Signature Stats Snapshot – Passing Under Pressure

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It’s signature stat time! You know, that time of the week where we look at one of those Pro Football Focus stats we’ve created by using the unique data we spends hours and hours toiling away with to accumulate.
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Well what would it be this week? Last week I spent an age talking about protection on the offensive line, and the week before Sam Monson had his Elusive Rating generate some discussion. So this time I’ve decided I want to look at the most important position on the field.
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The Quarterback.
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But what to look at? Well I ran a series of articles in the summer looking at different aspects of play, and the one that received the most attention was looking at how quarterbacks performed under pressure. Thus, today we’re going to be looking at how quarterbacks perform under pressure.
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To add some context to everything, let’s look at which quarterbacks are getting pressured the most. A kind of logical follow up to our Pass Blocking Efficiency piece from last week. It won’t be a surprise to see someone like Michael Vick topping the charts. It’s not just that his offensive line hasn’t been great (Philadelphia currently rank 24th in our Team Offensive Line PBE rankings), but Vick is the kind of QB who just invites pressure because of his desire to sustain plays. Instead, the most telling name is that of Sam Bradford. Last year he was pressured on 34.1% of plays, and this season that has jumped up to 44.2%. Something isn’t working with the Rams new offense, and nothing highlights this as much as the table below.
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Passing Under Pressure - Pressure Percentage

Rank	Player	Team	Dropbacks	Pressured On	Pressure %
1	Michael Vick	PHI	157	74	47.1
2	Donovan McNabb	MIN	128	58	45.3
3	Sam Bradford	SL	172	76	44.2
4	Chad Henne	MIA	135	59	43.7
5	Kevin Kolb	ARZ	146	59	40.4
6	Kerry Collins	IND	103	41	39.8
7	Rex Grossman	WAS	154	58	37.7
8	Alex D. Smith	SF	128	48	37.5
9	Luke McCown	JAX	48	18	37.5
10	Joe Flacco	BLT	152	57	37.5
11	Tarvaris Jackson	SEA	159	59	37.1
12	Ben Roethlisberger	PIT	159	59	37.1
13	Colt McCoy	CLV	183	65	35.5
14	Jay Cutler	CHI	149	52	34.9
15	Matt Schaub	HST	122	42	34.4
16	Eli Manning	NYG	137	46	33.6
17	Jason Campbell	OAK	129	43	33.3
18	Kyle Orton	DEN	153	50	32.7
19	Matt Ryan	ATL	182	59	32.4
20	Cam Newton	CAR	190	61	32.1
21	Josh Freeman	TB	163	51	31.3
22	Blaine Gabbert	JAX	77	24	31.2
23	Tony Romo	DAL	161	49	30.4
24	Drew Brees	NO	188	56	29.8
25	Matthew Stafford	DET	167	48	28.7
26	Philip Rivers	SD	169	48	28.4
27	Mark Sanchez	NYJ	164	46	28
28	Aaron Rodgers	GB	162	43	26.5
29	Matt Cassel	KC	123	32	26
30	Andy Dalton	CIN	136	34	25
31	Tom Brady	NE	169	41	24.3
32	Ryan Fitzpatrick	BUF	150	29	19.3
33	Matt Hasselbeck	TEN	138	22	15.9

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What should be noted from looking at which guys are pressured the least, is that the bottom three have a combined record of 9-3. So teams that are keeping their quarterback pressure-free are winning. Of course, this isn’t always the case, with both Andy Dalton and Matt Cassel (as well as Mark Sanchez) fairing well in this regard. We’ll get to why that might be ever so shorty, but before we do, how about we look at which quarterbacks are letting the highest amount of pressure turn to sacks.
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It won’t surprise many to learn that Jay Cutler is the quarterback leading this list. He narrowly beats out Alex Smith, and both Tarvaris Jackson and Ben Roethlisberger. All four men have been known to hold onto the ball a tad in order to either make a play (see Roethlisberger or Cutler) or avoid making a mistake (Smith or Jackson).
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Passing Under Pressure - Sack Percentage

