Packers Expected to sign Za'Darius Smith

[Shanedorf]

" According to Mike Renner of Pro Football Focus, Z. Smith led the NFL in sacks and quarterback hits on third down with 17 last season

There was actually a stretch of 6 straight games in the second half of last season that Smith provided at least one sack or turnover- causing play on third down"

[VegasDan]

On 4/9/2019 at 2:28 PM, {Family Ghost} said:

Double digit sacks would be nice, but pressures is the name of the game.  I'd like to see him involved in 5-7 turnover plays.

Part of me thinks it all sounds a little like a participation trophy. Of course you prefer a sack - it ends the play. A pressure can still be a completion and positive play for the offense.  But hey, you were participated in the play, good job!

Edited May 24, 2019 by VegasDan

[snackattack]

38 minutes ago, VegasDan said:

Part of me thinks it all sounds a little like a participation trophy. Of course you prefer a sack - it ends the play. A pressure can still be a completion and positive play for the offense.  But hey, you were participated in the play, good job!

i don't really feel this way, but admit its probably not right rubber stamp an A+ for someone who generates pressure but not sacks.  finishing is definitely part of the evaluation.  but a guy who generates pressure consistently is probably doing two things consistently- beating his man and doing what the play is designed to do.  that gets you more than a participation trophy

[boratt]

1 hour ago, VegasDan said:

Part of me thinks it all sounds a little like a participation trophy. Of course you prefer a sack - it ends the play. A pressure can still be a completion and positive play for the offense.  But hey, you were participated in the play, good job!

Pressures affect the QB. It’s like saying Al Harris allows very few plays to his coverage but he doesn’t get a lot of interceptions. He’s still a very effective CB. 

[Donzo]

11 hours ago, Shanedorf said:

" According to Mike Renner of Pro Football Focus, Z. Smith led the NFL in sacks and quarterback hits on third down with 17 last season

There was actually a stretch of 6 straight games in the second half of last season that Smith provided at least one sack or turnover- causing play on third down"

That's good stuff there.

What's exciting about all four free agent signings is the Packers aren't paying for past performance; they should be getting their prime years.

 

[incognito_man]

11 minutes ago, Donzo said:

That's good stuff there.

What's exciting about all four free agent signings is the Packers aren't paying for past performance; they should be getting their prime years.

 

except for aaron rodgers

[Donzo]

8 minutes ago, incognito_man said:

except for aaron rodgers

What?

[Shanedorf]

3 hours ago, VegasDan said:

Part of me thinks it all sounds a little like a participation trophy. Of course you prefer a sack - it ends the play. A pressure can still be a completion and positive play for the offense.

I can understand that sentiment, but the coaches all talk about pressure and getting the QB off his spot. The timing between a QB and a WR on every play is critical and the defense wants to do anything and everything to disrupt it. The other thing that comes with applying consistent pressure is that it can influence what plays the OC will call. If yer getting in the QBs grill, they are going away from the 7 and even 5 step drops, which limits the playbook and helps the CBs

An NFL defense plays about 1000 snaps in a season, lets say 600 of those are passes. A top defense might get 50 sacks, so that leaves 550 plays where you need to impact the passer. Its wayyyyyy more than a participation trophy, in many cases it influences the outcome of a game

In the SB vs Pitt, Howard Green didn't sack Big Ben and Big Ben got the pass off. But Green did alter the throw and then Nick Collins took it to the house.
Pressures matter immensely in disrupting an offense and Z Smith can do it well -  both from outside and lined up inside

[vegas492]

30 minutes ago, Shanedorf said:

I can understand that sentiment, but the coaches all talk about pressure and getting the QB off his spot. The timing between a QB and a WR on every play is critical and the defense wants to do anything and everything to disrupt it. The other thing that comes with applying consistent pressure is that it can influence what plays the OC will call. If yer getting in the QBs grill, they are going away from the 7 and even 5 step drops, which limits the playbook and helps the CBs

An NFL defense plays about 1000 snaps in a season, lets say 600 of those are passes. A top defense might get 50 sacks, so that leaves 550 plays where you need to impact the passer. Its wayyyyyy more than a participation trophy, in many cases it influences the outcome of a game

In the SB vs Pitt, Howard Green didn't sack Big Ben and Big Ben got the pass off. But Green did alter the throw and then Nick Collins took it to the house.
Pressures matter immensely in disrupting an offense and Z Smith can do it well -  both from outside and lined up inside

Very much agree.  All you need to do is disrupt timing and make a QB move.  In our case, we upgraded a lot of positions.  If Z can make him move, it should force him to....Smith, Gary, Clark, Daniels, Fackrell.

