Another week, another chance for us to bring you live reaction to all the goings on in the NFL. As ever, this will include:
– Analysis from PFF Premium as and when the games go up
– The best and worst grades from every game
– Unique signature stats from every game
– Snap counts including routes run and more
– Reaction to all the news as it breaks
When you’ve finished with this you’ll simply have to get yourself a subscription to PFF to be in the know. So bookmark the page and keep checking back every 30 minutes or so for constant updates.
19:20 Lions Sign Lee, Waive Smith
Poor old Alphonso Smith. A victim of the Josh McDaniels Curse, he was over-drafted and has never recovered despite flashes of good play. He's been sent packing by Detroit once again despite not doing an awful lot wrong in his 53 snaps for the team this year. Perhaps they haven't forgotten that Thanksgiving game against New England in 2010? In his place Patrick Lee is a cornerback who the Raiders gave up. Does that inspire confidence? He gave up 63.3% of the throws into his coverage for 250 yards. Those numbers are distinctly average, much like the play of Lee at his best. This is a like for like move with the Lions hoping that they can have more success with this second round pick, than they had with the guy they've just let go.
19:00 Eagles sign Jake Scott
In a move that makes a lot of sesne the Eagles have snapped up Jake Scott to help paper over the cracks of their offensive line. You imagine he'd start at right guard and the good news is Scott looked pretty good last year. He actually finished the year our fourth ranked right guard, built primarily on some excellent work in pass protection. Seems like a much made in heaven right?
18:15 Sig Stat Teaser
We've got four games left to analyze but so far the running backs who forced the most missed tackles on the week are;
1) Fred Jackson (8)
2) Chris Ivory (6)
3) Adrian Peterson and C.J. Spiller (5)
Will any of the games left to go up change that?
17:45 NYG @ CIN Analysis
– The Giants three highest graded players were David Baas (+4.4), Chase Blackburn (+3.3) and Osi Umenyiora (+2.2).
– A quite woeful performance from Eli Manning under pressure. Normally so cool and collected he only completed five of 10 attempts (with four sacks and one scramble) for 28 yards. Or 2.8 yards per attempt.
– With Domenik Hixon down Ramses Barden saw the majority of snaps, playing 39 compared to the 19 of Reuben Randle who wasn't seen after halftime.
– Meanwhile for Cincinnati the three highest graded performances were by Adam Jones (+4.6), Andy Dalton (+4.7) and Geno Atkins (+2.5).
– While Leon Hall didn't shadow Victor Cruz as many expected, by the nature of their roles he did find himself lined up from him an awful lot. In those snaps Cruz was targeted three times in the coverage of Hall, catching two of them for 18 yards.
– Dre Kirkpatrick made his first 15 NFL snaps. First replacing Terence Newman for a couple of separate drives, and then when Adam Jones left the game hurt.
17:15 Top Performers So Far
We've still got some games to go up but so far here are some of the most notable grades.
– On offense the three highest grades belong to Peyton Manning (+7.3), Joe Flacco (+6.5) and a share of third with Jared Veldheer and C.J. Spiller (+5.0)
– On offense the three lowest grades belong to Michael Harris (-6.6), Demetress Bell (-5.7) and Dennis Kelly (-4.4)
– On defense the three highest grades belong to Von Miller (+9.4), Kyle Williams (+6.8) and Charles Johnson (+5.1)
– On defense the three lowest grades belong to Rob Ninkovich (-7.0), Philip Wheeler (-6.3) and Nick Barnett (-5.5)
16:45 Batted Passes!
What is it about this year? Players are making an extra focus to get their hands up and bat passes down. The result? Well we know J.J. Watt has already got 10 of them, tying the most anyone has managed since we started recording data back in 2008. The other leaders (and we still have four games left to analyze for this week) are;
– Brian Robison with six. He'd managed none before this year.
– Corey Liuget with five.
– Cory Redding, Derrick Morgan, Jason Pierre-Paul, Frank Alexander and Calais Campbell with four. Campbell led the league last year with 9.
16:15 SD @ TB Analysis!
– Not a great day for Norv Turner and his Chargers. The better performances were had by Melvin Ingram (+1.8), Danario Alexander (+1.7) and Antonio Gates (+1.2).
– Some players clearly aren't ready for the NFL. It shouldn't come as a surprise that undrafted rookie free agent Michael Harris is one of them. He gave up a sack, two hits and six hurries on 42 pass blocks.
– How did the battle for playing time work out amongst the Chargers wide receivers? Danario Alexander led the way with 41 routes run and Malcom Floyd followed with 37. Behind them Eddie Royal managed 20 and Robert Meachem ran just 4.
– In another win for the Bucs the highest graded performers were Daniel Te'o-Nesheim (+4.6), Lavonte David (+3.9) and Demar Dotson (+3.3).
