NFL great congratulates new Notre Dame record holder

Classy move by a Notre Dame great!

Saturday’s senior day game with Boston College wound up being a blowout of epic proportions for Notre Dame. The Irish dominated from the opening kickoff on the cold and snowy South Bend afternoon.

One of the many highlights came on the final play of the first half. Notre Dame defensive lineman Isaiah Foskey sacked Boston College quarterback Emmett Morehead. It was the 25th career sack by Foskey, a Notre Dame record.

Shortly after, the man who’s record he broke took to Twitter to congratulate Foskey.

Hopefully, a regular-season finale victory at USC is next up for Foskey before a pro career we can all hope is half as great as Tuck’s was.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=none image=https://fightingirishwire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[listicle id=64800]

Isaiah Foskey becomes Notre Dame’s all-time sacks leader

Congratulations on a new record! Great way to celebrate senior day!

The first half of Notre Dame’s senior day contest against Boston College was as close to perfect as a half could be played.  The final play of the first half was undeniable perfection.

Already trailing 37-0, Boston College dropped back to pass on second down to try and get something going.  The problem with that?  The Eagles nothingness of offense continued as Notre Dame senior defensive lineman Isaiah Foskey put a bow on the first half in record fashion.

Foskey sacked freshman quarterback Emmett Moorehead for a loss of 11 yards an all-time Notre Dame record.  It was Foskey’s 25th career sack which is the most by a single player in the history of the program.

Check out some of the Notre Dame greats over the years who now all look up at Foskey on the all-time sacks list.

Raiders Maxx Crosby may be best all-around DE in the NFL

Maxx Crosby isn’t just the lone bright spot on the Raiders, he is probably the best all-around DE in the league

As someone who follows one team exclusively — whether that’s as a beat reporter or a fan — it’s important to every now and then make sure the opinions you have formed on certain players are just based on comparisons to their teammates or their NFL peers.

That is especially true on a team that has been as bad as the Raiders have been this season on both sides of the ball.

Take Maxx Crosby for example.

Several times of late I’ve found myself talking of the Raiders by saying something along the lines of ‘with the exception of Maxx Crosby…’ whether that’s with regard to the poor play of the defensive line, the defense as a whole, or even the entire team.

Rich Gannon recently said something similar.

Then you step outside the bubble and you realize that Crosby doesn’t simply stand out on an otherwise bad Raiders team, he stands out when compared with the entire league.

Here’s a stat that illustrates that nicely.

Here, Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders compiles turnovers, tackles for loss, and plays to stop a drive to come up with one number. And Maxx Crosby tops the league in that category with 21 such plays.

Whether this figure would make him an All Pro at his position remains to be seen. Unfortunately he plays at a position that puts a considerable premium on one stat along — sacks.

Crosby has seven sacks on the season, which is still pretty good, but lands him currently at 10th overall.

There is still time for him to climb that ladder in terms of sack numbers, which would mainly serve to open the eyes of those who might place more weight on that stat. But he clearly has the overall numbers to prove he is indeed the best all-around edge rusher in the NFL.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqby7y715wxzbczy player_id=none image=https://raiderswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Texans pass rush maintaining torrid pace in 2022

The #Texans’ pass rush posted another solid game against the #Giants in Week 10 with three sacks to show for their effort

Among the few things that have gone right for the Houston Texans in 2022 has been their resurgent pass rush, which has been a key factor in any defensive success they’ve found so far this season. The Texans managed to find their way into the New York Giants’ backfield three times on Sunday, marking their third-consecutive multi-sack game and their sixth such showing on the season.

Linebackers Blake Cashman and Christian Kirksey got in on the pass-rush bonanza, while defensive linemen Jerry Hughes and Maliek Collins were able to provide the necessary push up front to hassle quarterback Daniel Jones in the pocket. Cashman and Hughes notched full sacks in the effort, and with help from Kirksey and Collins who ended the game with half a sack each, the team mustered a three-sack performance.

While this turn of events is a welcome sign for Texans fans who were hoping to see the team’s defense blossom in 2022, the unit is far from being a finished product. Sloppy play against the ground game allowed running back Saquon Barkley to carry the ball for over 150 yards, and Houston’s secondary could only hold the aforementioned Jones to four incompletions on the day.

