A lot of Redskins fans think that the Redskins OL had a pretty bad season in 2008. I disagree. I think the line had a good year overall with a few bad stretches, particularly towards the end of the year. According to Football Outsiders the Redskins had the 4th best run-blocking unit and the 15th best pass-blocking unit.
Here's a quick definition. Average Line Yards (ALY) takes into account what part of a RBs yards were made by the OL. If a RB gets a 4 yard carry the OL gets all the credit, 4 ALY. Let's say a RB gets a 70 yard carry. The OL gets full credit for the first 4 yards, plus half the credit for the next 6 yards because often WRs and TEs are blocking out there, plus the RB ability. Finally, everything after 10 yards, the OL gets no credit because everything after that is determined by the speed/skill of the RB, plus downfield blocks by non-linemen.
Put another way, let's say a team has a consistently good OL and a big, plodding RB who gets 6 yards a carry. The OL would get near 100% credit for the yards and so if the RB got 100 yards the OL would get 100 ALY. On the other hand let's say a team had a lousy OL where the RB often gets caught behind the line, but because of his talent every once in awhile he jukes 2 guys and then peels off a monster run, aka Barry Sanders. In that case of the 100 yards, maybe the OL gets 30 ALY.
This distinction allows you to figure out which rush yards the OL gets credit for. In the case of the Redskins, the OL gets credit for a LOT of the yards.
| TEAM | Adj. Line Yards | RB Yards | Power Success | Power Rank | 10+ Yards | 10+ Rank | Stuffed | |
| 1 | DEN | 4.78 | 4.96 | 70.00% | 10 | 17.00% | 17 | 14.00% |
| 2 | NYJ | 4.72 | 4.81 | 61.00% | 25 | 20.00% | 10 | 14.00% |
| 3 | NE | 4.63 | 4.6 | 70.00% | 12 | 16.00% | 24 | 14.00% |
| 4 | NYG | 4.62 | 5.28 | 62.00% | 23 | 25.00% | 2 | 17.00% |
| 5 | WAS | 4.41 | 4.13 | 69.00% | 14 | 13.00% | 29 | 14.00% |
| 6 | NO | 4.37 | 4.17 | 64.00% | 18 | 15.00% | 26 | 15.00% |
| 7 | SF | 4.28 | 3.96 | 52.00% | 32 | 13.00% | 30 | 17.00% |
| 8 | CAR | 4.26 | 5.01 | 79.00% | 1 | 27.00% | 1 | 19.00% |
| 9 | ATL | 4.22 | 4.62 | 70.00% | 11 | 23.00% | 7 | 20.00% |
| 10 | HOU | 4.19 | 4.43 | 70.00% | 13 | 24.00% | 5 | 18.00% |
| 11 | BAL | 4.17 | 3.99 | 76.00% | 3 | 16.00% | 23 | 16.00% |
| 12 | MIN | 4.13 | 4.63 | 73.00% | 8 | 25.00% | 4 | 19.00% |
| 13 | BUF | 4.12 | 4.21 | 62.00% | 24 | 16.00% | 21 | 18.00% |
| 14 | DAL | 4.1 | 4.48 | 68.00% | 15 | 22.00% | 8 | 18.00% |
| 15 | TEN | 4.1 | 4.45 | 61.00% | 26 | 24.00% | 6 | 22.00% |
| 16 | JAC | 4.09 | 4.06 | 76.00% | 6 | 17.00% | 20 | 18.00% |
As you can see here, the Redskins had the 5th highest ALY in the NFL, indicating a good rushing attack based on OL work. Now take a look at the column "10+ yards". This is the percentage of total rush yards that were yards accumulated after the first 10 yards of a run. The Redskins were one of the worst teams in the NFL in this category. You can't fault the OL for that one. Also being stuffed is one of the most glaring problems of a bad OL. Looking at the last column you can see that the Redskins were tied for the lowest stuff rate in the NFL. Again, great work by the OL.
I won't spend much time talking about pass protection except to say that not only was the pass-blocking almost exactly average in terms of sacks per pass play, but two other points should be made about that statistic:
1) Campbell was slow to make decisions in the pocket and not particularly mobile, so I think he took more sacks than he needed to, and also gave up too many fumbles.
2) In pass-blocking, you have the same OL, lose Cooley as a below-average blocker who now goes out for passes, but then add Portis as a superior run-blocker.
Therefore, if Campbell improved his pocket awareness, the OL pass-blocking would have performed even better and probably finished in the top half of the pass-blocking in 2008.
Coming up in Part 2, the 2009 Offensive Line in more detail.
that is an intense table. i see the value but disagree with the whole formula. you and i both now that it is unfair to give any credit to the o-line on a large number of clinton portis 4 yard carries. how many times did that dude get hit behind the line of scrimmage or potentially get tackled and by sheer will combined with magical super powers, break through and push forward for a 4 yard gain.
ReplyDeletethrow ladell betts back there last season and the oline stat would have been way worse.
in summary, o-line in 08 was average at best. this is the year for them to step up.
loved the articles. your prediction of jc is average, yes, but enought to win the east and make a run into the post season...
I think the OL might deserve more credit considering during the first half of the season when Samuels and Thomas were healthy, Portis rushed for 900 yards and 5 yards per carry. During the second half when Thomas had a herniated disc and then Samuels was knocked out for the year, Portis was one of the worst starting RBs in the NFL.
ReplyDeleteOr out it another way... Samuels is excellent, Thomas is above-average, Rabach is above average, Kendall was consdired at least average, and the combo of Jansen/Heyer worked ok during the beginning of the season. And he line is supposedly coached by one of the best Ol coaches in the NFL. If 4 of 5 guys are average to excellent and the coach is good and the FB is a great blocker, how could the line be considered average?
Anyways I get to that in the follow-up post.
Wow. I wanted to leave the exact comment that Micah left. But good response Josh.
ReplyDelete