Defensive line..Stop the man crushes..

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by GhettoDogAllStars

Here's some good stats regarding defensive lines:

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Football analysis and NFL stats for the Moneyball era - Authors of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

GTripp will be able to explain these stats better than me ... I know he frequents this site.

Anyways, the data shows our defensive line was ranked 17th last year overall. That puts us above NE, SD, GB, JAX, and DEN, as well as others.

Interestingly enough, those stats rank us #1 last year in the 10+ category -- a measure of LB performance.

ALY is a great tool to see how the defensive line (and linebackers) are doing independent of big plays downfield, and adjusted for the quality of competition they face. You can look at it, and realize the total product of our DL last year was remarkably average against the run, and below average in pressuring the QB.

ALY is very limited in it's ability to dictate where the weaknesses on the DL are.

Other data I've seen suggests that LE was our biggest weakness against the run last year (the Daniels/Evans/M. Washington/Wilson combination), while the pass rush from Daniels was poor both from the LE position, and on the interior when he replaced Monty in pass rushing downs. Griffin was quietly very good last year, but it was pretty much him, Carter, and Monty getting all the production last year, and Monty didn't play enough to offset the lack of production from the rest of the guys. But again, that's not ALY speaking, that's the consensus opinion I've gathered from a bunch of other sources.