NFL News & Analysis

Pass Rushing Productivity: Team Defenses

2013-WK12-PRP-team-DSeeing the Chiefs suddenly lose their bookend rushers last weekend, thoughts of replacing production sprung to mind and with them, questions of where the league's most potent — and efficient — pass rushes are generated. Naturally, turning to PFF's Signature Stats made sense.

Over the past few years we’ve offered up looks into the various Signature Stats that have helped make a subscription to our Premium Statistics a must-have for football fans, members of the media, player agents and team executives alike. What we haven’t done was step back to get sight of those numbers on a team-wide level. Today we do.

Featuring one of our most popular Sig Stats, Pass Rushing Productivity, we’ll not only show the numbers for every team’s full defense, but we’ve broken it down by position groups as well to see which units have been the most efficient in coming after the quarterback and how they rate when all stacked up. This effort serves to set even the playing field, comparing teams favoring base 3-4 fronts to each other and doing the same for their 4-3 brothers.

For a refresher, Pass Rushing Productivity (PRP) is built from a formula that sets pressure numbers in context, factoring in pass rushing attempts and weighing sacks heavier than hits and hurries. The formula:

((sacks + .75 * (hits + hurries)) / pass rushing snaps) * 100

Let’s start with the unit-by-unit looks before wrapping up with PRP’s for the complete defensive teams at the end. Up first, the D-lines.

* note – ‘pass rush snaps' in these tables represent sums of player-snaps as opposed to team pass defense totals.  

4-3 Defensive Lines

Here’s where Seattle’s offseason investments come into play. You won’t find their defensive line leading in any category, but they’re near the top across the board and their unit-wide PRP of 10.19 is head and shoulders above the rest. Their depth provides an unceasing barrage of fresh legs and adds up to set the pass-rushing mark for all other D-lines to shoot for. Detroit (marked by Ndamukong Suh’s effort on the inside and Willie Young’s on the edge) and St. Louis (fueled by Robert Quinn’s insane pace) fill out the Top 3.

Team Pass Rush Snaps Sacks Hits Hurries Total Pressure PRP
SEA 1561 27 42 134 203 10.19
DET 1792 19 39 150 208 8.97
SL 1587 32 42 102 176 8.82
MIA 1707 28 36 126 190 8.76
CAR 1679 25 45 111 181 8.46
CIN 1793 30 42 114 186 8.20
DEN 1745 25 29 122 176 7.92
TEN 1480 21 21 102 144 7.65
MIN 1887 20 27 135 182 7.50
avg 1667.0 21.6 32.4 103.5 157.5 7.41
DAL 1948 24 33 123 180 7.24
NYG 1785 17 44 101 162 7.04
NE 1759 30 30 94 154 6.99
OAK 1530 14 36 86 136 6.90
TB 1644 15 36 88 139 6.57
JAX 1525 13 32 84 129 6.56
CHI 1466 13 18 87 118 6.26
ATL 1470 17 15 78 110 5.90

 

3-4 Defensive Lines

Much like Seattle’s standout showing among the 4-3 D-lines, Houston’s PRP shames all other 3-4 units, but unlike the committee approach the Seahawks employ, the Texans are, of course, carried by a central force – J.J. Watt. Watt’s 60 total pressures double the next best on the Houston roster, though Antonio Smith is enjoying a fine year as well. The Saints’ resurgent front leads the next tier in this group as Cameron Jordan cements himself among the league’s best (given, by shifting alignment, New Orleans has set him up to do much of his damage from a 40-front look). Philadelphia’s Fletcher Cox has helped push their D-line to the top in hurries and total pressures.

