The Assists Are Up, The Solos Are Down | IDP Corner Week 6

You know, while I was doing the season projections as well as the weekly projections, an odd trend caught my eye.

Of the 108 defensive linemen we have listed, 59 of them have the same number of solos and assists or more assists than solos.

Now, of the 119 linebackers, 55 of them have equal or more assists than solos.

And of the 170 defensive backs, only 19 of them do.

Now, that means 55% of our listed defensive linemen have more or equal assists than solos, while our linebackers that are listed are at 46%, and DBs are just 11%.

You know, one has to wonder why so many DLs and linebackers have as many or more assists than they do solos.

And w- what are your thoughts about how this, this odd trend?

Well, the, I got a, a couple of them, uh, that, that have stuck with me.

Uh, um, one of them is how much zone is being played this year.

I think that this is from, i- there's a couple different things I've looked at, but that is to me the biggest indicator is we have seen, uh, higher, like, like, the, the number of zone defenses or the percentage I should say across the board this year has been higher than, than in, in several years past.

So this is something I've been trying to kind of like, uh, figure out.

But, but, you know, I'd looked at some numbers, and some things that we've, we've found is that, um, basically, you know, obviously we're still kinda early in the season but, um, you know, uh, it's zone in general is up about 4%, uh, and that doesn't sound like a lot but it is, you know, kind of league-wide.

Man has dropped from 26% on average down to about 20 per average.

And again, it's, it's not a huge number.

Um-

Eh, that's a pretty big drop

...

but it is a pretty big drop and, and what we do know is that zone defense creates more, uh, uh, more assists than just straight up solos.

It also can create, in general, more tackles, uh, and that's another thing that we have seen.

We have seen, in general, a, a, you know, last year we saw fewer tackles across the board.

We saw a little dip in tackles across the board for all IDPs.

Right.

This year we've seen a rebound.

So luckily, um, you know, we've seen some takeaways from s- from solos as you were saying.

Uh, but we definitely have seen, at l- at least it has boosted overall tackles.

You know, while I was doing the season projections as well as the weekly projections, an odd trend caught my eye.

Of the 108 defensive linemen we have listed, 59 of them have the same number of solos and assists or more assists than solos.

Now, of the 119 linebackers, 55 of them have equal or more assists than solos.

And of the 170 defensive backs, only 19 of them do.

Now, that means 55% of our listed defensive linemen have more or equal assists than solos, while our linebackers that are listed are at 46%, and DBs are just 11%.

You know, one has to wonder why so many DLs and linebackers have as many or more assists than they do solos.

And w- what are your thoughts about how this, this odd trend?

Well, the, I got a, a couple of them, uh, that, that have stuck with me.

Uh, um, one of them is how much zone is being played this year.

I think that this is from, i- there's a couple different things I've looked at, but that is to me the biggest indicator is we have seen, uh, higher, like, like, the, the number of zone defenses or the percentage I should say across the board this year has been higher than, than in, in several years past.

So this is something I've been trying to kind of like, uh, figure out.

But, but, you know, I'd looked at some numbers, and some things that we've, we've found is that, um, basically, you know, obviously we're still kinda early in the season but, um, you know, uh, it's zone in general is up about 4%, uh, and that doesn't sound like a lot but it is, you know, kind of league-wide.

Man has dropped from 26% on average down to about 20 per average.

And again, it's, it's not a huge number.

Um-

Eh, that's a pretty big drop

...

but it is a pretty big drop and, and what we do know is that zone defense creates more, uh, uh, more assists than just straight up solos.

It also can create, in general, more tackles, uh, and that's another thing that we have seen.

We have seen, in general, a, a, you know, last year we saw fewer tackles across the board.

We saw a little dip in tackles across the board for all IDPs.

Right.

This year we've seen a rebound.

So luckily, um, you know, we've seen some takeaways from s- from solos as you were saying.

Uh, but we definitely have seen, at l- at least it has boosted overall tackles.