Thanks to decades of research by John Turney and Nick Webster, we have updated our site to add sack data all the way back to 1960, 20 years before it became an officially recorded statistic
Check out our blog to learn more about this amazing new update https://t.co/CuvMtx7ReT pic.twitter.com/BLgybiu8R5
— ProFootballReference (@pfref) July 12, 2021
No site does stats better than Pro Football Reference, and their latest update is tremendous. Sacks became an official stat in 1982, but a pair of researchers from the Pro Football Researchers Association has gone all the way back to 1960 and done the work to give credit to the great pass rushers of that era.
This is especially interesting to the Pittsburgh Steelers because two of the team’s best pass rushers ever finally get the credit they deserve. Two members of the Steel Curtain defense of the 1970s — defensive end L.C. Greenwood and defensive tackle Joe Greene — both crack the top five in career sacks with this update, which is unofficial.
Here’s how the new top five shakes out.
James Harrison – 80.5
L.C. Greenwood – 78.0
Joe Greene – 77.5
Jason Gildon – 77.0
Joey Porter – 60.0
This update also put defensive end Dwight White — also from those ’70s teams — in at No. 9 with 55 career sacks.