Team Pass Rush Snaps Sacks Hits Hurries Total Pressure PRP
HST 877 21 30 59 110 10.01
NO 1124 19 22 64 105 7.43
SF 972 10 14 66 90 7.20
PHI 1248 11 20 82 113 7.01
BUF 1025 13 20 54 87 6.68
ARZ 1180 13 26 61 100 6.63
avg 1002.3 11.9 15.7 53.8 81.3 6.38
IND 974 8 15 56 79 6.29
NYJ 1019 16 12 50 78 6.13
PIT 950 10 11 51 72 5.95
GB 872 10 9 46 65 5.88
KC 1002 9 5 59 73 5.69
BLT 824 11 10 37 58 5.61
CLV 1072 11 17 45 73 5.36
SD 962 10 13 36 59 4.86
WAS 934 6 11 41 58 4.82

 

4-3 Linebackers

Lavonte David‘s impact on the Tampa Bay blitz game is seen here — leading the team to a league-high PRP among 4-3 LB units, David has racked up 23 total pressures on just 77 opportunities. The only player ahead of him (with 31 total pressures) is Von Miller, the one-man hybrid defense who — in the five games back from his suspension — has come after the QB 159 times. The Denver-Oakland connection via Head Coach Dennis Allen bleeds over to see the Raiders leading the group in sending their linebackers most often with Nick Roach coming more times than any MLB/ILB and Sio Moore (113) and Kevin Burnett (94) two of the four most frequent blitzers among 4-3 OLBs.

Team Pass Rush Snaps Sacks Hits Hurries Total Pressure PRP
TB 194 11 8 25 44 18.43
NE 167 5 5 24 34 16.02
CAR 119 6 2 15 23 15.76
DEN 300 8 9 41 58 15.17
MIN 148 4 7 17 28 14.86
OAK 311 12 9 36 57 14.71
JAX 68 3 3 6 12 14.34
TEN 257 5 9 33 47 14.20
avg 172.1 4.9 5.5 19.1 29.5 13.58
SEA 211 6 7 21 34 12.80
MIA 205 2 9 23 34 12.68
CIN 189 6 6 17 29 12.30
DAL 91 2 3 9 14 12.09
CHI 114 6 4 6 16 11.84
ATL 193 4 4 20 28 11.40
SL 118 2 2 11 15 9.96
NYG 161 0 1 19 20 9.32
DET 79 1 6 2 9 8.86

 

3-4 Linebackers

Providing the edge rush for their teams, the outside linebackers in this group can be the foundation of a defense. In Kansas City’s case, the recently fallen Tamba HaliJustin Houston pairing has not only led them to the high mark of 150 total pressures for this group, but to the best PRP as well — Chief LBs have turned in a 13.99 mark on 845 combined chances. The duo of Elvis Dumervil and Terrell Suggs leads the Ravens to the top in sacks and hits, while San Francisco – with Aldon Smith settling back in opposite Ahmad Brooks – fits in second in PRP. Along with SF, Buffalo and New Orleans show in the Top 5 in both the 3-4 LB list and that for the 3-4 DLs.

Team Pass Rush Snaps Sacks Hits Hurries Total Pressure PRP
KC 845 23 21 106 150 13.99
SF 769 20 21 75 116 11.96
BLT 961 26 33 84 143 11.84
BUF 783 23 14 73 110 11.27
NO 555 16 17 44 77 11.13
IND 755 24 13 67 104 11.13
WAS 789 20 18 71 109 10.99
avg 817.7 17.7 19.0 69.7 106.4 10.30
ARZ 987 17 29 79 125 9.93
PIT 713 10 23 58 91 9.92
SD 816 17 13 68 98 9.53
HST 702 11 18 53 82 9.15
GB 893 19 13 69 101 9.01
CLV 929 15 17 73 105 8.88
NYJ 804 14 16 57 87 8.55
PHI 965 11 19 68 98 7.90

 

Click to Page 2 to see the league's use of blitzing DBs and full team PRP's…

Defensive Backs

Taking all of the defenses together for this one, Seattle’s efficiency again stands out, though they’ve opted to send DBs less often than any other team – understandable when they’re getting so much work from their front four. The Raiders, as was the case with their LBs, have ‘activated’ their DBs most often. Kansas City, piling on to the performance of their edge rush have shown themselves as one of the five most frequent to involve DBs in the rush and have generated more total pressures than any other in doing so. Safety Eric Berry has been sent an impressive 48 times already and has 13 pressures to show for it.

