PFF Highlights, Bengals vs. Bills

[TheUberHuber]

(10-10-2017, 02:05 PM)ochocincos Wrote: People down on Peko were down primarily on his (lack of) ability to rush the passer. Also, the Bengals were 23rd in rush yards allowed per attempt (4.4) and 21st in rushing yards per game (113.3) last year, so he didn't seem to be making much of an impact.

Fast forward to 2017 where the Bengals are now 12th in rush yards allowed per attempt (3.8) and 15th in rushing yards allowed per game (103.2).
Denver is #1 both, and Peko has been a valuable part of that.

Both teams have improved in their run defense compared to last year. Also worth noting that Bengals were 19th in sacks last year at 33, and this year they are 2nd at 18. So not only has the run defense improved some but the pass rush has improved a ton. Peko has 0 sacks this year too, showing that he is still a liability as a pass rusher. Sometimes it does benefit both teams for a veteran to move on.

I think this a tiny bit misleading. 

1st, peko is run stopping nose tackle type where getting tackles and sacks is not his primary job. His primary job is to plug the gap creating no space for the runner to run through.  This can make grading using a site like pff difficult. He was never going to be a sack machine either he weighs like a million pounds lol.

2nd, being a nose tackle type makes it also difficult to judge his effect on the run game by using overall ypc. He wouldn't have an impact on counter run plays and pitches to the outside. I would be interested to see if they have a stat on just runs up the middle when he was in the game. Also, I think overall ypc has more to do with linebacking corp which ours it seems is playing at a higher level this year.