Offensive Lines Analysis- 2006 Season

By: Chris Smith

Ask the casual fantasy football owners about the top running backs for this upcoming season and they are sure to mention Larry Johnson, LaDainian Tomlinson and Shaun Alexander. For receivers, they will be able to spout off Randy Moss, Chad Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald and Terrell Owens. At the quarterback spot, even the most casual fans are aware that Peyton Manning is the best option.

For the prepared, dedicated fantasy football owner, they will know that Marion Barber III has a chance to see significant carries in the Dallas Cowboys offense in '06, that Michael Clayton has looked back to his form that helped him put up great numbers as a rookie in 2004 and that it is currently WR Reggie Williams who has taken over Jimmy Smith's spot in the Jaguars offense.

However if you really want to dominate your peers, be ahead of the curve and manage your team to the best of your ability it is best to look at all areas that can have an impact on your fantasy team. That includes offensive schemes, strength of schedule, positional battles and finally a significant part of a team that perhaps has as much impact on the offense as any other positions. Of course, reading the title above, it is easy to figure out that I'm talking about the offensive lines. No matter how talented a running back is, he will have difficulty running the ball if the offensive line in front of him cannot open the holes (unless his name is Barry Sanders). In addition, a quarterback may have a cannon of an arm and the accuracy of an archer but it's hard to complete a pass while lying prone on your back.

This season, there are some offensive lines that are clearly a cut above the others, many that are mired in mediocrity and others that are pretty putrid. This feature will take a look at each of the 32 NFL teams offensive lines, break down the individual player's that make up the unit and highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each group. Included in this feature is a total score out of 50 for each unit as well as a letter grade from A (excellent) to E (terrible). Also, we sort the statistics from the 2005 season into separate tables for both rushing and passing and rank the teams in order of effectiveness last year.

Are you ready? Sit back, get comfortable and grab a nice, cold beverage as this article will take awhile to get through. I assure you by the end of the article you will have a really good feel on which teams are blessed with the most effective offensive lines this season.

2006 Grading Table:

Rk	Team	Run	Pass	Depth	Cohes.	Exp.	Score	Grade	Comments
1	Cincinnati Bengals	9	9	10	10	10	48	A	Bengals offensive line now the dominant unit
2	Denver Broncos	10	8	9	10	10	47	A	Always amongst best OL units in the NFL
3	Pittsburgh Steelers	10	8	9	10	9	46	A	Right up there with the top groups in the game
4	Chicago Bears	9	7	8	9	9	42	B+	Emerge as an upper-tier group in 2005
5	New York Giants	9	6	7	9	8	39	B+	Tremendous run blocking
6	Washington Redskins	9	8	4	8	10	39	B+	Great starters but questionable depth
7	Minnesota Vikings	8	8	7	6	9	38	B	Adding Steve Hutchinson makes group much better
8	Miami Dolphins	8	8	7	6	9	38	B	Unit blessed with great coaching (Hudson Houck)
9	Kansas City Chiefs	9	7	6	7	9	38	B	Slipping a little. Question marks at both tackle positions
10	Seattle Seahawks	9	7	6	7	9	38	B	Loss of guard Steve Hutchinson will hurt
11	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	8	8	8	6	7	37	B	This group is quickly ascending the charts
12	Jacksonville Jaguars	8	7	6	6	9	36	B	Underachieved in 2005 but should be improved this season
13	Atlanta Falcons	9	6	4	7	9	35	B	Suspect talent overshadowed by brilliant coaching/schemes
14	Baltimore Ravens	7	7	7	7	8	36	B	Really disappointed last year but should return to 2004 form
15	Philadelphia Eagles	8	6	7	6	8	35	B	Good young talent will slowly implement into group
16	New England Patriots	6	8	6	7	8	35	B	Keep losing good talent but find ways to re-tool
17	St. Louis Rams	7	6	6	7	7	33	C+	Getting a little long in the tooth but still have OT Orlando Pace
18	Dallas Cowboys	7	7	5	5	8	32	C+	Cowboys looking for better play out of the OL in 2006
19	San Francisco 49ers	8	5	6	5	8	32	C+	This unit is better than most realize.
20	Indianapolis Colts	6	6	5	8	7	32	C+	Not as good as some people think.
21	Oakland Raiders	7	7	5	7	6	32	C+	There is talent here and Art Shell's presence makes them better
22	Carolina Panthers	7	8	5	5	7	32	C+	Some good young talent here but needs to come together
23	Houston Texans	8	5	6	6	6	31	C	The Texans offensive line has potential if they can come together.
24	San Diego Chargers	7	7	5	5	7	31	C	Have enough young talent to climb the ladder
25	Detroit Lions	6	6	5	5	8	30	C	Lions appear to be average at best along the OL
26	New York Jets	6	8	5	5	6	30	C	Will take awhile to come together but looks great for 2007
27	Arizona Cardinals	5	6	6	5	7	29	C-	Not good but better than they showed last season
28	Cleveland Browns	6	6	5	5	7	29	C-	Crushing injury to C Bentley destroys promising season for OL
29	Tennessee Titans	6	7	5	4	5	27	C-	Two young, inexperienced tackles offers hope for the future
30	New Orleans Saints	6	6	3	5	6	26	C-	Unsettled offensive line could struggle at times this season
31	Buffalo Bills	4	5	5	4	8	26	C-	Have a couple of good players but are in a transitional period.
32	Green Bay Packers	3	4	5	3	5	20	E	This group is in a mess. Have yet to replace the departed starters
	Team	/10	/10	/10	/10	/10	/50

