YR's 3rd Annual Statistical O-Line Rankings: LEFT TACKLES

[Yakuza Rich]

http://yakuzarich.blogspot.com/

A few years ago I decided to see if I could come up with a statistical way of ranking O-Linemen around the league. I came up with one and the results are actually pretty good. I used two factors...yards lost and adjusting rushing yards to determine this. Yards lost is simple. It's the amount of yards lost, be it sack yards or penalty yards by the O-Lineman divided by the number of offensive plays the team had. Using FootballOutsiders.com's adjusted line yards for rushing, I determined that the following positions are mostly responsible for runs in the following areas:


LT = Runs at Left Tackle + Runs at Right Defensive End

LG = Runs at Mid/Guard + Runs at Left Tackle

C = Runs at Mid/Guard

RG = Runs at Mid/Guard + Runs at Right Tackle

RT = Runs at Right Tackle + Runs at Left Defensive End


After doing some calcuations, I basically combine both and it gives me a number to rank these players. Is it fool proof? Of course not. Particularly when there's injuries and guys moving around, but if all else fails I just pro-rate the yards lost numbers to 16 games. But I think this gives a pretty good ballpark as to how well most O-Linemen are playing.

Without further ado, here's the rankings of the Left Tackles:


1. Tony Ugoh Indianapolis Colts
2. William Thomas Philadelphia Eagles
3. Matt Lepsis Denver Broncos
4. Chad Clifton Green Bay Packers
5. Chris Samuels Washington Commanders
6. Levi Jones Cincinnati Bengals
7. Joe Thomas Cleveland Browns
8. Mike Gandy Arizona Cardinals

9. Bryant McKinnie Minnesota Vikings
10. Walter Jones Seattle Seahawks
11. Flozell Adams Dallas Cowboys
12. Vernon Carey Miami Dolphins
13. Jammal Brown New Orleans Saints
14. Jonathan Ogden Baltimore Ravens
15. Travelle Wharton Carolina Panthers
16. Donald Penn Tampa Bay Buccaneers
17. Ojjinaka/Foster/Gandy Atlanta Falcons
18. John Tait Chicago Bears
19. Jeff Backus Detroit Lions
20. Marcus McNeill San Diego Chargers
21. Barry Sims Oakland Raiders
22. Marvel Smith Pittsburgh Steelers
23. Michael Roos Tennessee Titans
24. David Diehl New York Giants
25. Matt Light New England Patriots
26. Jason Peters Buffalo Bills
27. Damion McIntosh Kansas City Chiefs
28. Khalif Barnes Jacksonville Jaguars
29. Ephraim Salaam Houston Texans
30. Adam Snyder San Francisco 49ers
31. Alex Barron St. Louis Rams
32. D'Brickashaw Ferguson New York Jets


HOW DID FLOZELL ADAMS FINISH 11TH?

Flozell wound up finishing 1st in run blocking (I also figure in % of times ran in the designated areas), but finished 29th in yards lost. Flo actually the 3rd lowest amount of sacks for a left tackle this year (lower than Walter Jones, Levi Jones, Marcus McNeil, Matt Light, etc), but he led the league in penalty yards.


HOW DID MATT LIGHT FINISH 25TH?

Light was 19th in yards lost ratio and 20th in run blocking. It's obvious to me (as it was during the year) that teams could beat Matt Light, but given the Pats offense of Welker and Moss with Brady operating out of the shotgun, the ball was usually out of Brady's hand before anybody could reasonably get to Brady. It's also a reason why the Colts O-Linemen do so well each year. With Peyton as your QB, he can make average O-Linemen look great.


OTHER NOTES?

Vernon Carey, a Hudson Houck taught O-Linemen, finished 12th. Considering his QB's and having Jesse Chatman as the starting tailback for half of the year, I'd say Parcells has a left tackle of the future, and Houck has taught another good O-Lineman.

Alex Barron still blows. He at least protected the QB, but still is a penalty making machine and can't run block (29th in run blocking). After finishing 1st for LT's last year, Marcus McNeill finished 20th overall. Even his run blocking took a dip as he ranked only 15th this year. Jason Peters isn't an anamoly, he was 18th in yards lost ratio and 26th in run blocking. You can dispute the run blocking figures, but it's hard to knock the yards lost ratio and Peters gave up 6 sacks this year.

As great as Joe Thomas was this year, give it up to the Bucs and Donald Penn. The undrafted rookie finished 16th this year. Rookies like Thomas and last year with Marcus McNeill are abberations since usually rookies do lousy in these statistical rankings. For the Bucs to get a guy that finished 16th and wasn't even drafted (and had Ernest Graham as his tailback), that's tremendou

 

[Bob Sacamano]

so basically, w/o the penalties, Flozell is a top 5 LT?

 

[Shadowfax]

Great work. Flo obviously is slowing down, but he still does a good job of protecting our QB.

