Quarterback sack

In American football and Canadian football, a quarterback sack occurs when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before he can throw a forward pass. This often occurs if the opposing team's defensive line or linebackers are able to quickly get past blocking players of the offensive team, the quarterback's protection; or if the quarterback is unable to find, in a reasonable amount of time, an available receiver who can catch the ball, allowing the defense a longer opportunity to tackle the quarterback.

Yards lost on the play are added as negative yardage to the quarterback's passing totals. Before that change in records-keeping was made, the tackling of a player behind the line of scrimmage resulted in a loss from that player's rushing (running) statistics, even if it was fairly obvious a pass play was intended.

A player will receive credit for half of a sack when multiple players contribute to the sacking of a quarterback.

The term "sack" was not widely used before ca. 1970; previously one would simply refer to a player's being tackled behind the line (of scrimmage), in so many words. The NFL only began to keep track of sacks in 1982.[1] (http://www.nfl.com/history/randf/records/indiv/sacks)

"Quarterback sack" was first invented by hall of fame defensive end Deacon Jones [2] (http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=108) who said that tackling the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage was like tying him up inside a big sack (as when one "bags" a hunted animal).

NFL all-time quarterback sack leaders

  1. Bruce Smith - 200
  2. Reggie White - 198
  3. Kevin Greene - 160
  4. Chris Doleman - 150½
  5. Richard Dent - 137½
  6. John Randle - 137½
  7. Leslie O'Neal - 132½
  8. Lawrence Taylor - 132½
  9. Rickey Jackson - 128
  10. Derrick Thomas - 126½
  11. Clyde Simmons - 121½
  12. Michael Strahan - 118
  13. Sean Jones - 113
  14. Greg Townsend - 109½
  15. Pat Swilling - 107½
  16. Trace Armstrong - 106
  17. Neil Smith - 104½
  18. Jim Jeffcoat - 102½
  19. Simeon Rice - 101
  20. William Fuller - 100½
  21. Charles Haley - 100½
  22. Andre Tippett - 100

List is as of December 5, 2004. Bold denotes active players.

References

  1. NFL Sack Records (http://www.nfl.com/history/randf/records/indiv/sacks)
  2. Deacon Jones (http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=108) from The Pro Football Hall of Fame
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