFL season was the last time Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby was held without a single pressure in a game. That is, until Ramczyk and the Saints did it 28 regular season games later on Sunday.

The extra layer to this already-impressive feat is that Ramczyk did this in mostly one-on-one situations. New Orleans chose to double-team Crosby only 7 total times throughout their matchup, only 3 times in pass protection. The Raiders edge defender rushed the passer 28 times, matching up with Ramczyk 19 times, 16 in one-on-one situations and never sniffed quarterback Andy Dalton.

Crosby also had matchups with Hurst on a run play during which he lined up on the offensive left side and left guard Andrus Peat as a pulling guard on another rushing snap. New Orleans did not have to dedicate resources to slowing Crosby down for 60 minutes, because Ramczyk was able to handle it on his own. The former Wisconsin Badger may be playing his way into another All-Pro season with Sunday’s game vs. a premier pass rusher being one of the highlights.

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When is it time to start worrying about the Saints pass rush?

The Saints pass rush has been slow to start against Tom Brady and Marcus Mariota, but Dennis Allen might be right to preach patience with his defensive line:

When is it time to start worrying about the New Orleans Saints pass rush? They’ve produced just one sack through two games, and they benched last year’s first-round draft pick, defensive end Payton Turner, after he struggled to make an impact in the season-opener. It’s been a pretty miserable situation to watch each week.

Now, with that said, there’s some important context to consider here. Tom Brady and Marcus Mariota have presented very different challenges to the Saints defense, so it’s understandable to see little pressure on them early on. Brady is the best quarterback in the game at reading the defense pre-snap and reacting quickly to get the ball to his receivers. Mariota is one of the better athletes you’ll see at the position around the league, and his coaches maximize that by designing a lot of throws on the run and from different launch points. As hard as Brady makes it to pressure him in the pocket, Mariota is an elusive target in the backfield.

So those are two different quarterbacks with very different play styles, and they both found success against the Saints. New Orleans doesn’t value speed off the edge; it’s why Zack Baun, an undersized sack artist in college, has been limited to a special teams role in the NFL. They want their defensive ends to be tall and long-armed to make for naturally-stout run defenders who overwhelm opponents with technique and power.

That’s a problem when you’re matched up with Brady and he’s getting the ball out in 2.32 seconds, as was the case on Sunday. The strongest ends in the NFL (and Cameron Jordan and Marcus Davenport are among them) won’t be able to beat their blocker and cover ground that fast. Brady knows that his processing speed is his strength, and he used it against them even to his detriment. His receivers dropped a couple of passes and saw many more fall incomplete because he was hurrying to get the ball out, often before they were ready for it. It’s why the Buccaneers offense gained fewer than 20 yards on all but four of their possessions, not including two kneel-downs. The Saints defense got the better of them for most of the afternoon, even if they weren’t’ sacking Brady.

What about the week before? Mariota was markedly slower to throw than Brady. He averaged 2.91 seconds before throwing, which is a lifetime in NFL terms; for context, his overall time of 3.09 seconds to throw ranks fourth-slowest among all quarterbacks to throw in both weeks this year, while Brady’s 2.26 is the fastest. And as we laid out earlier, chasing Mariota down is a unique challenge in itself. Between all of the pre-snap motion Atlanta dials up in the backfield, the designed rollouts and bootlegs, and Mariota’s real threat to take off and run, it’s another tough matchup for the Saints’ prototype at defensive end. You’re asking guys who weigh, at minimum, about 280 pounds and tower over others at 6-foot-6 to cut and turn on a dime. That’s not going to happen, or at least not happen often.

So what’s to be done? When asked about the lack of pressure, Dennis Allen expressed his satisfaction with the defensive line and preached patience, saying “The sacks will come.” Allen is known for getting blitz-happy when the situation calls for it, but he’s dialed up extra pressure on just 7 dropbacks through two weeks (out of 68 combined dropbacks for Brady and Mariota). And blitzing either of them doesn’t make sense: Brady is a master at reading those designed pressures and adjusting to the open patches of field left behind, while Mariota is the ideal athlete to tuck it and run when faced with a free running lane. Blitzing them isn’t the answer, but it could be the best path forward against other passers coming up next like Baker Mayfield, Kirk Cousins, and Geno Smith.

The Saints aren’t going to change the qualities they value in personnel and suddenly start fielding Baun or other speed rushers. They’re not going to keep playing unproductive players like Turner, either, just because he was drafted highly. Allen has a plan and a vision that has worked well (for the most part) for a few years now, and they’re going to stick to it, for better or worse.

