Blitzes on Ben

I don't know where we stand on Ben's sacks-per-game (or perhaps sacks-per-passing-play would be better) but I found this mildly interesting stat on ESPN's "by the numbers" for tomorrow's game:

[FONT=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Given that, according to NFL.com, Ben is #4 on the sacked list, I guess this means the line is so porous opposing teams don't feel they need to blitz??[/FONT]

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It probably has more to do with Haley's pass plays. When you're consistently throwing behind the line of scrimmage there isn't enough time for a pass rusher to reach the qb. That's why I laughed when they showed the stat about Ben's decrease in sacks stats during the Carolina game. Haley hasn't reinvented the wheel as an OC. It's just a large portion of our passes don't cross the LOS in the air. During that Carolina game we literally didn't throw a pass past the LOS until the two minute warning when Ben went to the no huddle.

 

When I said #4 on the list, I meant he had the 4th *most* sacks, not least: despite having the fewest number of blitzes, he was sacked 11 times this year. Now if opposing D's not not blitzing because of all the bubble screens... well I suppose that makes sense (at least to my unsophisticated f-ball sense).

 

Do you happen to know if most of those sacks come when he's running the no huddle or when he Haley is calling the plays? That would be interesting to know.

 

Are OT'S are not very good that's the end of story . No need to blitz just cover for a few seconds and you can beat them.

That's why we have the quick passing game , because we must have 1.

 

Agreed. Beachum is only starting because he is marginally better than Adams, and Adams is horrible. Gilbert is also only slightly better than Adams, although Adams is better on the right side than left, so Gilbert is perhaps marginally better than Beachum (I have no metrics for this analysis).

I don't see why we paid Gilbert all that money. He CAN be very good, but he can also be very bad. No consistency whatsoever. I was risky givnig him the contract.

Beachum won't be resigned to a starter LT contract I guarentee. We will find a new one pretty soon, and move Beachum to his natural backup role. Maybe LG to replace Foster down the road. We will see.

 

Rogers has one more sack according to what I read... also a passer rating of 114.8 vs 99.4 .... guess a steady diet of field goals will do that to ya

 

Interesting sure, but wouldn't that come under the heading of "information not publicly available"? I mean they could have a progression set up right? Or haley could call his own audible to Ben before the hike.

 

People love saying this stuff about Haley's offence, but do you realize Ben averages more yards per pass attempt than Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Nick Foles, Joe Flacco, Jay Cutler, etc. He just barely falls outside the top 10. So in other words, we don't pass short nearly as much as some claim, in fact, we go down field more than the average QB does, including QB's who are known to stretch the field like Brees and Cutler

 

He also has less attempts than most of those guys. He averages longer passes per throw than many of those guys on that list as well, although perhaps not as many attempts over 20 yards. It seems obvious to me that we're not throwing behind the line of scrimmage nearly as much as some people think, otherwise Ben would be near the bottom of the league in yards per attempt, especially considering he's apparently not throwing for over 20 yards as often as other QB's (if he was, that would help inflate his yards per attempt number). Clearly he's throwing a lot of intermediate passes based on the stats

 

as I see it we throw short to the outsides as a game plan. we have wr's that can make things happen out there. it does protect ben and it does protect our O-line. it also allows our O-lines strengths to be used as they are a more mobile unit than they are a strength unit. it makes defenses have to cover the boundries and run to the ball. it opens the middle of the field up to run easier, tires out the defense having to chase, and basically allows us to use what the defense has to give us.

as we do this it opens up weaknesses in the defense that we can take advantage of short middle, throws to the RB's, throws to the TE's and when they guess wrong deep throws in the 15-20 yard range and above. we seem to get in trouble when we get to conservative or want to get in a hurry to force deeper throws than play to our strengths. or should I say go to the well to often forcing whats working instead of what the defense gives us on any given down.

I'd say if we stick to the plan and stick with having to play to the defenses weakness on any given play and ben or TH don't try to force the defense into something they are not giving us because of down and distance our offense works well. that's why penalties kill us. it takes this type of offense out of our hands and puts it in the defenses hands and we are not a strong enough unit to play that way all game. we have to be the ones dictating the game not the defense.

we also haven't had our full arsenal of offense on the field yet. once Bryant and dri and moore become a bigger part of this offense in practice and on game day we will see defenses have an even harder time covering the whole field.

we need to stay patient and so does ben and todd in running this O. we have the weapons to keep them off balance, protect ben and the O-line. we will never nor should we ever become a run team or a pass team in the traditional sense but a team that keeps teams guessing which should make us a balanced team. this team right now isn't about records in the pass or run game. 1,000, yard receivers or 1,000 yard rushers are not that important.

having bell get those yards as all purpose yards means more than 100 yard games rushing. overall yardage per game is what we are more effective at as an offense, but we have to make those yards count with scoring at the end.

 

By the way, Big Ben leads the league with 11 passes of 25+ yards. So he goes deep more than every single QB in the league.

 

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/team-big-play-statistics/2014/

There's one source. It was also listed on the CBS pre-game show today

 

That list includes screens etc that end up going for explosive plays. You can sort through their charts and you'll see we average under 4 yards through the air.