The Value of a Pass Rush

The NFL is full of clichés, but there might not be any as tired as “the game is won and lost in the trenches.” The calling card of self proclaimed old school coaches, it is typically used to suggest that a team needs to toughen up, that they need to get back to pounding the ball on offense and blowing back the line on defense. It usually means nothing, but it makes for a good soundbite.

In recent years there has been quite a bit of blowback to this phrase. Some of it has come as people have realized that everyone who says it is full of shit, but mostly it has fallen out of favor as the league has transitioned to a more pass heavy game. The one place it still receives some recognition is on the defensive side of the ball, where the most important players on the field are those who can pressure the quarterback. Seven of the ten highest paid defensive players in the league are defensive lineman or pass rushing outside linebackers. Teams trying to improve defensively usually start up front.

Pass rushing is the most important part of the defense, yet it may still be a bit underrated. Just last night we witnessed a game between two of the most surprising teams in the NFL, the Dolphins and the Bills. These teams have found success this year thanks to their defenses, third and fourth in the league in DVOA respectively. Looking at these units, it’s hard to see anything particularly impressive in the back seven. Brent Grimes is a solid cornerback, but he isn’t an elite player by any means. Buffalo lost their best linebacker Kiko Alonso to a torn ACL and their best defensive back Jairus Byrd to free agency, yet their defense is playing at the same level it did last year.

The best players on these teams are along their defensive front. This isn’t news to anyone. In Miami Cameron Wake had a slightly disappointing 2013 season, but he’s been one of the best pass rushers in the league ever since coming down from the CFL. He’s only been helped by the presence of developing star Olivier Vernon, whose performance has eased the pain of the struggles of top five selection Dion Jordan.

Buffalo is even deeper across the front. Mario Williams is overrated and overpaid, but he is still an above average pass rusher. Jerry Hughes has resurrected his career after flaming out in Indianapolis, and Kyle Williams is the same superstar he’s been for the past five years. But the player who has really put them over the top is Marcell Dareus. Dareus is a cautionary example not to form judgments on players too early in their careers. After his second year there were some calling him a bust, and even a strong third season did little to quiet the doubters. This year has shut them all up, as he has played at a level up there with any defensive tackle in the league. Suddenly he is no longer the bust drafted between Von Miller and AJ Green. If he keeps playing at this level, his name will belong right beside the other superstars of the 2011 draft.

We knew that Buffalo and Miami would have dominant defensive lines coming into the season, but we didn’t expect much from the other parts of their defense. And while players like Corey Graham and Jelani Jenkins have had surprisingly strong seasons, for the most part we were right in dismissing these units. Where we went wrong was in underestimating the value of a defensive line. Just as a great quarterback can cover flaws on the offensive side of the ball, a strong pass rush can turn a mediocre defense into a dominant one.

Miami and Buffalo aren’t the only examples of this we are seeing this year. Two more of the NFL’s biggest surprises, Detroit and Kansas City, can be looked at in the same way. The Lions are the exact opposite of the team we expected coming into this season. Their offense has struggled, but behind the top ranked defense in the league they have pushed their way to a 7-2 record and the lead in the NFC North. DeAndre Levy is great, but beyond that there isn’t much to love about their back seven. Like Buffalo and Miami, their strength is in their front four.

Ndamukong Suh has swallowed planets since he entered the league, and he has been every bit as dominant this year as in the past. Nick Fairley has returned to his 2012 form after disappointing last season, but the real difference has come with the emergence of Ziggy Ansah. The fifth overall selection last year, Ansah entered the league as raw as they come. His game still has a lot of room for refinement, but his raw skills are enough to turn him into a dangerous pass rushing force. With a secondary filled with players like James Ihedigbo and Rashean Mathis, it’s fair to say that the only reason for Detroit’s defensive success is their ability to stuff the run and get after the passer.

No team makes a better example for the value of a pass rush than Kansas City. A playoff team last year, most expected them to regress and miss the postseason this time around. Most of the reason for this was how they finished down the stretch last year, winning only two of their final seven games as their defense plummeted from its early season dominance. Most people saw this fall as natural regression after a cakewalk schedule through the first nine weeks. This certainly played a part, but their performance this year suggests that a much bigger factor was the injury that limited the effectiveness of star pass rusher Justin Houston.

Houston was part of a talented group of stars that pushed Kansas City to a 9-0 run to start 2013. Along with Tamba Hali, Derrick Johnson, Dontari Poe, and Eric Berry he represented the defense that many at the beginning of the season thought was the best in the league. Down the stretch this defense fell apart, finishing only ninth in defensive DVOA. Every one of their stars stopped playing in the dominant manner they were at the beginning of the season. It appears now that, at least in the case of Houston, this was simply the result of injury. A healthy Houston has been a monster this year, leading the league with 12 sacks. The rest of Kansas City’s defense is not what they appeared to be early last season, but Houston’s dominance as a pass rusher is keeping them afloat and keeping the team in the playoff hunt.

We see a similar trend on the other end of the spectrum. Several of the most disappointing teams in the league have faltered because of a diminished pass rush. The entire NFC South would fit into this category. Tampa Bay threw a huge sum of money at free agent Michael Johnson, who has produced a total of two sacks. The defense that was supposed to be the strength of their team is sitting 28^th in the league. Carolina’s defense has plummeted from third in DVOA last year to 29^th this year thanks to the suspension of Greg Hardy and the ineffectiveness of Charles Johnson. Neither New Orleans nor Atlanta expected to have dominant pass rushes, but they both thought they would be better than the dreadful performances they have put together so far. The struggles across the defensive line are the number one reason every team in this division has a losing record.

That brings me to the final team I want to talk about: the Seattle Seahawks. It’s difficult to call a 6-3 team a disappointment, but for a team that came into the season at the top of the league in nearly everyone’s mind, they have certainly had their share of struggles this year. It doesn’t have anything to do with their offense. They’re one of the best rushing teams in the league, and Russell Wilson is only playing slightly below the level he established last year. On defense they are third in DVOA against the run, but they are only fourteenth against the pass.

 

While still above average, this is a sharp drop for a team that has built their reputation around the ability to stop teams from throwing the ball. The secondary that has garnered so much attention is intact and (mostly) healthy, but they haven’t shut down opposing quarterbacks anywhere close to the way they did last season. By now you know where I’m going with this, so I’ll just get right to it. Seattle’s defense is struggling because their pass rush has disappeared.

The key to Seattle’s defensive front last season was depth. They ran through seven or eight linemen on a regular basis, letting talented pass rushers like Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett come off the bench. But during this offseason they had to part ways with Chris Clemons and Red Bryant, forcing these depth players into starting roles. They are still both fantastic players, but their impacts have lessened as they’ve been forced to remain on the field play after play. Last season Seattle had seven lineman who logged more than 40 percent of the snaps on defense. This year they have four. That has been the biggest piece of their fall from seventh in the league in adjusted sack rate to 28^th, and it remains the biggest issue they need to fix if they hope to return to last year’s dominant defensive form.

The ability to rush the passer is one of the most valued skills in the NFL, but it is also somehow underrated. The defensive line shapes the defense in ways other units simply can't, and a strong pass rush can carry a defense to the top of the league simply on its own. It is common when evaluating NFL teams to judge their offense through the lens of their quarterback, while the defense is evaluated more as a cohesive unit. As the league continues to adapt rules to make life easier for quarterbacks and receivers, we may approach the point where a pass rush is every bit as essential to a defense as a quarterback is to an offense.