The pass rush has been an exciting part of the Texans’ development this season to be sure, but without fundamentally sound play at other phases within the defense, Houston will continue struggling to win games through the rest of their schedule. They have relied on several rookie contributors on that side of the ball, namely Jalen Pitre, Derek Stingley, and linebacker Christian Harris.

With more experience in Lovie Smith’s defensive scheme, these players will likely become consistent performers for the Texans, but for now, their lack of playing time against high-level talent will leave Houston at a disadvantage against more established teams. Watch for the pass rush to continue picking up the slack left by the relatively green defense, and for the team to gradually improve through their remaining eight games.

Chiefs DE Carlos Dunlap approaches 100 career sacks

#Chiefs DE Carlos Dunlap is a half-sack shy of reaching 100 sacks during the course of his NFL career.

Kansas City Chiefs DE Carlos Dunlap is approaching a significant career milestone after his Week 9 performance, where he played his highest percentage of defensive snaps in Kansas City.

With 1.5 sacks on Titans QB Malik Willis, Dunlap has recorded 3.5 sacks since joining the Chiefs prior to the 2022 season. Add that number to his career tally and he’s just a half-sack shy of 100 sacks in his career.

“I’ve had a couple of games now with a chance to do it and we want to get that done – obviously so we can get over that hump,” Dunlap said ahead of the Week 9 game. “That’s not my sole goal, but that’s just a milestone and something that I told my dad that I was going to do, so it’s important to me to get that done. But obviously, I need 108 or 110 (sacks) to be in that legendary type of conversations (like) top 50 ever and stuff like that so those are real goals. But I promised my dad that I was going to do 100 and obviously losing him this year, getting that 100 early in this season is important to me.”

When Dunlap reaches 100 career sacks, he’ll become the eighth active player to reach that mark. He’ll become the 41st player on the NFL’s official sack leaderboard to have reached 100 career sacks.

“They just don’t give sacks out around here (laughter). You know what I mean? But no, that’s special, man,” Chiefs DT Chris Jones said after the game. “Guys played a long time in this league and never achieved that type of accomplishment, so kudos to him. He need(s) a half a sack and it took him eight games (to get to 99.5), so I can understand how challenging that is for him, and what’s going through his head. But, I’m proud of him on that aspect.” 

Dunlap will have another opportunity in Week 10 against the Jacksonville Jaguars with Frank Clark sidelined due to a suspension. Their goal will be to jump out to a lead so that they can get Trevor Lawrence to throw the ball. That will give the defensive line an opportunity to pin their ears back and Dunlap an opportunity to reach his milestone after a strong Week 9 performance.

“He played solid,” Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo said of Dunlap. “I mean those are obviously key moments and big plays and we always want, you know we always want our guys making big plays that make a big difference in the game. That’s an overstatement, right? You get an interception, a fumble recovery, a sack, the play that Nick (Bolton) made on the screen was huge. But Carlos (Dunlap) made those couple of big plays and I thought he played solid in the other parts of the game that you don’t really see.”

While Spagnuolo is rooting for Dunlap, don’t expect him o to dial-up anything, in particular, to help him get that last half-sack.

“I’m a firm believer you let those things take care of themselves,” Spagnuolo said. “I hope he gets it and more. I hope he doesn’t get to 100 and stops there. But I do hope he accomplishes it in the next game.”

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbwa53mtds520q2 player_id=none image=https://chiefswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[listicle id=140158]

Denver Broncos’ top-10 all-time leaders in sacks

Von Miller ranks No. 1 on the Broncos’ all-time sack list, followed by Simon Fletcher and Karl Mecklenburg.

Von Miller ranks No. 1 on the Denver Broncos’ all-time sack list, followed by Simon Fletcher and Karl Mecklenburg.

Here’s a quick look at the top-10 leaders on the franchise’s sack list, courtesy of ProFootballReference.com.

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.

Broncos QB Russell Wilson has been sacked 6th-most this season

Denver’s offensive line has to do a better job protecting QB Russell Wilson.

Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson has been sacked 16 times through five games, which represents the sixth-highest total among QBs this season.

Those sacks have killed drives and worn on Wilson’s body — he’s now battling through a partially torn lat entering Week 6.

Some of the sacks have been Wilson’s fault after he held the ball too long, but there have also been numerous cases where protection broke down on the line.

