2010 Pass Blocking Efficiency: Tackles
2010 Pass Blocking Efficiency: Tackles
June 13th, 2011 | Author: Khaled Elsayed
http://www.profootballfocus.com/wp-c...ng-150x150.jpgLast week was all about pass protection. This week is all about … pass protection.
But after spending five days writing about teams, I’m going to shift the focus to individual players. This entire week is going to be dedicated to looking at which offensive players gave up the least and most pressure from the 2010 season. And, as a special bonus, I’ll be pulling data from the past three years to look at things over a longer timescale as well.
As with all these pieces it’s a simple enough formula. Our grading has seen plays where hits and hurries are given up, valued at roughly three quarters the worth of a sack. So our formula includes a pretty basic weighting that correlates.
Sacks added to three quarters of Hits and Hurries, divided by the amount of snaps in pass protection multiplied by a 100. That’s the Pass Blocking Inefficiency formula, or:
((Sacks + (0.75 * Hits) + (0.75 * Hurries)) / Pass Pro Snaps) * 100
For the purposes of this study, only players who stayed into pass protect on at least 200 occasions qualified.
Making an executive decision in regards to where to begin, it seems like most people would be interested in seeing how the tackles shake out, so, up first are the left tackles. And which one is top? Well it’s none other than former first overall pick, Jake Long. Continuing to prove wrong those who said he would be a right tackle in the NFL, Long’s season could have been even better – as hard as that may be to believe. Indeed 61.9% of the pressure Long gave up came after a shoulder injury he suffered before Week 11.
Even with that injury, he finished ahead of the underrated Andrew Whitworth. The Bengals’ left tackle only really got taken to task by John Abraham and Tully Banta Cain, and finished the season with five perfect games in pass protection (four of which came in the last six weeks of the season). Andy Dalton is likely to be grateful for Whitworth protecting his blindside.
In the same way that Mark Sanchez is exceptionally happy to have a player like D’Brickashaw Ferguson keeping him safe. We’ve chronicled in the past about how Sanchez has struggled when pressured, and prototypical left tackle Ferguson is determined to limit those situations. His performance put him ahead of Joe Thomas who didn’t really seem himself until after John Abraham beat him for two sacks and three further pressures in Week 5.
Pass Blocking Efficiency, Left Tackles, Top 15, 2010
Rank Name Team Pass Blocking Snaps PBE
1Jake Long MIA 637 2.71
2Andrew Whitworth CIN 659 3.07
3D'Brickashaw Ferguson NYJ 687 3.38
4Joe Thomas CLV 555 3.47
5Doug Free DAL 668 3.89
6Jordan Gross CAR 573 4.06
7Jason Peters PHI 585 4.19
8Ryan Clady DEN 672 4.35
9Russell Okung SEA 428 4.44
10Bryant McKinnie MIN 591 4.57
11Chad Clifton GB 782 4.57
12Duane Brown HST 500 4.75
13Rodger Saffold SL 625 4.80
14Jeff Backus DET 714 4.97
15Barry Sims SF 234 5.24
Down at the bottom and with just enough snaps to qualify, it’s Chargers back-up Brandyn Dombrowski. He gave up 29 total pressures, with a frankly astonishing 18 of those coming against the Seattle Seahawks. If Dombrowski owes this spot to anything, it’s Chris Clemons. In one of the most one sided beatings you’re likely to ever see, Clemons picked up 13 QB disruptions. You wouldn’t like to see that match up again if you’re a Charger fan.
That contest pushed him past Levi Brown. You feel for the Cardinal tackle, he was shifted to the left side because they wanted to keep him away from the blind side of leftie Matt Leinart. Only Leinart went, and Brown remained on the left side with right handed quarterbacks. The results were somewhat disastrous. 16 defenders had multiple pressure days against Brown, including less illustrious names such as Chauncey Davis, George Selvie and Jeff Charleston. Whoever is playing quarterback will be hoping either Brown isn’t at left tackle, or he improves tremendously.