 

[Chrissyboy]

Interesting reading YR. I think that any list is open to scrutiny and will be argued for accuracy...... but isn't that the idea? Gives us a way of measuring play ....

Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[Temo]

I'm just trying to understand your methodology here... so you're taking the adjusted line yards from footballoutsiders, adding in the two relevant areas, and then adjusting for sacks given up and penalty yards?

I'd say that's a good start except for one thing... there isn't too much statistical correlation between running yards to either end and that tackle. In other words, look at Dallas- they are 9th running behind left tackle, but 31st going left end. It's dicey at best to say that the same player is to be credited for both of these stats when there is no correlation there. It's just hard to say that Flo was top 10 when blocking for left tackle, but almost dead last blocking for left end.

Now, this could just be a simple sample size thing here. That's why they list the number of carries to each side on football outsiders... and as you can see, Dallas rarely ran to left end- which could explain the discrepency. You would have to adjust for that.

And from a football point of view, runs to left end are probably either stretch plays or sweeps... both of which involve pulling guards. Notice that Dallas is 27th with a healthy number of carries on plays up the middle. So could left end really be measured as much by the guard as the left tackle? I can't say for certain, but it's worth a look. Maybe a look at game film too.

Still, a good start, just need some more work on it. Let me know if I misinterpreted what you're doing though.

 

[THUMPER]

Tony Ugoh was the 10th pick of the 2nd round last year and had to start right away due to the retirement of long time LT starter Tarik Glenn. He was phenomenal all year and did a great job of protecting Manning's blind side as well as run blocking for Addai.

Now why can't we seem to hit on a gem like that?

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Tony Ugoh was the 10th pick of the 2nd round last year and had to start right away due to the retirement of long time LT starter Tarik Glenn. He was phenomenal all year and did a great job of protecting Manning's blind side as well as run blocking for Addai.

Now why can't we seem to hit on a gem like that?

How do you know we haven't if guys like McQ and Free don't play?

 

[MichaelWinicki]

so basically, w/o the penalties, Flozell is a top 5 LT?

Flozell without penalties?


Not going to happen.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Great work. Flo obviously is slowing down, but he still does a good job of protecting our QB.

How much of that is Romo and his quick release?

 

[starfrombirth]

so basically, w/o the penalties, Flozell is a top 5 LT?

Yes, but WITH the penalties at the worst possible times, he is a drive killing game losing machine. I don't think anyone is knocking his physical abilities. They are nocking his mental abilities to focus and NOT lose his concentration when we need him the most. THAT is the reason I get so mad at him.

 

[jimmy40]

Great work. Flo obviously is slowing down, but he still does a good job of protecting our QB.

So how does having a mobile QB affect the stats?

 

[jimmy40]

How much of that is Romo and his quick release?

Should have read further before I replied. As usual, individual stats in a team game are so stupid.

 

[sago1]

Parcells tried to when he took OT Jacob Rogers in the 2nd round a few years ago over the objections of our scouting department. We all know how that turned out. You better believe the Colts don't make that kind of mistake.

I'd sure like to know what Hudson Houck thinks of each of our starting OL as well as young guys like Free, Marten & McQuistan. The Cowboys really liked Doug Free in preseason last year and they've got plenty of practice film on him during the season. If any OL coach can get Free prepared to start/play at a high level at LT (w/o a lot of penalties), it would be HH. The same goes for James Marten.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

What I get out of this is if you put an average QB back there, then Adams would be decidedly "average" himself.

 

[THUMPER]

How do you know we haven't if guys like McQ and Free don't play?

We don't know until they actually play. Our O-Line was very good for most of the season so there were few opportunities for them to get into a game. Proctor played in place of Gurode for a couple of games and it really showed as both protection and run blocking up the middle went down in quality.

 

[big dog cowboy]

How do you know we haven't if guys like McQ and Free don't play?

I'd give those guys tons of snaps in preseason.

IMO there isn't any value in a backup player if you don't know wether or not they can play in this league.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

We don't know until they actually play. Our O-Line was very good for most of the season so there were few opportunities for them to get into a game. Proctor played in place of Gurode for a couple of games and it really showed as both protection and run blocking up the middle went down in quality.

Trying to extrapolate Proctor's performance for that of any other player doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I'd give those guys tons of snaps in preseason.

IMO there isn't any value in a backup player if you don't know wether or not they can play in this league.

Of course.

Free showed me the one thing a good LT needs-- footwork.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

so basically, w/o the penalties, Flozell is a top 5 LT?

It's unfair to say "w/o penalties" because all O-Linemen make penalties. If he could get it down to an average amount, he'd be a top 5 O-Linemen. This year I would categorize his pass blocking and run blocking as very good (he only gave up 3.5 sacks), but penalties were his Waterloo.



YAKUZA

 

[theogt]

so basically, w/o the penalties, Flozell is a top 5 LT?

From the looks of it, Flo, without the penalties, would have been the best LT in the league this year.