2014 Pressure Plays: Defenses - Sterling Xie
Though the overall five-year averages look a lot like 2014, there have been a few interesting years where the correlation has looked quite strong, especially 2013 and 2011 (for pressure DVOA). The 2011 mark seems especially strange, as we wouldn't expect teams good at generating pressure to be worse at actually defending pressure situations. Creating more pressure certainly isn't useless -- since 2010, the correlation between pressure rate and overall defensive DVOA is -0.35. But as we'll see, what a defense does when the pass rush doesn't get home appears more important.
San Diego Chargers Daily Links: July 7, 2015
