A couple of posts today linked to other posts that led me to consider another issue that might need correcting. First, here’s something else from David Wunderlich’s piece:
There is a growing consensus in the NFL that sacks are a quarterback stat. Which is to say, they have more to do with how well a quarterback deals with pressure than about how well the line pass blocks.
That line of thinking is solid on the pro level, where the distance between the best and worst offensive lines is not tremendously far. It is probably not as true on the college level where there can be a wide chasm between good and bad lines. There also can be a wide chasm between how well quarterbacks with varying degrees of experience deal with pressure in college, so it may be hard to separate it all out.
But what about on the same team when there’s a quarterback change mid-season?
I ask, because I noticed on JT Daniels’ stat page at ESPN that he was sacked ten times in his four starts.
Sure, maybe you can give him something of a pass in the bowl game, because the o-line was reshuffled. But Georgia allowed twenty sacks in its ten games last year, so Daniels took half of those playing in two fewer games. Some of that no doubt can be chalked up to aggressive schemes by opposing defensive coordinators, but some of that has to rest on Daniels’ shoulders, too.