Protection Not Key For All Playoff Teams
(WSCR) - Solid pass protection usually portends potent offenses, and lots of points generally means lots of wins. In that regard, it's hardly a shock to see four of the top five teams in the New York Life Protection Index playoff bound.
But there's more than one way to skin a cat, and the final rankings of the NYLPI do a good job of pinpointing exactly where each team's strength is - or, is not - as the NFL begins its postseason this weekend.
The New York Life Protection Index is a proprietary formula created by STATS LLC which measures pass protection by using metrics such as length of passes, penalties by offensive lineman, sacks allowed and quarterback hurries and knockdowns.
A guess at the top teams of the 2010-11 index is almost as predictable as picking Tom Brady as this year's MVP. Indianapolis and Peyton Manning head the rankings, with New Orleans and Drew Brees directly behind. Both those teams - who were opponents, of course, in last year's Super Bowl - take their pass-happy offenses into the wild-card round Saturday as the Colts host the New York Jets and the Saints travel to Seattle.
As such, the key to an upset for either the Jets or the Seahawks will likely hinge upon how effective each is in getting to the quarterback. And they know it.
"He needs to know you're there, that the pressure is there," New York defensive end Mike DeVito said of Manning. "If you let him sit back there and make it a seven-on-seven, then it's a problem."
For all of the struggles Indianapolis had mustering a rushing attack - until recently - the combination of its pass-blocking skill and Manning's quick decision-making has created quite a bit of problems for opponents all season.
Brees enters Saturday's game against Seattle with even more of a bullseye on his No. 9 jersey, as New Orleans lost its top two rushers - Chris Ivory and Pierre Thomas - for this year's postseason push.
"You've got to be up for the challenge," Seahawks safety Lawyer Milloy said. "They set the standard for offense."
The foundation for that offense is the long ball, and the key to that is the time the front five give Brees to drop back in the pocket and launch. His 2,527 yards in the air before the catch was second only to - you guessed it - Manning.
Atlanta and New England finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the index, but, more importantly, translated those numbers into No. 1 conference seeds, first-round byes and homefield advantage until the Super Bowl.
From there, we move on to playoff teams a bit more diverse in their style.
The Jets did a good job keeping Mark Sanchez upright and came in at No. 11, but their team success came from a well-balanced offense and stout defense. Green Bay finished 14th because its quarterbacks were sacked, hurried or knocked down 48 more times than Manning - with almost 500 less yards through the air - but they still were able to win thanks to Aaron Rodgers' big numbers offsetting the beating.
Middling protection put Seattle 16th and Baltimore, which battles Kansas City on Sunday, 18th.
Interestingly, four of the playoff teams - two who earned first-round byes - ranked 25th or worse in the NYLPI. The Chiefs came in at No. 25 and the Steelers, who have the weekend off, 26th. That said, Kansas City's offensive line was the pre-eminent run-blocking unit in the league as it led the NFL with an average of 164.0 yards per game and Jamaal Charles averaged an eye-popping 6.4 per carry.
Pittsburgh's rating was hurt by a league-high 23 holding penalties, but its overall success was powered by a run-first attack and a defense that allowed an NFL-low 14.5 points per game.
As we move further down the NYLPI to the remaining playoff teams, Philadelphia finished 28th and Chicago dead last at 32.
For all of Michael Vick's explosiveness, Eagles quarterbacks were hurried a league-high 79 times and were knocked down another 113. By comparison, both Brady and the Falcons' Matt Ryan were hurried only 27 times, and the New York Giants' Eli Manning hit the ground on just 46 occasions, all NFL lows.
Coincidentally enough, Vick's unit will again go up against Clay Matthews on Sunday - the same player who knocked out Kevin Kolb in Week 1 and set the stage for the rest of the Eagles' season.
"It's a great challenge for our offensive line, the guys blocking him, and we'll come up with a couple things for him," coach Andy Reid said.
The Bears captured the NFC North and the conference's No. 2 seed despite having three games in which they allowed at least six sacks, including last week against Green Bay. That weakness came into light and crippled their ranking for the rest of the season in a 17-3 loss to the Giants on Oct. 3. Chicago's line gave up 10 sacks that Sunday night and saw its passers get knocked down 11 times for a single-game low score of minus-54.5.
For the year, the Bears allowed a league-high 56 sacks - 40 more than the Colts and Giants. But Jay Cutler is confident that his Mike Martz-led offensive unit will continue to improve.
"You could see week by week guys getting better and better, and guys getting more confident," Cutler said. "(Martz) is going to have a couple of extra days to prepare and really nail down what we want to do. So it's going to be really fun to see what he comes up with."
Copyright 2010 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. STATS LLC and The Associated Press contributed to this article. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The Associated Press is strictly prohibited.
