Which Quarterbacks Handle the Blitz Best?

To blitz or play it safe? It's one of the questions that has no easy answer, even if fans always seem to prefer the blitz.

But what if I told you that it may not really matter that much?

It's not an answer I would have expected myself, but if you look at the numbers for the NFL this season, that's what jumps out. I've logged every sack in the NFL this season, and STATS Inc. has logged every pass this season -- the latter stats are available at SI.com and Fox Sports. They have broken out each quarterbacks stats against the blitz and against a "normal" (four-man or less) rush.

And by adding those stats up, here's what we've found: The following includes every quarterback with six or more attempts this season. The stats are through Week 13, although they include the Thursday night game for Week 14.

	Comp.	Att.	Pct.	Yds	Avg,
Blitz	2,515	4,386	57.34	31,382	7.16
Non-Blitz	4,951	8,643	57.28	62,017	7.18
	Int.	Int. Pct	Sack	Sack Pct	QB Rating
Blitz	115	2.62%	366	7.70%	84.49
Non-Blitz	228	2.64%	725	7.74%	85.1

Not a whole lot of difference, huh?

There's no real difference in yards per attempt, completion percentage, interception percentage, sack percentage or quarterback rating.

Now, that doesn't mean that individual quarterbacks all handle the blitz well or poorly, but in general, there's not a whole lot of quarterbacks whose stats are appreciably better or worse when defenses send the house.

Interestingly, a number of the quarterbacks whose stats are better against blitzes are young, inexperienced quarterbacks. Max Hall, Matt Stafford, Troy Smith and Matt Moore are all among the QBs who like to see blitzes. At the other end of the spectrum, some of the quarterbacks whose quarterback ratings take the biggest hit are some of the league's most experienced.

Brett Favre, who has to rank as one of the most experienced quarterbacks of all time, has the fifth-worst rating differential. Tom Brady, Matt Schaub and Jake Delhomme are also among those who see a 10-point of larger drop against the blitz.

		Blitz			Non-blitz
		Sacks	Sack Pct	Rating	Sacks	Sack Pct	Rating	Difference
Matthew Stafford	DET	2	6.45%	124.5	4	25	91.3	33.2
Seneca Wallace	CLE	2	8.00%	117	6	17.67	88.5	28.5
Max Hall	ARI	8	20.51%	59.7	14	6.57	35.7	24
Trent Edwards	JAC	3	14.29%	63.6	2	13	40.3	23.3
Jon Kitna	DAL	4	5.97%	112.1	14	17.14	89.5	22.6
Tony Romo	DAL	3	3.85%	109.1	7	31.43	94.9	14.2
Troy Smith	SF	3	6.82%	94.3	16	8.88	80.2	14.1
Matt Moore	CAR	7	14.89%	68.9	13	12	55.6	13.3
Kerry Collins	TEN	2	4.44%	91.4	6	30.67	78.7	12.7
Eli Manning	NYG	6	4.96%	99.6	12	34.42	88.6	11
Mark Sanchez	NYJ	5	3.42%	88.3	20	20.85	77.4	10.9
Matt Cassel	KC	6	5.36%	108.9	17	21.82	98.4	10.5
Aaron Rodgers	GB	8	5.67%	109.5	25	16.96	100.3	9.2
Drew Brees	NO	9	6.12%	103.2	17	29.53	94.6	8.6
Chad Henne	MIA	10	8.33%	84.1	17	22.59	77.5	6.6
Bruce Gradkowski	OAK	7	10.14%	71.8	10	16.7	66.3	5.5
Sam Bradford	STL	13	7.98%	86.5	24	19.42	81	5.5
Carson Palmer	CIN	13	9.09%	85.1	23	21.22	80.1	5
Ben Roethlisberger	PIT	10	9.80%	97.9	22	12.73	95.7	2.2
Colt McCoy	CLE	9	16.67%	86.9	15	9.47	85.3	1.6
Matt Ryan	ATL	5	2.89%	93.3	17	26.94	91.8	1.5
Joe Flacco	BAL	13	8.44%	94.2	27	15.74	92.8	1.4
Ryan Fitzpatrick	BUF	9	6.29%	84	17	21.88	84.5	-0.5
Donovan McNabb	WAS	12	7.59%	72.9	35	13.49	75.2	-2.3
Jay Cutler	CHI	20	15.63%	89.4	41	8.76	92.8	-3.4
Philip Rivers	SD	11	8.87%	98.6	29	15.31	102.5	-3.9
Matt Hasselback	SEA	9	8.74%	71.6	27	15.11	76.9	-5.3
David Garrard	JAC	14	15.38%	87.2	26	11.31	92.6	-5.4
Alex Smith	SF	5	6.85%	69.3	13	19.62	75	-5.7
Josh Freeman	TB	9	6.72%	80.3	19	20.21	86.4	-6.1
Michael Vick	PHI	10	12.05%	99.6	23	12.65	105.7	-6.1
Peyton Manning	IND	7	5.43%	83.7	14	41.64	91.2	-7.5
Shaun Hill	DET	5	5.05%	71	14	26.07	78.6	-7.6
Kevin Kolb	PHI	3	9.68%	77.4	10	16.3	85.3	-7.9
Tom Brady	NE	9	6.57%	99.1	18	22.39	109.5	-10.4
Jimmy Clausen	CAR	14	20.59%	44.2	19	11.53	55.3	-11.1
Jason Campbell	OAK	17	22.37%	66.4	24	9.58	78.1	-11.7
Vince Young	TEN	7	14.89%	86.3	13	13	98.6	-12.3
Brett Favre	MIN	6	4.55%	57.1	21	17.71	69.6	-12.5
Jake Delhomme	CLE	1	2.56%	53	5	26.8	65.6	-12.6
Matt Schaub	HOU	14	9.86%	80.5	26	16.5	93.2	-12.7
Kyle Orton	DEN	11	7.10%	77.2	33	14.85	93	-15.8
Derek Anderson	ARI	10	8.40%	43.7	25	14.08	65.9	-22.2