– A quiet day for Doug Martin. He only forced one missed tackle on his 22 touches, way down on the one missed tackle for every 4.1 touches he had heading into the game.
– Rookie Leonard Johnson was on the field for 92% of the Bucs defensive players. His pick six was a highlight but he also gave up 129 yards and a touchdown on the nine balls thrown into his coverage. That yardage was 3.49 yards per snap in coverage.
15:50 Fred Jackson Out!
A concussion means Jackson won't play on Thursday Night. That's bad news for him but adds a level of intrigue to the contest given the consequences of it. We're going to see C.J. Spiller get more touches. For Miami that means on this short week they need to be working extra hard on their tackling. Spiller has forced 32 missed tackles on 115 touches and looks a threat to skin a defense every time he touches the ball. Only Adrian Peterson is currently ranked higher in our grading.
15:30 ReFocused Reminder
In case you hadn't already, bookmark our ReFocused page and keep checking back to see when all the game reviews go up.
15:00 DEN @ CAR Analysis!
– So who would get the highest grade for the Broncos? In the end defense wins with Von Miller (+9.4) with Peyton Manning (+7.3) in second and Robert Ayers (+3.7) in third.
– If you counted drops as completions then Manning would have had an 81.6% completion percentage. It didn't hurt that he had a 151.3 rating throwing to Brandon Stokley.
– Another big day for Demaryius Thomas who averaged 3.46 yards per route run.
– Continuing his recent impressive form Charles Johnson (+5.1) had the highest grade for the Panthers. Luke Kuechly (+3.9) had the second and Jeff Byers (+2.4) the third.
– Not a lesson in how to deal with the blitz. Cam Newton was blitzed on 19 occasions, completed only 53.8% of passes for 6.1 yards per attempt and took five sacks. Ugly.
– The Panthers spent 63.9% of plays with three receivers on the field while in the battle for running back snaps DeAngelo Williams (24) played 11 fewer than Jonathan Stewart.
14:30 Markus Kuhn Torn ACL Suspected
Bad news for the Giants as it's expected that seventh round rookie Markus Kuhn has torn his ACL. He hadn't made a huge contribution in his 166 snaps and was finding his role reduced after managing 166 snaps before the Bengals game, but his three batted passes had helped. Here's to a speedy recovery.
14:00 TEN @ MIA Analysis
– Where to start with a Titans team that had a combined +18.1 grade? The three highest grades were for Jake Locker (+3.7), Steve Hutchinson (+3.4) and Derrick Morgan (+1.9).
– The Titans offensive line gave up just six pressures the entire game with another pressure coming unblocked. It meant Locker only faced seven pass plays under pressure. One ended in a run, one in a sack and and four with incomplete passes. If only Miami could have generated more pressure.
– Altteraun Verner gave up just 0.28 yards per snap in coverage. Jason McCourty was targeted far more often and gave up 1.69 yards.
– Only three Dolphins graded in the green. They were Jake Long (+2.5), Brian Hartline (+1.3) and Karlos Dansby (+1.1).
– Ryan Tannehill completed just 52.9% of his passes when he held onto the ball for 2.6 seconds or longer.
– Going behind so early meant the Dolphins spent 78.3% of plays with three recievers on the field.
12:45 DAL @ PHI Analysis
– The top three grades for Cowboys went to Anthony Spencer (+5.2), Tony Romo (+2.8) and Jason Witten (+2.7).
– While DeMarcus Ware picked up three hurries on his 28 pass rushes, Spencer managed four on 27.
– In the Cowboys backfield Felix Jones got 64% of snaps and Lance Dunbar received 16%.
– The top three grades for the Eagles were Evan Mathis (+2.6), Lesean McCoy (+1.7) and Nnamdi Asomugha (+1.7).
– Nick Foles handled the blitz pretty well, completing 7-of-9 for 87 yards and a touchdown.
– Despite Brandon Graham playing only four snaps less than Jason Babin (28), Babin rushed the passer 14 more times. Graham picked up two hurries on his seven pass rushes.
12:15 Signature Stat Teaser
Using some of our unique signature stat data here's what I can tell you with six of the Week 10 games up on the site.
– So far nobody has picked up more yards per route run than the 4.5 of Calvin Johnson.
– No quarterback has as high an adjusted accuracy percentage as the 84.6% of Andrew Luck.
– No quarterback has as long to throw as Ryan Fitzpatrick (2.95 seconds per dropback).
– No offensive line gave up as much pressure as the Falcons but their pass blocking efficiency of 74.5 was a ways better than that of the Colts (62.5).
– Asante Samuel didn't allow a single reception on three targets giving him the best yards per snap in coverage of all cornerbacks who spent at least 20 snaps in coverage.
11:45 ATL @ NO Analysis!
