Pro Football Focus Looks At The Vikings

You know, I get this big e-mail full of information from the folks at Pro Football Focus every week, and I keep meaning to highlight stuff from it each week, and I manage to not do it. Let's change that this week with a look at the Minnesota Vikings through some of PFF's signature stats.

-Few quarterbacks in the National Football League have found themselves under siege more frequently than Teddy Bridgewater has this year. According to PFF, Bridgewater has found himself under pressure on 40.3% of his dropbacks this year (145 of 360). That's the fourth-highest total in the league, behind Russell Wilson (44.8%), Austin Davis (42.8%), and Geno Smith (40.7%).

Despite that, he has remained very accurate while under pressure, as his PFF Accuracy Percentage when under pressure is 69.9%, fifth-best in the NFL. Accuracy Percentage is computed with the following formula:

(Completions + Drops) / (Attempts - Throw Aways - Spikes - Batted Passes - Hit As Thrown)

On the 145 dropbacks where Bridgewater has been pressured, he has completed 54 of 104 attempts, with his receivers being credited with four drops. He has also been credited with 14 "throw aways" and seven "hit as thrown" passes. So, the formula would look like this:

(54+4)/(104-14-7), which goes to 58/83, which gives us that 69.9% accuracy percentage. (Yes, I know, I was told there would be no math.)

For the record, PFF shows that Matt Cassel was under pressure on 44.4% of his dropbacks this year (36 out of 81), while Christian Ponder was pressured on 50.9% of his dropbacks (27 out of 53).

Bridgewater's overall accuracy percentage (both under pressure and otherwise) is 74.1%, which is good for 14th in the NFL. The two guys right behind him in that category? Andrew Luck (74.0%) and Peyton Manning (73.9%).

-The fact that Vikings' quarterbacks have been pressured so often would lead you to believe that the Vikings' offensive line has been terrible at pass blocking, which is an accurate assessment. Pro Football Focus' numbers for Pass Blocking Efficiency puts Minnesota's offensive line as the second-worst in the NFL. The team's Pass Blocking Efficiency percentage is just 74.4%, with only the San Diego Chargers (73.5%) being worse.

-The Vikings' starting defensive ends are getting the job done on the pass rush. We know that Everson Griffen has been getting to the quarterback on a regular basis, but Brian Robison hasn't exactly been a slouch. Among 4-3 defensive ends, Griffen ranks 12th in the NFL in Pass Rushing Productivity, while Robison ranks 22nd. Robison and Griffen are also both tied for fifth in the NFL in quarterback hurries with 31 each.

-Xavier Rhodes has quickly developed into one of the NFL's best cover corners. PFF has him at eighth in the NFL in Coverage Snaps per Reception at 13.5. Basically, Rhodes allows opposing receivers one reception for every 13.5 snaps of coverage he plays. He has allowed opposing receivers 33 receptions (on 70 targets) in 447 coverage snaps. Quarterbacks targeting Rhodes this season have a quarterback rating of just 63.1, which is seventh-best in the league.

-Jeff Locke has not been a good punter this year. Out of 35 punters that are rated by PFF, Locke is ranked. . .35th. He has an overall grade of -9.7, which is better than it was a couple of weeks ago (albeit not by much). Of the 13 games the Vikings have played this year, Locke has graded in the "red" (-1.0 or worse) seven times and in the "green" (+1.0 or better) just twice.

And those are some of the numbers from Pro Football Focus regarding our favorite football team. I'll try to make more of a practice of this over the next three games and possibly a bigger review for the season when the Vikings are done for the year.