Cincinnati Bengals: Takeaways and reactions from Week 1 vs. Colts

Pressure Isn’t Just Sacks

Traditionally, when people think about a defense getting pressure on a quarterback, they think of sacks. It makes sense, of course: taking down the quarterback for a loss of yardage and putting them one step closer to a punt is a big deal.

Sacks are not everything when discussing the idea of pressure however, and a team can cause plenty of havoc without ever actually taking down the opposing signal-caller. Just think about how many times a quarterback ends up throwing an errant pass for an incompletion or even interception because he has a hand in his face or he feels enemies closing in on him; it may not be a sack, but it is an impactful outcome nonetheless.

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There are plenty of deep analytics which focus on pressure rate, but even checking just the box score can show you areas which may also pertain to it as well. Look at QB hits, tackles for loss, and –particularly for defensive linemen — pass knockdowns (a.k.a.: passes defensed, or PDs) and you can see a picture of a guy who is consistently being forced into uncomfortable situations.

Cincinnati’s game against Indianapolis is a great example of this. Despite Andrew Luck dropping back to pass 56 times and throwing 53 passes, the Bengals had just two sacks. That’s low, but the game-planning of the Colts’ new-look offense (one which emphasizes Luck getting the ball out quickly) made it close to impossible on most plays for even this talented Cincinnati defensive line rotation to have much hope of putting him on the ground.

That’s where the other pressure stats come in. To go with the two sacks, Cincinnati had 6.5 tackles for loss, nine QB hits and one defensive lineman pass knockdown. The tackles for loss show us a team capable of penetrating into the backfield. The quarterback hits show us that Luck was getting hit often, which isn’t as good as sacks but could still have a negative effect on Luck throughout the game. The pass knockdown (by Carlos Dunlap) showed that even getting the ball out fast wasn’t a cure-all for the pressure being forced by the defensive line.

All of this non-sack pressure helped Cincinnati win a road game to open their year. Oh and for those who want higher sack numbers, don’t fret: getting pressure even without sacks is usually a good indicator for future sacks, so it could be only a matter of time for that deep and talented defensive line rotation in Cincinnati begins to break through more often.