Sunday, 5 December 2010

Rams' Chris Long Is Piling Up the QB Pressures

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The emergence of rookie quarterback Sam Bradford and rookie left tackle Roger Saffold have played a large part in getting the Rams into the playoff hunt in the NFC West. But another top 5 pick has played a more quiet role in the Rams' turnaround.

Defensive end Chris Long, the Rams' 2008 first-round pick pictured right laying a hit on 49ers QB Troy Smith, had a relatively quiet first two years in St. Louis. He picked up nine sacks combined in his first two years and generally didn't make much of an impact.

If you look at his sack stats, you may not notice that Long is much improved. He's recorded 6.5 sacks this year, up from last year's five. But if you dig a little deeper as Football Outsiders has done, you see that he is making a significant impact. In FO's stats for quarterback hurries, Long leads all pass rushers with 3.7 hurries per game. It's a pretty impressive rate, as the difference between Long and the second-best in the league (Cameron Wake) is the same as the difference between Wake and the league's ninth best at hurries.

Wake is another of the league's best young pass rushers. In addition to being second in the league in hurries, Wake is second in the league with 10.5 sacks. He also ranks first in the league in holding calls induced.

The FO ancillary pass-rushing stats are well worth digging into, as many of the names are expected, but some are quite unexpected as well.

 

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