No doubt about it, I’m a film junkie and use it for just about every article that I write. The stat sheet and the analytics tell one story but film tells a completely different story. Certainly, I think analytics are a great measuring stick on where a player stands in comparison to other players at their position but it’s not the above all be all.
With that, I think Pro Football Focus (PFF) does a tremendous job with how they analyze the game. They have a bunch of data that helps sort out some of the blurriness that comes with the game of football.
One thing that we’ve been monitoring all season here in Detroit is how well defensive end Aidan Hutchinson has been playing. After a strong rookie season, Hutch built off that with an even better one this year. Playing in all 17 games, he had 51 tackles with 11.5 sacks and 14 tackles for loss.
Most importantly, Hutchinson joined elite company. According to Sam Monson of PFF, Hutchinson had 101 total pressures this season. The only player who had more this season was Micah Parsons of the Dallas Cowboys, with 103 pressures. That said, both players became just the 4th and 5th players since they’ve been tracked to record 100 or more pressures in the regular season.
The other three players were J.J. Watt, Maxx Crosby and Aaron Donald. Not bad for a player who was expected to be the first overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft — but apparently, his arms were too short. One thing is for sure: Lions fans are happy to have Hutchinson, and we look forward to his continued growth in Detroit.