[h=1]NFL's 10 most dominant units[/h][h=3]Jets' rush defense, Packers' passing offense among top individual units[/h]
By Sam Monson | Pro Football Focus
ESPN INSIDER
ith more than half of the 2014 NFL season under our belts, there is plenty of data and analysis in the books. Though we still don't have much of a clear idea exactly how good some teams are (like the entire AFC North -- with all four teams capable of being brilliant or disastrous from week to week), we do have a pretty good handle on which units are performing well, and which aren't.
Here are the 10 most dominant units in the NFL through Week 9:
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1. New York Jets' run defense
There are three constants in this world: death, taxes and Rex Ryan having suffocating run defenses that start up front in the trenches. The hybrid system that Ryan likes to deploy plays to the strengths of his linemen, but he also has a knack of finding the kind of players who will excel within it. Nose tackle Damon Harrison is again among the best-graded run defenders at his position at Pro Football Focus, while defensive endMuhammad Wilkerson is the top-graded player at his position not named J.J. Watt. Even Jason Babin has been grading well against the run in this system. It hasn't led to much in the wins column, but you can't blame the Jets' problems on their run D.
2. Green Bay Packers' passing offense
If you watched the Packers-Bears game on Sunday night, you probably saw this one coming. Aaron Rodgers at his best is the No. 1 quarterback in football, and he has a plethora of weapons to work with. Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb have 18 touchdown receptions between them, the most among any wide receiver pairing, and when Rodgers targets Cobb this year he has a league-best 147.9 passer rating. Despite a reshuffled line heading into the year, the team's pass protection is among the league's best as well, with the offensive line ranking sixth in PFF's pass-blocking efficiency metric.
3. Baltimore Ravens' pass rush
Every team looks for a pair of edge-rushers it can attack the passer with. Having one guy can easily be schemed for, but when you can deploy a pair of edge threats, it becomes much more difficult for an offense. Baltimore has three of them tearing things up this season: Terrell Suggs, Elvis Dumervil and Pernell McPhee are three of the top-five-graded 3-4 outside linebackers at PFF as well as three of the top five from purely a pass-rushing perspective. In fact, focusing solely on their rush threat puts Dumervil and McPhee at Nos. 1 and 2 in the league, with Suggs not far behind in fifth. The trio has combined for exactly 100 sacks, hits and hurries this season.
4. Miami Dolphins' pass rush
It might not be quite as balanced as the threat from Baltimore, but Miami's pass rush is almost as devastating. Cameron Wake is once again staking his claim as one of the league's best pure pass-rushers, but he has been ably assisted this season by a collection of teammates, most notably Olivier Vernon, who has chipped in with 31 total pressures of his own. Interior players like Jared Odrick and Randy Starks have been able to apply pressure, too, while Miami has mixed it up on the blitz with players such as safety Reshad Jones and linebacker Jelani Jenkins notching multiple sacks on the season.
5. Denver Broncos' passing offense
Would Peyton Manning still be Peyton Manning without being surrounded by a fantastic receiving corps? We'll never know the exact balance between Manning making those around him better and those players making him better, but for the moment in Denver, I think it's pretty safe to say it's a mutually beneficial arrangement. Tight end Julius Thomas has a league-leading 12 TD catches while Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders each have six. When Wes Welker is the weak link in your receiving corps, you can be pretty sure it's functioning at a pretty high level, and that's exactly the situation Denver finds itself in right now.
6. Dallas Cowboys' rushing offense
The Cowboys have had a productive offense for years, but the wheels have always come off at key moments when it has all rested on the shoulders of Tony Romo. This year they look far less likely to implode, with the running game the feature of the attack instead and Romo providing a deadly foil to that foundation. DeMarco Murray has PFF's best rushing grade and it would be even higher had he not fumbled the ball more than any other back. He is more than 400 rushing yards clear of the field and has some impressive run blocking from his line to thank for it. He has forced 51 missed tackles as a rusher, eight more than any other back.
