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As we make our way through this week devoted to the offensive line, it only seems right that we put out our list of offensive line rankings.

This is PFF’s way of letting you know which units graded out the best and in which areas. There are some limitations to these rankings, in that they don’t account for strength of opponents nor do they look at how injuries impacted individual players. Instead, we’ve looked at how each individual lineman graded out and compiled three different categories: pass blocking, run blocking (including screen blocking) and penalties. Then we added them and like magic, got ourselves a set of rankings with the number next to the team in parenthesis denoting their 2010 finish. (Note that these numbers are just for the regular season.)

Tomorrow we’ll continue to count down to the top, but for now, we start at the bottom.

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A guest contribution by Evan Mathis, Guard, Philadelphia Eagles

When PFF reached out to me with the unique request for an article, I thought it would be a good opportunity to give the football fan base some insight into the world of offensive line play. They also told me I would have to do this or they would go back to calling Carl Nicks the best guard in football.

The journey to fully understanding football is a tedious one. It’s very easy to turn on a game, eat a meal, tweet, text, talk, and more … all while watching. After seeing a game one time, people are fully ready to provide their opinion as if it’s concretely true. They then get into a debate with another person who watched another game about who is the best left tackle in the NFL. Their opinions are formed from various methods, but rarely from actually watching every game, every player, and every play. Who in their right mind would do such a thing?  Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday it was the offensive tackles‘ turn, so it only seems fair that we move onto the offensive interior as we look at NFL’s most effective pass protecting lineman from 2011.

If you missed how we go about deciding that, the formula used is built from numbers we gather during our analysis process. We weigh hits and hurries as worth 75% of sacks, add up the three forms of pressure, divide it by the number of times they pass blocked at a certain position and you’re left with a figure. Work in a multiplier to get it into form, and it equals your PBE number:

(1– ((Sacks + (0.75*(Hits + Hurries))/ Pass Blocking Snaps))*100 = PBE Rating

So let’s look at how those centers and guards turned out shall we, with a minimum criteria of at least 200 snaps at guard or center (separately).   Read the rest of this entry »

Given that it’s a week we’re dedicating to offensive lines and linemen, it seems appropriate that we bring back an old favorite to show which linemen are the most efficient when it comes to pass protection; Pass Blocking Efficiency (PBE).

It’s a simple enough formula. We weigh hits and hurries as worth 75% of sacks, add the three forms of pressure up, divide it by the number of times they pass blocked at a certain position and you’re left with your PBE number. For the mathematically inclined, it looks a little like this:

(1– ((Sacks + (0.75*(Hits + Hurries))/ Pass Blocking Snaps))*100 = PBE Rating

Looking at all offensive linemen who played at least 200 snaps as tackle (note, only snaps at tackle are counted), let’s see which of the 75 guys who qualified impressed the most over the course of the regular season.  Read the rest of this entry »

The NFL season has finished, and–with the last of the confetti–it’s time to turn our attention to a bit of evaluation and stock-taking of the season that just was. 2011 provided us with some interesting numbers and play, but perhaps none more so than some of the data we find in our tackling study for cornerbacks.

For any of you who have seen our tackling studies in previous seasons, you will be well familiar with the sight of Asante Samuel being firmly rooted to the base of the table with an impressive level of tackling ineptitude. This season, the Philadelphia Eagles have given Samuel company at the bottom end, and for once, he isn’t even the poorest performing tackler on his own team.

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The postseason is done, football is over (for six months anyways), and the New York Football Giants are your Super Bowl champions. They got there with some incredible performances, and today we’re looking back at what has happened since the regular season ended to give you our PFF Team of the Postseason.

That means we’re tabbing the guys who used the postseason to enhance their credentials with the kind of performances that got their teams there in the first place. So whether they were the Super Bowl MVP, or a receiver from a one-and-done outfit, it’s time to inflict yet another ‘Team of Something’ upon an unsuspecting public.

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There was a sense of déjà vu in the lead up to the 46th Super Bowl on Sunday and the game didn’t disappoint, delivering a game full of intrigue and drama, that resulted in the New York Giants taking their second Super Bowl in the last five, the franchise’s fourth, and making the New England Patriots wait at least one more year to add their own fourth Super Bowl.

Much of the pre-game build up revolved around the dominance of individual units and individual positional groups but throughout the course of sixty minutes each team’s defense and each team’s offense had spells where they had a clear upper hand on the opposition ensuring that neither team could get out of sight. Ten points is the magic barrier in the Super Bowl but each team fell just short of this margin and instead it was the final swing of the pendulum, a 12-0 scoring run from midway through the third quarter, back towards the Giants that proved decisive. Once again it was the Giants’ offense taking control of the ball with the game on the line that proved decisive as it has in the prior two encounters between these two teams. The Patriots recognized this and tried everything to get Tom Brady the ball back with time to win the game, but 80 yards in 57 seconds proved too much.

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Come the Super Bowl everything gets magnified, and so it is with the PFF Focus Points. Rather than simply giving you one matchup to look at, we’re dividing our efforts and taking a look at both blind-side protectors to check the impact of two of this game’s more intriguing spots.

PFF Founder and fearless leader, Neil Hornsby, takes a look at New England’s left tackle Matt Light while Sam Monson cast his eye over David Diehl, Light’s New York counterpart. Below is the account of what each learned during the game.

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Given the incredible success of Sam Monson’s piece telling everybody why the San Francisco 49ers couldn’t beat the New Orleans Saints in the Divisional Playoffs, we’ve decided to draft in some help, hedge our bets, and take both sides of the Super Bowl.

While Sam may prove yet again to be wide of the mark, at least this way one of our analysts’ “guarantees” will prove correct. PFF’s Director of Analysis, Ben Stockwell, joins Sam in making cases for why each of the Super Bowl protagonists is fighting a losing battle on Sunday.

Here’s what they’ve determined to be the Achilles heels for the big game.

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This is it, the end of the road, the final countdown, one last game to decide the title and along with the 2011 season’s crescendo comes one last opportunity for the PFF staff to offer their air-tight, take ‘em-to-the-bank predictions.

For this last edition of PFF Picks, the floor has been opened to the entire PFF staff. Our analysis team is joined by the Player Participation crew as well as the editing and IT people that help make the site go.

As you’ll see, the gang is split, a good sign that we’re in for a game worthy of its title (and something that should make for some fun discussion at our next meeting). This is also your last chance to make a call. So, as we await kickoff, which team is your money on?

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