Derick Hall finally announced himself to the NFL.
The box score says Hall finally got his first sack of the season in the Seattle Seahawks’ 30-24 win over the Tennessee Titans. The film — and the analytics — say something very different. Head coach Mike Macdonald and Seahawks analyst Brian Nemhauser are both making the same point: Hall has quietly been one of the most effective edge rushers in the NFL, even if his sack total is lagging behind.
‘Doesn’t Feel Like His First Sack’: Macdonald Backs Hall After Titans Win
Hall’s sack came late, with the Titans driving in Seahawks territory. He brought down rookie quarterback Cam Ward for Seattle’s fourth sack of the day, helping force a turnover on downs and burn precious clock, and a pretty incredible one-armed tackle.
Afterward, Macdonald was asked about Hall finally getting on the board.
The coach basically said the stat sheet is lying.
Macdonald noted it “doesn’t feel like” Hall’s first sack of the year because the third-year edge rusher has been rushing well all season, affecting the pocket and doing a lot of dirty work that doesn’t show up as sacks. He added that Hall “deserves more than” what his numbers show and praised him for playing “high-level football” in this defense.
Advanced stats back that up. Pro Football Reference had Hall with 0.0 sacks through Week 11, but multiple outlets chart him with steady pressures and hits.
Against Tennessee, Hall’s impact finally exploded into something that even casual fans could see. One breakdown credited him with eight pressures and a team-high six hurries to go with the sack, calling out how often he wrecked the right side of the Titans’ protection. Pro Football Focus gave Hall a 92.6 defensive grade on 40 snaps, the top mark on the Seahawks defense.
‘Sack Totals Can Be Misleading’: Hawk Blogger Highlights Hall’s Elite Win Rate
If there was any doubt about how well Hall is really playing, Nemhauser (Hawk Blogger) wiped it away with one viral stat dump.
“Derick Hall is great example of how sack totals can be misleading. He recorded just his first sack of the season this week,” Nemhauser wrote on X. He then pointed to pass-rush win-rate data showing Hall ranks sixth in the NFL in win rate (27.6%) in true pass sets among edge rushers and seventh (20.4%) overall. He finished the post with a simple verdict: “He’s been a beast.”
Pass-rush win-rate charts how often a rusher beats his blocker quickly on passing downs, whether or not the play ends in a sack. In other words, it’s built to catch exactly the kind of season Hall is having, one where he’s constantly winning his matchup but not always the guy who actually finishes the play.
Put that together with Sunday’s performance, and it’s easy to see why Macdonald lit up at the idea this was just Hall’s “first sack.” From the coaching staff’s perspective, the big man has been winning all year. The box score is just catching up.
Hall’s Surge Fits Seahawks’ Top-Tier DVOA Profile
Hall’s breakout isn’t happening in a vacuum. The Seahawks as a team are grading out as one of the NFL’s best in advanced metrics, especially on defense.
According to DVOA rankings shared by Nemhauser after Week 12, Seattle sits second overall in the NFL, with the offense fourth, defense fourth and special teams second. The Seahawks are ranked first in passing offense, 18th in rushing offense, fourth in passing defense and second in rushing defense.
That profile — elite pass offense, top-five defense, dominant special teams — doesn’t happen without stars playing like stars and role players punching above their weight. Hall’s win-rate, PFF grade and eight-pressure day in Nashville all line up with the idea that Seattle’s front is better than its raw sack totals might suggest.
The Seahawks already ranked near the top of the league in sacks coming into Week 12 and added four more against the NFL’s most-sacked quarterback. Hall, Byron Murphy II, Leonard Williams and Patrick O’Connell all got in on the action.
For Hall, the narrative has now flipped. He’s no longer just the young edge rusher with no sacks — he’s the guy his coach says is playing at a high level, the analytics community calls a top-10 pass-rush force, and the film shows living in opposing backfields.
If his sack total finally starts to match the way he’s winning, the rest of the league is about to find out what the Seahawks — and the numbers — have been saying all along.
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