The Joy of Sacks

Here is the link to last year's turnover game log. It is well worth reviewing.

So, this morning, I wanted to examine the sack totals from last year. With 42 sacks, the Cowboys ranked 7th in the NFL, and just 6 behind league leader Minnesota with 48. That is wonderful production, but way below the 2008 total of 59 which staggered the NFL as only World Champion Pittsburgh had more than 50 (51).

Obviously, teams spent lots of time figuring out how to contain DeMarcus Ware and company in 2009. You will see below that the NFC East in particular, where the opponents focused on the Cowboys scheme the most, Ware was not exactly at "Ware" levels for his sack production. He is awesome, don't get me wrong, and he had 14 in all games (11 in the regular season). But, he suffered from going all the way to mid-October without recording a sack. From Week 5 on, he played 14 games and had 14 sacks. That will do.

Meanwhile, the story of anticipation and excitement moving forward is the emergence of Anthony Spencer. Is he the real deal that we saw in December and January? If so, 2010 could be back over 50.

Sacks 2009:

Week 1: Tampa Bay -0 none
Week 2: New York - 0 none
Week 3: Carolina - 3 Butler, Butler, Ratliff
Week 4: Denver - 3 James, Spears, Bowen
Week 5: Kansas City - 4 Brooking, Ware, Ware, Olshansky
Week 7: Atlanta - 4 Ratliff, Ware, Ware, Spears
Week 8: Seattle - 3 Brooking, Carpenter, Ware
Week 9: Philadelphia - 3 Ratliff, Ratliff, Butler
Week 10: Green Bay - 4 Ware, Ware, Carpenter, Bowen
Week 11: Washington - 1 Brooking
Week 12: Oakland - 3 Spencer, Spencer, Ware
Week 13: New York - 1 Ware
Week 14: San Diego - 1 Bowen
Week 15: New Orleans - 4 Spencer, Spencer/Spears, Ware, Ware
Week 16: Washington - 4 Scandrick, Spencer/Olshansky, Ratliff, Ratliff
Week 17: Philadelphia - 4 Spencer, Spencer, James, Hatcher

Playoff 1: Philadelphia - 4 James, Ware, Ware, Spencer
Playoff 2: Minnesota - 3 Spencer, Ware, Ratliff

At Home: 23 sacks (7-2 record). The 2 losses (NY and SD) the Cowboys got to the QB 1 time total. So, in losses, they averaged 0.5 sacks per game. In wins, the Cowboys averaged 3.2 sacks per game.

On Road: 26 sacks (5-4 record). In wins, 3 sacks per game. In 4 losses, averaged 2.75 per game.

Ware had 11 sacks (14 if we count the playoffs). 6 at home, 8 on the road. 3 sacks vs NFC East (7 games) and 11 vs all other (11 games).

Spencer had 8 sacks in all games, none before week 12. 7 of his 8 sacks came in wins (Minnesota is the other).