Time to Throw?

This is more of a link than an article, but it’s fairly important, so I want to be sure everyone sees it. 

AOL Fanhouse ranked QBs by the amount of time they had to throw on plays where they were sacked.  We’ve pointed out some time now, that sack rate is dependent on the quarterback, but individual sacks often fall on the line.  This study illustrates that.  Peyton Manning has been sacked 10 times on the year.  That’s first in the NFL in sack rate.  Manning goes down fewer times per attempt than any QB in the league.  The fact that he doesn’t get sacked often says more about him than it does his protection.

What this study shows is that when he does go down, it’s because of his line.  Manning had the shortest average time to throw on his sacks. On Manning’s 10 sacks, he went down in an average of 2.5 seconds.  In other words, when Manning does take a sack, it’s not because of coverage or because he’s hanging on to the ball too long.  Peyton Manning typically only gets sacked if somone on his line (paging Charlie Johnson!) misses a block.

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