– The streak is over for Atlanta but they got some good performances out of Matt Ryan (+4.4), Tony Gonzalez (+3.5) and Asante Samuel (+1.5).
– Matt Ryan completed 12-of-17 passes aimed over 10 yards in the air for 257 yards and one touchdown.
– One time big money free agent signing Ray Edwards was on the field for 20 snaps compared to 48 for Kroy Biermann.
– The three highest graded Saints players were Lance Moore (+2.8), Charles Brown (+2.3) and Drew Brees (+2.2).
– There's a noticeable difference to Saints offense with Joe Vitt back. Additional lineman Eric Olsen was in on 41% of plays and often in tandem with Dave Thomas as the Saints plan to get their running game going took effect.
– Marques Colston led the Saints receivers by running 31 routes. Devery Henderson and Lance Moore were both next with 25 routes, while Joe Morgan ran 7. Moore was the most productive on a yards per route run basis, netting an impressive 3.64 yards per route run.
11:10 Jaguars release Armstrong
The one time deep ball darling of D.C. Anthony Armstrong is looking for another team again this year after the Jaguars waived him. Rich Tandler explains why Washington could be a logical landing spot for him where he broke out in 2010 with a 871 yard and had the fifth highest amount of deep ball yards (on passes over 20 yards in the air). Unfortunately his hands were never his greatest attribute and he dropped three balls the following year and caught only 7-of-25 balls thrown his way. A one trick pony who can't be counted on, he also dropped three of the nine balls Miami threw his way before they cut their losses.
11:05 Jaguars sign another Greg Jones
Courtesy of Ryan O'Halloran the Jaguars have added to both their linebacker depth and Greg Jones related depth. Jones started last year for the Giants before injuries and his limitations saw his playing time fall to the point where he only saw 202 snaps on the year as an early downs defender. The former sixth round pick was let go in the off season in a somewhat surprising move and could catch on as a special teamer if nothing else (he had five special teams tackles in the postseason).
11:00 More In Depth
If you want something a little more in depth but don't feel like forking out for premium check out our ReFocused Game Reviews. The latest one up is Oakland @ Baltimore and you can find it here.
10:30 Cutler Concussion Consequences
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Josh McCown is likely to return to the Bears if Jay Cutler is ruled out of Week 11 via a concussion. McCown filled in for the final two weeks of the 2011 season, doing a decent job against the Packers on Christmas before having a game to forget against the Vikings. Still familiarity does more than breed contempt, and his history with the Bears make this a logical safety valve to turn to. Just hope he doesn't have to take any meaningful action. That would likely not help the Bears playoff chances much.
10:00 Signature Stat Teaser – Yards Per Route Run
While we wait on more games going up how about a quick look at the Yards Per Route Run leaders for the week from the five games analysed so far?
– Calvin Johnson (4.5), Reggie Wayne (3.43) and Jarius Wright (2.95) lead the way.
– Down at the bottom the marks of Devin Hester (0.18), Justin Blackmon (0.49) and Titus Young (0.76) are the worst of all wide receivers who ran at least 20 routes.
09:30 Mathias Kiwanuka Pondering
When a player is handed a four year, $21.75m deal you kind of expect to see … well more of them. Kiwanuka was on the field for 43% of the Giants defensive snaps yesterday and had been on the field for 49.3% of all Giants defensive plays before yesterdays' game. Does that represent good value for money? Clearly not trusted in their base package (he's only on the field for 21 personnel and taken off for 12 personnel offensive looks), he's a glorified situational player that has rushed the passer 121 times and generating one sack, three hits and seven hurries. Something to watch come the end of the season.
09:00 Signature Snap Shot Teaser
We unveiled a new signature stat last week and it was all about how long quarterbacks had to throw. Here's some findings from it from the first five games up of the Week 10 schedule.
– Ryan Fitzpatrick so far has the long time until pass attempt at 2.7 seconds, while Blaine Gabbert had the shortest at 2.11.
– Gabbert also had the highest percentage of dropbacks where the time from the ball being snapped to where a pass was attempted or could no longer be attempted was less than 2.5 seconds (74.3%).
– Andrew Luck completed 50% of passes when he held onto the ball longer than 2.5 seconds. When he got rid of it quicker that number was at 85.7%.
– Both of the sacks Tom Brady took came in under 2.5 seconds. So far no other quarterback has taken a sack this week in less time.
08:30 OAK @ BLT Analysis!
– Nobody impressed as much as Jared Veldheer (+5.0). He had the highest grade of all Raiders, followed by Carson Palmer (+4.4) and Michael Huff (+2.5).
– Palmer did exceptionally well on his deep and intermediate passing, completing 11-of-17 attempts for 252 yards and two touchdowns.
