I’ll give you that sacks are big plays, but as a statistic, they are overrated.

The biggest reason I believe they are overrated is they are used to statistically evaluate the ability of an offensive line to protect a quarterback, and are the ONLY official statistic that is out there. Pressures, hurries, knockdowns are all subjective and usually not taken seriously.

In the article you cited, I did discuss how Favre often made his line look good, because he would avoid the rush and get rid of the ball early. He was sacked only 24 times in 2005, but had 29 interceptions. Yet guys like Whittaker and Klemm were getting absolved of any lack of protection because they were only allowing a sack or two a game.

Defensively, I do think it is a overrated statistic because we tend to reward defensive ends and tackles based on that stat. A fantastic total for a player in a season is around 15 sacks, which comes out to less than one sack per game. KGB was rewarded for those totals, and now owns the Packer sack record (ahead of said Reggie White). Which player would you rather have…White wreaking havoc on almost every play, or KGB only coming in on passing downs and making an impact on one defensive play out of 50?

I don’t question the impact of “the sack” as a great play or its psychological impact. But, there is no statistic that is more overrated and misused in the evaluation of players.

Seriously, the D-Line situation is plainly depressing. I really hope Thompson can trade some of the surplus O-linemen (Coston? Moll?) for a decent depth guy there. And unfortunately, they need KGB fully healthy, not just able to play. At the end of last season, he was playing gimpy and he was not productive.