Biabreakable
Footballguy
In these many years of following football I have always thought that the ability of teams offensive lines has a lot to do with teams success and the success of the skill player positions reliant on thier blocking.
However in past years we have seen runningbacks have success behind below average ability offensive lines and teams such as San Diego the Dolphins and Atlanta significantly improve thier oline and offense through scheme and coaching without a great investment made in offensive line player talent through the draft or free agency.
This past offseason we saw the biggest investment made for an offensive guard ever when the Vikings signed Steve Hutchinson away from the former super bowl contending Seahawks. Some people saw this as a huge addition to the Vikings offense and a blow to Seattle. Others.. not so much.
There isn't a lot of history to go on about the impact of elite offensive line talent switching teams while those players are still in thier prime. Most teams have been able to resign thier best lineman (ushualy LT) only letting them go when they have aged past thier prime or lost somthing due to injury or other reasons.
In terms of FF it is hard to track the ability of offensive linemen compared to thier peers. There are no consistent stats for Olinemen to compare them by that do not have somthing to do with other players on the team such as skill players or thier other line members. Sacks given up is one but only tells you somthing about the linemans ability as a pass blocker while there is still some connection with this stat and the Qb as well as other blockers who may have done somthing wrong.
You can look at offensive lines as a whole in terms of rushing and passing success for thier offense. But this is a team effort that is difficult to be sure how much the line itself has to do with it much less an individual lineman.
I did find somthing interesting though when looking at points giving up by defensive lineman today.
Accoding to my leagues scoring Seattle has given up the 2nd most points to defensive line players in the entire league. Only the Jets who are starting several rookies have given up more to defensive lineman after 7 games nearing the halfway point.
Team Dline points given up
Jets 181.0
Seahawks 174.8
Bills 173.6
Raiders 164.7
Browns 155.5
Texans 153.4
Lions 150.0
Cardinals 150.0
Patriots 145.0
Dolphins 141.5
Cowboys 139.2
With exception of the Patriots and Seattle this top 10 list of points given up by teams to Dlinemen looks consistent with the teams that have the worst offensive lines in the league. Cleveland and the Lions have had significant injuries to thier best Olinemen and were not considered to be good before losing them.
In the past couple years the Seahawks have been considered a top 5 offensive line and arguably the best in the league before Hutchinson left in free agency. With Hutch gone the Seahawks have lost Shaun Alexander to injury and now Hasselbeck. This could be argued as a chicken and egg situation/effect but I do think it begs the question about if SA and Hass would be healthy right now if Hutch were still protecting them. SA was definitly not performing as well as normal in the early going without Hutch before he was injured.
Last year Seattle was the number one offense in points scored and 2nd in yardage gained. 3rd in rushing yards and 13th in passing yards respectivly.
In 2004 Seattle was 12th in points and 8th in total yardage gained. 8th in rushing yards and 13th in passing yards respectivly.
2003 Seattle was 7th in points and 6th in total yardage gained. 10th in rusing yards and 7th in passing yards respectivly.
What has been most significant about Seattles offense over the past 3 years is not only thier excellence but also thier balance running/passing. No other team has been so balanced imo with teams like Denver Atlanta KC and Pittsburgh dominating as rushing teams and the Colts Vikings and Rams as passing teams. Seattle was doing both.
Now with Htuchinson gone Seattle is 19th in points scored and 23rd in total yards. 20th in rushing yards and 17th in passing yards respectivly. A far cry from what they have been doing consitently over the past 3 years.
However in past years we have seen runningbacks have success behind below average ability offensive lines and teams such as San Diego the Dolphins and Atlanta significantly improve thier oline and offense through scheme and coaching without a great investment made in offensive line player talent through the draft or free agency.
This past offseason we saw the biggest investment made for an offensive guard ever when the Vikings signed Steve Hutchinson away from the former super bowl contending Seahawks. Some people saw this as a huge addition to the Vikings offense and a blow to Seattle. Others.. not so much.
There isn't a lot of history to go on about the impact of elite offensive line talent switching teams while those players are still in thier prime. Most teams have been able to resign thier best lineman (ushualy LT) only letting them go when they have aged past thier prime or lost somthing due to injury or other reasons.
In terms of FF it is hard to track the ability of offensive linemen compared to thier peers. There are no consistent stats for Olinemen to compare them by that do not have somthing to do with other players on the team such as skill players or thier other line members. Sacks given up is one but only tells you somthing about the linemans ability as a pass blocker while there is still some connection with this stat and the Qb as well as other blockers who may have done somthing wrong.
You can look at offensive lines as a whole in terms of rushing and passing success for thier offense. But this is a team effort that is difficult to be sure how much the line itself has to do with it much less an individual lineman.
I did find somthing interesting though when looking at points giving up by defensive lineman today.
Accoding to my leagues scoring Seattle has given up the 2nd most points to defensive line players in the entire league. Only the Jets who are starting several rookies have given up more to defensive lineman after 7 games nearing the halfway point.
Team Dline points given up
Jets 181.0
Seahawks 174.8
Bills 173.6
Raiders 164.7
Browns 155.5
Texans 153.4
Lions 150.0
Cardinals 150.0
Patriots 145.0
Dolphins 141.5
Cowboys 139.2
With exception of the Patriots and Seattle this top 10 list of points given up by teams to Dlinemen looks consistent with the teams that have the worst offensive lines in the league. Cleveland and the Lions have had significant injuries to thier best Olinemen and were not considered to be good before losing them.
In the past couple years the Seahawks have been considered a top 5 offensive line and arguably the best in the league before Hutchinson left in free agency. With Hutch gone the Seahawks have lost Shaun Alexander to injury and now Hasselbeck. This could be argued as a chicken and egg situation/effect but I do think it begs the question about if SA and Hass would be healthy right now if Hutch were still protecting them. SA was definitly not performing as well as normal in the early going without Hutch before he was injured.
Last year Seattle was the number one offense in points scored and 2nd in yardage gained. 3rd in rushing yards and 13th in passing yards respectivly.
In 2004 Seattle was 12th in points and 8th in total yardage gained. 8th in rushing yards and 13th in passing yards respectivly.
2003 Seattle was 7th in points and 6th in total yardage gained. 10th in rusing yards and 7th in passing yards respectivly.
What has been most significant about Seattles offense over the past 3 years is not only thier excellence but also thier balance running/passing. No other team has been so balanced imo with teams like Denver Atlanta KC and Pittsburgh dominating as rushing teams and the Colts Vikings and Rams as passing teams. Seattle was doing both.
Now with Htuchinson gone Seattle is 19th in points scored and 23rd in total yards. 20th in rushing yards and 17th in passing yards respectivly. A far cry from what they have been doing consitently over the past 3 years.
