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By KC Joyner
ESPN Insider
(Archive)
Updated: March 13, 2008
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When I first heard about Jeffri Chadiha's story on Chuck Smith's contention that today's pass-rushers lack the technical pass-rushing skill sets of their 1990s counterparts, my first thought was to wonder how today's elite sack masters compare with best of the previous decade.
I happen to have some film from the 1990s, so I decided to see how the best pass-rushers of 2007 compare with the best rushers of the 90s.
There are seven basic pass-rushing moves (see inline box) that provide the basis for any pass-rusher's overall repertoire. Each of these techniques requires mastering a specific skill set as well as variations on the standard moves, so most pass-rushers will lean heavily on two or three techniques (or combinations of techniques) and not use the others.
The first step in the analysis is to name the five best pass-rushers from each period. When I rank pass-rushers, I lean primarily on two criteria:
1. The ability to generate one-on-one sacks (a one-on-one sack being defined as when a defender gets a sack because he beat a pass-blocker in a one-on-one blocking situation).
2. The effective usage of a wide variety of rush techniques, preferably four or more.
Using these criteria, by my estimation the top five pass-rushers in 2007 were:
1. Jared Allen
2. Patrick Kerney
3. Elvis Dumervil
4. DeMarcus Ware
5. Michael Strahan
Honorable mentions go to Shawne Merriman, Greg Ellis, Trent Cole and Justin Tuck.
My list of the top five pass-rushers from 1990-1999 consists of:
1. Reggie White
2. Bruce Smith
3. Derrick Thomas
4. Kevin Greene
5. Chris Doleman
After reviewing the tape and metric breakdowns, I found there were a number of similarities between today's players and the great players from the previous decade. They break down into four different categories.
Overall technique specialists: Allen, Doleman, Kerney, Smith and Strahan
Every one of these players showed a mastery of at least four pass-rush techniques. Allen was the best of the contemporary sackers. He had 7½ one-on-one sacks last year and he used six different moves or move combinations to put up these sacks.
Another way to illustrate Allen's skills is by pointing out that he had four sacks from speed moves and three sacks from power moves. That is a rare combination of skills and shows why Kansas City put the franchise tag on him.
Kerney had quite a strong showing in this realm as well. He did tend to lean heavily on the shoulder club/rip move, but he also picked up two sacks with a bull-rush move and one sack with a wrist club/swim move. Strahan didn't vary his moves quite as much in 2007 as he has in years past, but he still tallied a sack with three different pass-rush types.
As impressive as Allen's showing was, the player in this group with the most impressive set of pass-rush techniques had to be Smith. Smith had phenomenal size, strength, speed and power, so he wouldn't be a player expected to rely on pass-rush moves, but he used a ton of them.
Smith had many moves in his bag of tricks, which were on display during a two-game analysis I did on Smith from the 1992 season. On the eight plays when he used a bull-rush move in combination with another pass-rush technique, he did not repeat a set of moves once. That sounds incredible enough, but it doesn't even take into account Smith's multiple move variations when he wasn't bull rushing.
Doleman wasn't quite in Smith's class with play-to-play variations, but in the three games of his that I broke down, he used every pass-rush move with the exception of the swim. If today's players want to emulate someone from the past, Smith and Doleman would be terrific pass-rushing role models.
Undersized bull-rush specialists: Dumervil and Greene
The bull rush is thought to be a power move, but these two both made great use of it despite their relative lack of size (Dumervil 5-foot-11, 260 pounds; Greene 6-3, 247 pounds). Three of Dumervil's one-on-one sacks last season were the result of a bull rush and he beat offensive tackles on all three plays.
Greene was quite similar in that he used terrific hand and foot placement to get under the big blockers and push them off of their feet. It was quite a sight to see him drive through Bills right tackle Glenn Parker (6-5, 305 pounds) on his way to a sack in a 1994 game. That Greene was able to post double-digit sack totals in 10 of his 14 seasons provides ample proof as to how and why the undersized speed merchants of today should take the time to learn how to effectively use bull-rush moves.
Rush linebackers with limited moves: Thomas and Ware
These are the sorts of players who Chuck Smith is talking about. In 2007, Thomas and Ware both tended to rely heavily on their natural talents and not on moves. Ware got all of his one-on-one sacks last season with speed, outside rip and bull moves, and Thomas was quite similar in his approach.