Obviously, there's no way to definitively answer why this is, but I'll throw out a theory: Like a pitcher facing a young rookie, defensive coordinators like to blitz inexperienced quarterbacks, thinking that they will struggle to handle the pressure. So, you find quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, Kerry Collins, Matt Hasselback, Drew Brees and Philip Rivers among the least blitzed. And young, inexperienced quarterbacks like Hall, Colt McCoy, Sam Bradford and Josh Freeman among the most blitzed. But for a young quarterback, if the blitz doesn't get you, it also creates openings in the secondary, and sometimes makes it a little easier for the quarterback to figure out what's going on in the secondary.

It also seems to indicate that a leaky offensive line will also lead to plenty of blitzes. Ben Roethlisberger, Jay Cutler and both Raiders quarterbacks are among the most blitzed.

Player	Team	Blitz Percentage
Kevin Kolb	PHI	20.86%
Peyton Manning	IND	23.33%
Seneca Wallace	CLE	25.47%
Kerry Collins	TEN	25.54%
Matt Hasselback	SEA	27.45%
Shaun Hill	DET	28.49%
Jon Kitna	DAL	29.58%
Jake Delhomme	CLE	29.85%
Philip Rivers	SD	30.41%
Alex Smith	SF	30.59%
Eli Manning	NYG	30.75%
Drew Brees	NO	31.08%
Drew Stanton	DET	31.25%
Matt Cassel	KC	31.81%
Vince Young	TEN	31.95%
Michael Vick	PHI	31.96%
Carson Palmer	CIN	31.97%
Matthew Stafford	DET	33.00%
Troy Smith	SF	33.10%
Chad Henne	MIA	33.85%
Kyle Orton	DEN	33.88%
LEAGUE AVG		34.37%
Matt Moore	CAR	34.62%
Aaron Rodgers	GB	35.14%
David Garrard	JAC	35.71%
Donovan McNabb	WAS	36.02%
Mark Sanchez	NYJ	36.21%
Tom Brady	NE	36.23%
Matt Schaub	HOU	36.36%
Derek Anderson	ARI	36.65%
Tony Romo	DAL	36.82%
Brett Favre	MIN	37.10%
Josh Freeman	TB	37.24%
Jimmy Clausen	CAR	37.44%
Sam Bradford	STL	37.77%
Matt Ryan	ATL	38.86%
Joe Flacco	BAL	39.29%
Ben Roethlisberger	PIT	40.00%
Jason Campbell	OAK	40.43%
Ryan Fitzpatrick	BUF	40.86%
Jay Cutler	CHI	41.23%
Colt McCoy	CLE	44.37%
Bruce Gradkowski	OAK	45.51%
Max Hall	ARI	51.09%
Trent Edwards	JAC	92.31%