Joe Bielawa, Jared Allen 2012, CC BY 2.0 
Jeffrey Beall, DeMarcus Ware, CC BY 3.0
During the 2011 NFL season, Jared Allen of the Minnesota Vikings and DeMarcus Ware of the Dallas Cowboys were engaged in a fierce race to break Michael Strahan’s single-season sack record of 22.5 sacks. While both players would ultimately fall just short of surpassing that mark (22.0 and 19.5 sacks, respectively), this sack race was a microcosm of each player’s greatness as a pass rusher. For the better part of a decade each, Allen and Ware were among the most feared pass rushers in the NFL, wreaking havoc in the backfields of opposing offenses – given their almost perfectly overlapping playing days and similar career sack totals, it makes sense to line them up side-by-side and pose the question:
Who was better – Jared Allen or DeMarcus Ware?
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