Passes Defensed and Interceptions

[Oszuscik]

Hello all, hope everyone is staying safe and healthy out there.

Can anyone tell me whether or not interceptions are also scored as a pass defensed? I’m going through all 14 gamebooks for the 1975 Packers, working to tally defensive statistics, which I’m seeing are inconsistent from game to game. Some games seem to count interceptions as a pass defensed, others don’t. One gamebook gave pass defensed credit to a player any time they were the defender on a given pass play. I think CB Perry Smith had 14 “passes defensed” that game. So I’m struggling to tally those correctly, just hoping for some input.

Thank you!

[JohnTurney]

they are now.

Back then? Usually, no.

When I score things from scratch from the 1960s and 1970s
I add the PDs and INTs together to be consistent with now

UNLESS I think they are already combined

So, I also don't count the "coverage" PDs, has to be
a defelction but sometimes you cannot know

bottomn line is it's often a dubious stat

[NWebster]

It used to vary by team and press box, now yes an Int is always a PD.

[NWebster]

Yes certain teams also just credited whoever was covering regardless of whether they actually contacted the ball, the current definition requires contacting the ball.

[JeffreyMiller]

Are passes blocked or tipped at the Line of Scrimmage counted as passes defensed?

[Oszuscik]

they are now.

Back then? Usually, no.

When I score things from scratch from the 1960s and 1970s
I add the PDs and INTs together to be consistent with now

UNLESS I think they are already combined

So, I also don't count the "coverage" PDs, has to be
a defelction but sometimes you cannot know

bottomn line is it's often a dubious stat

I've scored the first 12 games of the '75 Packers season so far based off of the gamebooks, and I have 13 passes defensed tallied for the season, not including interceptions (I didn't know those counted as PD's as well). For those 13, I only tallied when it was definitively stated "pass broken up by..." or something like that in the play by play. I see a lot of lines that read something like "Tarkenton pass to Gilliam inc (Gray def)", but those I haven't been counting.

Do you have a certain rule of thumb John when scoring? Would you need to see it specifically stated that the pass was broken up to count it as a pass defensed? Or do you think my Tarkenton example actually was a shorthand way of saying the pass WAS defensed?

[NWebster]

Are passes blocked or tipped at the Line of Scrimmage counted as passes defensed?

They do - so JJ Watt's 2012 season had a bunch of "Passes Defensed".

[TodMaher]

Here is the official "unofficial" [Donald Rumsfeld would be proud] rule according to the NFL:

"If a pass falls incomplete because of the defensive efforts of one player, that player should be credited with a pass defense. This may come about in two principal ways. (1) A defensive player who makes contact with the football, thus preventing the intended receiver from making the catch, should be credited with a pass defense. (2) A defensive player who tackles the intended receiver simultaneously with the arrival of the football, thus preventing the reception, should also be credited with a pass defense. This includes a defensive player who forces the receiver out of bounds during the process of the catch, thus preventing the reception."