A Quick Note on Pressure

In reference to my previous post about Aaron Rodgers actually having more protection than Jay Cutler, the awesome website ProFootballFocus.com keeps statistics on how often a quarterback is pressured and how they perform under said pressure. Cutler was, in fact, pressured on a whopping 32.3% of his passing attempts last year, vs. 31.7% for Rodgers. So Cutler was pressured more often. However, I can't lie, Rodgers response to the pressure that he faced was otherwordly. He had a 104.2 rating under pressure, which was the best in the league by 35 points. Cutler was at 51.2, which was about league average.

My only caveat, however, would be that, like sacks, not all pressure is created equal. One pass rusher coming at a quarterback from around the right tackle is not the same as the complete and total breakdowns in protection that Jay often encountered. Either way, however, the stats tend to bear out the fact that Cutler fares about as well as most other quarterbacks when under severe pressure. He just got pressured more often than all but four others (David Garrard, Matt Cassel, Jason Campbell, and Alex Smith). Oh, and Aaron Rodgers is some kind of amazing quarterback. I hate you, Aaron Rodgers. At the bottom of my gut, with every inch of me, I plain, straight hate you. But dammit, do I respect you!