The Green Bay Packers have allowed 37 sacks this year. The Dallas Cowboys, despite a sluggish start, have registered 20 sacks on the year. The Packers are the worst team in the league at protecting the quarterback. The Cowboys are the 11th best at getting to the QB. So the question isn’t whether or not DeMarcus Ware and company will put Aaron Rodgers on the ground, but rather just how many times they will do so.
Rodgers is on pace for 74 sacks, two shy of the single QB record (David Carr of the Texans in 2002) and 30 shy of the single season team record (The ’86 Eagles, who were coached by Buddy Ryan and probably demanded his own QBs be sacked at such a pace). And the enterprising folks at Madison.com have plotted all of Rodgers’ sacks on this interactive chart. (via Deadspin) Playing around with the chart for a bit, you learn some fun things, such as:
-The only team to not sack Rodgers were the Browns, who must feel like the one kid at the party who didn’t get any beer
-Roughly 1/3 of Green Bay’s sacks were result of Rodgers holding onto the ball for too long
-Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher played their first game as a tackle tandem all year for the Packers last week. The Bucs still managed to sack Rodgers six times.
-The majority of sacks against the Packers have been registered by defensive ends. HOORAY FOR DEMARCUS.
I suggest you hit the link and go play with the chart. It’s fun, interactive way to play around with the history of one quarterback’s season of unrelenting agony. You can actually hear Aaron Rodgers wincing as you click around!
