Three decades later, the New York Sack Exchange is still cashing in.
Noted research and statistics service Pro Football Reference announced this week that the site will tally sacks accumulated prior to the 1982 season, when quarterback takedowns became an official stat. Thanks to historians John Turney and Nick Webster, PFR now has sack numbers dating back to 1960 season, accumulated through any evidence possible, including film, box scores, and documented play-by-play logs.
Through these pre-1982 tallies will be listed unofficial, PFR hopes to give “fans to gain a deeper appreciation of some of football’s biggest stars in the 1960s and 1970s”, whose defenders’ “greatness and impact can now be more readily quantified”.