PFF says the Hawks have the worst O-line in the league

[theENGLISHseahawk]

PFF also ranks Xavier Rhodes as the 24th best corner in the NFL.

You know, the guy who shut out Kelvin Benjamin and Odell Beckham Jr in back to back weeks.

Eventually we'll live in a world where PFF is widely mocked as the Bleacher Report of analysis. And what a time it shall be.

I mean -- there were 'grades' for Seattle's and New York's players on their website about an hour after the game on Sunday. How the hell can you judge every player on offense and defense for both teams in order to give them an individual grade so soon after the game without watching the tape a load of times?

Plus isn't a unit judged by the collective personal scores? So what if SEA's O-liners are generally league average or better but J'Marcus Webb's personal grade is so bad it drags them to #32.

PFF is a joke.

The vastly superior Football Outsiders has SEA's pass pro at #17 and run blocking at #28. That seems much more accurate based on weeks 1-4.

 

[scutterhawk]

If y'all remember back to mid season last year, Tom Cable was dialing in a more pass oriented Offensive line, and the statement he made about how Marshawn Lynch having to make some changeup in his game when he comes back to play.
You can see Tom Cable working & transitioning the O-Line to giving Russell Wilson some semblance of pocket to pass from, but it's also going to require RW to unload the ball a little quicker, and thus take some of the pressure off the guys that are trying to fend off the would be hits & sacks on him.
Judging by the last game, I thing they're doing a pretty good job of putting the whole package together.
The O-line is only going to get better with continuity, and the better they get, the more creative the play calls can be.

You have your causality backwards. Cable and Bevell already had the quick-pass system installed as of last year's BYE, and it made life easier on the O-line, not the other way around. By flooding the flat and center middle with more options for Russ, it forced more linebackers into coverage instead of blitzing, and accordingly gave Russ less pressure. And with Russ getting the ball off quickly, you see less of Gilliam having to sustain a block for four seconds; he ends up looking much better.

A big part of our OL woes up until that day was Pete calling a system that relied on long-developing plays, which in turn required a lot from the OL. We switched to a different system and everyone was a lot happier.

The quick passing system might have been in the workings at last years bye, but the actual implementation & shifting to the quick release hadn't really gotten off the ground until what?, game seven?, when RW won in a shoot-out playing against the Stealers?
I do agree that RW needed to trust that there was going to be some protection, and that the pocket wasn't going to collapse.
He needed to find his targets a lot faster, and put more trust in his Receivers to make the catches, that's where he and Doug Baldwin started to tear up the competition.

 

[jammerhawk]

Of course the OLine could be better, but ranked 32nd, I think not. PFF spouts nonsense

I always find the argument that the team spends the least on their OLine in the league, so they must suck, to be a wrongly thought argument which fails to consider the draft capital the team has spent on the Oline since '09. The Hawks have spent a considerable amount of draft capital on their OLine, unfortunately not always successfully. However, there are a few recent bright spots and perhaps the need in terms of cap management to re-tool the OLine will show positive results going forward.

As we all know it is hard to find solid OLineman from the draft and those that are eventually become very expensive to keep, if you wish to prioritize keeping a strong defensive core. There have been a few draft mistakes but that said Britt seems to be developing as a C nicely, Glowinski looks to have some promise as a LG, Ifedi seems to have been a solid pick from preliminary observations,leaving Gilliam and Sowell to be assessed. So far the OTs seem to be the weakest area, both are players with plus athleticism and both seem to be incrementally improving positionally. The depth at backups seems to have the promise of some reasonable competence.

Of significance now it is very critical to provide RW with a higher level of protection until he regains his superior mobility the OLine collectively has reduced the number of hits he's had in past two games, this is a positive. After the initial 2 games the team was ranked by the NFL 27th in terms of protection allowing the 3rd highest sack numbers and the most QB hits, those numbers are decreasing as a matter of need and perhaps b/c RW is getting the ball out quicker instead of trusting his legs to bail himself out. I think a picture is developing of a reasonably capable Oline as all these players get used to playing togather and 4 are rookies at their respective positions. We need to have patience I'm starting to like what I'm seeing there.

Here are the NFL team stats for the OLine, individual stats are rather meaningless and one weaker player skews the OLine results unfairly.

