Can We Make A Run With This O-Line

[magikod]

(01-04-2022, 06:30 PM)fredtoast Wrote: PFF grades can be a joke sometimes.  So I am not going to start trashing guys based on those. But I am not here to heap praise on our o-line either.

I think offensive line is probably the hardest position to grade/rank as individuals, but there are some things to look at to grade them as a unit.

Despite having a very good RB and a great passing game to keep the defense honest we are 22nd in rushing yards and 25th in yards per carry.  I have often argued that in today's NFL if you have a good short passing game you don't really need to run for a lot of yards, but you have to be able to run to convert in short yardage situations.  FootballOutsider's "Power Ranking" for O-lines is based on success rate of runs on third and fourth downs needing 2 yards or less.  Bengals currently rank dead last in the league.  This will eventually cause a major problem for us.  It is so bad that at this point I would consider going empty backfield in those situations. And this problem is pretty much all on the O-line.

This is making me very nervous.