• Philadelphia Eagles denying the deep ball: The Eagles protection has yielded destructive outcomes for opposing offenses trying deep passes in 2024.
• The Detroit Lions’ excel at focusing on their gifted working backs: The Lions have had essentially the most success focusing on working backs on go performs this season; nevertheless, it’s not Jahmyr Gibbs, however David Montgomery who put up one of the best numbers if we have a look at the superior metrics.
• 2025 NFL Draft season is right here: Try PFF’s best-in-class Mock Draft Simulator and find out about 2025’s high prospects whereas buying and selling and drafting on your favourite NFL crew.
Estimated studying time: 8 minutes
Going into what is commonly referred to as “one of the best weekend of the NFL season,” we’ll watch arguably one of the best eight groups face one another within the divisional spherical of the NFL playoffs.
These eight groups clearly do quite a lot of issues very nicely; nevertheless, trying on the scenario via a complicated stats lens, we examined what the remaining eight groups are one of the best at.
Kansas City Chiefs: Interior go safety
The Kansas City Chiefs‘ inside offensive line – left guard Joe Thuney, heart Creed Humphrey and proper guard Trey Smith – has been arguably one of the best in your entire NFL during the last couple of seasons, and so they proved themselves once more in 2024.
Looking at how nicely the gamers taking part in at these positions performed — for some weeks it consists of Mike Caliendo as an alternative of Thuney because the latter additionally performed left sort out — exhibits an enormous hole between this group and the remainder of the NFL. Excluding Week 18 when backups have been taking part in, the Chiefs’ inside offensive line didn’t permit a single sack. The Bills’ inside offensive line is the one different grouping within the NFL that may say the identical.
Overall, the Chiefs’ inside offensive line recorded a 96.1 PFF pass-blocking effectivity score rating, which additionally led your entire NFL, permitting solely 55 complete pressures – 12 quarterback hits and 43 hurries – on 707 snaps. Finally, the cumulative PFF pass-blocking grade of gamers taking part in at these positions was 85.4, the best within the NFL by a big margin.
Houston Texans: Pass rush from the sting
The Houston Texans have an elite pass-rushing duo in edge rushers Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter. Anderson has earned an 87.4 PFF general grade thus far this season, tenth amongst edge defenders, whereas Hunter’s 83.2 PFF general grade ranks 13th on the place.
The Texans are additionally considered one of simply 4 groups – the Denver Broncos, Baltimore Ravens and Minnesota Vikings being the opposite three – to have had two completely different edge rushers report at the least 10 sacks within the common season, as Hunter completed with 11.5 whereas Anderson Jr. registered 11 sacks.
Overall, all Texans edge defenders sacked opposing quarterbacks 32 instances — tied for the third most amongst all groups, nevertheless it’s truly the best determine among the many remaining eight groups. Finally, Houston’s 29.6% pass-rush win fee by its edge defenders ranked second to solely the Cleveland Browns through the common season.
Washington Commanders: Jayden Daniels within the purple zone
Jayden Daniels burst onto the scene as a rookie and was considered one of simply 5 quarterbacks to earn an elite PFF general grade over 90.0, as his 90.1 PFF general grade ranks fifth on the place thus far this season. Daniels’ efficiency basically introduced the Commanders from a top-two draft choose final 12 months to play within the divisional spherical of the playoffs this weekend.
The LSU product does many issues nicely, but when there’s one factor we will pinpoint in his rookie marketing campaign, it’s how good he has been in clutch conditions, particularly within the purple zone. On performs from contained in the opponent’s 20-yard line, Daniels has earned an 86.2 PFF general grade this season, second to solely Lamar Jackson.
Furthermore, his 90.1 PFF passing grade within the purple zone additionally solely trails Jackson. Daniels has thrown 21 landing passes within the purple zone to just one interception, resulting in a 102.8 passer score in these conditions, which ranks eighth amongst all quarterbacks within the NFL.
Detroit Lions: Running backs within the passing recreation
The Detroit Lions have many strengths, particularly on the offensive aspect of the ball; nevertheless, one that may not get sufficient recognition is how harmful their working backs are out of the backfield.
During the common season, Detroit’s working backs earned 945 receiving yards, which led the NFL and have been greater than 50 greater than the second-placed Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Furthermore, it’s not simply as a consequence of a excessive quantity of performs, as Detroit backs have additionally been essentially the most environment friendly. They averaged 1.89 yards per route run, essentially the most within the NFL by a big margin. In addition, their 10.8 receiving yards per reception ranked second to solely Baltimore’s working backs.
Presumably, many considered Jahmyr Gibbs after studying the above passage; nevertheless, teammate David Montgomery has been simply nearly as good as a receiver, if not higher.
