Skilz!!!
Some PFF for your entertainment
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...oing-to-be-terrifying/?utm_term=.e5186a47c482
With Ndamukong Suh joining Aaron Donald, the Rams’ defense is going to be terrifying
By Austin Gayle March 27
The 6-foot-4, 307-pounder has recorded 160 total pressures over the past three seasons, ranking sixth among all interior defenders. He also amassed 247 total impact plays (factoring in quarterback hits, quarterback hurries and all defensive stops) in those three years, tying for fourth among the same group of interior defenders. His three-year pass-rush productivity, a PFF-born efficiency metric that measures pressure created on a per-snap basis with weighting toward sacks, ranks 11th among interior defenders with at least 1,000 pass-rush snaps 2015-17.
In 2017, Suh amassed 43 total pressures across 495 pass-rush snaps, including 30 quarterback hurries, eight hits and five sacks. He ranked 21st in pass-rush productivity (6.8) among qualifying interior defenders.
Suh’s new partner in crime, Donald, led all qualifying interior defenders in pass-rush productivity (14.8), as he logged 66 quarterback hurries, 13 hits and 12 sacks across 483 pass-rush snaps. Donald will complement Suh’s bruising approach with quickness off the snap and high-end athleticism, as he has flourished attacking both the outside and inside edge of opposing offensive linemen with his speedy first step and technical hand usage.
Though explosive off the snap, Suh opts for physicality over finesse when attacking the passer, instilling fear in his opposition via aggressive hand usage and bull-rush techniques. In Suh’s three-year tenure with the Dolphins, he recorded 58 bull-rush pressures, which accounted for 36.25 percent of his total pressures in that span.
In defensive coordinator Wade Phillips’s scheme, Suh will work opposite of Donald at 3-4 defensive end with six-year veteran Michael Brockers manning the middle at nose tackle on early downs. However, with Donald and now Suh at his disposal, Phillips should tap into his creative side on passing downs and move his two premier interior defenders up and down the line of scrimmage to attack mismatches and counter offensive adjustments.
Unlike a majority of interior defenders, Suh offers positional versatility as a pass-rusher. During his time in Miami, he played 63.7 percent of his pass-rush snaps either head up or shaded on the opposing guard and 25.3 percent opposite of the tackle, where he has recorded strong 7.66 and 9.89 pressure percentages, respectively. However, when lined up outside of the offensive tackle, he has more than doubled both his high marks, pressuring the quarterback on 27.27 percent of his pass-rush snaps along the edge.
On top of that, Suh is no one-trick pony, as evidenced by his strong run-defense grades in each of the past three seasons. After earning 88.6 and 88.2 run-defense grades in 2015 and 2016, respectively, Suh earned a career-high 92.4 in 2017, which ranked second among qualifying interior defenders, behind the New York Giants’ Damon Harrison.
However, despite his favorable grades, Suh’s impact in the ground game isn’t fully reflected in the box score. He ranks just tied for 18th in PFF’s run-stop percentage (7.71 percent) among interior defenders with 500-plus run-defense snaps from 2015 to 2017. As such, Suh’s positive impact in run defense is better identified through film study rather than stat sheets.
Suh earned positive grades on 92 of his 361 run-defense snaps (25.48 percent) in 2017, ranking ninth among qualifying interior defenders. And a majority of his positive grades weren’t awarded for making tackles near the line of scrimmage but rather disrupting the line of scrimmage and forcing opposing ball carriers away from intended rushing lanes, which, in turn, allowed his teammates to rally to the ball and steal the box-score glory.
Brockers, who has already proven dominant against the run throughout his career, will be the beneficiary of this component of Suh’s game. A former first-round pick in 2012, Brockers has often taken advantage of one-on-one situations while Donald drew double teams in run defense, allowing him to practically live behind the line of scrimmage. In 2017, he ranked fifth among qualifying interior defenders in run-stop percentage (11.7) and earned the 10th-best run-defense grade (88.0).
Suh’s presence in the trenches, along with Donald’s, will give opposing offensive lines no choice but to dial their focus away from Brockers, leaving him to reap the benefits in the backfield.
A testament to his ability to stay healthy and contribute on all three downs with admirable consistency, Suh has also played 281 more defensive snaps than any other interior defender over the past three seasons.
Adding Suh to their consummate list of offseason signings (including Marcus Peters, Aqib Talib and Nickell Robey-Coleman), Los Angeles has planted its flag as one of the teams to beat in the NFL in 2018.
Austin Gayle is an analyst for Pro Football Focus.
