Andrew Luck isn’t doing much in practice today, and I’m not surprised. With the way he’s been knocked around this year, it’s fair to wonder if he’ll last the entire season. He’s a big, strong guy, and he’s never missed a game, but eventually the odds have to catch up to him. You don’t take those kind of hits week in and week out and stay in the lineup.
At NFL.com, they have a stat they publish – number of quarterback hits. I’m not sure exactly how they calculate it. I assume it includes both sacks and attempts where there’s some contact right after the throw. If a guy is kind of tapped with the hands and he doesn’t go down, I’m not sure if that counts. But whatever.
After three weeks, Luck has been hit 59 times. That’s 14 more than 30 of the other teams.
Derek Carr is the leader in this category. He’s the only quarterback who’s been touched on less than 10 percent of his pass plays.
Kirk Cousins is the worst. He’s been sacked only 4 times, but he’s been hit on almost 57 percent of his pass plays, which is remarkable. When Cousins drops back to pass, he’s hit more often than not.
Eli Manning and Ryan Fitzpatrick are like Cousins. They’re not getting sacked, but they’re getting hit a lot. Andy Dalton is surprisingly in the bottom 10 as well.
Of the top six teams on this list, four of them have already lost their quarterbacks to injuries. The odds indicate these guys are less likely to get hurt. But Romo and Roethlisberger has long-term injuries, and Carr and Brees have both been sidelined. Weird.
Baltimore is No. 2 on this list, which I find hard to believe. Seems like he was hit about 30 times in their opener at Denver.
Philip Rivers has really been knocked around the last two weeks, and this is supported by the numbers. They’re down near the bottom.
Matthew Stafford also would be mentioned as one of the most-hit quarterbacks. That was an issue in all three of their games – Chargers, Vikings Broncos. But this isn’t supported by the numbers. Detroit grades out as a middle-of-the-pack team.
Overall, they’re interesting numbers. Unfortunately they don’t have the numbers for the other side (which defenses are hitting quarterbacks the most).
| QUARTERBACKS GETTING HIT | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Att | Sack | Hit | Pct |
| Oakland | 121 | 3 | 12 | 9.7% |
| Dallas | 105 | 5 | 11 | 10.0% |
| Baltimore | 126 | 2 | 13 | 10.2% |
| Green Bay | 91 | 3 | 10 | 10.6% |
| Pittsburgh | 95 | 8 | 11 | 10.7% |
| New Orleans | 124 | 7 | 14 | 10.7% |
| New England | 133 | 6 | 15 | 10.8% |
| Arizona | 88 | 1 | 11 | 12.4% |
| Jacksonville | 106 | 7 | 14 | 12.4% |
| Philadelphia | 117 | 2 | 15 | 12.6% |
| Atlanta | 116 | 4 | 16 | 13.3% |
| Chicago | 85 | 6 | 13 | 14.3% |
| Carolina | 99 | 5 | 15 | 14.4% |
| San Francisco | 91 | 8 | 15 | 15.2% |
| Minnesota | 74 | 6 | 13 | 16.3% |
| Denver | 127 | 8 | 22 | 16.3% |
| Detroit | 128 | 6 | 22 | 16.4% |
| Houston | 144 | 7 | 26 | 17.2% |
| Tennessee | 97 | 12 | 20 | 18.3% |
| Tampa Bay | 90 | 7 | 18 | 18.6% |
| St. Louis | 88 | 5 | 18 | 19.4% |
| Kansas City | 98 | 14 | 22 | 19.6% |
| Seattle | 101 | 12 | 24 | 21.2% |
| Cincinnati | 92 | 2 | 20 | 21.3% |
| Miami | 127 | 7 | 33 | 24.6% |
| Cleveland | 96 | 10 | 27 | 25.5% |
| San Diego | 108 | 10 | 31 | 26.3% |
| Buffalo | 78 | 8 | 26 | 30.2% |
| NY Giants | 108 | 3 | 39 | 35.1% |
| NY Jets | 116 | 2 | 45 | 38.1% |
| Indianapolis | 116 | 5 | 59 | 48.8% |
| Washington | 107 | 4 | 63 | 56.8% |
—Ian Allan