Admittedly, Montgomery ran fewer routes than Gibbs (156 to 319), however he nonetheless had a huge effect. Montgomery’s 2.21 receiving yards per route run led 64 qualifying working backs within the common season, whereas Gibbs’s 1.62 ranked fourth within the league. Finally, Montgomery’s 91.0 PFF receiving grade was the best amongst all working backs, whereas Gibbs’s 74.4 – damage by a fumble and a drop whereas Montgomery had neither – ranked 12th on the place. Detroit was the one crew to have two working backs within the 15 highest-graded gamers on the place, other than Baltimore.
Philadelphia Eagles: Defense towards deep passes
It can be tempting to focus on the Philadelphia offensive line as soon as once more — as we did right here — nevertheless, the protection deserves to additionally get credit score for its spectacular play below defensive coordinator Vic Fangio this season.
Many particular person performances may very well be highlighted, together with this season’s breakout participant Zack Baun, rookie cornerback Quinyon Mitchell or inside defender Jalen Carter. However, essentially the most spectacular is how nicely this unit has defended towards the deep go.
Attempting a deep throw – an try thrown greater than 20 yards downfield – towards some other protection has yielded a optimistic end result, on common, thus far this season. The second-best protection towards deep passes was the New England Patriots, who allowed 0.08 EPA per play on these performs. However, opponents trying a deep go towards the Eagles have truly misplaced EPA on common, as these performs resulted in -0.24 EPA per play. The hole between the Eagles and the Patriots (0.32 EPA per play) is equal to the hole between the Patriots and the Twentieth-ranked Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Philadelphia’s protection pressured an incompletion on 31.1 % of deep makes an attempt, one of the best fee within the NFL, as they allowed 4 touchdowns however recorded 10 interceptions. As a end result, they allowed a 43.1 passer score on deep passes, which is the bottom amongst all defenses within the NFL.
Los Angeles Rams: Matthew Stafford utilizing play-action
Partially because of the short-term absence of large receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua and the accidents on the offensive line, quarterback Matthew Stafford didn’t play at his greatest in 2024. In truth, his 76.0 PFF general grade ranks solely 20th amongst quarterbacks thus far this season.
Nevertheless, the Rams signal-caller has nonetheless been among the many greatest within the league this season on play-action passes. Stafford accomplished 71.3% of his play-action go makes an attempt within the common season for 1,444 passing yards, the fourth most amongst 44 qualifying quarterbacks.
Furthermore, he recorded 9 landing passes on these performs however didn’t throw a single interception, resulting in a 119.2 passer score, fifth within the league.
In addition, Stafford earned a 91.5 PFF passing grade on these performs, which ranked third within the NFL and leads all eight quarterbacks of the groups which might be nonetheless alive.
Buffalo Bills: Josh Allen not taking sacks
This Buffalo Bills revolve round Josh Allen, so they may go so far as Allen takes them. PFF’s third-highest-graded quarterback this season, Allen does many issues nicely, which can also be confirmed by the truth that his 94.5 PFF dashing grade leads all quarterbacks this season.
However, Allen’s capability to keep away from destructive performs deserves to be highlighted. During the common season, the Bills offensive line allowed the fourth-fewest pressures with 134; nevertheless, there have been solely 4 instances within the common season that Allen was sacked and it was charged to an offensive lineman — as soon as once more proving how a quarterback can personal his sack fee. Furthermore, of the 176 instances that Allen confronted strain (which incorporates pressures not charged to the offensive line as nicely), he was sacked on solely 14 performs, or 8.0% of the time, one of the best within the NFL through the common season.
Baltimore Ravens: Using the learn possibility
The Baltimore Ravens including Derrick Henry over the last offseason was some of the intriguing strikes of the summer season; nevertheless, it additionally led to some query marks surrounding how Henry’s working type would mesh with Baltimore’s run-game philosophy.
After the final 19 weeks, it’s in all probability honest to conclude that issues turned out to be OK for the Ravens’ working recreation and Henry. The menace of quarterback Lamar Jackson working completely enhances what Henry brings to the desk and truly opens up wider dashing lanes for the previous Tennessee Titans working again, which was showcased in Baltimore’s win over the Pittsburgh Steelers within the wild-card spherical. This is very evident on read-option runs when each Jackson and Henry may very well be the first ball provider. The Ravens ran learn choices on 171 performs thus far this season, the second most within the NFL.
Among the 11 groups which have used learn choices at the least 40 instances, the Ravens rank second in yards per try (5.8), first right down to landing fee (31.0 %), however they lead the pack with 0.184 EPA per play on these runs.