Pass Blocking Efficiency, Left Tackles, Bottom 15, 2010
Rank Name Team Pass Blocking Snaps PBE
1Brandyn Dombrowski SD 212 10.61
2Levi Brown ARZ 642 8.57
3David Diehl NYG 438 8.16
4Frank Omiyale CHI 665 7.18
5Eugene Monroe JAX 518 7.05
6Jared Veldheer OAK 489 7.00
7Donald Penn TB 590 6.74
8Charlie Johnson IND 680 6.62
9Trent Williams WAS 584 6.38
10Branden Albert KC 538 6.23
11Michael Oher BLT 634 6.15
12Joe Staley SF 338 6.14
13Matt Light NE 604 6.13
14Jermon Bushrod NO 777 6.11
15Michael Roos TEN 544 5.79
So often ignored when it comes to Pro Bowl and All-Pro teams, with fans and media members alike looking to the sexier left tackle spot, the right tackles get some due here. There will be some surprise in that the top pass-blocking right tackle was Sean Locklear. He had five games where he was perfect in pass protection, and gave up only three sacks during the regular season. That put him just in front of Kareem McKenzie. While his Giant teammate David Diehl was poor on the left side, McKenzie gave up just 28 total quarterback disruptions.
The shame for the next man on the list is that it could have been very different. Eric Winston had 10 games where he gave up one (or no) pressure. The problem was he had an ugly Week 12 game when William Hayes had his way with him. Take away that game and Winston would have walked this award as part of the impressive Texans line-up.
Elsewhere in the Top 10, there’s a free agent in Damien Woody, and a couple of potential free agents in Marshal Yanda and Tyson Clabo. So for teams looking for upgrades they could do a lot worse than look in the general direction of those men if they ever get a chance to hit the open market.
Pass Blocking Efficiency, Right Tackles, Top 15, 2010
Rank Name Team Pass Blocking Snaps PBE
1Sean Locklear SEA 697 3.08
2Kareem McKenzie NYG 584 3.68
3Eric Winston HST 646 3.79
4Marshal Yanda BLT 655 3.82
5Damien Woody NYJ 441 3.85
6Tyson Clabo ATL 699 4.08
7David Stewart TEN 544 4.46
8Jeremy Bridges ARZ 293 4.61
9Sebastian Vollmer NE 605 4.63
10Ryan Harris DEN 415 4.70
11Gosder Cherilus DET 549 4.74
12Eben Britton JAX 229 4.80
13King Dunlap PHI 265 4.91
14Phil Loadholt MIN 598 5.14
15Vernon Carey MIA 454 5.18
And what of those teams? Which will be looking for an upgrade? The Bears may have drafted one tackle, but with J’Marcus Webb joining Frank Omiyale as a guy who gives up a lot in protection, could they look for another in free agency? Of course Webb was a rookie, and if you’d suggest giving up on a rookie after just one year you’d need to level the same charge at Anthony Davis. The young 49er right tackle did have two perfect games in pass protection, but he also nine games where he gave up at least three quarterback disruptions, and allowed 11 sacks on the year.
The Jets may be a bit worried if Wayne Hunter is left into start. While Damien Woody was one of the more efficient pass blocking tackles, Hunter was anything but. It is a little harsh to judge him given that his rating was heavily influenced by being caught cold by Cameron Wake and the Texan duo of Mario Williams and Antonio Smith. Still, you see a drop-off in protection coming, and that isn’t likely to bode well for the Sanchize.
Pass Blocking Efficiency, Right Tackles, Bottom 15, 2010
RankNameTeamPass Blocking SnapsPBE
1J'Marcus Webb CHI 531 9.18
2Jordan Black JAX 333 8.93
3Anthony Davis SF 588 7.99
4Wayne Hunter NYJ 262 7.82
5Jeremy Trueblood TB 316 7.75
6Marc Colombo DAL 615 7.36
7Dennis Roland CIN 348 6.97
8Stephon Heyer WAS 294 6.80
9Barry Richardson KC 530 6.60
10Langston Walker OAK 525 6.52
11Brandon Keith ARZ 349 6.45
12Bryan Bulaga GB 679 6.33
13Flozell Adams PIT 578 6.31
14Jeromey Clary SD 615 6.30
15Mansfield Wrotto BUF 267 6.27
That’s our look at the tackles. Come back tomorrow and we’ll talk interior linemen.
