Chris Long—Under Pressure

 By John Turney 

In retrospect, Chris Long may have been drafted higher than his college film/skill set warranted. He was an All-American at Virginia, played in multiple schemes, and showed great athletic ability but didn't show, on video, the kinds of things the Bosa brothers did later or even a Jadeveon Clowney, Myles Garrett, or going back a Jevon Kearse. He was close, but not quite, a freak. 

Of course, where a player gets picked is not up to them, but when someone is taken with the second overall pick there are high expectations—being All-Pro, going to Pro Bowls, and so on. Long was close but not quite there.

At the 2008 NFL Combine, Long blew it up in the drills. He ran a lighting fast 7.02 in the three-come and a 4.21 in the short shuttle. He jumped out of the building both in the long jump and in the vertical leap. However, while his 10-yard split was excellent his 4.83 forty was good but not freak-like. In judging Long's career it further makes the case that get-off times and quickness and agility are a better gauge of athleticism of a lineman than a forty-yard dash.

Teams had to be impressed but the Rams were especially impressed. They loved his athleticism and his character. He signed a huge rookie contract (six years, $56 million) and kept getting huge bonuses as they asked him to restructure a couple of times. 

With his draft status and contract, the pressure was on. 

His progress was okay his first couple of seasons, but not great. He was solid as a rookie, playing right defensive end and though he had just four sacks he led the team in pressures.

It seems 2009 was a step back in that he was not a starter in Steve Spagnuolo's defense but rather rotated with starters Leonard Little and James Hall. And while he once again led the club in hurries his season total of sacks was five and he had none in the first seven games. 

The media in St. Louis was getting on him. Television announcers mentioned that he didn't have a sack seemingly every week. Long understood the criticism and told the press, "Some of it (the criticism) is valid. It's our job and as an individual. I've gotta put more pressure on the quarterback." 

The pressure was still on.

Finally, in the eighth week, he got off the schneid recording his first sack. Prior to that, he went 16 straight games without a sack dating back to the previous season. 

At the end of the season, he started at left end in place of an injured Little and seemed to have found his place on the strong side of the line. He saw the field and was making more big plays. He was finally looking like he'd play up to his draft status. 

And he did.

The pressures were on.

In 2010, secure at left end, he played well, and often. Analytics sites like Football Outsiders (FO) and Pro Football Focus (PFF) posted articles on his consistent pressure on quarterbacks—he was tied for third in  "disruptions" according to PFF and FO had him with the most "knockdowns plus hurries" in the NFL though they didn't agree on the number. And neither agreed with the pressure total that the Rams coaches tallied through grading the film. Regardless, it was a lot of pressures and it got him notice.

And though he played until the end of the season with a bad ankle he had another excellent season in 2011, though the team didn't, going 2-14. 

Long had a career-high 13.0 sacks and again the analytics sites had him among the league leaders in hurries/pressures/disruptions with PFF having him as the league leader with 83.  

His being among league leaders in pressures is something that would continue through the 2013 season. He didn't make the Pro Bowl but was an alternate, something else that would continue through 2013. 

Then came the injuries. 

In 2014 and 2015 he missed significant time—he hurt an ankle in 2014 and had a bone fracture in his right knee. The injuries spelled the end of his career as a Ram, releasing him in February 2016. 

He wasn't going to get to play in Los Angeles, where the Rams were returning after being in St. Louis for 21 years. Long was making too much money to remain on the roster when he was getting hurt and not producing. It was the nature of the game in the salary cap era.

Long understood, "The last two years, I don’t like going backwards, but I sucked. I mean, I was hurt. That’s what happens in football sometimes, but you keep persevering." 

He signed with the Patriots where he said he learned many things under head coach Bill Belichick and he was able to bring home his first Super Bowl.

In Belichick's defense Long played multiple roles, outside linebacker, defensive end, and even a three-technique tackle in some fronts. He was pretty solid early on but become more of a nickel rusher by the end of the season. In the first half of the season while playing multiple spots he played perhaps 70-75% of the defensive snaps, and started seven of eight games but recorded just one sack.

In the second half, he played about 55-60% of the snaps and recorded four sacks, but was, once again, getting pressures. 

Long even commented on sacks versus pressures after getting a key quarterback takedown in November of 2016. He said in the post-game presser, "You want to get there (a sack) because for one you take pride in it and it helps your team and you can get all the hits and hurries you want, but people don’t see it. At the end of the day, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t matter because people look at the stat sheet."

It was a one-year stint in New England, however. 

Long finished his career playing two seasons as a nickel rusher with the Eagles, coming in at left end in likely passing situations.  he sought out the Eagles

He excelled in the role, again rolling up hurries/pressures, and in his first year in the City of Brotherly Love, he earned his second Super Bowl ring. He later said he was having a good time, "I thought winning was a lot of fun because, for eight years, I was on crap teams."

“In Philly, it was like the city just got a hold of me, so if I ever do the official retirement, something, I'll probably do it as an Eagle,” Long said in a 2020 podcast interview.

Long's enduring legacy will always be pressure and pressures. His 70 sacks are not going to catch anyone's eye but his pressures will. PFF reports that his 586 career pressures rank as 9th most in the NFL since 2006 when they began as a company. 

And during his peak (2010-13), when he was free from injury and a full-time starter, PFF credits Long with a total of 299. FO has him with 208 pressure when sacks are part of the total and Rams coaches give him credit for 211 in that span.

Stats, LLC., and NFLGSIS also have hurry/QB Hit figures that differ from the three mentioned. There isn't a way to know which total is tallied the best way in all cases, Long ranks near the top for that four-year period. 

Indeed, he conquered the pressure and had a career worth remembering.

Career stats—

Bold - led NFL

Stfs - Run/Pass tackles for loss

Prs - QB pressures (sacks, hit, hurries)

H+H - Huts plus Hurries

FO - Football Outsiders

PFF - Pro Football Focus

CO - Coaches stats from film study

NFL = NFLGSIS

Sts = Stats, LLC

NA = Not kept by coaches