Let's feel a little better: Offensive Line (PFF)

[Nova]

In the first gif the guy completely gives up on the rush to stop so he could pick up and throw Free. Free had been abusing him all night.

The second one saw the outside guy stand Free up so the inside guy could again pick him up.

What you aren't seeing are guys getting up into him and riding him or a failure to get his mitts on guys as they rush up the field.

Yeah I know man. It was just a joke.

Free has been really good this year.

 

[Zekeats]

What Fred is doing as a rookie is really outstanding. Rookies generally struggle and he is more than holding his own.

Thats because they finally drafted a tuff man who stays healthy instead of a finess wimp who is always injured

 

[gimmesix]

LG: Ronald Leary

Overall Grade: -9.3

Rank: 54th of 77 guards (RG and LG both included)

Behind: A lot of Guards...

Interesting!: It's a bummer that Leary has graded out so poorly. But as another poster mentioned before, he paves road: Running backs behind him average (or at least they did a week ago) 8.6 yards per carry. Maybe being sandwiched between our two young cornerstones is doing him wonders.

Leary was really having some pass-blocking problems in the middle of the season. From my recollection, he has looked better of late and seems to be adjusting to how DL had been beating him.

 

[xwalker]

Everything has been pretty lousy on these boards, lately. So I thought I'd inject a bit of good news into CowboysZone by reporting the grades from Pro Football Focus.

Now obviously they are not the end-all, be-all... but it's clear we've improved in this area. All results are pulled from players playing at least 25% of snaps.


C: Travis Frederick

Overall Grade: +13.5
Rank: T-4th of 36 Centers

Behind: HOU: Myers, DEN: Ramirez, CLE Mack, Tied with MIN Sulivan

Interesting!: Frederick actually grades at -3.5 in pass protection, which for reference sake is below average-- you actually don't see a grade as poorly as that until you get to his draftmate Brian Schwenke at the 22nd spot. But run block? 2nd best in the league.


LT: Tyron Smith

Overall Grade: +23.2

Rank: 6th of 78 Tackles (RT and LT both)

Behind: CLE Thomas, WAS Williams, CAR Gross, SF Staley, STL Long

Interesting!: The tackles in front of Smith are obviously the usual suspects. But everyone in front of him (except for Joe Thomas) has surrendered at least 3 or more sacks more than Smith this year; Smith has only surrendered 1, like Thomas.
Also, just a few weeks ago, Smith was in the low 20s and at the beginning of the year I think he was as low as 26th. He's made up a lot of ground by playing the best ball of all tackles the last few weeks.



RT: Doug Free

Overall Grade: +14.3
Rank: 22nd of 78 Tackles (RT and LT both included)

Behind: [Only 7 other RTs] TB Dotson, WAS Polumbus, DEN Franklin, MIN Loadholdt, NO Strief, CIN Smith Jr., NE Vollmer

Interesting!: A lot of us wanted to cut Free in the offseason, including myself. Free seems to have atoned for last year and actually held the top ranking of ALL TACKLES for a couple of weeks. He and Smith has essentially flipped in ranking since then.

Also, a lot of us wanted Eric Winston to take Free's place, including myself. Winston currently ranks 73rd of 78 tackles. For comparison sake, Free's grade in his abysmal 2012 of -10.1 is +12.6 points better than Winston's this year (-22.7).



RG: Mackenzy Bernadeau

Overall Grade: +8.6
Rank: 15th of 77 Guards (RG and LG both included)

Ahead of: Jahri Evans, Marshall Yanda, Jon Asamoah are the three RGs immediately trailing big Mack, who is only behind 7 other RGs.

Interesting!: I thought the season was done once Brian Waters went down for the year following the DET game. But since then, Mack (or Bern...? your call) has actually graded better than Waters did when he was playing. Mack is averaging a grade of +1.9 per game since the Minny game vs Waters +.41.



LG: Ronald Leary

Overall Grade: -9.3

Rank: 54th of 77 guards (RG and LG both included)

Behind: A lot of Guards...

Interesting!: It's a bummer that Leary has graded out so poorly. But as another poster mentioned before, he paves road: Running backs behind him average (or at least they did a week ago) 8.6 yards per carry. Maybe being sandwiched between our two young cornerstones is doing him wonders.

It has been discussed many many times, but PFF is worthless.

I spend a lot of time watching the game footage and coaches film and my top focus is always the OLine.

