The San Diego Charger lost to the Detroit Lions, 10-38. The San Diego Chargers have fallen to 7-8 on the year, while the Lions improve to 10-5.

It is a shame that we didn't get to see more run blocking in the Lions game. Most all the lineman, and even the tight ends, were doing a pretty good job against a stout Lions defensive front four. But the Chargers got behind early, and ended up pass the ball a lot.

The remarkable thing was that the Lions got up early on the Chargers. That usually means the defense can pin their ears back and come after the quarterback because they know the other team must start throwing more. But the line still did a decent job pass blocking.

The Chargers didn't lose this game due to the offensive line play. In fact, they lost despite some good line play.

Jared Gaither ends the day with a 95% run assignment grade and a 91% and +2 pass assignment grade. Gaither gets highlighted again because he did a good job at left tackle...and it raises the question of whether the Chargers will try and retain Jared's services for the 2012 season.

Let's take a look at the rest of those grades...

Continue reading this post »

Week 16

The Oakland Raiders beat the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime at Arrowhead stadium, 16-13. The Raiders move to 8-7 on the season and need a win and a Bronco loss to win the division.

via profootballspotlight.com

After watching the game, a couple of things were noticed: Stephon Heyer had a lot more reps at right tackle/extra lineman, Khalif Barnes had a few more reps on the bench and did a lot of playing along side Heyer, and Manase Tango had more reps at fullback.

Tango Tongadidn't have that good of a game. If you would like to see the tight ends and backs grades, then go here.

Cooper Carlisle ends his day with a 78% and +2 run assignment grade, and a 93% and -1 pass assignment grade. The run blocking for the Raiders was not as good against the Chiefs as it has been this year. Most lineman for Oakland scored in the 70% range. When the entire team does that...that's a down day.

Let's take a look at the rest of those scores...

Continue reading this post »

Week #16

The Denver Broncos lost to the Buffalo Bills, 14-40. The Broncos move to 8-7 on the season while the Bills improve to 6-9.

The Denver coaching staff is obviously becoming more confident with their offensive line. Throughout the course of the game, the tight ends and backs were rarely used to help in protecting the quarterback.

Some of that change is pass protection philosophy is no doubt due to Tebow's ability to avoid defenders...but it appears to also be a vote of confidence in the offensive line.

Chris Kuper ends his day with a 91% and +2 run blocking grade and a 96% and +2 pass assignment grade. He has a solid game a the way around for the second week in a row.

Let's take a look at the rest of those grades...

Continue reading this post »

Week 16

The Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Oakland Raiders on Christmas eve, 13-16. The Chiefs fall to 6-9 on the season and the Raiders improve to 8-7.

The Chiefs implement a couple of new blocking wrinkles during the game, which appeared to be an attempt to breath new life into their running game. For the most part, those new wrinkles was a nice mix up from what what the Chiefs did during the rest of the game.

Jon Asamoah ends his day with a 91% run assignment grade but only a +0 dominance score. That means he was consistent in his blocking but rarely dominated his defender. In pass protection, Jon had an 88% and a -2 dominance score. That 88% isn't bad...but looking deeper we find that Asamoah received 11 help blocks in pass protection.

Let's take a look at the grades for the Chiefs...

Continue reading this post »

Week 15

The Oakland Raiders lost to the Detroit Lions, 27-28. Oakland falls to 7-7 on the season while the Detroit Lions move to 9-5 on the year.

via profootballspotlight.com

Well, sorry about the late article this week. Maybe some of you are still interested the offensive line breakdown from last week's game.

In a few of these articles throughout the season, it has been pointed out that Steve Wisniewski was having some problems. This week, I want to point out, because that is what I try and do, that Wisniewski appears to be getting better.

This week he ends the day with an 85% and +1 run assignment grade along with an 86% and -1 pass assignment grade. That is much more consistent than Steve was being at the beginning of the year. Congratulations to Wisniewski...it appears your hard work is starting to pay off.

The tight ends allowed 2 sacks this week. If you are interested in their grades then, go here.

Let's take a look at the rest of those scores...

Continue reading this post »

The San Diego Chargers beat the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football, 34-14.

Sorry for the late post. I got a little behind from some holiday festivities. Hope some of you still enjoy the late breakdown.

This week Jeromey Clary had a pretty good game. Usually he excels at run blocking and sometimes has trouble with pass protection. Against the Ravens, however, he has a solid day. Still not an all-pro...but better.

Clary ends the game with a 92% and +1 run assignment grade and a 83% and -1 pass assignment grade. He gives up one sack in the first half but holds his own on most every other snap.

Let's take a look at the rest of those grades...

