BEN MUTH was raised in Phoenix, Arizona and had season tickets to both the Cardinals and Sun Devils. As a result, he insists on irrationally defending Jake Plummer as quarterback. He left the state to go to college in California. He played offensive line at Stanford from 2004-08 and was named first team all conference in his final season. He now literally bleeds Cardinal red (for the Arizona Cardinals and Stanford). He was picked up by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2009 but released later that same year, due to combination of injury and giving up too many sacks in practice. Ben contributes to both Football Outsiders and SB Nation, and currently lives in Dallas.
Kansas City built a 21-10 halftime lead against Cincinnati in the AFC Championship Game, but couldn't make it last and saw their season come to an end. Ben Muth tries to figure out what went wrong.
NFL
Conference Championship
February 03, 3:43 pm ET
Kansas City rebuilt its offensive line following the Super Bowl loss to Tampa Bay. After some early growing pains, they have gelled into one of the league's better units.
Pass protection. Run blocking. Getting downfield. Even scoring touchdowns. It's hard to ask for any more from an offensive line than Kansas City got in the wild-card round against Pittsburgh.
Now that Pittsburgh has reached the playoffs, do they actually have a shot to beat Kansas City? Ben Muth says the Steelers' best bet is an offensive line that kept Ben Roethlisberger upright against Baltimore.
Though Cincinnati defeated Kansas City 34-31 last weekend, a Chiefs offensive line missing several pieces played well enough to give Patrick Mahomes a chance to win.
Cleveland's 24-22 loss to Green Bay on Christmas night dealt a serious blow to their playoff hopes, but Ben Muth finds plenty to like about an offensive line that was missing several starters.
Who's to blame for Pittsburgh's December collapse? Ben Roethlisberger? The offensive line? The running backs? Ben Muth points out that the answer is "all of the above."
The Chiefs have won five in a row to move back into first place in the AFC West, and while that's largely due to defensive improvement, Ben Muth finds plenty to like about their offensive line as well.
The Cleveland Browns offense was overwhelmed by the Baltimore Ravens in a 16-10 loss last weekend. Ben Muth looks back at everything that went wrong for Cleveland—and the little that went right.
Pittsburgh's tie against the Detroit Lions last Sunday left them in first place in the AFC wild-card race and just a half-game behind the Ravens for the division lead. Ben Muth shows how their offensive line has improved, and where they still have work to do.