The guys over at ProFootballFocus.com have been running a series about "Tackling Inefficiency"- aka: how good of a tackler a certain player is. The latest update is about the Linebacker position. Oh boy, oh boy, this stat shows exactly why Adalius Thomas is halfway out the door.
The stat is as followed:
(Number of Missed Tackles/[Number of Missed Tackles + Number of Solo Tackles]) x 100 = TIR
Basically, what percentage of tackle attempts does a player miss. Our friend AT finished dead last. By a lot. With 24 tackles and 8 misses, AT has an inefficiency rating of 25%- which means he missed 25% of his tackles last season. And that's with our coaching staff TRYING to take him off the field. The next lowest mark was a notch under 19%, or 18.92%, by Corey Mays of the Kansas City Chiefs. What does that say? Our already weak linebacker core has no space for Adalius Thomas.
Here are the ranks of some other Patriots players and notable linebackers:
[Note: All players must have played on 400+ defensive snaps to qualify for the ranking]
1st (tied): Elvis Dumervil (Denver Broncos), Takeo Spikes (San Francisco 49ers), Tavares Gooden (Baltimore Ravens) all had ratings of 0%, which means they made 100% of their tackles.
5th: Joey Porter (Formerly of the Miami Dolphins, now Arizona Cardinals) - 2.78%, or 97.22% success rate.
29th: Jerod Mayo - 6.58%, or 93.42% success rate.
45th: Gary Guyton - 8.06%, or 91.94% success rate.
102nd: Tully Banta-Cain - 14.55%, or 85.45% success rate.
116th (last): Adalius Thomas - 25%, or 75% success rate.
What's surprising? How poorly TBC did as well. While he did a great job at rushing the QB, this shows that he's more of a liability than we previously imagined. Our team thrived earlier in this decade upon sound fundamentals; let's hope we spend this off-season regaining the basic skills that will push us back to the top.