Redskins Offensive Line: 2012 Unsung Heroes

From Pro Football Reference:

RGIII has been sacked 26 times in 305 drop backs (There is no listing for knock downs or hurries). For the sack of argument and unless someone has an objective statistical basis for finding diffently, I am going to assume that the ratio for sacks, knockdowns and hurries are complarable (i.e. - if team A allows 5 sacks and 5 knockdowns in 50 drop backs, we can assume it would allow 10 sacks and 10 knockdowns in 100 drop backs).

In raw numbers, the Skins O-line has allowed the 9th most sacks this year (27 - tied with the Jets and Vikings). Ahead of us in raw numbers are Green Bay (2nd w/ 37), Chicago (3rd w/ 35) and San Francisco (7th with 31).

In terms of percentages, our O-Line is 6th worst with a sack percentage of 7.9%. Ahead of us, again, are the Bears (2nd - 9.6%), San Francisco (3rd - 9.6%) and GB (8.8%).

The best in terms of percentages are the Texans, Broncos, Patriots and Giants - all with less than 4%.

What that says to me is that, we can win with this line, but we can't win with this line and the defense as currently constituted. While we allow a lot of sacks, it is clear that other successful teams do the same but, for example, SF and Chicago have killer D's. We do not. The Pats D is suspect but their O-Line and Brady have been the heart of their success.

Again, the bottom line is that the this line has done enough to help make our offense the most productive it has been in recent memory. Not sure anyone is suggesting anything more than that.

I would ask if they started out that way. And what I mean is, we have spent a ton of resources just trying to find a starting qb. Now we know, or are very d*** confident, that we have a long term solution I would imagine that our drafting/FA strategies would change somewhat.

I'm not sure i understand what youre getting at. Teams strategies always change once theyve found "the guy" - they can stop looking for "the guy" and start improving their teams around him. The difference iwth the other elite quarterbacks i mentioned (with the exception of eli) is that those teams (saints, colts/broncos, packers, patriots) didnt pay a fortune in draft picks to acquire their franchise quarterback. We did. Normally, i would think that would hurt a team substantially, But RGIII is so far ahead of the curve as a rookie, i'm optomisitic that the lack of 1st round picks the next two years wont hurt us as much. RGIII is so athletic, he can make plays on his own without elite talent around him right now. That will change as he gets older, but we've got more than enough time to build up our offense and defense arround him. I cant fathom going into a season with a healthy RGIII and not being competitive.

From Pro Football Reference:

RGIII has been sacked 26 times in 305 drop backs (There is no listing for knock downs or hurries). For the sack of argument and unless someone has an objective statistical basis for finding diffently, I am going to assume that the ratio for sacks, knockdowns and hurries are complarable (i.e. - if team A allows 5 sacks and 5 knockdowns in 50 drop backs, we can assume it would allow 10 sacks and 10 knockdowns in 100 drop backs).

In raw numbers, the Skins O-line has allowed the 9th most sacks this year (27 - tied with the Jets and Vikings). Ahead of us in raw numbers are Green Bay (2nd w/ 37), Chicago (3rd w/ 35) and San Francisco (7th with 31).

In terms of percentages, our O-Line is 6th worst with a sack percentage of 7.9%. Ahead of us, again, are the Bears (2nd - 9.6%), San Francisco (3rd - 9.6%) and GB (8.8%).

The best in terms of percentages are the Texans, Broncos, Patriots and Giants - all with less than 4%.

What that says to me is that, we can win with this line, but we can't win with this line and the defense as currently constituted. While we allow a lot of sacks, it is clear that other successful teams do the same but, for example, SF and Chicago have killer D's. We do not. The Pats D is suspect but their O-Line and Brady have been the heart of their success.

Again, the bottom line is that the this line has done enough to help make our offense the most productive it has been in recent memory. Not sure anyone is suggesting anything more than that.

Excellent post. I do think (probably like everyone else) that our defenses problems are primarily limited to the secondary. If we stop allowing defense to score so much, we can rely more heavily on our running game... which i think our o-line has done a pretty d*** fine job at.

I commented about our needing to upgrade at RT and shortly thereafter you replied hat the importance of a RT was overrated. If you werent replying to me, who were you replying to?

Seems kind of random that you would just randomly make the statement that the importance of an RT was overrated without that being a response to someones comment about an RT.

