In American football and Canadian football, a quarterback sack occurs when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before he can throw a forward pass. This often occurs if the opposing team's defensive line or linebackers are able to quickly get past blocking players of the offensive team, the quarterback's protection; or if the quarterback is unable to find, in a reasonable amount of time, an available receiver who can catch the ball, allowing the defense a longer opportunity to tackle the quarterback.
Yards lost on the play are added as negative yardage to the quarterback's passing totals. Before that change in records-keeping was made, the tackling of a player behind the line of scrimmage resulted in a loss from that player's rushing (running) statistics, even if it was fairly obvious a pass play was intended.
A player will receive credit for half of a sack when multiple players contribute to the sacking of a quarterback.
The term "sack" was not widely used before ca. 1970; previously one would simply refer to a player's being tackled behind the line (of scrimmage), in so many words. The NFL only began to keep track of sacks in 1982.[1]
"Quarterback sack" was first invented by hall of fame defensive end Deacon Jones [2] who said that tackling the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage was like tying him up inside a big sack (as when one "bags" a hunted animal).
NFL all-time quarterback sack leaders
- Bruce Smith - 200
- Reggie White - 198
- Kevin Greene - 160
- Chris Doleman - 150½
- Richard Dent - 137½
- John Randle - 137½
- Leslie O'Neal - 132½
- Lawrence Taylor - 132½
- Rickey Jackson - 128
- Derrick Thomas - 126½
- Clyde Simmons - 121½
- Michael Strahan - 118
- Sean Jones - 113
- Greg Townsend - 109½
- Pat Swilling - 107½
- Trace Armstrong - 106
- Neil Smith - 104½
- Jim Jeffcoat - 102½
- Simeon Rice - 101
- William Fuller - 100½
- Charles Haley - 100½
- Andre Tippett - 100
List is as of December 5, 2004. Bold denotes active players.
References
- NFL Sack Records
- Deacon Jones from The Pro Football Hall of Fame