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.
Offensive line expert Ben Muth looks at the last game of the 2020 Buffalo Bills, who were never especially good at run blocking, and made way too many mistakes in pass protection in their biggest game of the year.
The Buffalo Bills did just fine in the divisional round when Baltimore used a conventional four-man rush or blitzed. When the Ravens used stunts and twists, however, life for Josh Allen got much more difficult.
Buffalo's running backs didn't run for many yards against the Colts, but that's OK -- Josh Allen did, and he threw for a bunch too. Ben Muth shows how Buffalo's line cleared the way for their quarterback to shine against Indianapolis.
The obvious star of the Buffalo offense is Josh Allen, and the Bills will go as far in the playoffs as their young quarterback can take them. But his offensive line showed against Miami that they can give their passer every opportunity to shine.
Buffalo's offensive line showed excellent cohesion in keeping Josh Allen upright against Pittsburgh's elaborate blitz schemes on Sunday night. Unfortunately, that was almost wasted by the performance of one lineman who kept losing one-on-one matchups.
With their defense and special teams putting on a dominant show, the New England Patriots didn't need much help from their offensive line in a 45-0 blowout of the Chargers. Ben Muth breaks down the creative, effective, and not-quite-legal tactics the Patriots used on their opening touchdown drive.
The Minnesota Vikings got a good performance from their offensive tackles against Carolina, but Ben Muth wasn't nearly as impressed by what they got from their guards and center.
Yes, the Bills lost to the Cardinals on DeAndre Hopkins' Hail Mary touchdown grab -- but the game was only in doubt because Buffalo's ragtag offensive line suffered through a multitude of errors and setbacks.
A last-second victory over a winless Jets team on Monday night may not have been enough to save New England's season, but Ben Muth liked what he saw from the Patriots offensive line -- especially Michael Onwenu, who should be a candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year.
They come from the land of the ice and snow to take Dalvin Cook where he needs to go. The Vikings' horde of offensive linemen led their running back to a big day in a victory over Green Bay.
