OFFENSIVE LINES 2002

Regular season totals, playoffs not included

Revised as of 6/26/2005

Teams are ranked according to Adjusted Line Yards. Based on regression analysis, the Adjusted Line Yards formula takes all running back carries and assigns responsibility to the offensive line based on the following percentages:

Losses: 120% value
0-4 Yards: 100% value
5-10 Yards: 50% value
11+ Yards: 0% value

These numbers are then adjusted based on down, distance, situation, and opponent, and normalized so that the league average for Adjusted Line Yards per carry is the same as the league average for RB yards per carry (in 2002, 4.15). These stats are explained further here [1].

The following stats are not adjusted for opponent:

RB Yards: Yards per carry by that team's running backs, according to standard NFL numbers.
10+ Yards: Percentage of a team's rushing yards more than 10 yards past the line of scrimmage. Represents yardage not reflected in Adjusted Line Yards stat.
Power Success: Percentage of runs on third or fourth down, two yards or less to go, that achieved a first down or touchdown. Also includes runs on first-and-goal or second-and-goal from the two-yard line or closer. This is the only statistic on this page that includes quarterbacks.
Stuffed: Percentage of runs that result in (on first down) zero or negative gain or (on second through fourth down) less than one-fourth the yards needed for another first down. Since being stuffed is bad, teams are ranked from stuffed least often (#1) to most often (#32).

NFL averages for each stat given in red.

Why are these rankings different from the team offense [2] DVOA ratings for rushing? Among other reasons, they don't include quarterbacks or fumbles, long runs are truncated, and a different set of adjustments is used, attempting to isolate line play rather than total team offense.

A team with a high ranking in Adjusted Line Yards but a low ranking in 10+ Yards is heavily dependent on its offensive line to make the running game work. A team with a low ranking in Adjusted Line Yards but a high ranking in 10+ Yards is heavily dependent on its running back breaking long runs to make the running game work.

However, it is important to understand that these ratings only somewhat separate the offensive line from the running backs. A team with a very good running back will appear higher no matter how bad their line, and a team with a great line with appear lower if the running back is terrible.

Stats in blue represent pass blocking. Teams are ranked according to adjusted sack rate, which gives sacks per pass attempt adjusted for opponent, down, and distance. Pass blocking stats are explained further here [3]. Our sack totals may differ slightly from official NFL totals depending on the league's retroactive statistical adjustments.

	TEAM	Adj. LineYards	RBYards	PowerSuccess	PowerRank	10+Yards	10+Rank	Stuffed	StuffedRank	TEAM	SackRank	Sacks	Adj.Sack Rate
1	DEN	5.05	5.16	65%	19	18%	10	15%	1	DET	1	20	3.2%
2	MIN	4.59	5.12	77%	4	25%	1	18%	2	IND	2	23	3.8%
3	KC	4.54	4.72	76%	5	16%	17	22%	12	TEN	3	21	4.0%
4	OAK	4.53	4.48	73%	10	17%	16	20%	3	SF	4	23	4.2%
5	WAS	4.39	4.29	67%	16	14%	24	21%	5	NYG	5	25	4.4%
6	MIA	4.38	4.76	69%	14	21%	6	21%	4	GB	6	27	4.6%
7	JAC	4.38	4.54	70%	13	20%	8	25%	19	SD	7	23	4.7%
8	SF	4.37	4.47	82%	3	17%	13	23%	13	NE	8	31	5.0%
9	BUF	4.36	4.35	70%	12	13%	26	23%	14	CIN	9	35	5.2%
10	CIN	4.33	4.19	88%	1	14%	25	22%	9	SEA	10	32	5.4%
11	NE	4.33	4.01	76%	7	12%	28	22%	6	KC	11	26	5.5%
12	GB	4.31	4.29	67%	17	17%	14	24%	16	CLE	12	35	5.9%
13	BAL	4.25	4.25	75%	8	18%	12	22%	10	OAK	13	36	5.9%
14	PHI	4.25	4.18	76%	6	14%	23	25%	17	PIT	14	35	6.0%
15	ATL	4.16	3.92	65%	18	16%	19	22%	11	NO	15	38	6.1%
16	SD	4.14	4.51	59%	28	22%	3	26%	23	MIA	16	28	6.2%
	TEAM	Adj. LineYards	RBYards	PowerSuccess	PowerRank	10+Yards	10+Rank	Stuffed	StuffedRank	TEAM	SackRank	Sacks	Adj.Sack Rate
17	NYJ	4.08	4.09	52%	30	16%	20	26%	25	TB	17	42	6.4%
18	TEN	4.07	3.55	73%	9	9%	31	25%	18	NYJ	18	33	6.4%
19	NYG	4.05	4.22	50%	31	23%	2	27%	27	WAS	19	38	6.5%
20	SEA	4.04	4.02	67%	15	18%	11	26%	24	ARI	20	40	6.7%
21	NO	4.03	4.17	82%	2	22%	5	25%	20	PHI	21	37	6.8%
22	ARI	3.99	4.14	62%	21	20%	7	22%	8	CHI	22	43	6.8%
23	PIT	3.96	3.84	64%	20	14%	22	22%	7	STL	23	45	7.3%
24	TB	3.91	3.81	61%	24	16%	18	25%	21	BAL	24	42	7.3%
25	CHI	3.90	3.42	71%	11	9%	32	23%	15	ATL	25	40	7.5%
26	CLE	3.89	3.91	61%	25	17%	15	25%	22	DEN	26	45	7.9%
27	STL	3.89	4.16	60%	26	19%	9	28%	28	MIN	27	52	8.4%
28	IND	3.87	3.50	62%	22	11%	29	27%	26	BUF	28	54	8.4%
29	CAR	3.75	3.61	59%	27	12%	27	29%	30	CAR	29	44	8.5%
30	DET	3.74	4.07	44%	32	22%	4	32%	31	JAC	30	42	8.6%
31	DAL	3.74	4.04	61%	23	15%	21	29%	29	DAL	31	55	10.1%
32	HOU	3.10	2.96	56%	29	9%	30	36%	32	HOU	32	76	14.0%
	NFL		4.15	67%		17%		24%		NFL		37.0	6.5%

