Perkins: Seattle's OL is worse than the Dolphins' OL | Commentary

[MDFINFAN]

This is a chance to be in this game.

It’s fashionable to bash the Dolphins' offensive line for allowing quarterback Ryan Tannehill to be sacked an NFL-high 184 times over the last four years. But there’s a worse pass-protecting offensive line, and it belongs to this week’s opponent -- the Seattle Seahawks.
Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson has been sacked 164 times during that span, getting sacked every 10.6 pass attempts.
Tannehill gets sacked every 12.2 pass attempts.
That’s something to consider when thinking about ways the Dolphins could go to the Pacific Northwest this week and come away with a shocking season-opening victory.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/...he-dolphins-ol-commentary-20160906-story.html

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

I think it's fair to say that based on what we have seen in the preseason, the Miami OL is better in pass protection and the Seattle OL is better at run blocking.

 

[maralieus]

I've seen our line for years and there's no way there's could possibly have been worse over that span. Maybe this year, but not the last few.

 

[dolphintodd]

We may have the better oline but they have a better defense and QB.

 

[hoops]

irrelevant

 

[Dolph N.Fan]

Except Wilson has a quick release.

 

[Travis34]

I've seen our line for years and there's no way there's could possibly have been worse over that span. Maybe this year, but not the last few.

It is hard to believe, but thats what we're told.

I'm hoping we can contain the run.. Force Wilson to pass but contain him within the pocket. Hope the pressure gets there to help out the back 7. It will no doubt be one of the most difficult games of the season. I'd be so happy to win, but it's just a hard thing to forsee

---------- Post added at 11:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:18 AM ----------

Except Wilson has a quick release.

oh this "fact" again, thats been disproven time and time again

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

Except Wilson has a quick release.

He has the highest sack rate of all NFL quarterbacks and has consistently been among the top 3 in the league for longest average time before throw.

If you believe that's consistent with a quick release, then OK.

 

[Avalanche of Wins]

Wilson is a magician inside and outside the pocket, doesnt really matter to him.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

Wilson is a magician inside and outside the pocket, doesnt really matter to him.

Yep. It would be very accurate to say that he is good at eluding would-be tacklers to buy time. It would not be accurate to say that he gets rid of the football quickly.

 

[Eesti]

Otherwise, the first half was an offensive quagmire as Wilson was sacked four times while also seeing three of his passes dropped.

Each sack appeared to have a different culprit, but in general Seattle’s offensive tackles – Bradley Sowell on the left and Garry Gilliam on the right — appeared to have issues. On another sack, Collins appeared not to pick up a rusher, linebacker Anthony Barr, who got to Wilson untouched. Sowell also drew a false-start penalty late in the second quarter.

Wilson was 5 for 11 for 77 yards and a 69.1 rating in the first half.

Carroll also said that while the four sacks may have seemed like an indictment of the offensive line, he added Wilson also could have helped by getting rid of the ball more quickly.

Just preseason but...

 

[nick1]

I think that is a fact. But run blocking wise, Seattle is better on that regard, not hard to be better then us in that regard

 

[FinfanInBuffalo]

I'll believe it the minute someone can find me the article on the Dolphins OL that says something like this:

http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/offensive-lines-stunning-reversal-a-key-part-of-seahawks-recent-surge/

But in the past two games, Wilson has been sacked just two times. The Seahawks allowed at least four sacks in six of their first seven games. They haven’t allowed more than two sacks in any of their six games since. They still rank 27th in sacks allowed, but their average of 1.2 sacks over the past six games would lead the NFL.

Wilson scrambled only once against the Ravens, and even then he scrambled because he saw open field, not because of pressure. By rough estimation, he had at least three seconds to throw on four of his five touchdown passes and barely had to move on all five of them.