“It’s my job to protect him, and it’s my job to keep him clean,” Broncos guard Dalton Risner said last week.

If Denver’s offense is going to break out of its slump, the line will have to give Wilson better protection going forward.

“[We] have to focus on doing our part as an offensive line,” Risner said.

If the Broncos aren’t able to reduce the number of hits Wilson is taking, it will be hard for the offense to improve — and it will be hard for the quarterback to stay healthy. Improving the protection up front needs to be a top priority in Denver.

Follow the Broncos Wire Podcast:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts

[pickup_prop id=”23815″]

[listicle id=687449]

WATCH: Cameron Jordan closing in on Saints franchise sacks record

WATCH: Cameron Jordan gets two sacks, closing in on Saints franchise record

Another one. Cameron Jordan sacked Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith for a loss of 9 yards on Sunday, but the wider impact of that play goes beyond its immediate ramification (to force a Seattle punt). Jordan is closer to making New Orleans Saints history with 109.5 career sacks after bringing Smith down in the first half. And he did it against standout rookie right tackle Abraham Lucas, who hadn’t yielded a single sack through his first four starts.

Only Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Rickey Jackson sacked quarterbacks more often in a Saints jersey. Jackson’s official career total is 115, though he has an unofficial career-high of 123 in a Saints uniform — sacks were not tracked until his second year in the league, but Pro Football Reference film study found he bagged 8 sacks as a rookie in 1981.

The NFL recognizes that 115 number, so it’s what we’ll be working with in tracking Jordan’s progress. Either way, Jordan is continuing to close the gap between them. We’ll see if he can sustain it throughout the full season, and it’s anyone’s guess as to whether Jordan has done enough right now to join Jackson in the Hall of Fame someday, but it’s an impressive start to the seven-time Pro Bowler’s 12th year in the NFL.

Update: Jordan later sacked Smith again in the fourth quarter, splitting it with linebacker Demario Davis and putting his career total at 110. He needs 5.5 more sacks to reach 115.5 and break Jackson’s all-time record.

[listicle id=116893]

Improved Saints pass rush becoming a silver lining amid rough 1-3 start

From 1 sack in the first pair of games to 6 over their last two, the Saints pass rush is becoming a silver lining amid a rough 1-3 start, via @RossJacksonNOLA:

While concerns around turnovers and penalties (legitimate or not) continue to pester the New Orleans Saints, one early season worry looks to be trending in the right direction. After opening the season with just one sack in the first two games, the Saints defense has piled on 6 sacks in the two games since. On Sunday, the defensive line was disruptive and impacted several plays as the pass rush began to emerge as a silver lining in an otherwise concerning start to the season.

Defensive linemen Cameron Jordan and Marcus Davenport were particularly effective splitting a sack on Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins and adding additional hits as well. Davenport applied pressure on a play that turned into an incomplete pass in the red zone while Jordan had similar moments throughout. Add to that the consistent timing of the pressures that were accused on third down, the pressure plays coming from the second level from linebackers Pete Werner and Demario Davis and even a sack from the interior thanks to Kentavius Street. 

The signs of life were necessary after a three-sack performance in the team’s loss to the Carolina Panthers last week started to build some momentum for this element of the game. New Orleans finished with 47 sacks last season after a slow start to the year. They could be on their way to doing the same here in 2022. Since co-defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen joined the coaching staff, the Saints defense has not failed to secure 40 or more sacks in each season’s opening 16-game stretch. They’ll need more pressure from Jordan, who is up to 108.5 career sacks while chasing Rickey Jackson’s franchise sacks record (115).

With 7 sacks in their first four games, the team is not yet on pace to top 30 sacks in their 2022 campaign. However, it’s still early. New Orleans will need to keep building on this momentum from the last two weeks to get back on track. But it’s about more than just the pressure numbers, it’s about wins as well. And the Saints have proven that when their pass rush is productive, they can be a winning team. More sacks on third downs and contact fumbles are the next pieces to see bolstered by the team’s pass rush specialists. If that gets going, this silver lining can quickly turn into a game-winning element as New Orleans looks to turn things around after a rough 1-3 start.

[pickup_prop id=”24843″]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbyahgz6p2j3xp7 player_id=none image=https://saintswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[listicle id=116565]