O-Line May Not Be That Bad
January 29th, 2015
Spreadsheeters don’t think the pass blocking of the Bucs was all that horrible.
Joe has stated before he would not be shocked if the Bucs replaced four of their five starting offensive linemen.
Apparently, those who make a living with Excel spreadsheets have other ideas. The nerds over at Pro Football Focus banged out data on pass blocking for every NFL team, and if you think Josh McCown was a garish turnover machine, well, you may be wrong.
It seems the Bucs are average, per the spreadsheeters. Right smack dab in the middle of NFL teams ranked No. 16.
We’re claiming victory….. the answer may surprise you. pic.twitter.com/ws6iaxOJYZ
— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) January 28, 2015
Joe watched the games, too, and does not have an Excel program on any of his computers and has never used one. Thankfully, Joe is not an accountant.
The Bucs may have graded out to having an average pass blocking unit, but there is no question this line needs help. For goodness sakes, the Bucs shelved left tackle Anthony Collins for the final games of the season, healthy scratches all. And Evan Dietrich-Smith has problems snapping from a shotgun — into mounds on a turf field.
Joe isn’t buying this data on the Bucs offensive line.
January 29th, 2015 at 5:27 pm
O-line wasn’t that bad?
If that’s the case, Josh McClown went from beyond horrible to worst quarterback in the NFL.
January 29th, 2015 at 5:29 pm
Stats certainly don’t always tell the whole story. I have no idea if these stats are accurate or being interpreted correctly – but I watched all Bucs games last year at least twice – and the eyeball test made it easy to conclude that our OLine really SUCKED last year – and the year before as well.
January 29th, 2015 at 5:30 pm
Ummmm It was……. you would think they would be worried about there cred…. apprently they arent.
January 29th, 2015 at 5:31 pm
PFF needs to pass the bong.
January 29th, 2015 at 5:33 pm
PFF sucks and has been totally exposed with stupidity like this and Bridgewater being the 2nd best QB in the league the second half of the year. Terrible site, Football Outsiders kicks its ass.
January 29th, 2015 at 5:34 pm
As Raheem said “stats are for Losers”. Although I don’t fully agree with that, this is a prime example.
Any idiot could see our Oline was horrendous
January 29th, 2015 at 5:49 pm
They should have printed copies and taped them to the Buc OLmens chest on game day….might have scared the opposing DL
January 29th, 2015 at 5:52 pm
I may not be a “spreadsheet” guy, but take it from me…they were awful!
January 29th, 2015 at 5:52 pm
Snap the ball and as soon as they did the QB was on the deck or running for their life. Both of them. No the line was not bad??
January 29th, 2015 at 6:01 pm
I watched all game and they were awful. All of them. I’ll never trust a PFF stats again.
Maybe they are better with an actual OC but its still warhop at the helm.. I believe in Lovie but Warhop still on the team is still a mystery to me
January 29th, 2015 at 6:07 pm
They passing out free Crack over there at PFF?
January 29th, 2015 at 6:15 pm
They’re analyzing the “degree of difficulty” based on the play call. It’s “harder” to block for a 7 step drop than it is a 3 step drop. There is nothing in this spreadsheet that captures how well the teams actually performed…..just what they were asked to do.
January 29th, 2015 at 6:18 pm
Get your tee shirts now at a local Flea Market near you.
In honor of our outstanding O-line.
Nicknamed….the “Pewter People Greeters!”
January 29th, 2015 at 6:21 pm
I will say this one more time to all of you simple minded twits who have a hard time understanding it takes all 11 players on offense doing their jobs right for a play to succeed.
The biggest problem on the offense was not one single player on the field, but the inexperinced, inept OC on the sideline.
Can anyone truthfully say they knew if we were a running team last year or a passing team. Did you see any type of scheme being run last year to exploit the other teams tweaknesses or the same plays being run time and time again.
Yes, Anthony Collins blew big chunks and was a terrible FA acquisition, but you don’t kill the whole litter because one of the dogs and the owner has fleas.
