New England 24th in NFL in sacks through week 7

[Deus Irae]

That said, the stats might say he has had a big impact on the Arizona D. They were 20th in sacks last year, 5th so far this year. Points per game 21 last year, 15 this year. Is that all just Jones???????

Big change at the CB2 spot with the addition of Peters
Swearinger and Branch patrolling the middle

 

[RobertWeathers]

I don't know if I can trust that website. They've been way off with drops and other raw statistics in the past.

I'm curious to know how many QB pressures the Pats have, per PFF. I trust them a bit more.

Yea I don't know what to make of it either. Seemed sketchy

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

It has improved pretty much each week.

It was at 50% for the first two weeks, in the 40's the following four weeks and 31% last night.

Ahhh, so that's what @patfanken was trying to tell me.... I gotta admit, I didn't understand a damn word he said lol

 

[pdangle]

I don't know if I can trust that website. They've been way off with drops and other raw statistics in the past.

I'm curious to know how many QB pressures the Pats have, per PFF. I trust them a bit more.

Its probably very, very, very close - We're currently 11th in pressures. That's how they probably "acquire" their data in the first place. But for what its worth, the totals for team sacks match up with every other stat site for 2016.

 

[Gronkowski123]

im shocked it's that high.

wish malcolm brown could provide just a little interior rush..

 

[Ochmed Jones]

This defense will get better if we can get Hightower and Collins 100% healthy.

 

[supafly]

If the Pats had better sack stats, who knows, maybe they could be 6-1 by now.

I'm still holding onto the hope that they'll be able to go 2-2 during Brady's absence.

 

[ALP]

No youre wrong my friend.Heres why theyre less important-even the top sacking teams -like the 2015 Pats-are only going to get a few sacks a game. Yes, a key sack in a crucial situation can be a big play-almost on the level of an int or fumble recovery. But most sacks are not game-changers. But if a teams goal is to get pressure on a qb(-and you must understand that is NOT always a teams goal-e.g. yesterday the Pats were deliberately NOT trying to pressure the qb-rushing only 3-and it worked-holding pitts to 16 pts), then getting a whole bunch of pressures and hurries is WAY more effective than getting a few sacks. Hurries can lead to ints, which are biggger plays than sacks. both hurries and pressures also lead to incompletions.There are many teams that will have several isolated sacks on a qb, most not game-changing-but not have a lot of pressures or hurries-if theyre facing a good qb-you can bet the farm those teams are losing thaose games.

the discussion of "how many" never entered it when i made my reply

of course a bunch of pressures is better than a few sacks, but an equal number of sacks is always better than the equal number of hurries...which is the argument that was being contradicted

 

[ALP]

I don't think anyone is saying a hurry is better than a sack. But looking at just one number alone in isolation doesn't really tell us much. I mean we were 13th in 2014 and still won the Super Bowl, while the league leader didn't even make the playoffs. Sacks just don't have the same correlation to wins that other numbers do.

Again, looking only at one number doesn't tell us much. For example, turnovers are important, everyone acknowledges that. But we are only 14th in INTs this season. In 2011, we were 2nd in INTs. Does that mean the 2011 defense was better? I don't think so. It finished 15th in points allowed, 31st in yards allowed compared to 4th and 14th respectively this season.

There are a lot of other factors besides just sacks or turnovers or passer rating or 3rd down defense. And nobody can be in the top 5 of every single stat. But none of those numbers paint a full picture of what a defense is or isn't. It's important to not get carried away by one number here or there.

true, and i wasn't trying to say number sacks OR number of hurries/pressures standalone will tell you how good your defense is

just that equal number of sacks > equal number of hurries

 

[meatface]

This defense will get better if we can get Hightower and Collins 100% healthy.

i dont know how likely that is, who gets to 100% as the year goes on? That being said this team misses Chandler Jones even if he was a bit overrated, also im not sure why hightower hasnt made the pro bowl yet, but then again neither has Whitney Mercilus

 

[Deus Irae]

the discussion of "how many" never entered it when i made my reply

of course a bunch of pressures is better than a few sacks, but an equal number of sacks is always better than the equal number of hurries...which is the argument that was being contradicted

Your claim isn't necessarily true. A pressure that leads to a turnover > a sack that doesn't.

