Watch: Smith’s Epic Rant on Sacks vs. Pressures

Sacks are great but pressures are highly underrated, as outside linebackers coach Mike Smith said in this epic rant on Friday.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – There’s a reason why former Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson treated free agency as if it were a field of molten lava.

Two players that his successor, Brian Gutekunst, signed in free agency last offseason were the perfect cases in point. Needing a dramatic upgrade of his feeble outside linebacker group, Gutekunst handed Za’Darius Smith a four-year, $66 million contract despite Smith producing 18.5 sacks and 16 starts in four seasons in Baltimore. He then gave Preston Smith a four-year, $52 million contract, even though Smith was coming off a season of only four sacks as the sidekick to Pro Bowler Ryan Kerrigan in Washington.

Clearly, Gutekunst was right on both players. It wasn’t only that Za’Darius Smith had 13.5 sacks and Preston Smith had 12 sacks to give Green Bay one of the league’s premier duos. Among all edge rushers (3-4 outside linebackers and 4-3 defensive ends), Za’Darius Smith led the NFL with 93 pressures. Preston Smith was 22nd with 55 pressures. Including playoffs, those figures rose to 105 and 62, respectively.

Sacks are great but pressures are highly underrated, as outside linebackers coach Mike Smith said in this epic rant on Friday. (See accompanying video for all 4 minutes, 48 seconds.)

“A long time ago, it’s probably when they started recording sacks, or some fans, coaches or whoever it may be defined a great pass rusher off of sacks. That’s one of the, I hate using the word stupid, one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen,” Smith said. “You find a great pass rusher by consistency. Somebody came to my office earlier – I’m sorry, I’m kind of worked up on this – I’m sitting there and we’re talking about it. I said, ‘Take Player A and he had 13 sacks. Then we’ll take Player Z and he had 13.5. Who would you say is the better rusher? Well, you’d say they’re both pretty consistent, they’re probably about the same. OK, then you take Player A that had 57 pressures on the year. Then you take Player Z that had over 100? Now who would you take?

“That’s why you have to look at how they’re affecting the quarterback. When they’re in the game, are they affecting the quarterback with the pressures? Sacks are important, don’t get me wrong. [The players] just can’t believe that that’s the only way to be successful because you’re going to have a disappointed room.”