Free: They do things in the OL scheme to help him. Other players jobs are more difficult because of this scheme adjustment. He is a wall-off type run blocker, similar to how many TEs block. He is able to do ok on some of the zone runs because they are compatible with the wall-off style blocking. He gets by far the least movement of any OL on the team on any type of power run block.

Bernadeau: He has been very good in the past few games. He is required to do some things in the scheme that help Free.

Fred: About as good as it gets for a rookie OLineman. He helps to the right often to compensate for Bernadeau compensating for Free.

Leary: He is much better than the credit he gets. He might be the most powerful run blocker of the bunch. His job, especially in pass protection is more difficult than it should be because Fred primarily helps to other side. Leary is often on a island similar to an OT.

Tyron: Very very good.

Backups:

Parnell: Minimal experience but very powerful and athletic. Much more physical talent than Free. It was reported that the OL coach had to plead to get him in a rotation with Free last season. It was mentioned on the radio that the OL coach wanted to give him snaps to challenge Free this season, but that management said no. I'm not clear if management is Garrett or Jerry.

Costa: The only interior backup on the roster. He is really just a Center. If a starting Guard were injured, it is unclear if he would play Guard or if Fred would have to move over with Costa at Center. Either way, the OL would be a mess if a Guard were injured.

Weems: Big, strong and athletic, but raw technique wise. He has practiced at Guard to some extent and has the build to play that position.

 

[RS12]

Scouts saying strength of 2014 draft first round is O Line. Rounds two and three D Line. Cowboys scouts have been at alot Baylor games this year, gotta think they they have taken a long look at Richardson.

 

[Oh_Canada]

I really really hope they focus on dline and add another olineman somewhere in the mid rounds (4-6).

Very comfortable with this group coming back save maybe Leary's knee. If he's healthy, the line will be the least of the team's worries heading into next year.

 

[50cent]

So, you're saying that they all are pretty good run blockers?!

 

[Idgit]

Is it me, or are these OL threads not getting as much attention as they did before the season actually started?

 

[JoeyBoy718]

Everybody's talking about drafting another guard, but do you think Bern has earned a right to start at least a year or two? He's still fairly young and he's been playing well lately. Our defense needs heavy addressing. I think we can get by next year with the same starting OL we have right now.

 

[gimmesix]

Everybody's talking about drafting another guard, but do you think Bern has earned a right to start at least a year or two? He's still fairly young and he's been playing well lately. Our defense needs heavy addressing. I think we can get by next year with the same starting OL we have right now.

I think he's finding his groove with all the zone-blocking Dallas is doing. With Dallas shifting more to that, Bernadeau seems to be a good fit. He's better with quickness than power.

That being said, if Dallas decides to bring back Waters next year, it would not trouble me since we don't know how things will pan out. Maybe they'll let him sit at home (which he prefers to do during the preseason anyway) and call him again if someone gets hurt.

 

[casmith07]

Everybody's talking about drafting another guard, but do you think Bern has earned a right to start at least a year or two? He's still fairly young and he's been playing well lately. Our defense needs heavy addressing. I think we can get by next year with the same starting OL we have right now.

Yes. I would absolutely go into the 2014 season with these 5 guys as the starters, unless a player falls into our laps in the off-season or draft.

 

[ScipioCowboy]

Yes. I would absolutely go into the 2014 season with these 5 guys as the starters, unless a player falls into our laps in the off-season or draft.

^this^

Chemistry is supremely important.

Of course, based on my experience over the past few years, the moment you think one thing is fixed, that's when it craps out.

 

[casmith07]

There have been reasons for that, for sure. Let's examine the defensive line.

Going into this off-season, we expected to have the following players available:

DeMarcus Ware, Anthony Spencer, Jay Ratliff, Tyrone Crawford, Jason Hatcher, Ben Bass

Guys in red are no longer with us, for one reason or another. We've since welcomed 19 different faces on the active defensive lineup for the line since pre-season.

I have some faith that the offensive line will be a little bit better next year and that the depth there will be a little more stable as well. Even the depth guys are quality players that could step up in a pinch and hold the line.

The defense, however, is quite the mess. But it all starts in the trenches up front. If we can get healthy on the front 7 and then generate consistent pressure - not even sacks - just pressure, we'll see markedly better play in the secondary from the same players we have out there now (except Jeff Heath, he's just not ready for the big time).

I actually miss Gerald Sensabaugh.

 

[Gameover]

One less excuse !