Pass Tackles 2010

by Aaron Schatz

Time to continue our series presenting various 2010 stats from the multitude of Football Outsiders spreadsheets. Today, we're going to look at pass tackles. You've seen our numbers on run tackles and Stop Rate against the run. If we are separating plays into run and pass categories, that also means that we can track pass tackles as a specific stat. These totals include any tackle or assist on a receiver after a catch, but do not include sacks, passes defensed, or interceptions.

We also can measure Stop Rate on pass tackles, just as we can on run tackles. Click here for the definition of when a tackle counts as a Stop. Stop Rate on pass tackles gives us a way to measure defensive backs that comes straight out of the play-by-play, rather than being filtered through the eyes of our game charters. This is all "official" NFL data. (I say "official" in quotes because tackles and passes defensed in the official play-by-play are technically "unofficial" stats according to the NFL. It's complicated.) There's usually a good amount of crossover between the players with the best Stop Rate on pass tackles and the players who do best in Success Rate from game charting, although there are also some players with big differences. For one thing, players in Cover-2 defenses tend to do better when it comes to Stop Rate on pass tackles because they are often allowing short completions in front of them in the zone, rather than trying to prevent a catch. So this shouldn't be seen as a definitive declaration of which players were best and worst last year. It's simply one piece of the puzzle in figuring out how good defenders are, and where they excel or do not excel.

For the most part, the leaders in pass tackles are cornerbacks, but there was one big exception last year. Jerod Mayo of the Patriots led all players with 72 pass tackles. Chad Greenway of Minnesota had 61 pass tackles, making him the only other linebacker in the top dozen:

That list gives you the top ten cornerbacks. Here's a look at the top players in pass tackles, specifically for linebackers and safeties.

Now, of course, often a high tackle total for a cornerback is evidence of a cornerback who lets a lot of receivers catch passes on him. But not necessarily. That's where pass Stops come in. Two players led the league with 28 pass Stops last year: Linebacker Stephen Tulloch of Tennessee, and Cornerback Antoine Winfield of Minnesota. Those two players were actually the only players with more than 25 pass Stops. DeAngelo Hall was third with 24.

Let's look at which players had the highest and lowest Stop Rates on pass tackles, by position. All of the tables below use a minimum of 20 pass tackles.

Stanford Routt is a good example of how Pass Tackle Stop Rate doesn't necessarily agree with Success Rate from game charting. Routt had a surprisingly strong year in the game charting, but does poorly in Pass Tackle Stop Rate because when he did allow a catch, it was generally for a good amount of yardage. On the other hand, Asante Samuel was the best player this year in Success Rate from game charting and in Pass Tackle Stop Rate (just barely getting past our 20-tackle minimum). If we wanted to make the minimum 25 tackles instead of 20, we would add Johnathan Joseph of Cincinnati and Carlos Rogers of Washington to the Best list, and Chris Owens of Atlanta, Marcus Trufant of Seattle, and David Jones of Jacksonville to our Worst list. (Jones, of course, is the player who earned the rare title "worse than a hole in zone" according to this year's game charting.)

If you are interested in more numbers on Pass Tackles and Pass Tackle Stop Rate, those numbers are available on every FO player page, going back to 1997. Scroll down to "Advanced Stats vs. Pass," and those numbers are shaded in a darker green than the rest of the pass stats.