 

[ALP]

Your claim isn't necessarily true. A pressure that leads to a turnover > a sack that doesn't.

thats fair, but also very peculiar, as a sack could technically be a strip sack, so unless we have numbers for what % of pressures lead to turnovers as compared to sacks lead to turnovers, we may have to leave these details aside

 

[Deus Irae]

thats fair, but also very peculiar, as a sack could technically be a strip sack, so unless we have numbers for what % of pressures lead to turnovers as compared to sacks lead to turnovers, we may have to leave these details aside

The point about the value of pressure isn't that there's pressure. It's that there's pressure that can result in bad things happening for an offense, either because of the pressure of a given play, or because of cumulative effect of pressure over time. The value of a sack is generally going to be more immediately noticeable than the value of a pressure, but the appearance is not necessarily the reality.

Just ask Brock Osweiller, after tonight's game.

 

[E1Downey]

If the defense can maintain these ppg levels and maybe get off the field a little quicker here and there then theres certainly no reason they cant go all the way paired with this offense. Right?
Sure, it can be frustrating at times watching a qb sit back there but if thats the gameplan and it works then we cant ask for much more.

Im very excited about this year's team barring any health situations like last year.

 

[PF_SU]

I find it tough to gauge the pass rush right now. It's clear they lack top-flight talent but in many games this season they haven't schemed in a way to maximise pass rush output due to the game plan. The pass rush had its best performance on the road in week 1 against Arizona where they were able to pressure Carson Palmer on about 50% of his dropbacks before the Cardinals went hurry-up on their last drive. The contrast to that is the game in Pittsburgh on Sunday where they rushed three only on over half the passing plays. A further point is, the coaching staff has been very selective this year when to blitz a LB up the A-gaps. It's not regularly feature in the game plan. Against the Steelers they only did it once I think with Elandon Roberts. Hightower and Collins' pass rushes came all while lined up at the LOS like normal pass rushers. And against the Bengals they were dialing up the A-gap blitz only after Dalton had his way with the team in the first half.

 

[Canuck]

A game like we had against the Steelers will make it hard to compare the Pats defense against teams that employ a more traditional pass rush type defense.

With Jones gone and Ninko suspended for the first 4 games, there is a drop in pass rushing talent in the replacement duo of Sheard and Long. This has become even more of a scheme based defense. I am sure if they wanted to, they could generate more of a pass rush. They seemed happy with the front 4 generating pressure for now. So far the defense seems to be, stop the run and don't give up the explosive plays. Make the offense use a lot of plays to drive the field and score.

 

[JMC00]

#13 ranked defense in Yards Allowed
#4 ranked defense in Points Allowed (the 3 teams ahead of them have only played 6 games)

Pass defense is skewed by them falling asleep in the 2nd half against the lolphins when they went up 31-3 and Brissett wasn't sustaining drives.

If they would have only allowed their season average in 2nd half passing yards allowed they would be #11 with 233 yard allowed per game

Ya I know you could probably do this for others teams but i'm saying one half when they fell asleep 31-3 in the 2nd game of the year is what kind of skews the Pats pass defense numbers

And Miami was very much anomaly for this defense when it comes to pass yards allowed in the 2nd half.

Arizona- 135 yards allowed in the 2nd half
Miami- 284 yards
Houston- 89 yards
Buffalo- 81 yards
Cleveland- 140 yards (35 coming on the last drive)
Cincinnati- 108 yards (55 coming on the 1st drive of the 3rd qtr)
Pittsburgh 94 yards (39 coming on the last drive)

So take out the lolphins 2nd half and this defense is allowing only 107.8 passing yards in the 2nd half. Now take out the garbage time last drives by Cleveland and Pittsburgh, 96.3 passing yards allowed in the 2nd half.