 

[FinfanInBuffalo]

Then there is this:

http://www.hawkblogger.com/2015/02/the-misunderstood-seahawks-offensive.html

Russell Wilson was under pressure on 46% of his dropbacks this year, tops in the NFL according to ProFootballFocus.com. He was under pressure 43.8% of his dropbacks last year, also the highest rate in the league. He was at 39.2% in 2012, just behind Michael Vick (41.4%). Tarvaris Jackson was 3rd in the NFL in 2011 with a 38.3% rate. But a curious thing happens when you rewind to 2010. Matt Hasselbeck, in his last year in Seattle, was pressured on just 26.6% of his dropbacks, which ranked 27th in the NFL. Why the drastic change?
Three major shifts happened after that 2010 season. First, Tom Cable was hired as the offensive line coach. Pete Carroll was unhappy with the pass-heavy offense they were running in 2010 and wanted Cable to bring toughness and his track record of success in the run game. Second, personnel shifted to match Cable’s style. Gone were guys like Sean Locklear who were better pass blockers than run blockers, and in came guys like Robert Gallery, James Carpenter, Paul McQuistan, and Breno Giacomini. And third, the quarterback went from a savvy drop-back passer who had been taught by Mike Holmgren to get the ball out quickly, to a guy like Jackson whose biggest weakness is his tendency to hold the ball too long.

Jackson was 8th in the NFL in time to throw in 2011. Hasselbeck was 24th that same year in Tennessee. Wilson has taken more time to throw than any quarterback in the NFL the past three years.

Understanding and accepting this fact is crucial to deciphering how to improve pass protection. It is no different than a pitcher’s time to the plate in baseball. People who watch that sport have come to accept that a base can be stolen on the pitcher every bit as much as the catcher. Fans love Wilson so much, they often quickly rush to his defense, saying he takes so long because he is having to scramble to avoid the pressure his line is allowing. Hogwash.

Time to throw has far more to do with a quarterback’s ability to diagnose a defense, progress through his reads and be decisive with his delivery than the performance of the offensive line. There is a reason Peyton Manning is sacked so rarely no matter who his lineman are. There is a direct correlation between time to throw and percentage of dropbacks where the quarterback is under pressure.

The absolute best chance to improve the Seahawks pass protection is for Wilson to continue to grow as a passer. There is a reason Carroll has been so effusive in his praise of Wilson’s recent success in the “quick” or “rhythm” passing game. He talks about it as the “missing piece” because Wilson becomes unguardable if he can master that aspect of the position.

Upgrades are receiver will also help here, but not nearly as much as Wilson raising his precision and decisiveness.

Cable culpability

But this is not all Wilson. I wrote last July that Cable has a blind spot when it comes to pass protection. He had never coached a line in the NFL that ranked higher than 15th in sacks allowed. He still hasn’t, as the Seahawks ranked 20th last year.

It was, however, the second time he had the #1 ranked rushing offense and seventh time he had a top ten rushing offense.

It took me two years to realize that a player who was clearly a better pass blocker was valued less by Cable than a player who was a better run blocker. That is rare in the NFL where quarterback health and safety is usually paramount. Yet, that is how guys like Carpenter and Britt get drafted. That is how Sweezy is talked about by the coaching staff as one of the best guards in the league when he ranks so poorly in pass protection.

It is highly unlikely that players on the offensive line will start getting switched out for better pass protectors. That is not what Cable chooses, and there is no sign that Carroll is pushing for a change.

The part that many fans overlook is just how good this line is at run blocking. Everyone assumes it is just Marshawn Lynch breaking a million tackles. Ask guys inside that locker room how good Unger, Sweezy, Carpenter and Britt are at run blocking. Ask how many times they get to see Sweezy pancaking a guy 10 yards down field on a Lynch run during Monday highlights.

The idea that this is poor offensive line is just not true. More important than my opinion is that of the people responsible for making that evaluation, and they are quite happy with how those guys are playing. If you are waiting for a massive overhaul of the personnel, you will be waiting a long time.

 

[FinfanInBuffalo]

http://www.hawkblogger.com/2016/03/seahawks-offensive-line-apocalypse-overstated.html

Better than you remember

It is hard to get the picture out of our collective heads of Russell Wilson getting sacked time and time again early in the season last year. No quarterback was sacked more as a percentage of his dropbacks than Wilson was over the first half of the season. What most people do not remember is how little Wilson was pressured over the final eight games. Seattle went from giving up the most sacks in the first eight games, to giving up the seventh-fewest over the final eight. Read that again. Seattle was a top ten offense in terms of sacks allowed for the final eight games of last year.