One of the reasons Thomas may not have utilized a large number of moves is that he was able to master the hardest speed pass-rush move, the dip. The dip is a move in which the rusher makes a burst toward the corner of the pocket and lowers his inside shoulder downward. As the blocker tries to make contact with his shoulder, the rusher keeps lowering his shoulder until he reaches the corner and starts his inward turn. Once the rusher reaches that point, he brings his shoulder back up and collapses the pocket.
This move is very hard to execute because the rusher has to keep leaning downward away from the contact while still driving hard upfield to get to the corner. If it isn't done properly, the rusher can lose his balance and/or be pushed to the ground by the blocker and be taken out the play entirely. It takes tremendous speed and balance to do this move, so it is normally executed by only the best of the best.
In a class by himself: White
White is one of the few players who was able to dominate by leaning primarily on one move, the bull rush. He was able to do this because he a) had elite physical strength and b) he used this strength to create a new pass-rush move, the hump.
The hump move is really just a bull-rush move followed up with an inside shoulder club, but White was able to use that combination in a way that no one ever had before. His bull rush was so powerful that he would frequently get the offensive linemen back on their heels. When that happens, most pass-rushers will simply drive their way through the blocker, but White was so strong that he took another route.
Instead of applying his shoulder club move to the outside of the blocker's inside arm, he would drive it up underneath the armpit of the blocker's inside arm. This would then have the effect of throwing the blocker out of the way and completely opening up the rush lane.
Very few defensive linemen in NFL history have possessed dexterity and strength on the levels that White did, so this isn't a move that is usually taught to pass-rushers. That's why White was in a class by himself.
In conclusion, after looking at dozens of hours of game film, I believe that, for the most part, today's elite defensive ends do measure up to the ones from the 1990s in both overall physical skills and technique usage. None of them match up to Smith or White, but those two are among the best of all time at their respective positions, so failing to reach their level isn't a sign of inferiority.
On the other hand, today's 3-4 rush linebackers aren't quite as polished as their predecessors. Current defensive coaches would be wise to place a high emphasis on teaching these pass-rushers how to better utilize the many pass-rushing moves at their disposal.
KC Joyner, aka the Football Scientist, is a regular contributor to ESPN Insider. His 2008 releases, Scientific Football 2008 and Blindsided: Why The Left Tackle is Overrated and Other Contrarian Football Thoughts, are available for pre-order. For more, check out KC's Web site, www.thefootballscientist.com.
LINK
ESPN Insider
(Archive)
Updated: March 13, 2008
Comment
When I first heard about Jeffri Chadiha's story on Chuck Smith's contention that today's pass-rushers lack the technical pass-rushing skill sets of their 1990s counterparts, my first thought was to wonder how today's elite sack masters compare with best of the previous decade.
I happen to have some film from the 1990s, so I decided to see how the best pass-rushers of 2007 compare with the best rushers of the 90s.
There are seven basic pass-rushing moves (see inline box) that provide the basis for any pass-rusher's overall repertoire. Each of these techniques requires mastering a specific skill set as well as variations on the standard moves, so most pass-rushers will lean heavily on two or three techniques (or combinations of techniques) and not use the others.
The first step in the analysis is to name the five best pass-rushers from each period. When I rank pass-rushers, I lean primarily on two criteria:
1. The ability to generate one-on-one sacks (a one-on-one sack being defined as when a defender gets a sack because he beat a pass-blocker in a one-on-one blocking situation).
2. The effective usage of a wide variety of rush techniques, preferably four or more.
Using these criteria, by my estimation the top five pass-rushers in 2007 were:
1. Jared Allen
2. Patrick Kerney
3. Elvis Dumervil
4. DeMarcus Ware
5. Michael Strahan
Honorable mentions go to Shawne Merriman, Greg Ellis, Trent Cole and Justin Tuck.
My list of the top five pass-rushers from 1990-1999 consists of:
1. Reggie White
2. Bruce Smith
3. Derrick Thomas
4. Kevin Greene
5. Chris Doleman
After reviewing the tape and metric breakdowns, I found there were a number of similarities between today's players and the great players from the previous decade. They break down into four different categories.
Overall technique specialists: Allen, Doleman, Kerney, Smith and Strahan
Every one of these players showed a mastery of at least four pass-rush techniques. Allen was the best of the contemporary sackers. He had 7½ one-on-one sacks last year and he used six different moves or move combinations to put up these sacks.
Another way to illustrate Allen's skills is by pointing out that he had four sacks from speed moves and three sacks from power moves. That is a rare combination of skills and shows why Kansas City put the franchise tag on him.