Please dont interpret my comment as disrespect - as youre about the most respectable person around here. I'm just trying to understand the context for you stating that RT was overrated... because i couldnt disagree more. I dont think position tasked with protecting the most valuable player on this team (and possibly in the entire league) can possibly be considered overrated. I cant imagine an investment more valueable to protect than a franchise QB we just spent 3 first round picks and 1 second to acquire. He's THE reason we've won the games weve won. He's the reason we've been able to survive a secondary as historically attrocious as the one we have. In my opinion, protecting him long-term should be one of our main goals.

There are multiple ways to protect your QB than just throwing an RT out there. Fact is there aren't that many good RTs out there to begin with.

So you're telling me in the last game when he had 28 pass attempts, he was hit 26-27 times? Got a link to back that up?

What are you talking about? He passes outside the pocket regularly, but sitting back in the pocket he gets crushed with a couple seconds of the snap. I think just about every game announcer has said as much.

9-11 hits/knockdowns in the first half is outrageously bad... i did just look at nfl.com and it looks like the skins offensive line has allowed the 6th most QB hits in the league:

Eagles: 86
Colts: 74
Cardinals: 73
Jags: 69
Bears: 67
Skins: 63Packers 62

The rest of the teams range in the 30s-50s.

We're also tied with 9th most sacks allowed at 27.

NFL Stats: by Team Category (http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?archive=false&conference=null&role=TM&offensiveStatisticCategory=OFFENSIVE_LINE&defensiveStatisticCategory=null&season=2012&seasonType=REG&tabSeq=2&qualified=true&Submit=Go)


someone referenced profootballfocus on the site earlier. I'd never been to it before, but checked it out and came across some interesting stuff.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/11/22/sig-stats-snapshot-passing-under-pressure/

RGIII is the 9th most pressured quarterback in the NFL (pressured on 35% of his dropbacks), but, interestingly, is the NFLs most accurate passer under pressure - Is there anything Griffin does NOT excel at? Again, my concern isnt with RGIIIs decision making due to pressure, but simply the toll it will take on his body over time and he'll have a harder time than most QBs enduring/recovering due to his lanky frame.

Not surprisingly, the NFLs elite quarterbacks (brady, brees, rodgers, the manning brothers) are among the leagues least pressured quarterbacks.

Translation: RG3 and the offense success is in spite of the oline, not because of it.

I really think the bigger picture, long term question has to be whether Shanny's ZBS can protect a QB in this division and era of the NFL. Again, it's a pretty good rushing attack, though better exist. The difference is those elite lines also protect their QB well.

What are you talking about? He passes outside the pocket regularly, but sitting back in the pocket he gets crushed with a couple seconds of the snap. I think just about every game announcer has said as much.

You know ... I took you off the ignore just to see if you had an intelligent response. I instantly regretted it -- back you go.

9-11 hits/knockdowns in the first half is outrageously bad... i did just look at nfl.com and it looks like the skins offensive line has allowed the 6th most QB hits in the league:

Eagles: 86
Colts: 74
Cardinals: 73
Jags: 69
Bears: 67
Skins: 63Packers 62

The rest of the teams range in the 30s-50s.

We're also tied with 9th most sacks allowed at 27.

NFL Stats: by Team Category (http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?archive=false&conference=null&role=TM&offensiveStatisticCategory=OFFENSIVE_LINE&defensiveStatisticCategory=null&season=2012&seasonType=REG&tabSeq=2&qualified=true&Submit=Go)


someone referenced profootballfocus on the site earlier. I'd never been to it before, but checked it out and came across some interesting stuff.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/11/22/sig-stats-snapshot-passing-under-pressure/

RGIII is the 9th most pressured quarterback in the NFL (pressured on 35% of his dropbacks), but, interestingly, is the NFLs most accurate passer under pressure - Is there anything Griffin does NOT excel at? Again, my concern isnt with RGIIIs decision making due to pressure, but simply the toll it will take on his body over time and he'll have a harder time than most QBs enduring/recovering due to his lanky frame.

Not surprisingly, the NFLs elite quarterbacks (brady, brees, rodgers, the manning brothers) are among the leagues least pressured quarterbacks.

Translation: RG3 and the offense success is in spite of the oline, not because of it.

I really think the bigger picture, long term question has to be whether Shanny's ZBS can protect a QB in this division and era of the NFL. Again, it's a pretty good rushing attack, though better exist. The difference is those elite lines also protect their QB well. We've got a giddy bunch of school girl types ignoring the fact RG3 has been abused worse than Rihanna (sp?), and a couple/few years from now he'll likely be hobbled if we don't do a better job protecting him.

?? Sorry not sure how/why that double posted. Guess the Gods new it was important hehe

In terms of the success offense being due to RGIII in spite of the O-Line, I cite the example of SF. Was there offensive success the result of Alex Smith despite the sack heavy O-Line?