A sack is a great play by a pass rusher, but that doesn’t mean counting up every pass rusher’s total number of sacks is the best way to determine who the best pass rusher in the NFL is.
As explained by Packers outside linebackers coach Mike Smith, what really measures a pass rusher’s worth is how many pressures he gets over the course of a season. Sacks represent such a small number of plays over the course of a year (about 7 percent of all dropbacks resulted in sacks last season) that they simply can’t measure everything a pass rusher does.
“I don’t know what happened. A long time ago somebody -- probably when they started recording sacks -- fans, coaches, whoever, defined a great pass rusher, or an effective pass rusher, off of sacks. That’s one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen. You define a great pass-rusher by consistency,” Smith said.
A pass rusher who averages one sack a game would be an All-Pro, but Smith said a pass rusher who gets regular pressure, several times a game, does more to help his team win.
“You have to look how they are affecting the quarterback,” Smith said. “When they are in the game, are they affecting the quarterback, with the pressures? Because sacks are important, don’t get me wrong. . . . I care about pressure, affecting the quarterback, that’s the No. 1 thing. I’ll take a guy that does his job play after play after play after play, being consistent, and has zero sacks, but does his job and affects the quarterback.”
Unfortunately, pressures are not an official NFL statistic. But they’re increasingly charted by independent analytics outlets, and they give a more complete picture of how well a pass rusher does his job.
