OL Analysis during Seahawks game

[jason]

Because of a previous discussion on this board, I thought about analyzing only the OL during an entire game. It took a second to train my eyes to only watch the OL, and even then it was difficult a few times, but the focus was there 99.9% of the time. I realize everything is subjective in this regard (i.e. scheme, blitzes, pickup responsibilities, etc.) but I tried to focus on what the jobs of the OLinemen were. For instance, in the 17th offensive play in the first half Bell had a great rush pickup; the fact that the defensive player got in without being sniffed is a negative on the OL. I realize this is not always accurate because in some alignments the OL is not responsible for the blitz pickup, but whenever possible I tried to determine that based upon OLinemen who double-teamed a DT instead of getting the free rusher or OLinemen who simply had nobody to block.

 

Furthermore, for passing downs I determined that the number of steps the QB dropped determined the OL grade, and if the QB planted his foot for that specific down and there was pressure, it was judged negatively. I realize this could be in the "Bears shouldn't be calling 7-step drop plays"-territory, but we can only assume the OL knows the drop and should act/protect accordingly.

 

The measurements: Run/Direction, Pass/#-step Drop. Overall OL performance was judged, not individual players. So if 4 guys kick ass on one play, and Webb gets bulldozed, then that's a negative OL grade. From there it was either a Good play, OK play, Bad play, or NA. Since only three measurements were available, 3 was given to each Good, 2 for OK, 1 for Bad. That means 2 would roughly be an average performance.

 

1st HALF:

OVERALL: Bad 18, OK 4, Good 13, NA 2 for a total score of 1.86.

RUNS: Bad 12, OK 2, Good 4 for a total score of 1.47.

PASSES: Bad 6, OK 2, Good 9, NA 2 for a total score of 2.31.

 

2nd HALF:

OVERALL: Bad 11, OK 10, Good 5 for a total score of 1.77.

RUNS: Bad 2, OK 5, Good 2 for a total score of 2.00.

PASSES: Bad 9, OK 5, Good 3 for a total score of 1.75.

 

TOTAL GAME:

OVERALL: Bad 29, OK 14, Good 18, NA 2 for a total score of 1.76.

RUNS: Bad 14, OK 7, Good 6 for a total score of 1.64.

PASSES: Bad 15, OK 7, Good 12, NA 2 for a total score of 1.94.

 

ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION

1 - The OL performed better on passing downs than running downs. This was a slight surprise.

2 - Hanie had several inconsistent drops that indicate a lack of cohesion with the WRs as well as a possible misunderstanding of the offense. This could be causing some of the problems.

3 - The OL performed significantly worse on five-step drops (10 Bad/3 OK/7 Good; 1.85), than they did on seven-step drops (1/0/5; 2.67). This was a major surprise.

4 - Apparently the Bears just suck at running right, or at the very least someone almost always screws up when the run to the right is called. Run Middle (2/1/2; 2.00), Run Right (8/1/1; 1.30), Run Left (4/5/3; 1.92)

 

I welcome anyone else to try this and objectively judge the plays/players. I was surprised they did as well as they did, even though it was pretty clear they were below average overall, run blocking, and pass blocking. It would be just a little more tolerable, however, if there were a lot more OK plays, instead of the Hot/Cold nature of their performance.

[DABEARSDABOMB]

I love the effort you put in but the oline was significantly better in the 1st half than in the 2nd half yet as a whole (the ok to goods) was better in the 2nd half (overall rating might not have been). Hanie was pretty much untouched in the 1st half. Sure he scrambled a couple times but the line was effective despite his shitty ass playing QB.

 

I do think you hit on one thing though, the oline currently has too many "bad" plays. That is what truly gets them into the most trouble. Those are the plays that turn into automatic sacks or turnovers and absolutely kill drives.

[jason]

I love the effort you put in but the oline was significantly better in the 1st half than in the 2nd half yet as a whole (the ok to goods) was better in the 2nd half (overall rating might not have been). Hanie was pretty much untouched in the 1st half. Sure he scrambled a couple times but the line was effective despite his shitty ass playing QB.

 

I do think you hit on one thing though, the oline currently has too many "bad" plays. That is what truly gets them into the most trouble. Those are the plays that turn into automatic sacks or turnovers and absolutely kill drives.

 

The play-by-play breakdown says otherwise.

 

The reason I did this was so I could avoid the post-game analysis and overall perception problem we all suffer from as fans. We think, "Hell, Hanie didn't get hit in the first half!" and chalk that up as a good half. The problem is, that's horribly incomplete and doesn't tell the entire story. It's entirely possible that on each and every play - not saying that's true this game - one of the members of the OL got blown up. For instance, imagine Webb gets destroyed on a play (not difficult to imagine) but there is a RB screen his way. The play could be a huge success, but that doesn't mean Webb did well, and by extension that makes the overall OL performance grade out poorly. What's more, it could be simply the reality of what happened in this game: The OL did much better pass blocking in the first half, but sucked at run blocking; yet, in the second half they sort of reversed roles. What stands out, however, is the pass blocking...which is where a lot of the false impressions originate.

 

Like I said in the original thread, I would love for someone else to do this and see what they come up with. I'd be willing to compare notes on a play by play basis. I think the end result will be surprising. I couldn't believe how many times I wrote, "Defensive player in the backfield;" it happened so often I started abbreviating it as DPIB. And this happened on more than one positive play (i.e. quick pass or RB juke in the backfield).

 

Until real analysis is attempted, all we have is hindsight and very poor, in terms of play-by-play analysis, memory.