It doesn’t take much to figure out what the defensive strategy will be for Tennessee, Texas A&M and other future Alabama opponents: pressure Jalen Hurts.
If you don’t get pressure on Hurts, prepare to be picked apart in the passing game. That’s what Arkansas found out, the hard way. Analytics website Pro Football Focus looked at Hurts’ performance on pressure and non-pressure drop-back passes against the Razorbacks, and found that Hurts was dominant when he wasn’t under pressure:
On Saturday, #Alabama's Jalen Hurts was pressured on 4 of 18 drop-backs. On non-pressured snaps was 12-13 for 250 yds & 2 TDs =>158.3 QB rtg pic.twitter.com/d7PQwZXkcR
— Jack Farrell (@PFF_Jack) October 11, 2016
Hurts finished with a final passing stat line of 13-of-17 for 253 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, showing that pressure made all the difference on Saturday.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
