By Tim Graham
Pro Football Focus tweeted an amazing stat this afternoon.
Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller last season missed one tackle on 576 passing snaps and one tackle on 339 running snaps. The average distance downfield that Miller made a tackle was 0.25 yards away from the line of scrimmage.
With that in mind, I wanted to see who the Buffalo Bills' most efficient tacklers were in PFF's play-by-play review.
Free-agent safety Jairus Byrd was the most impressive. He missed two tackles (tied for second-fewest in the NFL among safeties who played at least 50 percent of their team's snaps) on 404 run plays and two missed tackles (tied for third-fewest) on 570 pass plays.
For every miss, Byrd made 19.8 tackles, the highest ratio among all safeties in PFF's analysis.
Recently released safety George Wilson tallied six misses (tied for 20th-most) on 364 run plays and two misses on 494 pass plays. His eight whiffs led the team.
Rookie cornerback Stephon Gilmore had four missed tackles -- three against the run and one against the pass -- to rank ninth at his position in efficiency. He played 1,082 snaps. Ron Brooks was the shakiest. He missed four tackles on just 162 snaps.
Nick Barnett missed four tackles (tied for 14th-most among inside linebackers) on 425 running snaps and two on 529 passing snaps.
Bryan Scott missed two tackles on 170 running snaps and two on 395 passing snaps. Young linebackers Kelvin Sheppard and Nigel Bradham each had four total misses.
Mario Williams was tagged for four misses (tied for seventh-most among 4-3 defensive ends) on 382 run plays. Mark Anderson didn't miss any, but a knee injury limited him to 108 run snaps.
Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kyle Williams missed three tackles (tied for eighth-most at his position) on 315 run snaps. Marcell Dareus was charged with just one miss on 324 run snaps.
tagged
Bryan Scott | George Wilson | Jairus Byrd | Kelvin Sheppard | Kyle Williams | Marcell Dareus | Mario Williams | Mark Anderson | Nick Barnett | Nigel Bradham | Stephon Gilmore
