Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Question: How Many Hurries/Pressures Does Aaron Donald Have?

PERSPECTIVE
By John Turney
Aaron Donald in some ugly uniforms 





















Answer:  Depends on who you ask.

We've posted on this before but wanted to tackle it again. 

Here are Aaron Donald's career stats (click to enlarge)—
The tackles and sacks come from NFLGSIS (NFL Gamebooks), the run/pass stuffs come from Pro Football Journal. We think it is the most accurate representation of tackles for loss because it includes both run and pass plays, other than sacks and it includes plays where a fumble is forced, unlike NFLGSIS

The quarterback hits, pressures, knockdowns, pressures, disruptions come from various sources. And that is the issue. They purport to score similar things but come up with different numbers, some very different.

In Donald's career these are the sources of the KD, Hits, hurries, pressures, and disruptions.—

Rams = Rams coaches
NFL = NFLGSIS 
Stats = Stats, LLC
Sports Radar
PFF = Pro Football Focus 
FO = Football Outsiders 
NextGen = Next Generation Stats
ESPN= ESPN Stats & Information 
SIS =  Sports Info Solutions

Pro Football Focus is the most generous in scoring, then comes NextGen and then down the line. 

Who is "right"? No one.

Who is "wrong"? No one.

Just make sure when writing or reading about rushers that you use note who the source us and familiarize yourself with how that source views sacks, knockdowns, hits, hurries, pressures, and total disruptions. 

PFF defines sacks their own way not believing in half-sacks. Some sources breakdown knockdowns, where the QB ends up on his butt. Others count the hits, where the QB is hit, and presumably the ones where he's knocked down and sacked. Pressures and hurries are pretty synonymous but can mean an "all of the above" definition as can disruptions. 

Football Outsiders does not do their analysis until the Spring and usually shows up in their football annual in the Summer. We have not found ESPN's number as of yet, but they may have merged with NextGen, but we are not quite sure. 

The Rams quality control coaches release (or even keep) tackle charts but they did under Jeff Fisher's regime so that is yet another data point.

So, again...know your data if you compare T.J. Watt to Donald in terms of the pressure stats. Or even when you compare Donald to Donald. 

The real answer to the question in the title is this: A lot.

1 comment:

  1. i think paul zimmerman use to credit forces and would define it as the pass not being completed. i dont think he awarded anything to a lineman if pass was complete.

    ReplyDelete