O-Line Breakdown by KC Joyner

[JSn]

Point of attack: Patriots run blocking - AFC East - ESPN

From one extreme to another, we now take a look at how well the New England Patriots' run blockers performed at the point of attack.

For his book, Scientific Football 2009, KC Joyner has broken down the game film to determine how well each offensive lineman fared last year.

Joyner considers an 80 percent point-of-attack win percentage to be borderline acceptable. The first team we presented, the Buffalo Bills, had two linemen who met that threshold last season. The Patriots, meanwhile, went 7 for 7.

Man, Kaczur is a friggin' turnstyle!

 

[BradyFTW!]

If Yates was deemed fine, then it's time for Joyner to go back to the drawing board.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

"What stands out most about those stats for the Patriots is that they were pushed into the backfield 11 times as a team, second-most in the division to the Buffalo Bills' 22 times.

Center Dan Koppen was pushed back six times, tied for second-most in the division. He allowed six defenders to make contact with a ball carrier in the backfield, also second-most."

Borderline acceptable being a laudable goal...

The pass blocking stats would be interesting too...

 

[psychoPat]

Thanx for the exotic data.

But what jumps out at me is that
this poor chap Joyner has nothing better to do
than watch and log every snap of every OL in the league.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Thanx for the exotic data.

But what jumps out at me is that
this poor chap Joyner has nothing better to do
than watch and log every snap of every OL in the league.

You kidding? He's getting paid to break down game footage. How is that not a kickass thing?

 

[Sicilian]

If Yates was deemed fine, then it's time for Joyner to go back to the drawing board.

Remember, this is only run blocking stats. Last year we had a pretty decent running game that included numerous injuries to our running backs while still maintaing success.

Pass blocking may be a different story.

 

[sg14]

Going by this Neal is our best run blocking OL, with Mankins and Light looking strong.

Going by this,, Koppen rates about the same as Yates,, I was hoping for one of those stud centers for the Pats in this recent draft, Koppen got mauled last year a few times, Looks like these ratings are pretty good on how these players rate compared to each other.


PLayer att yards avg rating
Matt Light, LT 141 777 5.5 90.1
Mark LeVoir, LT 56 221 3.9 89.3
Logan Mankins, LG 223 1,119 5.0 91.0
Dan Koppen, C 197 952 4.8 84.3
Stephen Neal, RG 117 557 4.9 94.0
Billy Yates, RG 63 297 4.7 84.1
Nick Kaczur, RT 106 636 6.0 86.8

 

[unoriginal]

Going by this,, Koppen rates about the same as Yates,, I was hoping for one of those stud centers for the Pats in this recent draft, Koppen got mauled last year a few times, Looks like these ratings are pretty good on how these players rate compared to each other.

PLayer att yards avg rating
Dan Koppen, C 197 952 4.8 84.3
Billy Yates, RG 63 297 4.7 84.1

Centers must be evaluated differently than guards in that one of their hands is tied up by the snap. We don't know if Joyner took this into account when he calculated his success rate.

 

[Dirk3601215]

our line is pretty decent as a whole. i wouldnt be too worried.

 

[fnordcircle]

Thanx for the exotic data.

But what jumps out at me is that
this poor chap Joyner has nothing better to do
than watch and log every snap of every OL in the league.

Posted by a guy who has nothing better to do than to post thousands of inane posts on the internet for free.

 

[Deus Irae]

Going by this Neal is our best run blocking OL, with Mankins and Light looking strong.

Going by this,, Koppen rates about the same as Yates,, I was hoping for one of those stud centers for the Pats in this recent draft, Koppen got mauled last year a few times, Looks like these ratings are pretty good on how these players rate compared to each other.


PLayer att yards avg rating
Matt Light, LT 141 777 5.5 90.1
Mark LeVoir, LT 56 221 3.9 89.3
Logan Mankins, LG 223 1,119 5.0 91.0
Dan Koppen, C 197 952 4.8 84.3
Stephen Neal, RG 117 557 4.9 94.0
Billy Yates, RG 63 297 4.7 84.1
Nick Kaczur, RT 106 636 6.0 86.8

I believe that Koppen was dealing with an elbow issue for a fair portion of the season, and that may have impacted his game. It would explain his dropoff from the season before. Other than that, there's really nothing surprising here about the starters.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Thanx for the exotic data.

