Let's talk about the pressure Miami's OL have allowed, and the reason why this has not necessarily translated to sacks.

This is an important topic as it pertains to what we can expect as Miami transitions from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Tua Tagovailoa.

@3YardsPerCarry @5ReasonsSports

Bill Belichick has long been known for denigrating edge pressure. Michael Lombardi, who's spent a lot of time with Belichick in his career, relates one of Bill's favorite sayings on the issue: "The most useless place to be on a football field is 2 yards behind the quarterback".

This is one reason in Miami you've seen speed rushers allowed to leave. Robert Quinn keeps rating very high on ESPN's PRWR, which uses RFID location tech (very cool stuff), yet Miami traded him for a pack of cigarettes and a porno mag. They also respectfully let Cam Wake go.

The model in NE has long been about building strength through the middle, offense & defense. That means middle of the OL not allowing pressure. It also means an expectation for the QB to step UP to avoid edge pressure, which Tom Brady has always excelled at over the years.

I mentioned in debate w/ @geoffschwartz Miami's OL ranks #20 Pressure% allowed, yet they rank #1 in Sack%.

One reason for that (the other being the obvious, Fitzpatrick has handled pressure well), is lack of middle pressure.

Miami's INTERIOR line ranks #9 in Pressure% allowed.

This fits with Miami's coaching & philosophy.

They beefed up the middle w/ Ereck Flowers (6-6, 343), Ted Karras (6-4, 305), Solomon Kindley (6-4, 339) to maintain space in the middle so QB can step up and avoid edge rush, even as those rusher get scored a pressure by analytics.

But let's give some examples to see what I'm talking about.

This is the Sack that RG Solomon Kindley allowed (his first and only of the season) during the Jets game this weekend.

Here, on the other hand, is a Hurry that was scored by PFF in favor of RDE Bryce Huff (#47) against Miami LT Jesse Davis (#77).

Some say whether the one ended up just a Hurry or the other ended up a Sack is purely on the QB: a pressure is a pressure is a pressure, but a sack is purely on the QB.

But I think we can see that, at least from the QB's standpoint, these pressures were not created equally.

None of this minimizes the job Fitzpatrick has done handling pressure. It’s what good QBs do!

But I believe some folks fall into a false mutual exclusivity: either Fitzpatrick is doing well and the OL are therefore trash, or the OL are good and Fitz has nothing to do with it.

So, back to this disparity:

-Miami OL ranks #1 in Sack%
-Miami OL ranks #20 in Pressure%

Which one do we believe?

You ever heard the phrase, “the truth is in the middle”?

Well, in this case the phrase applies both figuratively and literally.

@3YardsPerCarry @5ReasonsSports