Meet Me At The Quarterback; Weeks 2 & 3

By Lee Wakefield

We’re back and as usual we’re celebrating defensive greatness in the NFL. The way that this series will work is going to be a little bit free form from week-to-week. I will always shout out the best players each week, and I’ll always look ahead to the upcoming slate of games for favourable match ups for pass rushers across the league, but sometimes I might throw something else in there.

I might bring you some form of pass rush power rankings, perhaps some scheme tidbits, we’ll see where it takes us across the season. This week I’ve got a Sack of the Week for you. Let’s get into it…

Who caused QBs some issues in week 2?

Joey Bosa, Buffalo Bills

Bosa, at his best, shows a wide range of high-level hand-fighting techniques and winning in multiple ways.

In week 2, the Bills’ pass rusher had 7 pressures with a 40% win rate, with a sack and two forced fumbles.

Bosa keyed in on trying to get more forced fumbles a few years ago whilst with the Chargers, and in game two with the Bills, he’s making a huge impact in a divisional game with a pair on Jets QB, Justin Fields. The Bills only recovered one of those fumbles, but Bosa is making splash plays early in his Buffalo career, with three fumbles in two games now.

The Bills got Bosa on a 1-year deal, which was below market value. If he continues to have his sort of impact throughout the season, the former Charger will have more interest and multiple offers on the table for his services in 2026.

As a Chargers fan, this one was a pleasure to write up I wish him nothing but the best, continued health, in particular. It’s great to hear Joey talk about having fun playing football again, after some tough times with injuries and mental health these past few years.

Joey’s Brother, Nick, didn’t have a bad week either.

Devonte Wyatt & Micah Parsons, Green Bay Packers

The Green Bay defense is absolutely humming right now, isn’t it?

It turns out that having one of the best defenders in the NFL is quite a big advantage. Who’d have thought it?

The Packers had Washington and Jayden Daniels heads in a spin all night long on Thursday night, backing up their impressive week 1 outing. The pressure came both off the edges and from the interior, which is why I’ve chosen to highlight both Micah Parsons (will he be a weekly staple? Probably) and Devonte Wyatt this week. 

Both Parsons and Wyatt had 5 hurries and a sack each, and they combined for a total of 15 pressures. There was pure synergy between edge and internal pressure, and they managed to hold Washington and Jayden Daniels, who is, of course, an exceptional scrambler, to a total of 51 rushing yards.

Parsons is going to continue to drive this train – anytime a single player has a 30.4% pressure rate of true pass sets, they’ll be the main dude – But he’s not doing it alone. Jeff Hafley has this unit rolling.

Myless Garrett, Cleveland Browns

Despite being “embarrassed” by the Browns’ performance, Garrett still absolutely showed out again this week. I kept Garrett off the main write up last week because I knew he’d feature heavily throughout the season and it didn’t take him long to make it.

Garrett was truly in God-Mode this week, posting a pass rush win rate of 53.8% on true pass sets. Byron Young, who is featured in this weeks’ honourable mentions was second. The difference between first and second was aroune 12%, if we take 12% off Young’s number we hit a group of four players who were joint 13th. That’s how far ahead of everyone else Myles Garrett was this week. He must be truly terrifying to come up aginst. 

Alongside this win rate, Garrett logged 5 pressures and a sack and a half, as the Ravens destroyed the Browns on Sunday.

Sack of the week

Khalil Mack didn’t get too long on the field against his former team on Monday, suffering an elbow injury on the final play of the first quarter. However, he did manage to put up a sack on Raiders’ QB, Geno Smith.

This was a beautifully schemed rush by Chargers DC, Jesse Minter.

Derwin James came from deep to act and the pick man on right tackle, DJ Glaze, for Mack to loop around and take Smith down. Let’s not mention too much about Ashton Jeanty in pass protection.

Honourable Mentions:

Bryon Young, Los Angeles Rams: 2 sacks, 4 hurries, 41.7 True Pass Set win %. Young is a menace for the Rams and was a driving force in their 33-19 win over the Titans. This is prime example of where the counting stats – Which were good – Don’t tell the full story. 41.7% is truly outrageous, and was second only to Myles Garret’s number for players with at least 25 pass rush snaps this past week.

Kenny Clark, Dallas Cowboys: 1 sack, 4 hurries. Clark is fighting back in what seemed like a lopsided trade on behalf of the Cowboys and Jerry Jones. Clark is on the back-9 of his career but he can still be an impactful player for Dallas.

Milton Williams, New England Patriots: 2 sacks, 3 hurries. Milton Williams began to repay his massive free agent contract that he received from the Patriots on Sunday. Williams has disruptive all game and had the game sealing sack on Tua.

Looking Ahead to Week 3, Players to Watch…

The Giants Defensive Line vs. Kansas City

Abdul Carter, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Brian Burns have combined for 23 pressures and 6 sacks across the Giants’ two games so far. KC are 0-2 and their offense is spluttering a little. Whilst the Giants aren’t a great team, could this defensive line provide Mahomes more headaches?

James Pearce, Atlanta Falcons (vs. Panthers)

One of the Falcons’ round 1 rookie edge rushers, and he’s had a reasonably productive beginning to his NFL career, which is music to Falcons fans’ ears, considering they’ve not had a good pass rusher outside of one Vic Beasley year since the wheel was invented. Pearce has a team-leading 8 pressures and a sack to his name, and is posting a respectable 21.7 pass rush win rate on true pass sets. Week 3 brings a match-up against the Panthers, whose leaky offensive line could bring an official coming-out party for Pearce.

Malcolm Koonce, Las Vegas Raiders (vs. Commanders)

Through two weeks, the Commanders’ offensive line has given up 31 pressures (second most in the league) and 6 sacks (most in the league). Week 3 brings them a match-up against Las Vegas who bring a star edge rusher in Maxx Crosby and one of the better, more underrated guys in the league in Malcolm Koonce. Koonce isn’t an overwhelming athletic specimen, but he gave Joe Alt more than Kansas City’s defence did and is a very sound and efficient technician when it comes to rushing the passer. With the offensive lines’ attention being drawn to Crosby, could Koonce feast against Washington’s Josh Conerly Jr.? The rookie has given up 4 sacks and 11 pressures through two games. Yes, he’s faced formidable lines in the Packers and Giants, but this is the big leagues, and he is a first-round pick.

Lee Wakefield

NFL Content Lead

Lee Wakefield IS A defensive line enthusiast, Chargers Sufferer, and LONG-TIME writer and podcaster with a number of publications. @Wakefield90 on twitter/X.