Originally posted on 01/10/2018:

Quote Originally Posted by shivaseven View Post
Here's league-wide statistics on defenses vs running quarterbacks. Much of the talk this week has been on BR and his lack of mobility and how the JAG defense will feed on that, but what if the STEELERS completely shutdown Bortles running game. Can you imagine how the Buffalo numbers would have looked if he only had 10 yards rushing. Having said that the Bills were at the top of the league for rushing yards allowed to quarterbacks.




2017 Team Defense Stats Against Quarterbacks
Click on stat headings to sort.


Standard Pts Given Up Passing Rushing
Team Games Points Points/G Comp Att Yards TD Int Att Yards TD
Buffalo Bills 16 284.9 17.8 370 573 3844 14 18 50 127 4
Denver Broncos 16 304.2 19.0 294 490 3385 29 9 48 129 1
Tennessee Titans 16 332.3 20.8 368 602 4084 27 12 42 147 1
Chicago Bears 16 269.6 16.8 343 529 3653 18 8 48 149 0
Oakland Raiders 16 331.4 20.7 361 530 4046 24 5 46 151 3
Pittsburgh Steelers 16 289.6 18.1 297 497 3610 20 16 39 171 2
New York Giants 16 366.2 22.9 346 559 4178 32 12 51 173 2
Baltimore Ravens 16 269.6 16.9 332 568 3680 17 22 43 176 0
Minnesota Vikings 16 248.2 15.5 323 553 3291 12 14 41 176 3
Detroit Lions 16 326.3 20.4 365 569 4110 21 19 48 178 3
Cleveland Browns 16 348.0 21.7 360 525 3881 28 7 58 179 4
Indianapolis Colts 16 334.6 20.9 319 511 4094 23 13 55 199 3
Green Bay Packers 16 354.5 22.2 348 513 4041 30 11 50 204 2
Los Angeles Rams 16 300.5 18.8 324 554 3799 21 17 41 205 1
Dallas Cowboys 16 326.5 20.4 371 559 3746 28 10 54 212 1
Miami Dolphins 16 327.2 20.5 339 528 3788 26 9 55 218 2
Carolina Panthers 16 320.4 20.0 351 550 3969 25 10 49 219 0
Los Angeles Chargers 16 274.3 17.1 329 523 3417 17 18 46 234 2
San Francisco 49ers 16 352.9 22.1 344 544 3943 27 10 70 237 4
Arizona Cardinals 16 340.2 21.3 343 564 3796 24 15 49 244 5
Kansas City Chiefs 16 341.3 21.3 325 569 4131 23 15 47 247 3
Houston Texans 16 361.8 22.6 319 499 3971 30 11 57 252 3
Philadelphia Eagles 16 321.6 20.1 363 601 3883 24 19 47 254 1
New England Patriots 16 344.2 21.5 367 590 4319 24 12 51 262 1
Seattle Seahawks 16 283.1 17.7 325 554 3616 19 14 60 263 0
Jacksonville Jaguars 16 252.9 15.8 288 508 3043 17 21 59 267 1
Cincinnati Bengals 16 306.0 19.1 335 560 3613 20 11 51 273 3
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 16 337.9 21.1 370 548 4255 21 13 65 291 2
New Orleans Saints 16 330.9 20.7 329 552 3884 22 20 48 307 3
New York Jets 16 358.6 22.4 329 557 3904 30 10 54 314 2
Washington Redskins 16 312.9 19.6 305 530 3664 23 16 61 317 1
Atlanta Falcons 16 327.6 20.5 361 552 3729 22 8 65 351 3
Standard Pts Given Up Passing Rushing
Team Games Points Points/G Comp Att Yards TD Int Att Yards TD







It is worth bringing into focus here something that was brought into discussion in the Monday edition - largely that QB "rushing" is an extremely difficult idea to track because the play-by-play stats do not differentiate between genuine "Runs" and "Sacks Avoided" that went for positive yardage. There are a few teams that genuinely run their QBs, naturally Carolina (Newton) and Seattle (Wilson), but so many of the other attempts are the awkward tracking of pass plays as runs, especially because so many avoided sacks will come against nickel defenses, when there is one less LB on the field to stop the QB if he leaves the pocket.

There has been so much talk about Bortles and his "running" against Buffalo across the Sports Mediaverse, but there was only 1 play that I believe was a genuine run (throwing out the late kneel down of course), a QB sneak on a 3rd-and-1 early in the second quarter. Here are the other plays that will be forever tracked as runs, but weren't:

20 yards on a 1st and 10 with 0:40 left in the first half (Pure Pass Dropback)
21 yards on 2nd and 10 on that same drive with 0:28 left (Pure Pass Dropback)
9 yards on a 1st and 10 early in the 3rd quarter from the Jax 14 (Pure Pass Dropback)
1 yard on 1st and 10 at the Buffalo 29 (Pure Pass Dropback)
10 yards on 2nd and 9 at the Buffalo 28 (on the very next play, Pure Pass Dropback)
12 yards on 2nd and 9 at the Jax 9 (Pure Pass Dropback)
3 yards on 2nd and 10 at the Jax 21 (Pure Pass Dropback)

Now you can see the statistical problem - those were seven plays in which the best football truth is that the Buffalo Pass Defense beat the Jacksonville Pass Offense. Yet they go into the books as the Jacksonville Rush Offense winning the majority of them against the Buffalo Rush Defense. That is one of the holes in the way most football games are tracked, and it is something that we have developed edges from by going that extra mile to better sort the plays.

Here is one basic step that even the home handicapper short on time can take: Only chart runs by RBs, both for the offenses and the defenses, and right off the bat you eliminate QB scrambles, WR reverses and fake punts/FG attempts, which are mostly "noise" when it comes to being of any value in measuring running games.