Are Sacks overrated?

[N4L]

Sacks tend to be drive killers, so no, their impact on a specific game is not over rated.

Are they an over rated way to compare players? Absolutely. Its like wins for a starting pitcher in baseball. So many factors go into whether or not pitchers get wins that are completely out of their control. 

[Kiwibrown]

A sack on 3rd down is boss

[Kiltman]

I think they are an overrated thing only in the sense of how much importance in evaluating defensive players.

Fantastic defensive players get no where near the recognition because they are eating up the middle/taking on 2 or 3 blockers/not in a scheme or position that asks them to do that.

I think we are circling giving that credit with pressures becoming more notable.

 

But you look at a guy like Jason Babin...he seemed like a stud if you read the stat sheet...sacks every week. But he totally gave up his run defense responsibilities. He would get washed out a ton too. SO yeah it's a little overrated.

[Synopsis]

Nope.

Completion percentage is more overrated.  

[43M]

Again, just like ANY OTHER STAT, sacks absolutely cant be overrated when used to push an agenda without any context.

For instance, last year, the Steelers led the league in sacks.   I could just go around saying (in a drunk Randy Marsh voice)... "HELL YA BREH!!!!   LED TEH LEEGUE IN SACKS....BEST PASS RUSHING TEEM IN THE LEEAGUE BABAY....OWWWWWW!!!!"   

IN REALITY, however....Our defense, at best, was mediocre.     Our pass rush relied too heavily on blitzes to create pressure and get sacks.    We didnt have a consistent pass rush, and our pass rush, IN REALITY probably wasnt even top 10 in the league.   Ill take a consistent pass rush and one that can pressure a QB into making mistakes over a defense that can get 4 or 5 sacks in one quarter, but the pass rush is completely ineffective the rest of the game. 

That doesnt mean sacks are ALWAYS overrated....but they absolutely CAN be.

[bucsfan333]

http://settingedge.com/sackskilldrives

[spilltray]

9 hours ago, frenchie said:

So you're more impressed with the guy who almost gets the sack, rather than the guy who actually gets the sack?

If gets almost sacks on a higher % of snaps? Definitely!

[Pugger]

18 hours ago, Buddyboy said:

Strong correlation sacks lead to ints

And lead to fumbles.  Sacks can kill drives big time.  

[bucsfan333]

7 hours ago, bucsfan333 said:

http://settingedge.com/sackskilldrives

939 out of 1,118 sacks (83.99%) last year resulted in a drive being killed. Conversely, just 179 out of 1,118 sacks (16.01%) resulted in the offense being able to bounce back and sustain their drive, even if just for one more set of downs. The difference is staggering. Defenses are almost 70% more likely to kill a drive after getting a sack than they are to surrender another set of downs.

[kramxel]

7 hours ago, bucsfan333 said:

http://settingedge.com/sackskilldrives

Thread killer right there.

 

[theJ]

20 minutes ago, bucsfan333 said:

7 hours ago, bucsfan333 said:

http://settingedge.com/sackskilldrives

 

Quote

939 out of 1,118 sacks (83.99%) last year resulted in a drive being killed. Conversely, just 179 out of 1,118 sacks (16.01%) resulted in the offense being able to bounce back and sustain their drive, even if just for one more set of downs. The difference is staggering. Defenses are almost 70% more likely to kill a drive after getting a sack than they are to surrender another set of downs.

I'd also love to see some context on what pressures create.  How many times to pressures lead to INT's, pass deflections and incomplete passes?  

I'd also love to see the difference between inside and outside pressure.  Outside pressure being more easily ignored, and inside pressure being more disruptive.

Pressures don't kill drives, but my bet would be that they kill that down more often than not.

[FinSting]

8 hours ago, bucsfan333 said:

http://settingedge.com/sackskilldrives

Good info, never read that before. 

A guy could have 15 tackles and still be ineffective. A different guy could have one sack and change the outcome of the game. 

[Malik]

Sacks cause an offense to lose a down and usually several yards. That in turn narrows the offensive playbook for the other team on 2nd, 3rd, and 4th down. No. They are not overrated. 

[SBLIII]

Sacks are vital to a teams success.

[Uncle Buck]

A very high percentage of drives end after a quarterback is sacked.  This makes them very important.  Quarterback pressures and knock-downs, etc. are good too, but for an edge rusher, a sack is king, IMO.