This year I'm logging every sack and taking notes along the way. Here's some plays that jumped out while watching the Week 3 games.• Center Geoff Hangartner is one of the few veterans on a young Bills line, but he was the one who looked out of place late in the Saints game. When the Bills got the ball with under three minutes to play needing two scores to win, Hangartner helped ensure it didn't happen.
On second down, Hangartner gave Trent Edwards a bad shotgun snap -- it almost scooted on the ground -- then compounded his error by being driven back by Sedrick Ellis. Thanks in part to the snap, Ellis was able to grab Edwards for a sack.
On third down, Hangartner's snap hit the ground halfway to Edwards. Thanks, in part, to having to bring his head down to find the ball and scoop it up, Edwards didn't get the ball off before Charles Grant beat right tackle Jonathan Scott for a sack.
And then on fourth down, Hangartner again snapped it to Edwards' feet, although Edwards was able to get rid of this one for a short gain that turned the ball over on downs.
• When quarterback Jim Everett was a Ram, his reputation for softness really seemed to solidify when he ducked down for a sack one time when no one was around to hit him. It wasn't that bad, but Browns quarterback Derek Anderson came close to pulling an Everett against the Ravens. After driving the Browns down to inside the red zone, Anderson dropped back to pass and was given plenty of time. But with no one around him yet (Trevor Pryce had just been pushed past him), Anderson pump faked, then ducked and fell to his knees. He tried to get up, but by that point Pryce was able to come back from Anderson's back side for one of the easiest sacks of his long career.
• The more sacks I watch, the more I think that max protection is usually a bad idea. The best example of this came in the Chiefs-Eagles game. Facing a third and 25 early in the game, the Chiefs decided to keep a pair of tight ends in to block. Philadelphia sent only four rushers, so Kansas City had what would seem to be an advantage--seven blockers to block four.
But because the blockers were all coming from the outside what actually happened was the Eagles managed to get two pass rushers running past tight end Sean Ryan on one side while Juqua Parker beat tight end Brad Cottam on the other side. While this was happening both Chiefs offensive tackles were left with no one to block. The play turned almost comical. As three Eagles pass rushers come flying past the tight ends for pressure, four of the Chiefs five offensive linemen are blocking no one. By going max protect, the Chiefs did force the Eagles defensive ends to take a wider path to the quarterback, but in return they got to go against significantly worse pass blockers, which is a trade the Eagles will take.
Parker got the sack although an unblocked Trent Cole played a big part in it by forcing Matt Cassell to scramble.
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