Rankins 5 sacks in the last 6 games (1 Viewer)

A few weeks ago I referred to him as a poor man's Aaron Donald and I meant that in the most complimentary sense.

Donald, however, is on his own level. No one else comes close right now.
except against us :)
 
Last 6 games:
Donald- 11.5 sacks
Rankins- 5 sacks
Donald- 22 QB hits
Rankins- 7 QB hits
Donald- 13 tackles for loss
Rankins- 5 tackles for loss
Donald- 3 forced fumbles
Rankins- 0 forced fumbles


Donald faces at least twice as many double teams as Rankins. Comparing the two makes Rankins look pretty bad. Then again, comparing anyone with Donald makes them look pretty bad, he is simply on his own level.

Rankins has played great the past 5 games and the light is coming on but don't get carried away just yet.
 
Rankins is a mystery. He's starting to make explosive plays. Plays that we always expected yet seldom saw first 2 years of career. As strong as Rankins is, i still see him getting pushed 5 yards off the line from time to time. I would like to see continued progression by him as far as consistency. I don't think we've tapped his full potential yet. A healthier Cam Jordan, a seasoned Marcus Davenport. The future of the DL is pretty bright.
 
A few weeks ago I referred to him as a poor man's Aaron Donald and I meant that in the most complimentary sense.

Donald, however, is on his own level. No one else comes close right now.


He was compared to him on draft day.
 
Rankins has definitely turned it up a notch... He's benefitting from Cam Jordan getting too much attention... and since Cam's numbers have dropped recently, Rankins numbers have directly gone up.... Once Davenport gets back... it's on.
 
He’s been dominant lately. Rankins is consistently putting intense pressure and getting to the QB. If the secondary can continue to play well and the Dline can get a few sacks, hand the trophy over!
 
Beast mode.

He’s developed this new move I’ve never seen him use before. He waits. Instead of blasting off the line, he waits, then he gives a shimmy and bulldozes the OL 5-10 yards back on skates. Or, he waits, the OL tries to help double Cam and Rankins runs right by him. It’s awesome.
Wait 'til he learns the eurostep!
 
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Sheldon Rankins has arrived! All I know is that he's our most disruptive DT. The rest of our rotation(David O, Tyeler, Stallworth) seem to be feeding off of all the havoc he's generating and becoming better players in the process. Evaluators have always said, the 3rd year is usually when a player evolves and is supposed to turn the corner. Sheldon has done exactly that. It's like DA and coach Nielsen made him into a more complete DT. Now Sheldon has learned to play the run better, can both 1 and 2 gap with the best of them, and has refined his already potent pass rush. He's been doing the math over the last couple of years, and now we see pay off for both the team and player.

On that note, I think Sheldon compares more to Geno Atkins, and/or maybe Jurell Casey. It's not really fair to compare him, or anyone really, to Aaron Donald. Donald is a completely different animal from every other DT in the league. He's basically a DE playing inside at DT. He's way too fast/quick for inside OLs to consistently get their hands on him, powerful at the POA, and his size, or lack there of, is a major advantage in terms of leverage, getting skinny and slicing through gaps and splitting doubles. Donald is basically a unicorn and there's no one in the league to compare him to at the moment.
 
What he's referencing is the guy at PFF grading the play doesn't know what the scheme assignment was. Example, a LB makes a clean rush between the C and G to get a sack. The guy watching the video doesn't know if the C or G was supposed to pick him up, yet he gives a bad grade to one of them, usually just based on who he thought was closer. In reality, it could have been the C was supposed to shift over, but didn't. The guy watching doesn't know that so the wrong player gets dinged.

They've come up with some pretty funky numbers in games and for the overall season this year. It's starting to bubble up in the media that their grades usually don't mean a whole lot. Just last week the Saints O line didn't even crack their top 5 lines in the league, which most would regard as laughable.

Like any stat, PFF can be useful as a baseline to start a conversation, but their rankings aren't bulletproof or even reflective of reality depending on the circumstance.

What he seems to be missing though is the fact that the large majority of plays don't end with an unblocked linebacker getting the sack. On most plays it is pretty obvious who has what assignment. I'm not trying to say that pff is the gospel here. But it is definitely possible to grade players performances without knowing the exact assignment each player had on every play you are grading.

What the grades are worth obviously depends on how good the guy doing the grading is and how much effort he has put into it, but to suggest that it's impossible to grade plays without knowing everyone's assignment is just stupid.
 

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