Maybe things settle down and the back seven defenders step up to better contain these quarterbacks so that the big guys up front can get home. It’s a strategy that has worked before. We’ll have to wait it out and see. That’s still a frustrating proposition when you see an empty box score, a first rounder on the bench, and a game in the loss column.

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LOOK: In terms of pressure rate this season, it’s the Raiders and then everyone else

LOOK: In terms of pressure rate this season, it’s the Raiders and then everyone else

It’s hard to comprehend just how quickly the Raiders went from several years of being one of the worst pass-rushing teams in the NFL to being far and away the best pass-rushing team in the league.

It’s easy to see the night-and-day improvement by the Raiders’ defensive line. But even as good as it is, some folks who have followed the Raiders exclusively for years may find themselves wondering if the improvement is drastic merely compared to how bad it was or compared to the rest of the league.

It’s both, actually. And this graph from Next Gen Stats offers the best illustration of this I’ve seen yet.

Most NFL teams are that oval cluster in the middle. Then look in the upper lefthand corner, separated from everyone else. It’s the Raiders.

That’s exactly where you want to be because it means the Raiders blitz less than any other team in the league and yet still have the third-highest pressure rate (38.7). It makes them an extreme outlier as the rest of the NFL shows.

The NFL’s Next-Gen Stats added that the Raiders have gotten pressure on 30% of their snaps in every game this season. Which explains why they have six different players with multiple sacks, led by Maxx Crosby (5.0) who also leads the entire NFL QB hits (19) and is second in pressures (36) only to teammate Yannick Ngakoue (38).

Ngakoue is the reigning AFC Defensive Player of the Week.

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Replacing Andrus Peat is a tall task, but Calvin Throckmorton is up to it

Replacing Andrus Peat is a tall task, but Calvin Throckmorton is up to it

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It’s no secret that the relationship between Andrus Peat and New Orleans Saints fans is strained. The three-time Pro Bowl alternate has turned in as many highlights as low moments through his 90-game career (including 7 postseason appearances), but his reported season-threatening pectoral muscle injury should give everyone pause. He’s remained a highly-paid, entrenched starter for years for good reason. If the Saints had found someone better he wouldn’t be where he is.

So it’s going to be tough for Calvin Throckmorton to replace him, whether that means one game or a dozen. Still, the second-year pro out of Oregon has shown plenty to be encouraged about. Pro Football Focus has charted 176 snaps for him in pass protection (third-most on the team), most of them spent through five games at right guard. And he’s only been charged with 10 pressures allowed, again third-most behind right tackle Ryan Ramczyk (19) and Peat (14), who he’s tabbed to fill in for at left guard. Throckmorton also hasn’t been fouled for holding, a false start, or any other penalty so far.

He’s played about as well as you could ask someone in his position. As NFL offensive line analyst Brandon Thorn noted in an extensive Saints film study writeup for NewOrleans.Football, Thorckmorton is as technically-sound as they come. He’s been coached well enough to handle almost any assignment asked of him. The danger comes in plays that allow better athletes to work around (or through) his defenses, which is exasperated by quarterbacks who hold onto the football too long.

Unfortunately, Jameis Winston currently ranks fifth in the NFL with an average 3.08 seconds to throw. That’s a full half-second longer than Drew Brees averaged a year ago (2.49), and it explains some of the issues the Saints offensive line has had. Thorn explored this problem in greater detail, finding stark differences in the depth of Winston’s drop (which can be adjusted) and his processing speed (which may be more difficult to smooth over) that directly led to the issues the Saints’ blockers have had.

Still, we should have some confidence that Throckmorton can handle this task. He’s been well-prepared for it between owning a fantastic name for a mauling NFL guard and a streak of 52 consecutive starts at Oregon (allowing just one sack in more than 3,000 career snaps in pass protection), where he lined up all over the offensive line — including 41 starts at right tackle, 5 at left tackle, and 3 each at center and guard. Ironically, however, he’s never started a game at left guard.

But that didn’t keep him from playing well against Seattle. He’ll face a monumentally stronger opponent on Sunday against Vita Vea and his Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammates. Fortunately he’s know lining up between two of the Saints’ better blockers in left tackle Terron Armstead and center Erik McCoy, rather than inexperienced plug-in Cesar Ruiz at center and Ramczyk at right tackle (who has had his own problems to deal with). We’ll keep expectations muted for Throckmorton, but he’s better prepared than some of his predecessors were at taking on a heavier workload.

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Chargers DE Joey Bosa says Raiders QB Derek Carr got ‘shook’ under pressure

Chargers DE Joey Bosa: Derek Carr got ‘shook’ under pressure

There is usually a considerable difference between what NFL players think and what they actually say. Like, for instance, if, say a pass rusher *thinks* the opposing quarterback folds up like a cheap tent on the slightest pressure, he would probably not actually say that.

