OFFENSIVE LINES 2001

Regular season totals, through Week 17

Revised as of 7/6/2009

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, opponent, and the difference in rushing average between shotgun compared to standard formations. Finally, we normalize the numbers so that the league average for Adjusted Line Yards per carry is the same as the league average for RB yards per carry. 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 where the running back is tackled at or behind the line of scrimmage. 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 (plus intentional grounding penalties) per pass attempt adjusted for down, distance, and opponent. 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.

RUN BLOCKING										PASS PROTECTION
	TEAM	Adj. Line Yards	RB Yards	Power Success	Power Rank	10+ Yards	10+ Rank	Stuffed	Stuffed Rank	TEAM	Sack Rank	Sacks	Adj. Sack Rate
1	STL	4.74	5.16	70%	7	25%	3	21%	3	CHI	1	17	3.4%
2	SF	4.73	4.62	68%	10	15%	26	19%	1	CIN	2	28	4.1%
3	KC	4.41	4.50	73%	4	16%	18	22%	4	NYJ	3	19	4.2%
4	WAS	4.37	4.15	61%	20	15%	25	24%	9	GB	4	23	4.8%
5	NYJ	4.35	4.74	70%	6	20%	10	26%	13	SF	5	26	5.1%
6	PIT	4.23	4.56	62%	18	25%	4	25%	12	ARI	6	29	5.5%
7	OAK	4.14	3.63	80%	1	11%	30	20%	2	IND	7	30	5.5%
8	BAL	4.13	3.88	50%	29	15%	23	27%	17	CAR	8	31	5.7%
9	IND	4.11	4.52	63%	17	21%	9	26%	15	SD	9	27	5.8%
10	DEN	4.09	4.03	66%	12	17%	15	23%	5	MIA	10	27	6.0%
11	CHI	4.07	4.02	63%	16	17%	14	24%	7	OAK	11	27	6.0%
12	NE	4.06	3.85	66%	11	16%	17	24%	8	PIT	12	31	6.2%
13	JAC	4.04	4.12	55%	26	20%	11	29%	24	NYG	13	36	6.4%
14	NO	3.99	4.02	77%	3	16%	19	24%	6	BAL	14	40	6.5%
15	MIN	3.99	3.63	59%	21	10%	31	24%	10	STL	15	40	7.0%
16	SEA	3.98	4.25	73%	5	21%	8	27%	18	TEN	16	43	7.0%
RUN BLOCKING										PASS PROTECTION
	TEAM	Adj. Line Yards	RB Yards	Power Success	Power Rank	10+ Yards	10+ Rank	Stuffed	Stuffed Rank	TEAM	Sack Rank	Sacks	Adj. Sack Rate
17	GB	3.91	4.37	69%	8	27%	1	26%	14	KC	17	39	7.2%
18	DAL	3.86	4.55	50%	30	27%	2	28%	19	TB	18	47	7.4%
19	NYG	3.85	4.41	64%	15	23%	5	31%	27	MIN	19	47	7.8%
20	SD	3.84	3.64	51%	27	15%	24	24%	11	BUF	20	46	8.0%
21	PHI	3.83	3.92	59%	22	18%	13	28%	20	DEN	21	42	8.3%
22	CAR	3.82	3.81	47%	31	13%	28	30%	25	PHI	22	40	8.3%
23	CIN	3.74	4.02	57%	24	22%	7	32%	31	DAL	23	34	8.5%
24	ARI	3.72	3.53	56%	25	15%	22	28%	21	WAS	24	38	8.5%
25	BUF	3.69	3.76	64%	14	16%	21	29%	23	NO	25	50	8.6%
26	ATL	3.61	3.63	50%	28	19%	12	26%	16	NE	26	46	8.7%
27	DET	3.60	3.89	58%	23	23%	6	32%	30	CLE	27	51	9.5%
28	TEN	3.59	3.50	69%	9	16%	16	29%	22	SEA	28	49	9.9%
29	TB	3.57	3.43	79%	2	12%	29	31%	28	DET	29	65	10.6%
30	MIA	3.46	3.38	61%	19	14%	27	31%	26	JAC	30	63	10.6%
31	CLE	3.30	3.16	65%	13	16%	20	31%	29	ATL	31	66	12.0%
x	NFL	x	4.04	63%	x	18%	x	26%	x	NFL	x	39	7.2%

