We’ve seen some sack-plagued quarterbacks in recent weeks. Marcus Mariota took 11 against the Ravens, and both Detroit and Oakland allowed 8 sacks in their last games. When streaming defenses, does it pay off to go after these kind of opponents?
On the one hand, you’ve got a quarterback who’s shown he will take sacks, along with an offensive line with some problems. But at the same time, when a team gives up more than a half dozen sacks, you can be sure corrections will be made.
With Mariota, for example, a week after they allowed 11 sacks against Baltimore, they gave up only 2 against the Chargers. They can change protection schemes or use more plays with the ball coming out quicker.
Anyway, I figured I’d run the numbers, using the game-finder sort feature at “Pro Football Reference”, which is an excellent site.
In the past 10 years, there have been 39 games in which a team has allowed at least 8 sacks. (That’s setting aside three that occurred in Week 17.) With 17 of those teams, the offense allowed 0-2 sacks the next week. Four offenses allowed 3 sacks, which is a healthy total. And 18 of the 39 teams (almost half) again allowed 4-plus sacks, which is a big, healthy total. (On the chart, I’m also including interceptions, since they were there in front of me.)
I am optimistic about the Chargers and Bears defenses this week.
| OFFENSES ALLOWING 8 SACKS (the next game) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Opponent | Result | Sack | Int |
| 2008 | Cincinnati | at Pitt. | L 10-27 | 1 | 1 |
| 2008 | San Francisco | Det. | W 31-13 | 1 | 0 |
| 2008 | N.Y. Giants | Car. | W 34-28 | 3 | 0 |
| 2008 | Pittsburgh | Balt. | W 23-20 | 3 | 1 |
| 2009 | Oakland | at Den. | W 20-19 | 1 | 1 |
| 2009 | Green Bay | Det. | W 26-0 | 5 | 1 |
| 2009 | Pittsburgh | G.B. | W 37-36 | 5 | 0 |
| 2010 | Seattle | NYG | L 7-41 | 0 | 2 |
| 2010 | Arizona | N.O. | W 30-20 | 4 | 1 |
| 2010 | Chicago | at Car. | W 23-6 | 3 | 4 |
| 2011 | Miami | at Buff. | W 30-20 | 2 | 0 |
| 2011 | San Francisco | St.L. | W 26-0 | 4 | 0 |
| 2011 | Washington | S.F. | L 11-19 | 2 | 1 |
| 2012 | Green Bay | N.O. | W 28-27 | 0 | 1 |
| 2012 | Arizona | at St.L. | L 3-17 | 9 | 0 |
| 2012 | Arizona | Buff. | L 16-19 | 5 | 1 |
| 2012 | N.Y. Jets | Buff. | L 9-28 | 1 | 1 |
| 2013 | Buffalo | Balt. | W 23-20 | 2 | 2 |
| 2013 | Oakland | Pitt. | W 21-18 | 2 | 2 |
| 2014 | N.Y. Giants | at Dall. | L 21-31 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014 | Tennessee | NYJ | L 11-16 | 1 | 0 |
| 2014 | Jacksonville | Tenn. | W 21-13 | 4 | 0 |
| 2014 | San Francisco | at N.O. | W 27-24 | 4 | 0 |
| 2014 | Minnesota | at Buff. | L 16-17 | 5 | 2 |
| 2014 | Carolina | Atl. | L 17-19 | 2 | 2 |
| 2014 | Jacksonville | Ind. | L 17-44 | 4 | 2 |
| 2015 | Buffalo | at Mia. | W 41-14 | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | San Francisco | Cin. | L 14-24 | 4 | 3 |
| 2015 | Green Bay | Minn. | L 13-20 | 5 | 1 |
| 2016 | Carolina | at Atl. | L 33-48 | 1 | 0 |
| 2016 | Arizona | S.F. | W 23-20 | 2 | 2 |
| 2016 | Cleveland | NYG | L 13-27 | 7 | 0 |
| 2016 | Cleveland | at Pitt. | L 24-27 | 4 | 1 |
| 2017 | Dallas | Phil. | L 9-37 | 4 | 3 |
| 2017 | Indianapolis | at Jac. | L 10-30 | 4 | 2 |
| 2017 | Arizona | at Wash. | L 15-20 | 5 | 1 |
| 2017 | Houston | at Cin. | W 13-9 | 3 | 0 |
| 2017 | Indianapolis | at Cin. | L 23-24 | 4 | 1 |
| 2018 | Oakland | LAC | ? | ? | ? |
| 2018 | Detroit | at Chi. | ? | ? | ? |
| 2018 | Tennessee | v. LAC | L 19-20 | 2 | 1 |
—Ian Allan