I mean, I guess, unless you’re Joey Bosa and perhaps if you would like your shots delivered without padding.

“We knew once we hit him a few times, he really gets shook,” Bosa said of Derek Carr after the Chargers 28-14 win over the rival Raiders on Monday Night. “And you saw on CC (Christian Covington’s) sack, he was pretty much curling into a ball before we even got back there. Great dude, great player, he’s been having a great year, but we know once you get pressure on him, he kind of shuts down and he’s not as effective with a crowded pocket, so that was the key to it.”

Ouch.

In case you’re wondering, the sack Bosa is talking about is this one:

It came on third and three with the Raiders knocking on the door for a potential game-tying score. Instead, it led to a field goal attempt from 52 yards out that missed wide left.

The Raiders had caught fire on their first two drives of the second half before that. And off the missed opportunity and the field goal miss, the Chargers turned the tables and drove for a score of their own to put the game away. Making that play arguably the biggest of the game.

As to whether Carr was “curling into a ball” before he was sacked, yeah I guess that’s technically true, but Covington is on him quick. He didn’t really have any choice but to brace for impact and try to protect the ball at that point.

Hard to say how much truth there is behind the notion that Carr was shook. That was the fourth time he’d been sacked in the game. The first one was by Bosa who came around the right edge to strip-sack Carr and force a three-and-out. So, certainly, that affords him the right to talk. The second sack came on the next drive, helping lead to the second of three three-and-outs to start the game.

The early pressure may have led the Raiders putting up just 51 net yards in the first half with just one first down. To Carr’s credit, he seemed to shake it off to open the third quarter, leading the team on consecutive touchdown drives. The third sack came two plays before the first touchdown pass.

Also, if you look at what Carr had done in the first three games of this season, he was under pressure a lot behind this young and makeshift offensive line. And still, he stood in the pocket and put up some impressive passing stats, including this one for a number of 20+ passes over the first three games of a season.

Perhaps Bosa was just being brutally honest. Perhaps he was miffed at Carr saying more than once that playing the Chargers in their house is like another home game. Perhaps both.

It really doesn’t matter. What matters is that either the Raiders figure out how to get their offensive line to protect Carr, give them some help, or find out the hard way if the pressure will ultimately shut down what looked like a high-flying offense to lead out the season.

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DE Maxx Crosby still leads NFL in QB pressures and hits and yet doesn’t lead Raiders in sacks

DE Maxx Crosby still leads the entire NFL in QB pressures and hits and yet doesn’t lead his own team in sacks

Another week in the books. And still, Maxx Crosby sits atop the NFL world in both pressures and QB hits. He had led the NFL in both categories after two weeks and that continues to be the case three weeks in.

Crosby’s totals after two weeks were 16 pressures and 10 QB hits. He added five pressures and two QB hits in week three against the Dolphins to maintain his league lead in both categories.

Last week his two sacks led the Raiders. But as of this week, the Raiders’ new sack leader is Solomon Thomas who put up a half-sack vs the Dolphins to bring his season total to 2.5 sacks.

Crosby not having the sack numbers to match his pressures and QB hits totals is not a knock on him in any way. In many cases, Thomas and other interior rushers like Quinton Jefferson being able to get their sacks had a lot to do with Crosby’s pressure from the outside.

Not to mention, the Raiders have played three slippery quarterbacks in Lamar Jackson, Ben Roethlisberger, and Jacoby Brissett. All three are very good at escaping pressure to either scramble or get a pass away and thus avoiding taking a loss on the play.

The Raiders will play the Chargers this week and QB Justin Herbert who has been sacked just five times this season.

 

Browns Jadeveon Clowney among free agent leaders in QB pressures

The Clowney signing was met with a mixed reaction but, so far, he’s keeping up with other big free-agent additions and is tied with Garrett to lead the Browns in pressures:

The Cleveland Browns have struggled on defense for a variety of reasons. The primary is likely related to the lack of time together in the scheme with very few starters playing in preseason games.

The Browns turned over a majority of their defense outside of Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward and Ronnie Harrison from 2020 while players like Grant Delpit and Anthony Walker have already missed a game each. While few thought the defensive side of the ball would be elite for Cleveland, especially facing the vaunted Kansas City Chiefs offense in Week 1, it has been mediocre at best, terrible at its worst.

