OL mythbusting: How to avoid common mistakes when talking offensive line
Looking at a few of the ways bad narratives can spread about offensive linemen
One of the most long-running debates related to the NFL is what position is the hardest to play. Is it QB, with the absurd mental requirements alongside the physical? Cornerback, in which you’re trying to anticipate and track some of the fastest men alive while barely touching them? Defensive tackle, where the blocks can come from anywhere and everywhere at any moment?
I can’t say for sure what position is the hardest to play (though I think it’s probably quarterback or cornerback), but I do know what position group gets the rawest deal when it comes to fan opinions: Offensive line.
The OL is unique as a position group, particularly for offensive side of the ball. When you play on the OL, you are a wildly important cog in the machine… yet you’re a part of the whole and dependent on what the other four guys along the line do (as well as any other blockers, the QB, and the RB) in order for a play to be successful. It’s a position group that lacks glamor and almost always flies beneath the radar. You’re constantly playing against guys who are much better athletes than you are. And the only time you get noticed, generally speaking, is when you make a mistake.
There are no stats that reliably track offensive line play (though various outlets are trying to come up with them, with mixed success in terms of their usefulness). And the truth is that the vast majority of the fanbase spends almost no time watching line play, which means that if you’re on the OL the average fan generally doesn’t know how well you’re playing… until something happens that brings you into the spotlight (which is almost always a bad play).
As most of you reading this know, I’ve spent a great deal of time charting offensive lineman play over the years. And I’m currently sifting through multiple games of Jawaan Taylor’s late-season 2023 film to try and discern how the right tackle did down the stretch last year (outside the many narratives that exist following his early-season drama). But as I did so, it occurred to me that I’ve never written in in detail about some of the traps and pitfalls that surround gauging offensive lineman play, particularly in pass protection.
What I’ve found over the years is that it’s easy for fans to buy into incorrect narratives about blockers. And this often seems to arise from a misunderstanding as to what led to a quarterback being pressured. The basic assumption often seems to be that if a QB is pressured, it must be the fault of a certain lineman (often a lineman that we’ve already decided is a problem). And so I thought it would be handy to walk through some of the things to look for when trying to gauge blame for a QB pressure, hit, or sack. Because as is often the case with football, context is everything.
I’ll go through a few situations where offensive linemen (or a specific lineman) often get blamed for allowing pressure, when the reality is it’s not necessarily on that player and has more to do with the way the play itself unfolded. Let’s start with classic.
Assigning blame on a bailout
One of the most common things I see people complain about in real time regarding tackles on both sides of the line is when they “give up pressure” in a situation like in the below clip. Keep an eye on Taylor on the right side of the line.
It’s fascinating how many people, when watching the game live (whether on the broadcast or in person), will blame a snap like this on Taylor (or any other tackle). And I suppose the instinct there might be natural, as one may not be watching the OL until the pressure starts to get home and hey, that pressure IS technically coming from Taylor’s guy… right? In a bang-bang game, by the time you’re really looking at the pass rusher all you see is a guy from Taylor’s side running Mahomes down and forcing a throwaway.
But when you start really dissecting what occurred, that’s simply not the case.