– The battle for snaps between the Raiders receivers saw Denarius Moore lead the team with 43 pass routes. He was followed by Darrius Heyward-Bey (41), Rod Streater (28), Derek Hagan (19) and Juron Criner (10).
– In an emphatic victory the three highest graded Ravens players were Joe Flacco (+6.4), Cary Williams (+3.4) and Paul Kruger (+2.5).
– What was so impressive about Flacco? On the nine plays he was pressured he completed seven passes for 152 yards and a touchdown.
– Haloti Ngata and Jimmy Smith were both held out, but Terrell Suggs was on the field for 50 snaps. He rushed the passer on 34 of them and had two batted passes to show for his troubles.
08:00 Snap Count Teaser – DAL @ PHI
– The Cowboys ran three or four WR sets on 41.8% of plays.
– Ernie Sims was on the field for 65% of plays.
– Brandon Graham played four fewer snaps than Jason Babin and only rushed the passer seven times compared to the 21 of Babin.
– The Eagles used three or more receiver sets on 71.3% of plays.
07:30 ReFocused Articles
Just a reminder you need to not only bookmark this page, but our one stop shop for all our ReFocused Articles. The Texans @ Bears game is already up with more to follow and soon.
07:00 BUF @ NE Analysis!
– It was almost so very different for the Bills with a number of players really stepping up. None more so than the trio of Kyle Williams (+6.8), C.J. Spiller (+5.0) and Marcell Dareus (+4.9) who had the three highest grades on the team.
– When Ryan Fitzpatrick was pressure free he completed 69.7% of passes at 9.2 yards per pop. When he was under pressure it was 57.1% for 5 yards per attempt.
– The Bills ran three wide receiver sets on 72.8% of plays. Stevie Johnson (43) and Donald Jones (42) led the way, with T.J. Graham picking up 24 routes. Despite only being targeted once, Brad Smith ran 13 routes. That was his second highest amount of the season after the 17 he managed in Week 4 against the Patriots.
– It wasn't completely convincing from New England, but the three highest graded performances came from Sebastian Vollmer (+2.6), Danny Woodhead (+2.0) and Tom Brady (+1.9).
– Rookie Alfonoz Dennard gave up 1.98 yards per snap in coverage. Far worse than the 0.32 of Marquice Cole and 0.7 of Kyle Arrington.
– Tom Brady only completed 3-of-10 balls he attempted over 10 yards in the air.
06:00 DET @ MIN Analysis!
– The three highest Lions were Nick Fairley (+4.1), Matthew Stafford (+3.2) and Rob Sims (+2.7).
– Still feeling the effects of injury and the Madden Curse? Calvin Johnson picked up 4.5 yards per route run.
– Despite being targeted six times Jacob Lacey only gave up 0.32 yards per snap on his 34 snaps in coverage.
– In a key victory the Vikings three highest grades belonged to Kyle Rudolph (+2.7), Matt Kalil (+2.6) and Christian Ponder tied with Adrian Peterson (+2.5).
– Without the crutch of Percy Harvin, Christian Ponder picked up 62.4% of his yards in the air. Heading into this game that number was at 57.1%,
– The Vikings are obviously concerned with Jasper Brinkley in coverage. He's earned a -11.2 grade so far on the year in this regard and now finds himself sharing nickel duties with Erin Henderson. When all was said and done Henderson was on the field for 13 more snaps (47) than Brinkley.
05:30 Tweet Away
Our team is going to be busy working away on every game from Week 10 to give you the analysis and statistics you crave. So get in touch with us at @PFF to let us know which performances you think stood out and could make an appearance on our Team of the Week or ‘Had a Bad Day' team.
05:00 HST @ CHI Analysis!
– Stunning developments in Houston as for the first time this year J.J. Watt didn't have one of the three highest grades of a Texan player. He still graded positively, but was outdone by Kareem Jackson (+3.5), Danieal Manning (+2.8) and Bradie James (+2.1).
– Play action didn't really work for Matt Schaub last night. Sure he picked up a touchdown, but also had an interception while completing only 3-of-10 passes for 26 yards and an NFL QB rating of 33.3
– With horrible conditions, the Texans opted to go extra conservative with their offensive packages. They only spent 15.9% of plays with three receivers on the field. Down on the season average heading into the game of 21.2%.
– Despite the defeat the Bears will be happy with the performances of Henry Melton (+3.6), Israel Idonije (+3.3) and Tim Jennings (+3.3).
-55% of the dropbacks Jason Campbell took saw him get rid of the ball within 2.5 seconds or less. Jay Cutler was at 41.2% in this regard.
– While the Texans abandoned the idea of playing three wide receivers even with Owen Daniels out, the Bears weren't quite so quick to ditch it as they were in the package for 36.7% of offensive plays. That meant Brandon Marshall ran 38 routes, Earl Bennett 33 and Devin Hester 22.
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