When you are ten years old, male and have dreams of becoming a great
athlete there are two words you never want to hear on the football
field, "You block."
Those two monosyllabic words are so revealing about how your peers
perceive your ability to perform and they hurt. They mean you can't
throw the ball like Don Cross, or run like Gary Uliberri or even
catch like Marc Duke and that is a huge blow to the ego. Even worse
than that it meant you would have to stand there without the use
of your hands and defend against the dirtiest player on the field,
Mark Landes. To top it off Mark got a two-yard running start at
you before he assaulted you. Few people decide early in life, "I
want to be an offensive lineman so I can get beat up by very large
and strong men." Despite this initial reaction to the world
of the offensive lineman, men still resign themselves to the task
and discover it requires a great deal of talent and knowledge to
be successful blockers for the stars. They know most of the recognition
and respect in their professional lives will come from their teammates,
as they will be likely ignored by the public and even by fantasy
owners.
Their counter parts on defense gain a certain amount of fan recognition
and respect. They get to gyrate wildly after leveling a quarterback
and pump their fists in the air. If their name is "Refrigerator"
they can even be a running back and score in the Super Bowl. A defensive
lineman can act like a man possessed, but an offensive lineman rarely
has an undignified display of emotion. They don't high five all
of their comrades when they spring a running back for a three yard
first down or prance around after being a stonewall for a game winning
field goal. Unlike their ball hawking brethren, the offensive line
lacks for sizzling name' de' plumes like, "The Steel Curtain","
Dooms Day", "The Fearsome Foursome", "The Killer
Bee's" or even the "No Name Defense." One of the
most famous lines in history had no name and was only known because
a 250-pound guard named Jerry Kramer wrote about them in his book,
Instant Replay. Perhaps the most famous name for a group of linemen
was, "The Hogs." They were great but they needed a PR
man as the image of a hog, basking in the mud, hardly strikes fear
into most mortals. The linemen of the current NFL are considerably
larger, quicker, stronger and more agile than their colleagues of
the 60's, 70's and 80's.
To gain some sense of what an NFL lineman looks like today 19 teams
and 121 rostered linemen were pulled from the files of NFL.com.
A look at the projected depth charts provided most of the information
with which to construct the prototype interior player for the offense.
The average lineman stands 6'41/4" and weighs 311 pounds. They
have played in the league almost five seasons with the same team.
Their Alma Mata is probably from the PAC 10, Big East, Big 10 or
Big 12 as 41% of the sample and there is a 70% chance they attended
a Division I NCAA school. They could also have come from a smaller
school like Sonoma State University or Texas A&M Kingsville.
The biggest player in the pool was Jonathan Ogden measured at 6'8"
and 340 pounds while the smallest was 17-year veteran Lomas Brown
at 280 pounds. There were no players listed at being under six feet
and few listed at less than 300 pounds. It was a diverse group ranging
in experience from 0 to 19 years in experience and with degrees
from Harvard to Hawaii, yet they all have one thing in common. For
their team to be successful they must communicate and act as one.
Saying this is one thing, quantifying it is another. On the surface
there appeared to be very little difference between teams with 1000
yards rushers/receivers and 3000-yard quarterbacks, and the teams
lacking "skill players" with these lofty numbers. The
lines all weighed about the same, they had similar years of experience
and they were all within an inch of the 6'41/4" average. They
had linemen from USC, Ohio State and Texas A&M, but in digging
deeper some trends did begin to surface. These are the trends savvy
fantasy players should take a look at when planning for the 2001
season.
There appear to be two primary strategies organizations use to create
a successful line. One is building around an, "Anchor"
lineman. General Managers surround a stout fellow, who has seven
or eight years experience, with some quality young players hoping
he will teach them through example while molding them into a solid
foundation. The other tactic is to start out totally fresh from
the draft and build a solid "Core" of players through
the shared failure most young linemen in the NFL face. Suffice to
say that neither strategy will be successful if a team is forced
into making too much change in the "skill" positions.
One of the most overt moves by a team to acquire an "Anchor"
came from the Baltimore Ravens. They had an offensive line solid
enough to help win the Super Bowl, but they lacked a man of real
experience up front. They went after a ten-year successful survivor
of the trenches Leon Searcy. He, and Elvis Grbac, were to be the
final pieces in the puzzle for another title push. Sadly, Leon is
out for another eight to ten weeks with a muscle tear in his tricep,
and the season ending injury to Jamal Lewis will retard the growth
of the offense. Still, the Ravens will have a respectable offense
and definitely be in the playoff hunt for 2001.
Perhaps the ultimate anchor lineman in the league is 19-year veteran
Bruce Matthews of the Tennessee Titans. At 6'5" and 305 pounds,
this former USC giant has steadied the line since the team was in
Houston. He leads one of the most experienced lines in the league
with almost eight years experience and, as a unit, they match his
size at 6'51/2" and weighing in at 305 lbs. There has been
little change in personnel behind them and both Steve McNair and
Eddie George have been successful. There is no reason, short of
injury, that the Titans should not be successful again. Experience
can make up for a lot of things, and an anchor can help a line develop
the ballet like steps necessary to break a running back, but singular
experience alone is not a key to success.
