The 2021 True Sack Rate (TSR): Week 9 Update

Welcome back everyone for the Week 9 update to the TSR. A full explanation of this project with a detailed definition of terms can be found here. If you are new to the TSR, here are the final leaderboards from the 2020 season for edge-rusher and interior D-line.

My objective with the TSR is to identify which rushers utilized the highest level of skill against the most difficult set of circumstances to record a sack. We will be able to more accurately evaluate sack and pass-rush production as a whole for the position through this process.

First, a few notes:

• 403 sacks by 113 players have been charted and graded so far.

• 170 sacks of the edge-rusher sacks have come from the Wide 9 alignment, most of any alignment. 24 sacks have come from the bull-rush, most of any move. More breakdowns of the data based on alignment and move are in the works for future editions of the TSR as well.

• All sacks are graded with the end zone and/or sideline copies of the film.

• Half sacks were counted as full sacks if the rusher beat the blocker and was going to likely take down the quarterback without the help of a teammate.

• Sacks were not counted if the QB got back to the line of scrimmage.

• All graphs are made by John Pulice. A special thank you to Justin Scarpaci for building the formulas inside Google sheets to help make this project come alive.

Edge Results through Week 9

Listed below is the current top 28 in ‘sack score’ among edge defenders in the NFL (minimum score of 3.5).

• Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt have maintained their status at the top since Week 7, with Watt benefitting more from circumstance to accumulate low-quality (LQ) sacks and Garrett leading the entire NFL in high-quality (HQ) sacks with seven. Watt is leading the NFL in forced fumbles as well, which is helping his score and bolstering his impact as a rusher.
  
  One scouting note on Garrett is that he is relying more on his ‘speed-rip’ to the corner this season than in years past. Garrett has always had the move in his bag, but is featuring it more predominantly this season. Four of his seven HQ sacks have come using the move as shown below:

  Garrett having this level of get-off and bend off of the line at 275 pounds is the best barometer to gauge just how freaky and unique of a player he is. The thing that allows this all-out assault to the corner to work at such a high level is that Garrett can win with power and going inside, so tackles have to respect that before selling out to stop outside pressure. Going back to last season when Garrett also ranked first overall in sack score, there hasn’t been a more talented or skilled edge-rusher in football.