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Peter King
August 6, 2007
Tales from the training camp trail
First, words of praise for Pro Football Prospectus 2007, the terrific, insightful 515-page tome I've been spending far too much time with over the past six days since one of the men who wrote it, good buddy Will Carroll, handed me a copy at Colts camp last Tuesday. The research, done by Aaron Schatz and his crew at footballoutsiders.com, is exhaustive, enlightening, surprising in many cases and an absolute must-read if you like the NFL.
Second: Dwight Freeney is getting worked up over the fact that so many people question how good a year he actually had in '06, when he had an unusually low 5.5 sacks. The Colts agree, and say his pressures were a big part of any success they had on defense. (Which, until late in the season, was pretty limited.) The Prospectus charted pressures at all NFL games last year, and from this research, it appears Freeney might have a point. How they rank the top 10 players in the league in quarterback pressures in 2006:
1. Dwight Freeney, Ind., 33
2. Julius Peppers, Car., 32
3. Kyle Vanden Bosch, Tenn., 29
4. Leonard Little, St. Louis, 26
4. Aaron Schobel, Buffalo, 26
6. DeMarcus Ware, Dallas, 25
7. Aaron Kampman, GB, 24
8. Charles Grant, NO, 21
8. Jason Taylor, Miami, 21
10. Rosevelt Colvin, NE, 20
Interestingly, Prospectus also charted the
league leaders in QB knockdowns (Kampman, 35) and the top quarterbacks in being knocked down (Jon Kitna, 94). Insightful stuff.
