Maybe It's Not Just The O-Line

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Sheriff Gonna Getcha

Offensive lines in Seattle, St. Louis, KC and NYJ are having an awful time opening running lanes for their backs. And, to no surprise, Shawn Alexander, Steven Jackson, Larry Johnson, and Thomas Jones are having a really hard time running the ball. Did all of those guys suddenly lose their talent or desire to win? No and the same is true of Portis.

If Portis had not been injured in 2006 making an all-out effort to tackle a guy, we wouldn't be talking about Portis having lost it. We would simply be saying that Portis, like Jackson, Alexander, Johnson, and Jones is a victim of circumstance. To be honest, it kind of makes me nauseous to trash a guy like Portis who goes all out on every play (and is worse for the wear for it).

I do appreciate the stats and thought that you have put into this thread dgack. Your posts have been among the most coherent and best-supported on this site in the past week or so. But, putting the stats aside, are you honestly seeing the O-line doing a good job opening lanes? If so, why is Betts rushing for under 3 yards per carry? I realize that Betts needs to find a rhythm, but less than 3 yards per carry (the worst of his career)?

Aren't Alexander and Larry Johnson in the same boat as Portis (if not worse) in terms of abuse? I think that supports dgack's argument more than anything.

I don't think anyone is trying to argue that really successful or really awful running games aren't to the credit or fault of their respective offensive lines. But I'd like to take dgack's argument in a different direction for a second.

So much of what an offensive line does is executed within the first seven yards of the play. No lineman or TE goes downfield to block a safety. Therefore, once the back gets through the LB level, he's own his own out there.

Well, the 2006 Redskins have fewer than 5 runs over ten yards this year. No runs over 20 yards.

If you truncate long runs across the league, the Redskins run blocking actually comes out pretty average (ALY is my stat of reference). Granted this ALY ranking is at a three year low for us (for obvious reasons).

However, our YPC ranks 30th in the league only ahead of Chicago and Houston. Portis' YPC is higher than the teams YPC, but he also has more than 2/3 of the teams' carries. He's not creating big plays even when he has blocking.

Here's the point: even with injuries, plenty of teams have worse offensive lines than us. Wade and Fabini have not been bad in the run game. Fabini has been a pleasant surprise overall. But Portis isn't reading the holes well and he's not creating any yards beyond what a typical run-of-the-mill back would be.

Now whether Betts can be better is an enitrely different discussion, but I will say this: if he's not capable of doing any better, we really shouldn't be wasting plays running the football.