The 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	STL	4.99	3	4.76	3	5.10	1	4.69	7	3.79	18
2	SF	4.30	15	5.43	1	4.56	3	4.47	9	5.75	1
3	KC	4.59	7	4.35	9	4.57	2	5.14	2	3.86	14
4	WAS	4.32	13	3.72	23	4.55	4	3.52	23	4.67	6
5	NYJ	4.59	8	4.29	11	3.87	18	4.97	3	5.22	3
6	PIT	5.28	1	4.66	4	4.10	11	3.77	19	4.17	11
7	OAK	3.61	24	3.96	16	4.24	8	5.18	1	4.21	9
8	BAL	4.90	4	3.74	22	4.34	5	2.91	29	1.88	31
9	IND	4.89	5	3.57	28	4.12	10	4.42	10	3.73	19
10	DEN	3.96	18	3.92	18	4.10	12	3.80	18	5.72	2
11	CHI	2.86	30	4.95	2	4.25	7	4.37	12	3.85	15
12	NE	4.52	10	4.18	13	4.00	17	4.39	11	3.71	20
13	JAC	3.67	22	4.20	12	4.03	16	4.74	6	3.94	13
14	NO	3.67	21	3.62	26	4.05	13	4.54	8	3.37	26
15	MIN	4.81	6	4.40	8	3.84	20	3.76	20	4.30	8
16	SEA	3.55	26	4.44	7	3.80	21	3.97	15	5.13	4
		LEFT END		LEFT TACKLE		MID/GUARD		RIGHT TACKLE		RIGHT END
	TEAM	ALY	Rank	ALY	Rank	ALY	Rank	ALY	Rank	ALY	Rank
17	GB	4.27	16	3.58	27	3.77	23	3.99	14	4.17	10
18	DAL	3.81	19	4.30	10	4.29	6	3.12	26	2.55	30
19	NYG	4.51	11	4.08	15	3.64	26	3.68	21	4.12	12
20	SD	4.59	9	3.86	19	3.84	19	3.58	22	3.36	27
21	PHI	3.07	28	4.08	14	4.04	15	4.06	13	3.82	16
22	CAR	3.61	23	3.95	17	3.78	22	3.02	28	4.53	7
23	CIN	2.96	29	3.83	20	4.14	9	3.97	16	3.44	23
24	ARI	4.32	14	3.33	29	3.69	24	4.76	5	2.57	29
25	BUF	3.68	20	3.78	21	3.51	27	4.80	4	3.57	21
26	ATL	4.08	17	3.66	25	3.35	30	3.95	17	2.83	28
27	DET	4.46	12	4.52	6	3.37	29	3.43	24	3.48	22
28	TEN	5.14	2	2.34	31	4.04	14	2.72	31	3.43	24
29	TB	3.56	25	3.72	24	3.50	28	3.12	25	4.76	5
30	MIA	2.61	31	3.07	30	3.69	25	3.12	27	3.80	17
31	CLE	3.21	27	4.62	5	3.14	31	2.89	30	3.40	25
x	NFL	4.11	x	3.99	x	4.00	x	3.94	x	3.96	x

The third table lists how often each team runs in each direction. Numbers may not add up to 100% due to carries listed without direction.

	Team	RB Carries	LEFT END	LEFT TACKLE	MID/ GUARD	RIGHT TACKLE	RIGHT END
1	PIT	460	10%	17%	48%	17%	8%
2	CHI	437	12%	11%	47%	15%	12%
3	BAL	433	7%	13%	70%	7%	3%
4	WAS	429	23%	7%	46%	7%	16%
5	SF	427	10%	7%	60%	10%	11%
6	DAL	415	24%	16%	39%	10%	9%
7	NE	414	9%	13%	56%	10%	11%
8	SEA	412	22%	16%	36%	12%	12%
9	DEN	404	10%	16%	42%	22%	9%
10	NYJ	402	15%	17%	45%	13%	10%
11	IND	401	18%	15%	38%	9%	18%
12	CIN	400	11%	13%	42%	22%	12%
13	KC	400	18%	6%	50%	7%	17%
14	TEN	386	13%	20%	48%	10%	9%
15	MIA	382	6%	12%	60%	16%	6%
16	OAK	379	11%	7%	61%	8%	10%
	Team	RB Carries	LEFT END	LEFT TACKLE	MID/ GUARD	RIGHT TACKLE	RIGHT END
17	NYG	377	11%	5%	45%	21%	18%
18	ATL	376	15%	18%	31%	17%	16%
19	CLE	373	13%	8%	48%	16%	13%
20	SD	371	16%	10%	44%	14%	15%
21	GB	366	13%	11%	46%	13%	18%
22	TB	359	10%	13%	52%	14%	9%
23	ARI	355	12%	15%	52%	10%	9%
24	STL	354	15%	19%	40%	13%	11%
25	BUF	347	5%	12%	49%	19%	12%
26	NO	336	11%	10%	58%	13%	8%
27	JAC	319	9%	15%	54%	12%	8%
28	PHI	313	15%	14%	41%	14%	16%
29	CAR	307	16%	11%	52%	8%	12%
30	DET	293	13%	11%	51%	13%	11%
31	MIN	284	9%	10%	62%	11%	8%
x	NFL	x	13%	13%	49%	13%	11%