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats? ... onType=REG

 

[Lords of Scythia]

can't keep using the "we've done it before with a bad line" as justification for continually neglecting it or trying to patch it up with FA cast-offs and converted D linemen.

Marshawn Lynch was like having an extra o-line guy on the field.

Russell Wilson isn't getting any younger. The older he gets the less effective his wheels are going to be.

That changed this year when we drafted Ifedi. We are now investing in the line. Britt is getting better every game. Our oline has light years of improvement potential. The running is where it proves out. Once the running game start getting good, we'll be climbing the rankings.

 

[jdemps]

I've never known PFF to go full click-bait before but this is ridiculous. The actual stats look like:
12th most sacks allowed. (9) Colts have the most at 15 allowed. SF has 3 sacks allowed.
18th in rushing yards. (372) 100 more than the Vikings
11th in passing yards. 4th in yard/A
All of this while playing 3 of the most talented DLs in the league after losing our starting guard 4 days before the season opener and having a hobbled QB whose running ability forces defenses to respect him in the running game. Numbers don't lie. They aren't great, but they've acquitted themselves admirably. 2 sacks against the Jets and one of those was a coverage sack Russ refused to throw away. Tons of room to grow. Let's see where we rank after playing the NFC south to inflate our statistics.

 

[sc85sis]

can't keep using the "we've done it before with a bad line" as justification for continually neglecting it or trying to patch it up with FA cast-offs and converted D linemen.

If there is a component of a team that is more fungible than another, it kind of makes a good argument to allocate your money elsewhere. Especially if that component is an OL protecting Russell Wilson, who can protect himself with his legs. The money instead went to Jimmy Graham, who is also protecting Wilson by giving him someone to throw to. He and Doug are playing the role Lynch did - offensive heavy-hitter who keeps defenses honest.

Also, Seattle has only one individual on its current OL who could be considered a free-agent castoff. The rest were all drafted by the Seahawks, and none of them have ever played DL.

Jimmy also appears to be getting better at blocking. I don't think he'll ever knock anyone's socks off in that area--at least not consistently--but he has shown improvement. He whiffed a few times last week, but he also had at least one block where he clearly pushed his guy back and it sprang a big play. I wish I could remember which play it was; just recall seeing it on the live broadcast.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

If y'all remember back to mid season last year, Tom Cable was dialing in a more pass oriented Offensive line, and the statement he made about how Marshawn Lynch having to make some changeup in his game when he comes back to play.
You can see Tom Cable working & transitioning the O-Line to giving Russell Wilson some semblance of pocket to pass from, but it's also going to require RW to unload the ball a little quicker, and thus take some of the pressure off the guys that are trying to fend off the would be hits & sacks on him.
Judging by the last game, I thing they're doing a pretty good job of putting the whole package together.
The O-line is only going to get better with continuity, and the better they get, the more creative the play calls can be.

You have your causality backwards. Cable and Bevell already had the quick-pass system installed as of last year's BYE, and it made life easier on the O-line, not the other way around. By flooding the flat and center middle with more options for Russ, it forced more linebackers into coverage instead of blitzing, and accordingly gave Russ less pressure. And with Russ getting the ball off quickly, you see less of Gilliam having to sustain a block for four seconds; he ends up looking much better.

A big part of our OL woes up until that day was Pete calling a system that relied on long-developing plays, which in turn required a lot from the OL. We switched to a different system and everyone was a lot happier.

The quick passing system might have been in the workings at last years bye, but the actual implementation & shifting to the quick release hadn't really gotten off the ground until what?, game seven?, when RW won in a shoot-out playing against the Stealers?

That was Week 12, the third game after the bye.

And the new system was in place for the FIRST game after the bye - the loss to the Cardinals, where Doug Baldwin went off for 7 catches and 134 yards.

 

[Bill Assumpcao]

... I wish I could remember which play it was; just recall seeing it on the live broadcast.

Maybe you can find it here?

http://www.fieldgulls.com/2016/10/5/13176470/field-gulls-grades-can-jimmy-graham-block

JIMMY GRAHAM WAS SUCCESSFUL ON 92.5% OF ALL HIS PLAYS, AND WAS SUCCESSFUL BLOCKING ON AT A LEAST 75% OF HIS BLOCKS!

Go Hawks,
BillA