I check-in on ESPN's win rate stats every so often, to see if it matches up what we're actually seeing on the field.
Looking at that, only Pass Block Win Rate makes some sense. For the other three, I'm like "What!? How are we that high in the rankings?" The Run Block Win Rate is the biggest head scratcher. Is our running backs simply that horrible? Or maybe it's the play design?
- Team Pass Rush Win Rate - 45% (13th in league)
- Team Run Stop Win Rate - 31% (10th in league)
- Team Pass Block Win Rate - 52% (23rd in league)
- Team Run Block Win Rate - 72% (6th in league)
There's two things you can take away from this:
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id...opping-blocking-leaderboard-win-rate-rankings
- This stat is horrible and useless.
- The talent on this team isn't as bad as we think.
This same OL unit was 8th in pass block win rate last season .... there are other factors playing into the perception that they are a terrible unit.
We like to complain that they flat out whiff on a blocks an awful lot but the reality is that the OLmen do not have that many of those instances - they do occur but a large chunk are RB / TE blowing assignments or Watson extending plays.
There are those plays where the OL has been to blame .... and those tend to get most of the attention - like that play where Martin helped the LG instead of picking up the free rusher that ran right up the middle .... Those are WTF moments but in reality have been few.
Many of those RB / TE failures are scheme related .... asking a TE or RB to block edge rushers on a routine basis just isn't a good idea. They are going to get beat at a high rate.