Chiefs: How Offensive is the O-Line?

Chiefs: How Offensive is the O-Line?

Week one was a pleasantly surprising victory (after such a poor start) and week two was a disappointing loss (after watching us repeatedly shoot ourselves in the foot).  However, I wanted to reflect on the performance one more time and see if the numbers matched up with results.

Do my eyes deceive me?

When I watch games, I go with the emotional flow.  My impression of the game and performance is based on the collection of snapshots I remember from the game.  These are largely dictated by the camera shots and announcers, with a smattering of me watching what the announcers aren’t pointing out.  As a result, we can be left with a feeling of a player or position group being better/worse than they are.

So, once the dust settles, I like to move from the photo album to the video.  I want a more complete picture of what went on in the game.  I can then compare and contrast that to my memory.  I generally get about a 70-80% match.

This week I was reading about how the offensive line had a horrible game.  I didn’t remember them being that bad.  As a matter of fact, I thought they played a pretty good game.  I did see the sacks and saw those breakdowns, but as a percentage of the whole, they were small.

I went to Pro Football Focus and looked at their ratings of the game.  I would rather we not get into a debate on the validity of their ratings and more focus on the relative results.  I am not thinking they are the definitive answer, but more of a data point.

Lowlight Reel Performances

Before I dive into the Offensive Line, a little digression.  As I was looking over the results, the following 2 players were called out for poor play.  One is on the line and the other is a repeat topic on the sites.

Albert Wilson was called out with the rating/comments below.  I think it pretty accurately assesses his play.  We seem to see the brief flash of talent and then a bunch of no-show performances.  Once again, we see lackluster.  Wilson seems to be a player called out frequently on many websites for his poor play.  I am not sure what the coaching and management staff are seeing that makes them want to hang on to him in the role he is in. Let’s continue to watch and see how long before a move is made.

Slot receiver: Albert Wilson, Kansas City Chiefs, 42.7

This is the second week in a row that Albert Wilson makes this list, as he once again had a tough game. Wilson had just three targets on the day, and while he caught two of them, he dropped the third. A mere 11 yards gained isn’t nearly good enough to remove himself from this team.

The other player is Mitch Morse.  The Center had performed rather admirably to date, but did not have his best game this week.  Although, to be fair, Vince Wilfork isn’t the easiest assignment for anyone.  Let’s hope he moves on from this game and continues to play at a high level progressing throughout the year.

Center: Mitch Morse, Kansas City Chiefs, 40.7

Sunday was a day to forget for Mitch Morse, who struggled with both pass and run-blocking. He allowed three quarterback hurries and multiple run-stops against the Texans.

Offensive Line – Or was it?

Moving on to the main point of this post.  How did our offensive line perform?  Was there anyone performing above the rest?  Was there any spark of hope in the dismal play?  Did the media get it wrong?  How much is the “Burnt Ends with Fries” plate at Arthur Bryant’s?

First the ratings.  No filter.  No interpretation.

PFF Ratings –  (Rank – Overall/Pass/Run)

LT     15/66 – Eric Fisher *** —  (81.1/79.2/81.6)

LG     47/69 – Parker Ehinger —  (68.2/78.4/46.3)

LG     15/69 – Zach Fulton ** — (78.8/85.8/72.9)

C       29/32 – Mitch Morse ** — (44.1/65.2/45.6)

RG    13/69 – L. D. Tardif *** — (79.5/84.6/74.2)

RG    49/69 – Jah Reid ***** — (65.4/78.2/44.0)

RT    41/66 – M. Schwartz ** — (68.0/48.2/78.1)

How much different was the line from Week 1 to 2?

Interestingly enough, there was a pretty minor drop-off of .70 from Week 1 to Week 2 overall. However, the pass blocking IMPROVED and the run blocking REGRESSED.  This is not what I would have expected from what I watched and remembered.  Check out the numbers below.

Aggregate Week 1 average rating – 68.18/71.12/65.16

Aggregate Week 2 average rating – 67.48/71.32/64.44

One more fun fact on the overall line.  If we could have picked the guards (since they are the only ones that changed out), each week, our best line combination would have been the following.  This is the… best overall, best pass, and best run… and isn’t one set of players. So, each combination is different from the others.

Best Line Combo average rating – 70.3 / 72.6 / 70.48

What does all this mean?

If we look at this “massive” sample size of 2 games, the following observations can be extracted from the information.

1.     Zach Fulton is the better LG.
2.     Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is the better RG.
3.     We need to work on our run blocking.
4.     We may want to consider a strategy of swapping guards during the game, based on the situation.
5.     We can run on the left side better than the right.
6.     Our LT is top quarter.
7.     Our RG is top quarter.
8.     Our backup LG is top quarter.
9.     Our C has had a tough start to the season, after a good rookie year.
10.     Our RT isn’t playing up to expectations (yet, I hope).
11.     In the changes from the guards’ injuries, we improved on the left and regressed on the right.  

Should Zach be starting on the left?

After two weeks of play, we have a mixed bag of performances so far.  The only position/player that seems to be performing… and relatively consistent between pass and rush… is Eric Fisher.  The other positions haven’t stabilized yet (due to numerous reasons).  This should be a top priority for the coaching staff to tackle.  Our offensive success starts with the performance of the line.  While not every position has to be top 10 for the team to succeed, they definitely cannot be a liability in pass/rush.

I expect Fisher to continue to be strong on the left and Schwartz to improve quickly.  I don’t think any change of personnel is needed here.  The interior line is a bit more of a question mark.  I think Morse will recover and get back on track with the development we saw last year.  The RG position looks like LDT should own it, once recovered from his injury.  If the injury becomes nagging, we need to look for a starter, if Reid doesn’t improve.

The LG position is another interesting question.  Fulton is performing better than Ehinger, but who has the biggest upside?  Does Ehinger get the job back to allow for development, even though it creates a line weakness?  Or, does Fulton keep it and Ehinger develops in practice and game time if we get up a lot of scores?  Should be fun to watch.

We shouldn’t overreact based on the performance of 2 games, but we should be aware of where we are trending.  If these levels of performance continue, changes maybe needed.

And there’s The Rub.