7. Cleveland Browns' pass coverage
Joe Haden took some negative press earlier in the season for getting burned on a few plays, but the reality is even when his statistics were ugly, he was in pretty good coverage for the most part. Over the past few weeks his season has turned around, and he has helped in establishing the formidable coverage unit that the Browns deploy. Tashaun Gipson has been extremely solid in coverage at his safety position and Karlos Dansby has proved to be a huge upgrade in that area at the second level from his linebacker spot. With Haden rounding into form and first-round pick Justin Gilbert improving lately, this unit may only get better.
8. Cleveland Browns' pass protection
When you have Joe Thomas as your left tackle, your pass protection is going to be solid. Thomas has once again been the standard at left tackle, allowing a ridiculous five total pressures from 295 pass-blocking snaps, better than any other tackle. John Greco is an underrated partner inside and Mitchell Schwartz at the other tackle spot is no slouch. At center, Alex Mack had been performing very well, and his loss (broken left leg) will likely hurt this unit down the stretch, as our tape study of Gerald McCoy dominating new starter Nick McDonald will attest.
9. Buffalo Bills' run defense
The Bills have a pretty formidable defense, with the front four being the unit that gets the headlines and has the big names. They took a while to jell together, but the unit is currently showing exactly why it had such high expectations thrust upon it.Kyle Williams might not get the press of Marcell Dareus or Mario Williams but remains the best player on that defensive line, consistently disrupting opposing offenses and knifing through the line. Dareus has begun to consistently demonstrate the kind of talent that made him such a high draft pick, and the linebackers have been adding to the run defense -- with Nigel Bradhamplaying well, in particular.
10. Kansas City Chiefs' special teams
It may not be glamorous, but special teams is a vital part of the game -- and right now there isn't a better unit out there than Kansas City's. At kicker, Cairo Santoshasn't been great, but Dustin Colquitt is PFF's 10th-highest punter, De'Anthony Thomas the fourth-highest K/PR (limited games) and the team has four of the top 10 special teamers (Josh Martin, Travis Kelce, Kurt Coleman and Anthony Sherman).
By Sam Monson | Pro Football Focus
ESPN INSIDER
ith more than half of the 2014 NFL season under our belts, there is plenty of data and analysis in the books. Though we still don't have much of a clear idea exactly how good some teams are (like the entire AFC North -- with all four teams capable of being brilliant or disastrous from week to week), we do have a pretty good handle on which units are performing well, and which aren't.
Here are the 10 most dominant units in the NFL through Week 9:
<offer></offer>
1. New York Jets' run defense
There are three constants in this world: death, taxes and Rex Ryan having suffocating run defenses that start up front in the trenches. The hybrid system that Ryan likes to deploy plays to the strengths of his linemen, but he also has a knack of finding the kind of players who will excel within it. Nose tackle Damon Harrison is again among the best-graded run defenders at his position at Pro Football Focus, while defensive endMuhammad Wilkerson is the top-graded player at his position not named J.J. Watt. Even Jason Babin has been grading well against the run in this system. It hasn't led to much in the wins column, but you can't blame the Jets' problems on their run D.
2. Green Bay Packers' passing offense
If you watched the Packers-Bears game on Sunday night, you probably saw this one coming. Aaron Rodgers at his best is the No. 1 quarterback in football, and he has a plethora of weapons to work with. Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb have 18 touchdown receptions between them, the most among any wide receiver pairing, and when Rodgers targets Cobb this year he has a league-best 147.9 passer rating. Despite a reshuffled line heading into the year, the team's pass protection is among the league's best as well, with the offensive line ranking sixth in PFF's pass-blocking efficiency metric.
3. Baltimore Ravens' pass rush
Every team looks for a pair of edge-rushers it can attack the passer with. Having one guy can easily be schemed for, but when you can deploy a pair of edge threats, it becomes much more difficult for an offense. Baltimore has three of them tearing things up this season: Terrell Suggs, Elvis Dumervil and Pernell McPhee are three of the top-five-graded 3-4 outside linebackers at PFF as well as three of the top five from purely a pass-rushing perspective. In fact, focusing solely on their rush threat puts Dumervil and McPhee at Nos. 1 and 2 in the league, with Suggs not far behind in fifth. The trio has combined for exactly 100 sacks, hits and hurries this season.
