Pro Football Focus Releases Their 2014 'QB's Under Pressure' Findings

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I'm not a big Pro Football Focus fan, but you may take these numbers for what they are worth.

 

I have a problem with any statistic that tries to distill the realities of a given play as being distinct to that play, with no other previous play having a bearing on the results of a later play. Doing so provides statistics that are technically correct, but can be very misleading. Pro Football Focus also indicates very clearly that they apply a subjective charting process that is intended to better represent the efforts of the quarterback regardless of the execution (or lack of it) by their targets.

 

Alex Smith ranked as you would expect a top-ten quarterback to rank on such charting: He was better than average in pressure and non-pressure situations, even though he faced a higher-than-average number of pressures. Here's a list of the quarterbacks that encountered a higher-than-average number of pressures while performing at a better-than-average level when throwing with or without pressure:

 

Andrew Luck

Matt Ryan

Philip Rivers

Russell Wilson

Carson Palmer

Ryan Tannehill

Teddy Bridgewater

Cam Newton

Ryan Fitzpatrick

 

That's pretty good company for Alex Smith. The reality for most of the other quarterbacks that are considered 'better quarterbacks than Smith' is that they just didn't receive the volume of pressure that Smith did because their offensive lines and receiver corps were better than Smith's.

 

There perhaps isn't a better player to have in the NFL for damage control than Alex Smith.