2005 OL Statistical Score:

Rnk	NFL Team	YPC	Sc1	RuY	Sc2	RTD	Sc3	RuFD	Sc4	SA	Sc5	PA/S	Sc6	Total
1	Denver	4.7	2	2539	2	25	3	145	1	23	3	20.2	5	16
2	Seattle	4.7	2	2457	3	29	1	142	2	27	5	17.6	9	22
3	Kansas City	4.6	5	2382	4	26	2	138	4	32	10	15.8	13	38
4	NY Giants	4.7	2	2209	6	17	8	106	10	28	7	19.9	7	40
5	Cincinnati	4.2	9	1910	11	15	12	109	9	21	2	25.6	2	45
6	San Diego	4.5	6	2072	9	22	4	116	6	31	10	17.0	10	45
7	Indianapolis	3.7	24	1703	16	18	6	116	6	20	1	25.8	1	54
8	Atlanta	4.8	1	2546	1	17	8	139	3	39	18	11.6	25	56
9	Washington	4.2	9	2183	7	15	12	114	8	31	10	15.5	14	60
10	Miami	4.3	7	1898	12	11	17	93	17	26	4	21.4	4	61
11	Pittsburgh	4.0	12	2223	5	21	5	120	5	32	16	11.8	24	67
12	Chicago	4.3	7	2099	8	11	17	99	12	31	10	13.5	18	72
13	Jacksonville	3.9	16	1959	10	18	6	97	13	32	16	15.2	15	76
14	New England	3.4	29	1512	24	16	11	101	11	28	7	20.1	6	88
15	Carolina	3.4	29	1679	19	17	8	82	22	28	7	16.0	12	97
16	Tampa Bay	4.0	12	1826	14	13	14	83	20	41	19	12.0	23	102
17	Green Bay	3.4	29	1352	30	11	17	76	25	27	5	23.2	3	109
18	New Orleans	4.0	12	1688	18	8	27	89	18	41	19	13.5	18	112
19	Tennessee	3.8	20	1525	23	8	27	72	29	31	10	19.2	8	117
20	St. Louis	4.0	12	1535	22	13	14	82	22	46	26	13.0	22	118
21	Dallas	3.6	25	1861	13	13	14	97	13	50	29	10.0	28	122
22	Detroit	3.6	25	1471	26	10	22	69	31	31	10	16.8	11	125
23	Philadelphia	3.9	16	1432	28	11	17	73	28	42	21	14.8	17	127
24	Baltimore	3.6	25	1605	21	5	30	97	13	42	21	13.4	20	130
25	Houston	4.2	9	1816	15	9	25	89	18	68	32	6.6	32	131
26	Oakland	3.8	20	1369	29	11	17	80	24	45	24	13.1	21	135
27	Buffalo	3.8	20	1607	20	6	29	96	16	43	23	10.7	27	135
28	Minnesota	3.9	16	1467	27	10	22	83	20	54	31	9.4	29	145
29	San Francisco	3.9	16	1689	17	9	25	70	30	48	28	8.1	31	147
30	Cleveland	3.8	20	1503	25	4	31	76	25	46	26	10.8	26	153
31	Arizona	3.2	32	1138	32	2	32	58	32	45	24	14.9	16	168
32	NY Jets	3.5	28	1328	31	10	22	74	27	53	30	8.9	30	168

