Patriots-Packers Takeaways, Metrics: Trey Flowers Ramps Up Pass Rush

By Doug Kyed
November 5, 2018

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers wasn’t quite himself Sunday night due in large part to pressure brought on by the New England Patriots’ front seven.

Sure, Rodgers still threw for 259 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, but he completed just 55.8 percent of his passes in the Packers’ 31-17 loss to the Patriots. The Patriots had their best pass rush performance since Week 1, generating 26 total pressures on 51 passing snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.

The Patriots pressured Rodgers on 46.8 percent of dropbacks. He was the fourth-most pressured quarterback in Week 9. Rodgers went just 6-of-18 for 83 yards with a touchdown, a sack and seven throwaways while facing pressure.

Check out this week’s takeaways and metrics. All stats are via PFF.

PASS RUSH
DE Trey Flowers: .5 sack, seven hurries
DE Adrian Clayborn: .5 sack, three hurries
DE Deatrich Wise: two QB hits, hurry
LB Dont’a Hightower: three hurries
DT Lawrence Guy: two hurries
DE Keionta Davis: two hurries
FS Devin McCourty: hurry
LB Kyle Van Noy: hurry
LB Elandon Roberts: hurry
DT Adam Butler: hurry

— Flowers and Clayborn shared the Patriots’ only sack. Flowers generated his most total pressures on the season with eight.
— Clayborn brought his four pressures on only 14 pass-rush snaps. Flowers’ eight pressures came on 44 snaps.
— Van Noy has primarily been used as a pass rusher this season, but he took on a bigger role in coverage Week 9. Hightower, meanwhile, increased his pass-rush snaps.
— The Patriots dared the Packers to run, which meant a larger share of snaps for Butler. He’s still having trouble generating pressure this season.

PASS COVERAGE
CB Jason McCourty: three catches on six targets, 60 yards, two PBUs
CB Jonathan Jones: 5-5, 47 yards, TD
SS Patrick Chung: 4-6, 43 yards, TD
LB Kyle Van Noy: 5-5, 40 yards
CB JC Jackson: 2-4, 32 yards
CB Stephon Gilmore: 2-4, 15 yards, PBU
LB Dont’a Hightower: 1-2, 12 yards
FS Devin McCourty: 1-2, 5 yards
DE Trey Flowers: 1-1, 5 yards

— Gilmore is playing at an elite level. He’s allowing just 18.5 yards per game over his last six contests. He also hasn’t let up a touchdown in his last six games. He mostly matched up with Packers wide receiver Davante Adams on Sunday. Van Noy, Jones, Jackson and Devin McCourty also let up catches to Adams. Jones allowed his touchdown to Adams.
— Jason McCourty let up a 51-yard catch to Marquez Valdes-Scantling but otherwise had a good game. It’s tough to look past a 51-yard gain, but it’s the truth.
— Devin McCourty had his third straight strong effort. Patriots fans will probably still complain about him.

RUN DEFENSE
DE Trey Flowers: three stops
LB Kyle Van Noy: two stops
SS Patrick Chung: two stops
LB John Simon: two stops
DE Adrian Clayborn: two stops, missed tackle
DT Malcom Brown: stop, missed tackle
CB Jason McCourty: stop, two missed tackles
LB Dont’a Hightower: stop, missed tackle
DT Adam Butler: stop

— Since the Patriots were daring the Packers to run, Lawrence Guy and Danny Shelton took on smaller roles. Guy played his smallest share of snaps all season. Shelton was on the field for just 10 plays.
— The Packers ran the ball 25 times for 118 yards. All of those plays were wins for the Patriots since it was taking the ball out of Rodgers’ hands.

PASSING EFFICIENCY
— Of Brady’s 13 incompletions, one was dropped and one was thrown away.
— Wide receiver Julian Edelman had the drop.
— Brady was 2-of-5 for 62 yards on passes of 20 yards or more.
— Josh Gordon led the Patriots with 130 receiving yards on five catches. There were still some moments when Brady and Gordon didn’t seem on the same page, but the big wideout more than made up for it with a 55-yard touchdown catch and run.

PASS PROTECTION
RG Ted Karras: sack
WR Josh Gordon: hurry
LT Trent Brown: hurry
C David Andrews: hurry

— Among players who received pass-protection snaps, left guard Joe Thuney, right tackle Marcus Cannon, tight end Dwayne Allen, running back James White, wide receiver Chris Hogan, offensive tackle LaAdrian Waddle, fullback James Develin and running back Kenjon Barner were clean on the stat sheet.
— The Patriots’ offensive line, for the most part, did a nice job of keeping Brady clean. Brady had his third fastest release of the season, however, throwing the ball in 2.34 seconds, on average.
— Brady was the least pressured quarterback per snap in the NFL in Week 9.

RUSHING ATTACK
WR Cordarrelle Patterson: two forced missed tackles, 3.54 yards after contact per carry
RB Kenjon Barner: 2 yards after contact per carry
RB James White: 1.33 yards after contact per carry
WR Julian Edelman: 1 yard after contact per carry

— Patterson carried the ball 11 times for 61 yards with a long run of 17 yards. The Patriots might be on to something with Patterson in the backfield.
— Rookie running back Sony Michel should be back soon. The Patriots proved they could beat a good opponent with Patterson, White and Barner, however, if he misses more time this season.

NFL 2018 Midseason All-Pro Team

October 30, 2018
By Michael Renner

We are eight weeks into the 2018 season, which means it’s time for some midseason awards. Let’s get right to it with PFF’s All-Pro team at the halfway point of the 2018 NFL season.

