Hey all...

For a while now I've been devoting some time to really digging deep into some of the statistics of the NFL. This started as a hobby when it came to fantasy football drafts, but now has evolved into some kind of a strange obsession. What I really have been focusing on is if there is a way to rate offensive line effectiveness.

What this takes into account is mainly the yardage gained from each running play. Depending on the gain or loss, a number between -10 and 10 is assigned to the run. For example, a 4 yard average is considered to be pretty good in the NFL, therefore a 4 yard gain would earn a score of 5. More emphasis is placed on gains between 3 and 5 yards because the offensive line is more likely to have an impact on creating the lanes for the runner to gain those yards. Also, large gains don't factor in as much on these rankings because the offensive line can only do so much to allow the runner to advance the ball. If a running back scores a 50 yard touchdown, that isn't always due to the effectiveness of the offensive line.

After all of these runs are tallied and given a score, a figure is created that shows the effectiveness of the offensive line on those plays. This would be a number between 0 and 10. Touchdowns (regardless of run distance) are worth more, and sacks have been eliminated from the formula because those occur most frequently on passing downs. Since game recaps on the internet show the direction of the play, a breakdown can also be created for runs to the left, middle, and right of the line. I have seen some similar formulas online, but overall there really isn't much to show what the offensive line is actually contributing to the run game. And for how much we like to talk about our line, it would probably be nice to have some numbers to review.

While this doesn't explain everything about offensive line effectiveness (do stats ever explain everything?), it provides some neat insight into what our line is doing to contribute to our running game. And obviously the opposing defenses have something to do with this, but a solid line with good coaches (and a smart running back) should be able to prepare for these types of adjustments.

I have about 4 of the 16 games from 2008 broken down so far, and the results have been pretty interesting. At this point I'm just tweaking the formula to make everything look pretty, and I'd be happy to share the results with all of you.

As always...any suggestions, advice, criticisms, etc. are greatly appreciated.