Rank	Name	Team	Pressured On	Sack %
1	Jay Cutler	CHI	52	30.8
2	Alex D. Smith	SF	48	29.2
3	Tarvaris Jackson	SEA	59	27.1
4	Ben Roethlisberger	PIT	59	27.1
5	Andy Dalton	CIN	34	26.5
6	Eli Manning	NYG	46	26.1
7	Mark Sanchez	NYJ	46	26.1
8	Chad Henne	MIA	59	25.4
9	Sam Bradford	SL	76	25
10	Blaine Gabbert	JAX	24	25
11	Matt Cassel	KC	32	25
12	Matt Ryan	ATL	59	22
13	Kevin Kolb	ARZ	59	20.3
14	Philip Rivers	SD	48	18.8
15	Matt Hasselbeck	TEN	22	18.2
16	Kyle Orton	DEN	50	18
17	Luke McCown	JAX	18	16.7
18	Tony Romo	DAL	49	16.3
19	Aaron Rodgers	GB	43	16.3
20	Drew Brees	NO	56	16.1
21	Joe Flacco	BLT	57	15.8
22	Donovan McNabb	MIN	58	15.5
23	Cam Newton	CAR	61	14.8
24	Matt Schaub	HST	42	14.3
25	Rex Grossman	WAS	58	13.8
26	Kerry Collins	IND	41	12.2
27	Josh Freeman	TB	51	11.8
28	Matthew Stafford	DET	48	10.4
29	Ryan Fitzpatrick	BUF	29	10.3
30	Tom Brady	NE	41	9.8
31	Michael Vick	PHI	74	9.5
32	Colt McCoy	CLV	65	9.2
33	Jason Campbell	OAK	43	4.7

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Down the at the bottom, credit goes to Jason Campbell, Colt McCoy and Michael Vick, with McCoy and Vick especially showing a tremendous ability to shake off oncoming defenders and get rid of the ball. Though as much credit as they need to take for that, we’ll examine what it does to their accuracy percentages.
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Ah yes – the accuracy percentages. Those are what really matter right? To give a fairer reflection, we’ve counted drops as completions, and ignore throw aways. And who is top? Well, normality is restored as a Manning leads the way. Only this time it’s Eli with the top mark at 71%, narrowly beating out Josh Freeman.
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Passing Under Pressure - Accuracy Percentage

Rank	Name	Team	Att.	Comp.	TA	TD	INT	Acc. %
1	Eli Manning	NYG	35	20	4	3	0	71.00
2	Josh Freeman	TB	38	25	1	1	1	70.30
3	Matt Cassel	KC	20	10	5	0	1	66.70
4	Drew Brees	NO	44	24	3	1	1	65.90
5	Alex D. Smith	SF	34	18	2	1	0	65.60
6	Matthew Stafford	DET	42	17	11	1	1	64.50
7	Chad Henne	MIA	43	24	2	2	2	63.40
8	Andy Dalton	CIN	23	9	4	1	0	63.20
9	Kevin Kolb	ARZ	44	20	9	4	2	62.90
10	Tom Brady	NE	36	18	4	2	0	62.50
11	Matt Schaub	HST	35	16	4	1	0	61.30
12	Tarvaris Jackson	SEA	39	18	3	2	2	61.10
13	Colt McCoy	CLV	57	29	6	2	2	60.80
14	Philip Rivers	SD	39	17	6	1	2	60.60
15	Ben Roethlisberger	PIT	40	21	2	0	2	60.50
16	Michael Vick	PHI	53	24	3	3	3	60.00
17	Matt Ryan	ATL	45	21	4	1	2	58.50
18	Donovan McNabb	MIN	44	23	3	2	0	58.50
19	Tony Romo	DAL	42	20	2	1	2	57.50
20	Cam Newton	CAR	42	18	2	0	3	57.50
21	Rex Grossman	WAS	49	20	7	4	2	57.10
22	Jay Cutler	CHI	36	17	4	2	1	56.30
23	Jason Campbell	OAK	39	17	5	0	1	55.90
24	Aaron Rodgers	GB	30	14	4	0	0	53.80
25	Kyle Orton	DEN	41	18	5	4	1	52.80
26	Ryan Fitzpatrick	BUF	25	12	2	1	0	52.20
27	Matt Hasselbeck	TEN	18	8	0	1	0	50.00
28	Luke McCown	JAX	14	6	2	0	1	50.00
29	Blaine Gabbert	JAX	16	7	0	0	0	43.80
30	Joe Flacco	BLT	47	15	8	0	2	43.60
31	Sam Bradford	SL	57	18	6	2	0	43.10
32	Kerry Collins	IND	36	12	3	1	0	39.40
33	Mark Sanchez	NYJ	32	9	3	1	1	37.90

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When we look at the bottom of the rankings it will surprise nobody that Mark Sanchez is dead last given his struggles start the year. He remains the guy who is holding the Jets back more so than any other and really needs to step up.
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Of course with all these stats you need to take a look at how they work in context, and in comparison to each other. Sure Matt Cassel has a high accuracy percentage when pressured, but he’s also taken a sack on a quarter of the plays with a man closing in. That’s why we always say to look at our gradings over any stats, and that’s why I’ll cheap plug our premium package to find out all the extra goodness that comes only with that.
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That’s our Signature Stat for this week. Get in touch with the main twitter feed if you have some suggestions for future signature stats given the incredible amount of data we have at our hands.
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Follow Khaled on Twitter: @PFF_Khaled … and be sure to follow our main Twitter feed: @ProFootbalFocus . .
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