QB – Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints – 92.1 Overall Grade

HONORABLE MENTION: Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs

The Saints QB is simply not missing throws. On his 254 dropbacks, he’s been downgraded only 23 times. One can see how much of an outlier that is when compared to other MVP candidates like Patrick Mahomes (33) and Jared Goff (38). Unsurprisingly, his 84.8 adjusted completion percentage would be far and away a PFF single-season record.

RB – Kareem Hunt, Kansas City Chiefs – 79.6 Overall Grade

HONORABLE MENTION: Melvin Gordon, Los Angeles Chargers

Hunt had a bit of a slow start, but over the past handful of weeks, no one has been close to the Chiefs back. His 33 broken tackles on 134 carries are the most in the NFL, and his 88.2 elusive rating ranks second to Steelers running back James Conner.

WR – Adam Thielen, Minnesota Vikings – 91.2 Overall Grade

HONORABLE MENTION: Julio Jones, Atlanta Falcons

Thielen’s consistency is reaching rarified air at this point. Six of his eight games so far have received grades of 80.0 or higher with two eclipsing 90.0. His 95 targets are eight more than any other receiver in the NFL, and even at such a high rate, Kirk Cousins has a passer rating of 123.9 when throwing Thielen’s way.

WR – DeAndre Hopkins, Houston Texans – 90.3 Overall Grade

HONORABLE MENTION: Michael Thomas, New Orleans Saints

Not only does Hopkins belong here statistically, but his highlight reel is also at an All-Pro level this season. He’s made 14 contested catches – the most in the NFL – on only 23 attempts, and his one-handed grab against Miami (that, unfortunately, didn’t count) was easily the catch of the season.

TE – George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers – 84.2 Overall Grade

HONORABLE MENTION: Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs

There has been no more complete tight end in the NFL this season than Kittle. Travis Kelce and Zach Ertz may have more yards, but neither hold a candle to Kittle as a blocker. The 49ers tight end is ranked fourth at the position in receiving and run blocking.

FLEX – Tyreek Hill, Kansas City Chiefs – 85.7 Overall Grade

HONORABLE MENTION: Odell Beckham Jr., New York Giants

There’s no more dangerous deep threat in the NFL today, and it’s not up for debate. Hill’s 309 deep receiving yards are the second-most in the league, and he’d be on top if not for an end zone drop against the Bengals.

LT – David Bakhtiari, Green Bay Packers – 89.5 Overall Grade

HONORABLE MENTION: Terron Armstead, New Orleans Saints

Bakhtiari is the preeminent pass-protecting tackle in the NFL today. His 94.3 pass-block grade is far and away tops in the league. On 349 snaps in pass-pro, Bakhtiari has allowed only one sack, one hit and seven hurries.

LG – Rodger Saffold, Los Angeles Rams – 79.2 Overall Grade

HONORABLE MENTION: Will Hernandez, New York Giants

Listed at 6-5, 323 pounds, Saffold has always been a people mover, and that’s no different this season. He’s earned the top run-block grade among all guards. No guard in the NFL has more positively graded blocks than Saffolrd’s 38.

C – Jason Kelce, Philadelphia Eagles – 81.0 Overall Grade

HONORABLE MENTION: Matt Paradis, Denver Broncos

Yet another All-Pro nod for Kelce, who is still at the top of his game. Once a player known as a liability in pass protection, Kelce has allowed only five pressures all season long and has the third-highest pass-block grade at the position.

RG – Austin Blythe, Los Angeles Rams – 80.3 Overall Grade

HONORABLE MENTION: Shaq Mason, New England Patriots

The Rams’ offensive line somehow has gotten better from a season ago, and this man is the biggest catalyst behind that. The third-year guard that the Rams got for nothing after he was waived by the Colts last year has been a revelation. His 72.9 run-block grade ranks fifth among all guards while his 84.5 pass-blocking grade is eighth.

RT Ryan Ramczyk, New Orleans Saints – 86.5 Overall Grade

HONORABLE MENTION: Rob Havenstein, Los Angeles Rams

Other right tackles have higher grades in pass protection, but Ramczyk’s 83.3 run-block grade – the second-highest among all tackles – gives him the edge. Oh, and he’s also only allowed four pressures all season long in pass protection.

Ravens vs. Panthers: OG Marshal Yanda, CB Tavon Young receive top scores from Pro Football Focus

By Nathan Beaucage
October 31, 2018

Sunday’s game was one the Baltimore Ravens would like to forget, as the team fell to the Carolina Panthers in a disappointing 21-36 defeat. Though it was a dismal all-around performance for the Ravens, the team of analysts over at Pro Football Focus nonetheless identified two Ravens as bright spots in their weekly postgame grades report.

On offense, it was offensive guard Marshal Yanda who got top marks with an overall grade of 76.0. Yanda was particularly impressive in run blocking, posting an 81.5 grade in that category—his second highest-graded performance this season. In pass protection, it was business as usual for the 12th-year lineman (who hasn’t allowed a sack since October 2015), as he posted a commendable 76.0 grade in that area.

On the other side of the ball, cornerback Tavon Young had the best day of any Baltimore player with a 91.0 overall grade. Though the third-year cornerback wasn’t called on often — registering just 25 snaps — he certainly made the most of them. While he had a fine day defending the pass, earning a 90.0 grade in coverage—his highest this season—and allowing one catch for -2 yards on two targets, Young also made some savvy tackles for the Ravens. Young had three tackles on the day, all of which counted as defensive stops—a stat that Pro Football Focus defines as “tackles that constitute a “loss” for the offense.” For his efforts on the ground, Young received a 79.6 tackling grade.