That isn’t to say everything has been bad on that side of the ball. Jadeveon Clowney was signed this offseason with the hopes of helping Garrett on the defensive line. Clowney’s NFL career has been marred by injuries and the high expectations of the top overall pick. In truth, the former South Carolina Gamecock has never been a bend-the-edge type rusher instead relying on his power, length and speed to get after the quarterback.

So far in 2021, that has been enough to put him among the league leaders in quarterback pressures for players who were free agents this offseason:

 

Obviously some limitations with that number only being related to players who were free agents this offseason but still a good sign that Clowney is competing with the top of the group and not down with Dupree. It also shows the significant amount of edge talent that was available in free agency not including Carl Lawson who was lost for the year due to injury after signing with the New York Jets.

Across the NFL, Maxx Crosby leads the league, according to Pro Football Focus, in pressures with 19 with Arik Armstead second with 15. Former Brown Emmanuel Ogbah is tied for 9th with 10 while Garrett and Clowney are tied for 15th, both sitting at eight pressures on the year.

So far so good for one of the many free-agent additions on the defensive side of the ball. As always, the key for Clowney is to stay healthy.

Raiders DE Maxx Crosby leads NFL in pressures, QB hits after two games

Raiders DE Maxx Crosby leads NFL in pressures, QB hits after two games

Week 1 saw Maxx Crosby living in the Ravens’ backfield and putting up what looked to be three sacks, though he was only credited with two.

His performance earned him AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors. Well, he kept it going Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers with numerous pressures along with 5 QB hits.

If you’re wondering how his number compares to the rest of the league, it’s simple — he’s number one in both pressures (16) and QB hits (10).

Crosby had no sacks in week two, but had he been credited with three sacks in the opener, he would be tied for third in the league behind Chandler Jones (5) and Danielle Hunter (4).

Crosby’s two sacks are tied for ninth. But neither Jones nor Hunter are in the top three in pressures and Jones has two fewer QB hits (8) than Crosby.

Against Pittsburgh, it was Solomon Thomas who put up a couple sacks, in large part because of the pressure Crosby and company were putting on the outside.

There is plenty of season ahead for Crosby to catch up in terms of sacks. He’s made it clear that he’s a force to be reckoned with on the edge, so the sacks should keep coming.

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Chiefs defense posted fewest pressures of 2020 season in Week 5

The defense didn’t do a good job of beating the Raiders offensive line and getting after Derek Carr in Week 5.

Through the first four weeks of the 2020 NFL season, the defensive front in Kansas City had managed to pressure the quarterback at a surprising rate with 68 total pressures. They had no fewer than 14 pressures in a single game and that came in Week 4 against the Patriots, with dynamic pass-rushing defensive tackle Chris Jones on the sideline.

When the Chiefs faced the Raiders in Week 5, they struggled to generate pressure more than they had in any other game this season. On the day, they totaled just 11 pressures, with only a single pressure resulting in a sack. That play came from rookie LB Willie Gay Jr., where Raiders QB Derek Carr stepped up to flee a collapsing pocket and slid behind the line of scrimmage to avoid taking a big hit.

So what happened in Week 5 that made things so tough on the defense when it came to getting pressure? Credit goes to the Raiders offensive line, who really handled the Chiefs’ pass rushers all day long. Starting LT Kolton Miller, who was previously beaten silly by Frank Clark when he played for Seahawks, pitched a near-perfect game, allowing just one pressure on the day.

That performance by Miller was only one piece of the puzzle, however. Chris Jones, in his return from a groin injury only recorded a single pressure on the day. Trent Brown did a good job handling Tanoh Kpassagnon, holding him to just three pressures and one pass batted.

The Chiefs were also without rookie DE Mike Danna who was placed on injured reserve ahead of Week 5. Danna had played 98 total snaps in the first four weeks of the season, recording five total pressures including a sack.

In his place, veteran DE Alex Okafor seemed to receive the most snaps. Okafor played in nearly 50% of the defensive snaps for Kansas City and rushed the passer on 18 of those snaps. He recorded no pressures on the day for Kansas City.

Taco Charlton, who was a standout against the Patriots in Week 4, played in just 11 total defensive snaps. He recorded a single pressure on one of his six pass-rush attempts.

On the first play of the game that Kansas City sent a blitz, Carr threw his lone interception of the day. The next time they sent a blitz, Carr threw a 59-yard touchdown pass to Nelson Agholor. They had similar issues from there on out when they sent extra pressure at Carr.

Really, a multitude of compounding issues led to this poor performance from the Kansas City pass rush. They need to find better performances from star players, more production from rotational pieces, greater success when sending the blitz. We know they’re capable of doing it after those first four weeks, it’s just a matter of getting back to it in Week 6 against the Buffalo Bills.

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