2005 Run Blocking Statistical Ranking:

Rnk	NFL Team	YPC	Sc1	RuY	Sc2	RTD	Sc3	RuFD	Sc4	Run Tot
1	Denver	4.7	2	2539	2	25	3	145	1	8
2	Seattle	4.7	2	2457	3	29	1	142	2	8
3	Atlanta	4.8	1	2546	1	17	8	139	3	13
4	Kansas City	4.6	5	2382	4	26	2	138	4	15
5	San Diego	4.5	6	2072	9	22	4	116	6	25
6	NY Giants	4.7	2	2209	6	17	8	106	10	26
7	Pittsburgh	4.0	12	2223	5	21	5	120	5	27
8	Washington	4.2	9	2183	7	15	12	114	8	36
9	Cincinnati	4.2	9	1910	11	15	12	109	9	41
10	Chicago	4.3	7	2099	8	11	17	99	12	44
11	Jacksonville	3.9	16	1959	10	18	6	97	13	45
12	Indianapolis	3.7	24	1703	16	18	6	116	6	52
13	Miami	4.3	7	1898	12	11	17	93	17	53
14	Tampa Bay	4.0	12	1826	14	13	14	83	20	60
15	Dallas	3.6	25	1861	13	13	14	97	13	65
16	Houston	4.2	9	1816	15	9	25	89	18	67
17	St. Louis	4.0	12	1535	22	13	14	82	22	70
18	New England	3.4	29	1512	24	16	11	101	11	75
19	New Orleans	4.0	12	1688	18	8	27	89	18	75
20	Carolina	3.4	29	1679	19	17	8	82	22	78
21	Buffalo	3.8	20	1607	20	6	29	96	16	85
22	Minnesota	3.9	16	1467	27	10	22	83	20	85
23	San Francisco	3.9	16	1689	17	9	25	70	30	88
24	Philadelphia	3.9	16	1432	28	11	17	73	28	89
25	Baltimore	3.6	25	1605	21	5	30	97	13	89
26	Oakland	3.8	20	1369	29	11	17	80	24	90
27	Tennessee	3.8	20	1525	23	8	27	72	29	99
28	Green Bay	3.4	29	1352	30	11	17	76	25	101
29	Cleveland	3.8	20	1503	25	4	31	76	25	101
30	Detroit	3.6	25	1471	26	10	22	69	31	104
31	NY Jets	3.5	28	1328	31	10	22	74	27	108
32	Arizona	3.2	32	1138	32	2	32	58	32	128

2005 Pass Blocking Statistical Ranking:

Rnk	NFL Team	SA	Sc5	PA/S	Sc6	Pass Tot
1	Indianapolis	20	1	25.8	1	2
2	Cincinnati	21	2	25.6	2	4
3	Denver	23	3	20.2	5	8
4	Miami	26	4	21.4	4	8
5	Green Bay	27	5	23.2	3	8
6	New England	28