Gotta admit that is a lot of fun to type.  A lot more fun that it was last year.

[{Family Ghost}]

4 hours ago, VegasDan said:

Part of me thinks it all sounds a little like a participation trophy. Of course you prefer a sack - it ends the play. A pressure can still be a completion and positive play for the offense.  But hey, you were participated in the play, good job!

What would you rather have .. a sack that ends the play, or a pressure that leads to a poor throw that results in an interception?

Edited May 24, 2019 by {Family Ghost}

[MrBobGray]

4 hours ago, VegasDan said:

Part of me thinks it all sounds a little like a participation trophy. Of course you prefer a sack - it ends the play. A pressure can still be a completion and positive play for the offense.  But hey, you were participated in the play, good job!

As other posters have pointed out, the key thing is how few sacks there are in football overall. The NFL sack record is 22.5, and most years you won't see a player over 16 sacks. That's 1 per game, and you can assume that player is rushing ~25 - 30 times per game. You simply aren't going to get home very often no matter your talent level. On the other hand, you can easily hurry and hit the QB 5+ times a game if you're an high end rusher, and with a few of those on the roster your can basically put the QB under siege on every play. 

[deathstar]

2 hours ago, Shanedorf said:

An NFL defense plays about 1000 snaps in a season, lets say 600 of those are passes. A top defense might get 50 sacks, so that leaves 550 plays where you need to impact the passer. Its wayyyyyy more than a participation trophy, in many cases it influences the outcome of a game

Let's say Clark gets 40 pressures again. Smith gets 50 and Smith gets 50. The rest of the team (Fackrell, Gary, Daniels, Adams, Keke, etc) combines for around 60. That's 200 snaps where we'll see pressure this year - less than half the time a QB drops back.

That just underscores how important the secondary is.

[Shanedorf]

from PFF

Za'Darius Smith logged the 2nd most pass snaps last year while not missing a tackle among EDGE defenders. Smith missed only (1) tackle against the run. His Tackle Efficiency of 35.0 (1 miss every 35 attempts) was 5th best among all defenders in the regular season with 600+ snaps

[mikemike778]

On ‎24‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 6:28 PM, MrBobGray said:

As other posters have pointed out, the key thing is how few sacks there are in football overall. The NFL sack record is 22.5, and most years you won't see a player over 16 sacks. That's 1 per game, and you can assume that player is rushing ~25 - 30 times per game. You simply aren't going to get home very often no matter your talent level. On the other hand, you can easily hurry and hit the QB 5+ times a game if you're an high end rusher, and with a few of those on the roster your can basically put the QB under siege on every play. 

Exactly ...

Clay averaged about 8 sacks a season.  That's pretty good but its one every 2 games.  A sack is a nice play but its not even guaranteed to end the drive. One negative yards defensive play every two games isn't going to make much of a difference in the number of games you win and its not going to disrupt the passing game of the team you are playing against. It doesn't really matter.

What matters is putting constant pressure on the quarterback and giving him less time to throw. That's the job of a pass rusher.   I would far rather have a player with no sacks a year but is constantly giving the QB less time to throw the ball than have a player doing nothing all game and then once every other week gets a sack.

[mikemike778]

On ‎24‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 3:51 PM, Donzo said:

That's good stuff there.

What's exciting about all four free agent signings is the Packers aren't paying for past performance; they should be getting their prime years.

 

Agreed.

It can be painful but barring extreme circumstance like a QB (and possibly Bakhtieri although I'm still wary), I would pretty much avoid all 3rd contracts longer than a year.