Geeeesh. You guys sound like 5th graders.
January 29th, 2015 at 6:40 pm
The O line was not good BUT, if you have a play that is three step drop and your QB holds the ball 4.5 seconds before being sacked or throwing it to the other team that is all QB. If you have 2 receivers open on slants and the QB double pumps and then looks downfield and then gets sacked, you have a Mc Clown sack and it was not the fault of ANY O lineman, it was a QB decision to suck!
January 29th, 2015 at 6:46 pm
I think it was a combination of Bad O-line play combined with McCown’s Ineptness as a QB. He would still be a turnover machine behind a good line.
January 29th, 2015 at 6:49 pm
I think when they say they ranked 16th, they meant 16th in the NCAA.
January 29th, 2015 at 6:50 pm
Couch Fan Says:
January 29th, 2015 at 6:46 pm
I think it was a combination of Bad O-line play combined with McCown’s Ineptness as a QB. He would still be a turnover machine behind a good line.
—————
Good playcalling can do wonders for bad players… just like bad playcalling can really make good players look bad.
January 29th, 2015 at 6:58 pm
I’m amazed that we had two 1,000 yard WRs.
January 29th, 2015 at 7:00 pm
so why did lovie/licht make the line worse?
January 29th, 2015 at 7:04 pm
so ddneaat – you are saying what? That its all on Arroyo – and that although Collins sucked – everyone else on the line is fine and now that we have a real OC its gonna be OK up front if we just replace Collins. Is that what you are trying to say?
January 29th, 2015 at 7:10 pm
Good playcalling can do wonders for bad players… just like bad playcalling can really make good players look bad.
——————————————
Good point. But there were times last year, lots of times actually, where McCown just made bone headed decisions that had nothing to do with the play call.
January 29th, 2015 at 7:28 pm
The backs had nowhere to run and the QB’s had no time to pass. Ummmm….
January 29th, 2015 at 7:57 pm
Pass blocking may be average but our run blocking is at the bottom in the league. We have to improve our line. I could care less what one stat sheet shows.
January 29th, 2015 at 8:25 pm
I did not see a column denoting the number of penalties each club’s OL received. I am pretty ****ing certain that the Bucs would rank near the top in that category,especially if you consider penalties that take points off of the board, erase big plays and/or first downs, or put the team in long yardage situations. There is no way anyone can say that this Buccaneer OL could grade in the middle of the pack; I was shocked when Joe listed one publication’s rankings which actually had them ranked 25th as that seemed too high…..
January 29th, 2015 at 8:37 pm
Bill nailed it.
This isn’t a sheet to show performance rankings for the Oline. It’s showing the degree of difficulty on plays where they were asked to pass block. How hard was their job basically…
So our line still sucked, I think PFF had them at 26th in the league performance wise. They just had an average degree of difficulty when you look at what they were asked to do.
January 29th, 2015 at 10:56 pm
Stats are for losers….literally, only losers look at stats.
January 30th, 2015 at 7:21 am
Harry Says:
January 29th, 2015 at 5:34 pm
As Raheem said “stats are for Losers”.
.
It never fails to amaze me how much that line, by one of the worse coaches we’ve had in twenty years, is quote. Raheem Morris is not exactly a good source of wisdom.
January 30th, 2015 at 9:25 am
Lol I was thinking the same thing Bonzai…Raheem was entertaining at press conferences though. Man could say 100 words in under a minute and leave everyone in the room wondering what the hell he was actually trying to convey 🙂 I must confess though I really did like his I will tolerate you until I can replace you line…I have borrowed it on occasion
January 30th, 2015 at 10:06 am
Blocking assignment difficulty has nothing to do with performance. This table actually includes no grading of the O-line Unit. Would be interesting to see this table coupled with PFF’s actual O-line grades to determine if their is a correlation between ease of assignment and blocking success.
January 30th, 2015 at 9:39 pm
Our new OC had line problems in Atlanta and shortened pass route yardage, so the QB could release the ball sooner for more completions. The results in Atlanta speak for themselves.