I know what you're thinking: "Best title ever!"
I'd agree, except I'm sure I'll devise something even cooler at some point.
In any case, in case you missed it, Pro Football Focus released the first half of their o-line rankings. We came in 17th. Yikes. Who can we thank for this great honor?
To start, I'd like to thank Sam Baker for having his ridiculously t-rexeseque arms, without which we might be able to protect Matt Ryan's blindside. I also have to thank Thomas Dimitroff. Without his insistence on developing offensive linemen, we might have signed Harvey Dahl and thereby avoided this esteemed homage. Most of all, I want to thank Roger Goodell and the NFL owners. Thank you for screwing up the 2011 off-season and keeping our big uglies knee deep in funyuns and rainbow sherbert.
The fact that they lost only one (Harvey Dahl) and dropped off so significantly has to be a worry for where this unit is heading. They struggled to get much push in the run game, and didn’t do a great job of keeping their QB upright when it mattered [...]
Best Player: Tyson Clabo (+13.7) is a good right tackle who holds his own in pass protection (the second-ranked RT in our Pass Blocking Efficiency), though you’d like to see him do a little more in the run game.
Worst Player: It wasn’t a surprise when Sam Baker (-16.4) was benched, in the same way it wasn’t a surprise when Garrett Reynolds (-13.8) took a ride on the pine. Both men looked horrible when they saw the field, though Baker (especially his woeful Week 2) gets the nod [...]
If you're curious, we ranked 23rd in run blocking, 13th in pass blocking, and 10th in penalties. The penalties rank surprises me, because it seemed like we struggled mightily in that category.
Discuss!