MMQ hits the film room with Dwight Freeney...

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

http://mmqb.si.com/2014/09/25/san-diego-chargers-dwight-freeney-film-study/

Long but good, even something Yuba will like...

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

Among the 48 3-4 outside linebackers rated by Pro Football Focus this week, Freeney is second to only Washington’s Ryan Kerrigan in combined quarterback sacks/hits/significant pressures—Kerrigan has 18, Freeney.


Lol.

[Panama]

Affect the quarterback—that’s my mission. Make him think about something. Make him pump. Make him throw the ball a little quicker. Make him throw off his back leg. Let him know you’re there. Because you may not get the sack all the time, and the stat sheet may never show it, but if you ask the coordinator, offensive linemen and quarterback, they’ll tell you. It’s getting the timing of the route off. It’s the interception. What happened on that throw? Well, he was probably preoccupied with somebody at his feet, or he couldn’t follow through. That’s how you get the bad throws. He’s worried about things that aren’t really there. It’s all part of the game. That’s why I love what I do, because I don’t care what kind of receiver you have, I don’t care what kind of quarterback you have—if that offensive lineman can’t block, the neutralizer is a defensive lineman or outside backer.

It’s not all about the sack. It’s a very misleading stat. I’ve always said it. I could get my ass kicked and get a sack. The game is watched from a different perspective, but not really from a defensive line versus offensive line perspective. The camera is always on the QB. It’s always on the high-profile stars. The dirty work—it takes a real student of the game to sit there and watch what’s going on. Do you have to dedicate two guys to block J.J. Watt? Well, they shut J.J. Watt out today! Did they really? Well, yeah, they did—they took two guys to freakin’ block him all damn game, but you best believe he had an impact on the game. They had to condense their game plan because of the way he plays.

Ok, Yuba, how do you respond to that?

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

I'm eager to read how wrong Freeney is...

[Guest]

I'm eager to read how wrong Freeney is...

Come on. How could an NFL player know what he's talking about? Also, did they include any vulture study along with the film study? If not, the question is moot.

[Bolt-O]

I'm waiting for a response, also...

[Panama]

Come on. How could an NFL player know what he's talking about? Also, did they include any vulture study along with the film study? If not, the question is moot.

Clearly, Freeney was not distinguishing between getting technical pressures and doing his job.

[blueman]

Brees sucks. Keeping it real.

[richpjr]

Vulture sack may approach Eskimo Brother as one of my favorite phrases.

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

I'm likeing significant pressure too...

[sandiego17]

Don't insult Shawn Phillips. Like how is he a vulture? You're team are vulture! Shaun Phillips is an F'n Condor.

[Yubaking]

Ok, Yuba, how do you respond to that?

Panama, IMO you bolded the wrong part of the first paragraph of Freeney's quote. The portion that you should have bolded is "What happened on that throw?" That's what my biggest problem with giving Freeney as much credit as some of you have given him has been. I have never disputed that he comes close with some frequency. But I take issue with giving him credit when he comes close but does not positively affect the result of the play. That doesn't mean he has made a bad play (although he can beat his man and then make a bad play by opening a running lane for a QB that he misses), just that he has come close to making a positive play, but did not make one.

In 2013, everyone was all pumped up about how Freeney was getting "pressures". Well, he had 0.5 sacks, QBs were completing 70% of their passes against us and we had zero turnovers made by the defense due to Freeney's pressures. So that was when I first pointed out that these pressures don't mean anything because they failed to produce a positive result.

I don't know how PFF is defining "significant pressures", but if it is an attempt to whittle down pressures into something more meaningful, then I applaud the effort. From what I have seen, Freeney was not very effective in week one (even though he got technical pressures), but was more effective in weeks 2 and 3. I would not assign as much weight to a significant pressure or QB hit as I would to a sack as those plays do not guarantee an immediate positive result (although they could produce one) like a sack does. (Note that I said immediate positive result, so a sack that produces a fumble that is scooped up by an offensive player and run in for a TD is not contrary to the concept I am discussing.)

It is not clear if PFF is just adding raw numbers in each category or if their system is weighted. What makes sense to me is that if a sack counts as one point, maybe hits and significant pressures should each count as .25. Obviously, from a conceptual standpoint, the precise relative weights assigned are going to be somewhat arbitrary, but those are numbers, as noted, that make some sense to me if we are talking about pressures that are speeding up/impacting throws (i.e., not just a QB resetting his feet).

Of course I recognize that a sack can be misleading in a given instance. I am the one using the term "vulture sacks" after all and while there is, I think, some skill in getting those with regularity, they still reflect the notion of a player getting the sack because of the initial pressure of another player. However, since Freeney used a baseball analogy, let me use one of my own. I think sacks are like base hits. Usually, they mean that a hitter has done something good, but every so often a player will get a cheap hit (Texas leaguer, bad hop grounder, et cetera) and get one despite being fooled badly by the pitch. Do we throw out the stat of hits because of this? Of course not. Are hits usually meaningful and a sign of offensive goodness? Of course they are.

Will a good hitter not get a hit if he is intentionally walked? Yes, that's true, just like in Freeney's example of doubling J.J. Watt and Watt not getting a sack. And I have already acknowledged that even if Freeney does not have his top form at this point in his career, he may still have additional value to our team because opponents may choose to allocate extra players to stop him, potentially creating opportunities for other players. It is the same for that great NT I hope we have someday.