in American football, why is a "sack record" of a player is rated in a decimal form?

example...sacks: 3.5

I'm a Filipino, American football is not very popular here in our country but I love the sport since I've played Madden NFL 2003, it really got me hooked in the game.

Stupid Flanders2010-02-10T07:12:36Z

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When a QB gets sacked, it counts as 1 sack.
However, there are situations where 2 defensive players may sack the QB at the same time or one defensive player may start to bring him down and another brings him all the way down.

In these situations, where there is a tackle with an assist, each defensive player may be credited with a 1/2 (or 0.5) of a sack.

Billy Bob J2010-02-10T06:20:34Z

They rarely can do a sack all by themselves. So in the example that you used they either helped a sack or got help do bring down the QB.

Mum's the word2010-02-10T06:11:16Z

Sacks and tackles are recorded with a decimal because sometimes more than on person is involved in the play. In this case, multiple players are credited with the resulting play

Anonymous2016-02-28T05:04:32Z

Well they rarely can do a sack all by themselves. So in your example the guy either got help on a sack or they helped someone else on a sack.

Anonymous2010-02-10T05:54:40Z

solo sacks are recorded as whole numbers and non-solo sacks... when more than one person is involved in the sack it gets recorded as a half sack... or .5

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