Orlando Brown vs the Raiders: The Unappreciated Contributor

The Chiefs' LT has taken some (mostly undeserved) heat this year, but his play against a good Raiders pass rush shouldn't be ignored

Orlando Brown was always going to be judged with a very critical eye. That’s just the truth when it comes to players who are acquired for a first round pick, or players who replaced a fan favorite (at least a recent fan favorite), OR players who are viewed as part of a larger overall issue regarding the front office.

All three of those things are true about Brown.. People are going to be eager to pounce on a player who cost a first round pick (or the equivalent of one). Eric Fisher had gone from mostly derided to beloved by Chiefs fans. And Brett Veach’s tendency to trade away high draft picks has become the source of much heated debate among Chiefs fans. With all that is going to come scrutiny, and scrutiny he essentially asked for by requesting a trade to become a team’s starting left tackle.

In other words, Brown was always going to be fighting an uphill battle. Which is fine, because he’s probably bigger than the hill he needs to climb.

(we’ll circle back to that snap, but as a preview, any time your lineman ends up in this position it’s a good thing)

I’ve had a lot of people ask me about Brown’s play over the year, with many of those questions being assumptive that Brown has struggled. I’ll be saving his full-fledged review for the bye week or the end of the season, but it’s worth noting that the perception of Brown has been heavily influenced by Patrick Mahomes’ adjustments to the new offensive line and less consistent play on the right side of the line.

But we’ll talk about those issues another day. For now, I want to walk through the Raiders game. A lot went right for the Chiefs that has been talked about, but one thing that’s largely flown under the radar is that Brown, against a good pass rush, went largely unnoticed throughout the game. And so it seemed worth my time to take a look at how he performed in the most important game of the year yet for Kansas City.

Before we being, here’s a reminder of how I look at offensive lineman snaps:

I chart every pass blocking and run blocking down for wins, losses, and neutral snaps (“PBW” = pass block win, “PBL” = pass block loss, and the same with run blocking), as well as for pressures/hits/sacks allowed on the quarterback. A win is a snap in which the lineman executes an excellent 1x1 block or a great combo block (starting with a double team then getting into space alone) or even a double team that’s dominant. A loss is when a blocker gets beaten or misses a block. A neutral snap is when the blocker might give ground but fights the defender to a draw, or has little to do on the snap.

It’s worth noting that losses are far, far more important than wins for offensive linemen, as in general a dominant block doesn’t guarantee that a play succeeds but losing on a snap can doom a play to failure. So a player having a high win percentage matters a lot less than a low loss percentage, and “neutral” snaps are still a victory of sorts (especially against elite competition).

Let’s dive into the numbers, and then talk about what Brown did against Las Vegas.