But what jumps out at me is that
this poor chap Joyner has nothing better to do
than watch and log every snap of every OL in the league.

This "poor chap" has figured out how to do what we all dream about...he's figured out how to have "nothing better to do" than make a lot of money doing what he loves...and it's all about the NFL!

The Football Scientist

 

[JoeShmoe]

LeVoir looks solid there too. Wonder if he and Vollmer challenge Kazcur ar RT by seasons end?

 

[efin98]

I believe that Koppen was dealing with an elbow issue for a fair portion of the season, and that may have impacted his game. It would explain his dropoff from the season before. Other than that, there's really nothing surprising here about the starters.

He was hurt weeks 12-14 but he didn't miss any starts. There is at least one major sack that is entirely his fault in the Pittsburgh game that could be attributed to the injury, a drive killer on 2nd and 1 in Pittsburgh territory in the 3rd quarter.


I really want to know if there is any, and I mean any, factoring of injuries to players in the stats. Neal wasn't his old self at all frankly, and he was on the PUP list at the start of the year and needed at least two games before he was able to play up to basic standards for them. His stats being low is understandable but it can be written off by his injury preventing him from playing at the top of his game.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I may be missing something, but from my observations being a good lineman on the run isn't always - or even mostly - about north south, pushing back or forward - there's a lot of lateral movement needed to break holes open where the RB is looking for them.

I've seen plenty of plays where a good O lineman will get a good angle and give up some ground to the defensive push - just as long as they're still opening the hole.

And as far as speed rushers on a pass play, I've seen plenty of plays involving a speed rusher where the "point of engagement" on the left side is the QB.

I'm not saying there's nothing to be gained by this breakdown - I'm just cautioning that these types of stats usually leave out a heckuva lot of important nuances to the game.

 

[Urgent]

Nuances aside, when Neal was out, the offense was sputtering. Cassel was getting killed up the middle - he constantly had a defender in his face by his fifth step.

When Neal returned, the offense really improved. Those run-blocking stats certainly support that from a statistical basis.

 

[JSn]

I also suspect that you'd see Nick's game progressing over the season as he was coming out of an addiction and a lot of off-field distractions. I would love to see these stats for games 9-16 only.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Nuances aside, when Neal was out, the offense was sputtering. Cassel was getting killed up the middle - he constantly had a defender in his face by his fifth step.

When Neal returned, the offense really improved. Those run-blocking stats certainly support that from a statistical basis.

I'm not downplaying the lack of Neal or injuries in general - though it did seem to me that it was more than just one reason why the OL wasn't playing well earlier last year.

I think part of it was that they were NOT fully healthy - had NOT yet gotten their act together and were playing well as a unit - and had to contend with playing for a new QB who hadn't been under cetner since high school, who was not getting rid of the ball as quick as Brady or moving around in the pocket as well as Brady, and the fact that with a green QB under center there was more pressure being put on the pass rush.

I may have forgotten a few other factors too.... after the Miami game and their poor performance (and yes, maybe even the boos of fans) seemed to spark them to play better and the return of Neal seemed to help as well - but at that point I think they had adjusted pretty well to playing with Cassel behind them.

 

[JSn]

I think part of it was that they were NOT fully healthy - had NOT yet gotten their act together and were playing well as a unit - and had to contend with playing for a new QB who hadn't been under cetner since high school, who was not getting rid of the ball as quick as Brady or moving around in the pocket as well as Brady, and the fact that with a green QB under center there was more pressure being put on the pass rush.

That's an excellent point. I'm not sure how much it factors in to this cold stat, but the Line play HAD to be affected by in pass blocking situations, for sure.

 

[Brady-To-Branch]

"What stands out most about those stats for the Patriots is that they were pushed into the backfield 11 times as a team, second-most in the division to the Buffalo Bills' 22 times.

Center Dan Koppen was pushed back six times, tied for second-most in the division. He allowed six defenders to make contact with a ball carrier in the backfield, also second-most."

Borderline acceptable being a laudable goal...

The pass blocking stats would be interesting too...

KC Joyner has stated that Centers are usually the weak link in any O-line.

That makes sense, since they have to be able to snap the ball while getting hit.

So if the weakest part of the Pats O-line was at C, I can live with that.