In the world of football, you are either a fan of Pro Football Focus or you are not.
PFF has been used for years to help us understand and quantify player performance through analytics. It allows us to put a tangible grade on players for their performance in pass coverage, run blocking, and with pass-rush win rate. It has become a measuring stick that a lot of people turn to when trying to assess how good or how bad a player performed in a specific game or over the course of the season.
Steelers CB Patrick Peterson isn’t happy with how PFF graded him after Pittsburgh’s 26-22 win against the Cleveland Browns, arguing that its system incorrectly charged him with a catch allowed that wasn’t his responsibility.
“Did I not say this last year?” Peterson said to co-host Bryant McFadden on All Things Covered, which aired on YouTube. “Did I not say this the year before that? Oh man, watch the tape. Could you because you clearly seen me over this guy. Do you see me guarding him throughout that route? That would tell you if I’m in a man-to-man defense or if I’m in a fire-zone defense. If I’m not continuing to cover someone, therefore I’m in a zone defense. I have a zone-area responsibility, not that man. My focus is the quarterback in the ball in the area of the field that I’m supposed to be protecting. Come on, man.”
The play Peterson is referring to is this shotgun snap QB Deshaun Watson takes with 2:18 left in the second quarter. As you can see in the play below, Watson drops back to pass as Peterson and the Steelers drop into a Cover 2 look. Watson checks the ball down TE David Njoku leaking out in the flat. He turns upfield, beating Peterson inside as Peterson misses on a diving tackle attempt. Njoku breaks several more tackles, eventually getting taken down by S Keanu Neal after a 29-yard gain.
When I watch the play, I think of the oft-used Spiderman meme where the two are pointing at each other. Peterson is right in saying that Njoku technically wasn’t his coverage responsibility and there was no way for him to keep Njoku from making the catch based on how far he was downfield. However, Peterson did up miss a bad tackle on Njoku shortly after he caught the ball, letting a three-yard gain turn into a 29-yard gain.
Pro Football Focus is currently the best analytics system we have at tracking player performances in real time, giving us overall grades as well as grades on various aspects of player performances. Its system is flawed, and often doesn’t account for various factors that occur. However, their analysts do give us a tool to use to judge player performance, which when paired with the tape can help us paint a picture on a giving player and how they fared.
Peterson definitely shouldn’t have been charged with a catch allowed to Njoku, but he could have made the tackle to prevent Njoku from making an explosive play. Ultimately, PFF should find a better way to judge catches allowed against zone coverage, but Peterson still should get dinged a little for allowing a short pass to turn into an explosive play for Cleveland.