Continue reading this post »

Week #15

The Denver Broncos lose to the New England Patriots, 23-41. The Broncos are still atop the AFC West by 1 game with an 8-6 record.

If Denver fans didn't know already, they now know that the Broncos don't play well when they have to overcome a lot of points. Denver's offense just isn't ready for that, yet. Keep the opponents close until the 4th quarter...and the Broncos are dangerous.

As far as AFC West standards, PFS grades all of the AFC West lineman, the Bronco's offensive line did an average job. No offensive lineman really had a stellar day...but no one really laid an egg, either.

Chris Kuper ends his day with a 83% run assignment grade with a +1 dominance score, and a 92% pass assignment grade.

Let's take a look at the rest of those grades...

Continue reading this post »

Week 15

The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Green Bay Packers at Arrowhead Stadium this Sunday, 19-14. The Chiefs move to 6-8 on the season as the Packers drop to 13-1.

It was a nice time for the offensive line to come around in pass protection. The past couple of games the line had not graded out very well...and it looked as though there might not be a light at the end of the tunnel. But there was a light...he's called Kyle Orton.

First, the line played better this week. Second, Kyle Orton got the ball out on time, didn't panic after 3 seconds had gone by, and appeared to be able to check down through his progression. All of that helped the stagnant Chiefs offense.

Barry Richardson...yes, Barry Richardson...had a 91% run assignment grade and a 95% pass assignment grade. He did a fine job all night long. So, hats off to Barry for pulling out a good game against a 13-0 team.

Let's take a look at the grades for the Chiefs...

Continue reading this post »

Week 14

The Oakland Raiders loss to the Green Bay Packers, 46-16. Oakland is now 7-6 on the season.

via profootballspotlight.com

Games like the Green Bay game are just the reason I do offensive line film grading. The score, the yardage, it all points toward thinking the offensive lineman did a poor job. Well, they didn't.

Last week I was the first to tell you that I was sick when I graded the Raiders film. This week, not so much. The problem wasn't the line...the problem was the Packers, although they are stout, they had a lot of blitzes called.

The Packers blitzed on passing downs and running downs...just about any down they where given. And all those defenders where not always accounted for in the play selection. So, last week I came to tell you the line did a poor job. This week, I'm telling you....they did a good job.

The backs and tight ends did just a decent job, also. If you are interested in their grades then, go here.

Let's take a look at the rest of those scores...

Continue reading this post »

The San Diego Chargers beat the Buffalo Bills, 37-10. The Chargers move to 6-7 on the season, and are 5-5 within the division.

If you really like to see offensive lineman drive defenders off the ball...then go back and watch Louis Vasquez and Jeromey Clary in the first quarter of this game. They get some combo drive blocks going that are refreshing. If you can't get excited about offensive lineman dominating defenders...then you don't really like football.

Jared Gaither has a solid day against the Bills and recorded an 85% run assignment grade and a 96% pass assignment grade with a +5 dominance score. That is pretty good for a guy they brought in just last week.

The running backs and tight ends did a nice job in pass protection this week. Randy McMichael has the most reps in both run blocking and pass blocking. If you are interested in the grades..then go here.

Let's take a look at the rest of those grades...

Continue reading this post »

Week #14

The Denver Broncos beat the Chicago Bears, 13-10. Denver moves to 8-5 on the season and the Bears fall to 8-5.

That offensive line is just getting better and better. Many Bronco fans might have noticed that it was hard to move the ball against the Bears...and it was hard. The Bears have a good run defense.

But what you see when you grade them is some nice pass blocking improvement. Many times, Tebow had more than enough time to survey the field to find open receivers.

Orlando Franklin ends his day with a 80% run assignment grade, +2 dominance score, and a 85% pass assignment grade.

Those number are a lot more consistent through the course of the game than many past performances.

Let's take a look at the rest of those grades...

Continue reading this post »

Week 14

The Kansas City Chiefs lay an egg on the road against the New York Jets, 10-37. The Chiefs fall to 5-8 on the season and the Jets move up to 8-5.

It is hard to pick an offensive lineman for the game this week. The run blocking grades for the Chiefs is poor, to put it nicely. Kansas City ends the first half with only 4 yards of offense. In 2011, the Chief's offensive line has allowed 21% of their running plays to be stuffed for no gain or negative yards. If you are interested in those types of line stats...then go, here.

But Branden Albert did have an okay game. He ends the day with a 78% run assignment grade, +0 dominance score, and a 93% pass assignment grade, +1 dominance score. He made a couple mistakes in picking up blitzes, but held his own for the most part.

If you would like to see how the other AFC West offensive lines did against the Jets for a comparison...then go here: San Diego vs Jets, Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders.

Let's take a look at the grades for the Chiefs...