Kerney had quite a strong showing in this realm as well. He did tend to lean heavily on the shoulder club/rip move, but he also picked up two sacks with a bull-rush move and one sack with a wrist club/swim move. Strahan didn't vary his moves quite as much in 2007 as he has in years past, but he still tallied a sack with three different pass-rush types.
As impressive as Allen's showing was, the player in this group with the most impressive set of pass-rush techniques had to be Smith. Smith had phenomenal size, strength, speed and power, so he wouldn't be a player expected to rely on pass-rush moves, but he used a ton of them.
Smith had many moves in his bag of tricks, which were on display during a two-game analysis I did on Smith from the 1992 season. On the eight plays when he used a bull-rush move in combination with another pass-rush technique, he did not repeat a set of moves once. That sounds incredible enough, but it doesn't even take into account Smith's multiple move variations when he wasn't bull rushing.
Doleman wasn't quite in Smith's class with play-to-play variations, but in the three games of his that I broke down, he used every pass-rush move with the exception of the swim. If today's players want to emulate someone from the past, Smith and Doleman would be terrific pass-rushing role models.
Undersized bull-rush specialists: Dumervil and Greene
The bull rush is thought to be a power move, but these two both made great use of it despite their relative lack of size (Dumervil 5-foot-11, 260 pounds; Greene 6-3, 247 pounds). Three of Dumervil's one-on-one sacks last season were the result of a bull rush and he beat offensive tackles on all three plays.
Greene was quite similar in that he used terrific hand and foot placement to get under the big blockers and push them off of their feet. It was quite a sight to see him drive through Bills right tackle Glenn Parker (6-5, 305 pounds) on his way to a sack in a 1994 game. That Greene was able to post double-digit sack totals in 10 of his 14 seasons provides ample proof as to how and why the undersized speed merchants of today should take the time to learn how to effectively use bull-rush moves.
Rush linebackers with limited moves: Thomas and Ware
These are the sorts of players who Chuck Smith is talking about. In 2007, Thomas and Ware both tended to rely heavily on their natural talents and not on moves. Ware got all of his one-on-one sacks last season with speed, outside rip and bull moves, and Thomas was quite similar in his approach.
One of the reasons Thomas may not have utilized a large number of moves is that he was able to master the hardest speed pass-rush move, the dip. The dip is a move in which the rusher makes a burst toward the corner of the pocket and lowers his inside shoulder downward. As the blocker tries to make contact with his shoulder, the rusher keeps lowering his shoulder until he reaches the corner and starts his inward turn. Once the rusher reaches that point, he brings his shoulder back up and collapses the pocket.
This move is very hard to execute because the rusher has to keep leaning downward away from the contact while still driving hard upfield to get to the corner. If it isn't done properly, the rusher can lose his balance and/or be pushed to the ground by the blocker and be taken out the play entirely. It takes tremendous speed and balance to do this move, so it is normally executed by only the best of the best.
In a class by himself: White
White is one of the few players who was able to dominate by leaning primarily on one move, the bull rush. He was able to do this because he a) had elite physical strength and b) he used this strength to create a new pass-rush move, the hump.
The hump move is really just a bull-rush move followed up with an inside shoulder club, but White was able to use that combination in a way that no one ever had before. His bull rush was so powerful that he would frequently get the offensive linemen back on their heels. When that happens, most pass-rushers will simply drive their way through the blocker, but White was so strong that he took another route.
Instead of applying his shoulder club move to the outside of the blocker's inside arm, he would drive it up underneath the armpit of the blocker's inside arm. This would then have the effect of throwing the blocker out of the way and completely opening up the rush lane.
Very few defensive linemen in NFL history have possessed dexterity and strength on the levels that White did, so this isn't a move that is usually taught to pass-rushers. That's why White was in a class by himself.
In conclusion, after looking at dozens of hours of game film, I believe that, for the most part, today's elite defensive ends do measure up to the ones from the 1990s in both overall physical skills and technique usage. None of them match up to Smith or White, but those two are among the best of all time at their respective positions, so failing to reach their level isn't a sign of inferiority.
On the other hand, today's 3-4 rush linebackers aren't quite as polished as their predecessors. Current defensive coaches would be wise to place a high emphasis on teaching these pass-rushers how to better utilize the many pass-rushing moves at their disposal.
KC Joyner, aka the Football Scientist, is a regular contributor to ESPN Insider. His 2008 releases, Scientific Football 2008 and Blindsided: Why The Left Tackle is Overrated and Other Contrarian Football Thoughts, are available for pre-order. For more, check out KC's Web site, www.thefootballscientist.com.
LINK