This second table lists each team's Adjusted Line Yards in each direction listed in official NFL play-by-play, along with rank among the 32 teams. Only five directions are listed because research so far shows no statistically significant difference between how well a team performs on runs listed middle, left guard, and right guard:

		LEFT END		LEFT TACKLE		MID/GUARD		RIGHT TACKLE		RIGHT END
	TEAM	ALY	Rank	ALY	Rank	ALY	Rank	ALY	Rank	ALY	Rank
1	DEN	5.86	1	5.32	1	4.83	1	4.88	4	5.33	2
2	MIN	4.59	10	4.43	10	4.33	12	4.61	8	5.64	1
3	KC	5.15	4	5.18	2	4.79	2	4.01	20	3.31	25
4	OAK	4.71	6	4.82	5	4.55	5	4.65	7	4.04	15
5	WAS	4.35	12	3.81	25	4.33	13	5.12	2	4.80	5
6	MIA	5.60	3	4.44	9	4.06	24	4.36	16	5.17	3
7	JAC	4.64	8	4.07	19	4.57	4	4.51	12	3.50	21
8	SF	4.48	11	4.14	17	4.27	15	5.02	3	4.05	14
9	BUF	3.84	21	4.49	7	4.36	9	4.38	13	4.71	6
10	CIN	3.24	28	4.46	8	4.73	3	4.51	11	3.44	22
11	NE	3.95	19	5.00	4	4.52	6	4.53	10	2.51	32
12	GB	4.07	14	4.58	6	4.21	18	4.56	9	4.30	11
13	BAL	5.60	2	3.36	30	4.24	17	4.04	18	4.29	12
14	PHI	5.06	5	3.77	26	4.46	7	3.95	21	3.96	16
15	ATL	4.07	15	4.31	13	4.43	8	4.04	19	3.39	23
16	SD	3.65	24	3.57	29	4.12	21	4.70	5	4.89	4
		LEFT END		LEFT TACKLE		MID/GUARD		RIGHT TACKLE		RIGHT END
	TEAM	ALY	Rank	ALY	Rank	ALY	Rank	ALY	Rank	ALY	Rank
17	NYJ	3.94	20	3.69	28	4.16	20	4.66	6	3.64	19
18	TEN	4.60	9	4.03	20	4.25	16	3.51	29	3.96	17
19	NYG	3.99	18	3.72	27	4.09	23	3.54	28	4.50	10
20	SEA	3.67	23	4.18	15	4.35	10	3.82	25	3.36	24
21	NO	4.04	17	3.97	22	3.81	28	4.37	15	4.58	8
22	ARI	2.77	32	4.15	16	4.03	25	4.38	14	4.22	13
23	PIT	3.63	25	4.36	12	4.16	19	3.93	22	2.96	28
24	TB	4.69	7	3.83	24	3.51	30	3.78	26	4.61	7
25	CHI	2.77	31	4.31	14	4.12	22	4.13	17	2.62	30
26	CLE	4.05	16	3.91	23	3.69	29	3.71	27	4.53	9
27	STL	2.84	29	4.40	11	4.34	11	3.47	30	3.82	18
28	IND	3.27	27	4.07	18	4.30	14	3.86	24	3.04	27
29	CAR	2.84	30	5.09	3	3.98	26	3.41	31	2.53	31
30	DET	3.75	22	3.09	31	3.93	27	3.90	23	3.53	20
31	DAL	4.10	13	3.98	21	3.19	32	5.17	1	3.27	26
32	HOU	3.31	26	2.68	32	3.30	31	2.20	32	2.95	29
	NFL	4.08		4.19		4.20		4.20		3.92