and look at how few there really are
and then look at their actual numbers
what you consider pressure
of the top fifty pass rushers last season only four DT's were on Playoff Teams
and how many sacks and pressures did they really get?
And is it pass rush or just being able to push the OL back and cause pressure that way
and a fair number of DTs on that list of top 100 are with teams that are not above
average in defense
You'll have to help me out with how you're doing the math here. Between 3-4 ends and 4-3 DTs (since we are talking about 3-4 defenses) here is what I'm seeing from playoff teams as far as top 50 pass rushers go....
Chris Jones - Playoff team - 88 total pressures - 2nd in the NFL
Zach Allen - Playoff team - 81 total pressures - 6th in the NFL
Jalen Carter - Playoff team - 75 total pressures - 8th in the NFL
Kobie Turner - PLayoff team - 62 total pressures - 19th in the NFL
Nnamdi Madubuike - Playoff team - 60 total pressures - 24th in the NFL
Cam Hayward - Playoff team - 60 total pressures - 24th in the NFL
Braden Fiske - Playoff team - 59 total pressures - 28th in the NFL
Milton Williams - Playoff team - 54 total pressures - 35th in the NFL
Vita Vea - Playoff team - 53 total pressures - 35th in the NFL
John Franklin Myers - Playoff team - 53 total pressures - 40th in the NFL
Ed Oliver - Playoff team - 49 total pressures - 47th in the NFL
I could be missing some but Jarran Reed, Quinnen Williams, Leonard Williams are the only non playoff teams with interior guys in the top 50. I would also assume the collective numbers would be pretty consistent (with maybe 1 or 2 outliers) that top 10 defenses create top 10 interior pressure numbers and bottom 10 defenses create bottom 10 interior pressure numbers. I'm not taking the time to do the math on all those today, but good teams without top tier interior players typically stockpile average depth to rotate these guys.
Personally I think sack numbers, pressure numbers, and simply getting a push all factor into the equation just at different levels of importance. I used pressures for this one simply because I think its the most telling for the interior guys. If it were EDGE guys we were talking about I may look at both sacks and pressures as they are expected to get home at a highe rate. Very few guys in the middle are going to rack up 10+ sacks, but with a lot of the league transitioning to quicker timed passes over the years to try and neutralize the EDGE rushers that seem to be found in every draft with elite speed, quick interior rushers get in those throwing lanes to disrupt the timing at the very least...often times they are the reason these EDGE guys can feast because the QB can't step up in the pockets too.
I just cant think of a really good team that has skimped on interior rushers this decade. I'm sure we could come up with one, but I'm guessing not many. I always go back to DWares last year here...I swear that guy should have set the season record for sacks that season, but a lack of any push at all up the middle just let QBs step up to avoid the loss.