4. Miami Dolphins' pass rush
It might not be quite as balanced as the threat from Baltimore, but Miami's pass rush is almost as devastating. Cameron Wake is once again staking his claim as one of the league's best pure pass-rushers, but he has been ably assisted this season by a collection of teammates, most notably Olivier Vernon, who has chipped in with 31 total pressures of his own. Interior players like Jared Odrick and Randy Starks have been able to apply pressure, too, while Miami has mixed it up on the blitz with players such as safety Reshad Jones and linebacker Jelani Jenkins notching multiple sacks on the season.
5. Denver Broncos' passing offense
Would Peyton Manning still be Peyton Manning without being surrounded by a fantastic receiving corps? We'll never know the exact balance between Manning making those around him better and those players making him better, but for the moment in Denver, I think it's pretty safe to say it's a mutually beneficial arrangement. Tight end Julius Thomas has a league-leading 12 TD catches while Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders each have six. When Wes Welker is the weak link in your receiving corps, you can be pretty sure it's functioning at a pretty high level, and that's exactly the situation Denver finds itself in right now.
6. Dallas Cowboys' rushing offense
The Cowboys have had a productive offense for years, but the wheels have always come off at key moments when it has all rested on the shoulders of Tony Romo. This year they look far less likely to implode, with the running game the feature of the attack instead and Romo providing a deadly foil to that foundation. DeMarco Murray has PFF's best rushing grade and it would be even higher had he not fumbled the ball more than any other back. He is more than 400 rushing yards clear of the field and has some impressive run blocking from his line to thank for it. He has forced 51 missed tackles as a rusher, eight more than any other back.
7. Cleveland Browns' pass coverage
Joe Haden took some negative press earlier in the season for getting burned on a few plays, but the reality is even when his statistics were ugly, he was in pretty good coverage for the most part. Over the past few weeks his season has turned around, and he has helped in establishing the formidable coverage unit that the Browns deploy. Tashaun Gipson has been extremely solid in coverage at his safety position and Karlos Dansby has proved to be a huge upgrade in that area at the second level from his linebacker spot. With Haden rounding into form and first-round pick Justin Gilbert improving lately, this unit may only get better.
8. Cleveland Browns' pass protection
When you have Joe Thomas as your left tackle, your pass protection is going to be solid. Thomas has once again been the standard at left tackle, allowing a ridiculous five total pressures from 295 pass-blocking snaps, better than any other tackle. John Greco is an underrated partner inside and Mitchell Schwartz at the other tackle spot is no slouch. At center, Alex Mack had been performing very well, and his loss (broken left leg) will likely hurt this unit down the stretch, as our tape study of Gerald McCoy dominating new starter Nick McDonald will attest.
9. Buffalo Bills' run defense
The Bills have a pretty formidable defense, with the front four being the unit that gets the headlines and has the big names. They took a while to jell together, but the unit is currently showing exactly why it had such high expectations thrust upon it.Kyle Williams might not get the press of Marcell Dareus or Mario Williams but remains the best player on that defensive line, consistently disrupting opposing offenses and knifing through the line. Dareus has begun to consistently demonstrate the kind of talent that made him such a high draft pick, and the linebackers have been adding to the run defense -- with Nigel Bradhamplaying well, in particular.
10. Kansas City Chiefs' special teams
It may not be glamorous, but special teams is a vital part of the game -- and right now there isn't a better unit out there than Kansas City's. At kicker, Cairo Santoshasn't been great, but Dustin Colquitt is PFF's 10th-highest punter, De'Anthony Thomas the fourth-highest K/PR (limited games) and the team has four of the top 10 special teamers (Josh Martin, Travis Kelce, Kurt Coleman and Anthony Sherman).