The Indianapolis Colts do not have a lineman with more than 5 years
experience. In fact they average playing less than four years as
a unit, but they are an example of a unit that has developed a nucleus.
The number of sacks for Peyton Manning has declined significantly
over the last three seasons. Part of this could be contributed to
the fact that Manning himself is more experienced, but Peyton has
never been blessed with blinding speed and he is not considered
to be one of the more mobile quarterbacks in the league. He requires
a solid line for success. As an offense unit in their second season
together the Colts had the number one receiver in receptions and
the most productive running back in the league Edgrin James with
a combined total of 2,303 yards, 114 more total yards than Marshall
Faulk, who missed some time on the field. Marshall is only the point
of the Ram's offensive weapon, the thrust comes from an offensive
line perfectly blending both the anchor and the nucleus concepts
of line building.
For 20 years Hall of Famer Jackie Slater was the Anchor for the
Rams, now they have 8-year man Andy McCollum and three players in
the starting five who have exactly five years in the league. For
those of you who count, that is the exact number of years a player
has to be retired to gain consideration for the "Hall".
They are a little lighter than most teams at an average of nearly
304 pounds, but they would have to be able to keep up with the offensive
scheme of the organization. Out of the top 41 receivers in the league,
3 of them are on the Rams and two of those, Issac Bruce and Tory
Holt are in the top twenty of the league. Their two QB's last year
combined for 37 throwing touchdowns, against 23 interceptions and
44 sacks. Twenty of these sacks went to the short stint of Trent
Green when Warner was hurt. They are still together and look to
be formidable again this season. Another team with a solid line
that withstood change is the Minnesota Vikings.
The Vikings have had to face one of the toughest changes a team
can face, the death of a player. Korey Stringer was a quality lineman
with seven years of experience on a line where change is a way of
life. They have adjusted to three different starting quarterbacks
in as many years. Nagging injuries to Robert Smith, and his retirement
this season, has lead to almost as many starters at the running
back position, but everyone of them has met with a certain degrees
of success thanks to a line working as one. With a mixture of experience
and cohesiveness the Vikings have molded one of the finest lines
in the National Football League and whether it be Moe Williams,
Doug Chapman or rookie Michael Bennett, they will probably rush
for a thousand yards this season. The man faced with the unenviable
task of replacing Korey Stringer is very much in his mold. Chris
Liwienski is a three-year veteran from the Big Ten school of Indiana.
He stands at 6'5" and weighs in at 321 pounds. No one will
take the place of Korey Stringer, but Liwienski will try to fill
the position. The Vikings have a great deal of experience together
and they have two quality anchors, but the Colts have no anchors
and numerically little experience.
The Cleveland Browns had a revolving door at quarterback, running
back and at the wide outs. They did not have a skill player, with
the exception of Travis Prentice for receptions, in the top twenty
of the league for 2000. Outside of the line, the only top performer
for the Bengals was Corey Dillon. The rest of the offense was being
replaced either through injury or ineptness. Combined, the Chargers
and the Bills went through at least five quarterbacks and a 2000
season bordering on calamity. The combined stats for all five of
these players are 107 sacks, 38 interceptions and 39 TD's. None
of the running backs for either club came close to a thousand yards
and none of their receivers were in the top 41. It is ironic Doug
Flutie of the Bills is now the man for the Chargers as he had both
he fewest sacks and fewest interceptions of the group. Both teams
have, with some success, sought to settle all position questions
before the start of the season and both have the potential to be
a surprise this season. First round pick of the Chargers, Ladainian
Tomlinson, is a hold out but in the end it may hurt him more this
season than the Chargers. The ballet has already started and he
is not even back stage as an under study to learn the steps.
There are other numbers you could look into and analyze the performance
of any offensive line. You could crunch sacks to attempts ratios,
interceptions to touch downs and other fascinating statistically
insightful numbers, but I think you would lose the big picture.
Spend an hour on line and review the depth charts for lines in the
NFL. Look for the level of experience, changes and past performance
of the various units. It does not matter what kind of credentials
a skill player is bringing with them, if they are not getting the
support up front, they are going no where fast. A quality line is
the difference between a consistent offense and one that has its
moments.
At 6'7" and 318 pounds, Tony Boselli is one of the most respected
offensive linemen in the NFL, yet he did not always want to be a
lineman. At a fairly early age his dreams of super stardom were
put to rest when a coach told him he was going to be playing the
line. At first his heart was broken, but then he began to train
and educate himself about the nuances of protection and run blocking.
Looking back, he is happy with the coach, but he understands that
initial sting of being told he was going to be a blocker, not a
"skill" player. You won't find Tony in your fantasy magazines,
just as you never found Hall of Fame Inductees for 2001 Jackie Slater,
Ron Yeary or Mike Munchak during their playing years, but you will
see their results. Few linemen have been inducted into the Hall
of Fame and some, like Jerry Kramer, have been over looked. Don't
overlook the foundation your fantasy team is based upon, it could
hurt. When I was a kid I used to read the hard cover series, Heroes
of the NFL, they had Bart Starr, Johnny Unitas and Willie Wood,
but they never had a lineman. Perhaps if they did, those two dreaded
words would not hurt so much.
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