Team Pass Rush Snaps Sacks Hits Hurries Total Pressure PRP
SEA 21 1 2 5 8 29.76
NE 25 2 1 4 7 23.00
KC 98 6 5 17 28 22.96
JAX 39 2 1 8 11 22.44
ATL 58 2 5 9 16 21.55
CLV 43 5 0 4 9 18.60
TB 76 4 1 12 17 18.09
MIA 81 4 1 11 16 16.05
PHI 81 1 4 12 17 16.05
DET 39 1 2 5 8 16.03
BUF 105 4 4 13 21 15.95
WAS 58 1 4 7 12 15.95
SD 80 3 3 10 16 15.94
NYJ 66 0 5 9 14 15.91
BLT 57 0 3 9 12 15.79
avg 62.0 2.1 2.4 7.6 12.1 15.46
CAR 53 5 1 3 9 15.09
PIT 78 2 1 12 15 15.06
ARZ 99 2 3 14 19 14.90
DAL 38 1 3 3 7 14.47
OAK 120 5 3 13 21 14.17
GB 95 5 5 6 16 13.95
MIN 33 0 2 4 6 13.64
NYG 50 3 1 4 8 13.50
CIN 77 2 2 9 13 13.31
NO 94 4 2 9 15 13.03
SF 24 0 0 4 4 12.50
HST 46 1 1 5 7 11.96
DEN 90 0 4 10 14 11.67
CHI 35 0 1 4 5 10.71
SL 49 0 4 3 7 10.71
TEN 41 0 2 3 5 9.15
IND 35 0 2 2 4 8.57

 

Overall PRP

With the above units combined, we find a Top 10 divided among 3-4 and 4-3 base schemes as teams find a way to get after the QB no matter which alignment they prefer – illustrated perfectly with the Top 2: The Seahawks, powered by their front four and a particularly efficient use of DBs, rest at the top while the Chiefs’ 3-4 OLBs paired with more help from the back end are just a step behind. Perhaps the most interesting results come from teams like New England and Tampa Bay where fine work is being done by one unit (their linebackers) but others (their fronts) haven’t kept up.

Team  Base DL LB DB Total Defense
SEA 43 10.19 12.80 29.76 10.72
KC 34 5.69 13.99 22.96 10.17
HST 34 10.01 9.15 11.96 9.69
MIA 43 8.76 12.68 16.05 9.46
SF 34 7.20 11.96 12.50 9.35
BLT 34 5.61 11.84 15.79 9.17
CAR 43 8.46 15.76 15.09 9.12
DET 43 8.97 8.86 16.03 9.11
DEN 43 7.92 15.17 11.67 9.10
BUF 34 6.68 11.27 15.95 9.07
SL 43 8.82 9.96 10.71 8.95
NO 34 7.43 11.13 13.03 8.88
CIN 43 8.20 12.30 13.31 8.77
TEN 43 7.65 14.20 9.15 8.63
OAK 43 6.90 14.71 14.17 8.58
ARZ 34 6.63 9.93 14.90 8.43
avg   7.22 10.93 15.46 8.42
IND 34 6.29 11.13 8.57 8.40
TB 43 6.57 18.43 18.09 8.23
MIN 43 7.50 14.86 13.64 8.12
PIT 34 5.95 9.92 15.06 7.98
NE 43 6.99 16.02 23.00 7.97
WAS 34 4.82 10.99 15.95 7.92
GB 34 5.88 9.01 13.95 7.80
PHI 34 7.01 7.90 16.05 7.70
DAL 43 7.24 12.09 14.47 7.58
NYJ 34 6.13 8.55 15.91 7.50
NYG 43 7.04 9.32 13.50 7.39
SD 34 4.86 9.53 15.94 7.39
JAX 43 6.56 14.34 22.44 7.26
CLV 34 5.36 8.88 18.60 7.24
ATL 43 5.90 11.40 21.55 7.05
CHI 43 6.26 11.84 10.71 6.75

 

As always, we defer — and suggest you do as well — to our player grades when looking for a more complete picture of the action as they'll take into account things like unblocked pressures, clean-up sacks, and outstanding plays made in key situations. Short of that, though, our Signature Stats offer a look into the game you won't find anywhere else.

 

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