Really tough for me to be talking about sacks when this defense is basically holding teams to under 100 yards passing in the 2nd half.

 

[PScottman]

Big change at the CB2 spot with the addition of Peters. Swearinger and Branch patrolling the middle

With these uptick in Arizona's defensive stats - how much does that elevate or less so simply validate Jimmy G's performance? Given the wider sample size now available it's worth a second look.

 

[PF_SU]

And Miami was very much anomaly for this defense when it comes to pass yards allowed in the 2nd half.

I took a closer look at the Patriots defensive stats grouped by half and it's fairly clear just how much game planning and halftime adjustments are done.

1st Half: 66.9% passing, 933 yards, 7.5 Y/A, 94 runs, 310 yards, 3.3 Y/C, 47 points
2nd Half: 62.3% passing, 952 yards, 6.3 Y/A, 76 runs, 336 yards, 4.4 Y/C, 60 points

The difference becomes even bigger if we take out the entire Miami game where the defence played great in the first half and absolutely sucky in the second.

1st Half: 68.9% passing, 819 yards, 7.7 Y/A, 85 runs, 277 yards, 3.3 Y/C, 44 points
2nd Half: 58.1% passing, 679 yards, 5.5 Y/A, 69 runs, 299 yards, 4.3 Y/C, 39 points

The 5.5 yards per attempt reached in the second half would tie Minnesota for the lowest of the league. But of course one shouldn't compare a full game's stat against a split of a half. Just want to give an indicator of how good that value is. And even if we take net yards per attempt (which factors in lost yardage due to sacks) the second half value of 5.0 is still good enough that over a full game only Minnesota at 4.8 is better.

Translated into per game numbers that would be:

1st Half: 137 yards passing, 46 yards rushing, 7.3 points
2nd Half: 113 yards passing, 50 yards rushing, 6.5 points

Of course it also has to be said that aside from the Buffalo game the Patriots were up at halftime against all the other opponents, so it was possible for the team to specifically key in on the pass. However, it also has to be mentioned that no QB has put together two good halves passing against the Patriots:

Landry Jones
1st Half: 14-20, 179 yards, 9.0 Y/A (Run game: 10 runs, 40 yards, 4.0 Y/C)
2nd Half: 15-27, 102 yards, 3.8 Y/A (Run game: 12 runs, 54 yards, 4.5 Y/C)

Andy Dalton
1st Half: 13-16, 143 yards, 8.9 Y/A (Run game: 17 runs, 50 yards, 2.9 Y/C)
2nd Half: 8-15, 111 yards, 7.4 Y/A (Run game: 15 runs, 70 yards, 4.7 Y/C)

Carson Palmer
1st Half: 10-16, 137 yards, 8.6 Y/A (Run game: 12 runs, 36 yards, 3.0 Y/C)
2nd Half: 14-21, 134 yards, 6.4 Y/A (Run game: 7 runs, 56 yards, 8.0 Y/C)

Tyrod Taylor
1st Half: 17-22, 166 yards, 7.6 Y/A (Run game: 16 runs, 88 yards, 5.5 Y/C)
2nd Half: 10-17, 81 yards, 4.8 Y/A (Run game: 16 runs, 46 yards, 2.9 Y/C)

The funny thing here now is: They are doing all that in the second half despite sacking the QB less in the second half than in the first. The team has 6 sacks in the first half (to 106 passing attempts without Miami, 124 with) and 5 sacks in the second half to 124 passing attempts without Miami and 151 with.

 

[1960Pats]

If a team's record was determined by sacks the Pats would be at 3-3-1 this year and they'd be trailing overall 11-12...
Arizona 3-2 Win
Miami 0-2 Loss
Houston 2-1 Win
Buffalo 2-3 Loss
Browns 2-1 Win
Cincy 2-3 Loss
Steelers 0-0 Tie
Unfortunately for the rest of the NYFL, the games are determined by most points scored in each game.