quarterback sack

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.http://www.nfl.com/history/randf/records/indiv/sacks "Quarterback sack" was first invented by hall of fame defensive end Deacon Jones http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=108 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

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