Which Patriots Players Created, Allowed the Most Pressure in 2014?

The old cliché says that NFL games are won and lost in the trenches. By that standard, one would assume that the New England Patriots, at 12-4, had stellar trench play all season long.

That, however, would be as accurate a representation as drawing a smiley face and calling it the Mona Lisa.

The Patriots’ defensive line generated pressure on occasion. The offensive line gave quarterback Tom Brady a clean pocket for the most part. But both sides left some room for improvement.

We’ve been tracking the offensive and defensive line play all year long, so let’s take a look back at the data and see how the Patriots performed over the course of the 2014 season.

Notes: No half-sacks were attributed. The sacks were attributed either to the player who reached the quarterback first, or if two players created or allowed the sack at the same time, both players were credited with a whole sack. The same rule applies to pressure; if two men created/allowed pressure, both were credited.

Offense:

Nate Solder and Sebastian Vollmer were victimized more than the other offensive linemen, but that only makes sense since they were also on the field more often than any other linemen.
On a percentage basis, backup linemen Cameron Fleming (11.8 percent), Josh Kline (9.59 percent) and Marcus Cannon (9.5 percent) were exposed in pass protection more frequently than any other Patriots offensive lineman. Jordan Devey (7.52 percent) was on pace for some very high numbers before landing on the bench partway through the season.
Center Bryan Stork did a remarkable job in pass protection and was only responsible for one sack, on a play where he was only credited for a half since he and Kline were both beaten.
Defense:

Rob Ninkovich created more pressure than any other Patriots’ defensive lineman this season, with 53 total pressures. He also had the most sacks on the team with eight. Chandler Jones and Dont’a Hightower tied for second place with 31 pressures apiece.
The linebackers stand out on this chart. Hightower, Jamie Collins, and Jerod Mayo were each responsible for pressure on more than 20 percent of their pass-rushing opportunities. That is a credit to their abilities as rushers coming through the A-gaps (or, in Hightower’s case, from just about anywhere) and also to the coaching staff for drawing up some great pressure packages to get free rushes for their linebackers.

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