Continue reading this post »

The San Diego Chargers beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 38-14. The Chargers move to 5-7 on the season and the Jaguars fall to 3-9.

San Diego appeared to start slow, but by the end of the 3rd quarter the game was well in hand. The makeshift offensive line saw the additions of Jared Gaither at right tackle, Tyronne Green returns to left guard, Louis Vasquez returns to right guard, and Colin Baxter as the center for a number of reps in the first half.

Vasquez had some flashes of what he had been doing before he left, which was dominate defenders. But he appeared to have some trouble from time to time. He ended up on the ground about 3 times from simply stumbling...possibly still some lingering ankle problems.

This week, Jared Gaither ends the game with a 75% run assignment grade, +1 dominance score, and a 87% pass assignment grade, -2 dominance score.

Let's take a look at the rest of those grades...

Continue reading this post »

Week 13

The Oakland Raiders lost to the Miami Dolphins, 14-34. Oakland is now 7-5 on the season and no longer in control of their own destiny.

via profootballspotlight.com

I had heard from a friend that the Oakland vs Miami game was bad for the Raiders...so I went into this game expecting bad things from the offensive lineman from the beginning. But at first, I didn't see that.

After grading the film, I was satisfied with the offensive line at the very first of the game and disappointed with the running backs choices. Sure, the offensive lineman were not blowing people of the ball from snap, one. But they were doing an adequate job...at first, that is. Then the game started to unravel. I saw some poor line play, poor blocking, poor running back decisions, mixed up plays . And then I got sick.

Out of all that mess, Cooper Carlisle came away from the game with a 80% run assignment grade and a 82% passing assignment grade. And even with that score, Carlisle was beat 5 times in pass protection.

The backs and tight ends didn't far much better, but they did do a little better. If you are interested in their grades then, go here.

Let's take a look at the rest of those scores...

Continue reading this post »

Week #13

The Denver Broncos get the win over the Minnesota Vikings, 35-32. Denver is currently tied with Oakland for the division lead.

If you ask me, the best thing that ever happened to the Denver Broncos in 2011 was elevating Tim Tebow to starting quarterback. This is not an assertion that Tebow is the missing link to the Denver offense. It is a realization that the move to put Tim at starting quarterback started a chain of events that got this team headed in the direction they needed to go...and that is running the football.

The focus on grinding it out has helped every offensive lineman this season, especially Orlando Franklin. Franklin is a young player that needed to get his feet wet in the passing game, raise his confidence, slowly. And that is just what appears to be happening with the current offensive game plan.

This week, Orlando Franklin ends the game with a 91% run assignment grade with a +2 dominance score, and a 95% pass assignment grade with a +0 dominance score. That is a big improvement from the numbers he was putting up at the beginning of the year.

Let's take a look at the rest of those grades...

Continue reading this post »

Week 13

The Kansas City Chiefs pick up a road win against the Chicago Bears, 10-3. The Chiefs move to 5-7 on the season and the Bears drop to 7-5.

This week Ryan Lilja returns and records an 84% run assignment grade with a +1 power score. This is the first game, all year, that Lilja has recorded a dominance score above zero. He also ended the day with a 96% passing assignment grade.

I liked how the lineman came out at the very start of the game...there was energy, attitude, and some effort. All the ingredients of a team, and an offensive line, that has some pride in how they perform every week. A week ago, the Bears played the Oakland Raiders and the grading results for their lineman was: LT 81% -1, LG 77% -1, C 79 +1, RG 77 -1, RT 82% +0. How did the Chiefs do compared to Chicago?

Let's take a look at the grades for the Chiefs...

Continue reading this post »

Week 12

The Oakland Raiders beat the Chicago Bears this past Sunday, 25-20. Oakland now moves to 7-4 on the year and still holds a 1 game lead over the Denver Broncos in the AFC West.

via profootballspotlight.com

If one wanted to be critical of the Raiders...there are a few points that could be hammered upon. But this season is about moving forward, taking steps, and getting better. And that is just what the Raiders are doing.

Stephen Wisniewski is just one of those players. At the beginning of the year, he was getting beat, missing second level blocks, and letting defenders slide off after being engaged. He is far from a Pro Bowl performer, but it looks like he is getting better as the year goes on.

The game against the Bears is a turn around, hopefully, for Wisniewski. In the Chicago game, Stephen starts to be more consistent and records a 77% run blocking assignment grade with a -1 power score, and a 93% pass blocking grade. He only gets beaten a couple of times, which is a big improvement from other games.

Last Week I wrote that Kevin Boss had his best game blocking. Against the Bears, he continues his consistent blocking by recording another good game. If you are interested in the running backs or tight ends grades, go here.

Let's take a look at the rest of those scores...

Continue reading this post »