We'll have a game thread for the Sunday games, but in the meantime, we've got a Football Outside Stat of the Day for you. Today, it's quarterback hits. Manny Lawson finished tied for sixth the sixth highest number of quarterback hits with 11. Here's what FO had to say:
These are plays knocking down the quarterback after a pass, not sacks. The total includes plays canceled by penalty. QB hits are a stat that some official scorers can be shaky about recording, and the FO game charting project tends to add a number of them after the fact through our contacts in the league office, so these totals will differ from the ones you'll see in FOA 2010 in a few months.
The 49ers loaded up on sacks this past season, but Ahmad Brooks and Parys Haralson, among others, will need to work towards getting more pressure on the quarterback in 2010. It's kind of bizarre how this season went down as far as the outside linebackers are concerned. Manny Lawson finished with great numbers, and yet he was benched at one point. With some quality talent on the edge, including a guy like Diyral Briggs, how much does the team invest in OLB talent. I expect draft picks to be invested in offensive tackle and secondary depth. But, as we've discussed before, OLB might be ok for now.