Offenses try to avoid it, defenses battle to create it. Big money is spent on offensive players who prevent it, and defensive players who provide it. Of course we’re talking about pressure, and no one charts and quantifies it as well as PFF.
We know that it’s important for defenses to pressure the quarterback, but PFF has been the first to put numbers to our intuitive football knowledge. This entire series will take a look at how quarterbacks fare when pressured from various points on the field, but to start, let’s take a look at the broad scope of quarterback performance when they’re pressured as opposed to playing within a clean pocket.
QB Performance Under Pressure
How important is pressure? This chart is pretty revealing, as the statistical difference between pressured and un-pressured quarterbacks is drastic.
Pressure vs. No Pressure 2012:
[table id=810 /]
Pressure vs. No Pressure Five-year (2008-2012):
[table id=812/]
In 2012, when throwing from a clean pocket, quarterbacks notched a QB Rating of 95.0 — but that number drops to 59.3 with defenders in their face. To put that into perspective, Drew Brees had a QB Rating of 96.3 last season and Brady Quinn came in at 60.1. So, loosely defined, putting pressure on a the average NFL quarterback can turn him from Brees into Quinn. Of course QB Rating is not the greatest barometer, but it’s a fine indication of the impact of pressuring the quarterback.
Among the other notables statistics, Accuracy Percentage takes a huge hit, as does yards per attempt, which is often used as the ultimate measure for the passing game. Even though quarterbacks face pressure on only a little over 31% of the time, the difference in their performance is astronomical.
Beyond the traditional stats, of course, lies our very own PFF Grade that assesses the quality of every play of a quarterback’s season. How do they fare in a cumulative look?
PFF Grading:
[table id=813 /]
Nothing ground-breaking here; quarterbacks are much more effective when given time to throw and our PFF Grades back this up.
How does depth of target compare when quarterbacks are pressured?
Average Depth of Target:
[table id=814 /]
Interestingly enough, quarterbacks throw the ball farther downfield when under heat. These numbers are likely skewed because of screen passes which very rarely face pressure and bring the average depth of target down significantly.
What does a QB end up doing most often when under pressure?
Actions Under Pressure:
[table id=815 /]
Again, not much is surprising here. Quarterbacks who are pressured are more likely to scramble and, obviously, they can’t be sacked if they’re not facing pressure.
Check Page 2 for a look at where the pressure comes from…
Where is the Pressure Coming From?
Now that we’ve established a baseline, let’s look into it even further. Does the direction of the pressure affect the quarterback in different ways? We’ve all grown up to believe that the left tackle is the most important pass protector on the offensive line (assuming a right-handed thrower), but does that hold true? It was such an intriguing concept that it deserved its very own breakdown that will be posted in the coming days.
Beyond the left tackle’s importance, we often hear of quarterbacks who struggled “with pressure in their face”. We will soon reveal numbers on individual quarterbacks, but for now, let’s start by taking a look at the NFL as a whole.
Pressure Surrendered by Position 2012:
[table id=817 /]
Pressure Surrendered by Position Five-year (2008-2012):
[table id=816 /]
There’s a lot to digest here, but I’ll hit on some of the main points. The left tackle vs. right tackle debate is probably closer than our intuitive football knowledge would have you believe. Although quarterbacks struggled more with pressure coming from the left tackle in 2012, the numbers between the two positions are extremely close over time.
As expected, pressure coming from the center resulted in the worst quarterback play, and this makes sense given their close proximity, but pressure surrendered by guards led to the two highest yards per attempt numbers of the group and a very high touchdown rate. Of course the interception rate is also higher as guard pressure led to big plays, for better or for worse, in 2012. Obviously, with multiple pressures quarterback performance takes a steep decline.
PFF Rating
[table id=818 /]
Using our grades, quarterbacks struggle with pressure that comes from the tackles as opposed to the interior. Again, the difference between left and right tackle pressure is not as drastic as some may think, and pressure that comes from right tackle actually produces worse results for quarterbacks. Similarly, pressure from the right guard has been more difficult for quarterbacks than pressure from the left guard. The left/right differences held true both in 2012 and over the course of the five-year study.
Average Depth of Target
[table id=819 /]
Adding context to the numbers above, average depth of target gives us some insight into the difficulty of a quarterback’s throws. The lowest number, both in 2012 and historically, comes from right tackle pressure, further piquing our interest when comparing to left tackle, which came in 0.5 yards per attempt longer in 2012 and 0.8 yards per attempt longer over the past five years. Quarterbacks generally get the ball downfield a bit more when pressured up the middle.
Actions Under Pressure
[table id=820 /]
The previous table revealed the obvious: quarterbacks scramble under pressure. When broken down by position, however, we see some interesting 2012 numbers. Pressure from right tackle resulted in a higher percentage of sacks than did pressure from left tackle. Again, football intuition tells us that the quarterbacks “can’t see” pressure coming from the left tackle and should therefore be more vulnerable to sacks and knockdowns. That was not the case in 2012, though it’s the first year out of our five that showed the trend. In the five-year study, pressure from left tackle results in a higher sack percentage, but the difference between left and right tackle is still only 1.2%. Was 2012 the beginning of a new trend or just an anomaly?
Recap
We still have a ton of data to sift through, but this gives us a general overview of pressure’s effect on the quarterback. Regardless of where the pressure originates, the stats drastically shift in favor of the defense when heat is placed on the opposing signal-caller. We’ll take it a step further and dive into these numbers for individual quarterbacks to find trends that will show us each player’s strengths and weaknesses.
Next up, we’ll take a look at the left and right tackle positions to determine if the league’s best pass protectors do truly reside on the left side, and if that’s the best strategy in the NFL as the league moves forward.
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