Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Carlos Dunlap – The New J.J. Watt?

PERSPECTIVE
By Nick Webster
Carlos Dunlap. Credit: Wikipedia
In Cincinnati, as the Bengals were dismantling the Philadelphia Eagles Carlos Dunlap did something that has possibly never been done by a defensive lineman. The 6’6” Dunlap defensed 4 passes. To put that in context, J.J. who has literally been nicknamed J.J. “Swat” has never batted down more than three passes in a single game.

Passes defensed (PD) are not an “official” statistic, and weren’t consistently collected until fairly recently in NFL history.  But Dunlap’s game is the greatest in that recent short history. Going back a little further, when PD’s weren’t kept by the league but could be calculated from play-by-plays, there still aren’t defensive linemen recorded with 4 in a single game.

But this isn’t new for Dunlap, who came into the game leading the league in PDs for Linemen at 10 with 6’5” Jason Pierre-Paul in 2nd at 8.

How good is 14 PDs? Well, it puts Dunlap on a pace to have the most ever in a single season by a D lineman. Again, early history is very sparse here. We’ll never likely know how many passes the 6’8” Doug Atkins batted in his career, based on my film study it was many.

Below a list of the known single season pass defensed leaders for D-linemen. Unfortunately for Dunlap and fans, there’s not much to watch the remainder of the season in Cincinnati—maybe Dunlap is worth tuning in for.

Notes on the below list:
-         - Marchetti number is from coaches and unverified from any primary source, the remainder are verified by play-by-plays
-         - In some cases team number deviates from play-by-play figure from same season
- -       - Edge rusher non-D Linemen excluded i.e.: Ted Hendricks, Rickey Jackson, Greg Lloyd, while primary edge rushers schemes often called for these players to drop into coverage




1984
Dal
16
16
1.00
16
2012
Tex
16
16
1.00
16
1968
Den
15
14
1.07
17.1
2016
Cin
14
12
1.17
18.7
1988
Too Tall Jones
Dal
14
16
0.88
14
1989
Cle
14
16
0.88
14
1967
KC
13
14
0.93
14.9
1967
Ram
13
14
0.93
14.9
1990
Chi
13
16
0.81
13
1991
Phi
13
16
0.81
13
1967
Ram
12
14
0.86
13.7
1983
Too Tall Jones
Dal
12
16
0.75
12
1966
Ram
11
14
0.79
12.6
1980
Too Tall Jones
Dal
11
16
0.69
11
2002
Simeon Rice
TB
11
16
0.69
11
2004
Mia
11
16
0.69
11
2006
Jason Taylor
Mia
11
16
0.69
11
2007
Jared Allen
KC
11
16
0.69
11
2011
Calais Campbell
Ari
11
16
0.69
11
2011
Greg Hardy
Car
11
16
0.69
11
2014
Julius Peppers
GB
11
16
0.69
11
1981
Too Tall Jones
Dal
10
16
0.63
10
1989
Lee Williams
SD
10
16
0.63
10
1996
Tony Brackens
Jax
10
16
0.63
10
2002
Willie McGinest
NE
10
16
0.63
10
2003
Richard Seymour
NE
10
16
0.63
10
2003
Simeon Rice
TB
10
16
0.63
10
2005
Jason Taylor
Mia
10
16
0.63
10
2006
Jared Allen
KC
10
16
0.63
10
2014
J.J. Watt
Tex
10
16
0.63
10

1957
Gino Marchetti
Bal
17
12
1.42
22.7
Key: SG = Schedule games, 16G Proj = 16 game projection

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