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dzrams
I admit I like PFF. And I agree that when comes to measuring the OL as a whole they are not the only word on this.
However, when it comes to measuring the performance of individual linemen, they are the only source providing measurable metrics. Doesn't mean it's gospel but they provide data points to go along with what we're seeing.
And since you've used and defended them many times before, clearly they are not all bad. They may not be dead on but in your own words, they're also usually not wildly off.
Point taken on the OL struggles being a unit issue. Despite that, my eyes still saw certain things on individual players. I don't believe it's a fallacy to get a read on individual play when the OL as a unit is struggling. For example, I knew, and so did all the rest of us, that Demby was struggling before PFF reported he had the worst guard rating in the league.
To my eyes it looked like Noteboom was struggling and Edwards was doing fairly well. PFF only confirmed that.
But clearly we see this one different and that's ok. I just take exception to calling opinions that are different than yours "hyperbole".
The problem with their metrics is that they simply judge individual play. They cannot tell, and have no way to assess, the situation the Rams had where the entire OL was out of sync and simply had not played together. When a whole OL is struggling, no individual player will look good. Timing and communication and coherence are off for everyone. So you just get these individual scores which then offers the illusion that what we're seeing is 5 individuals all struggling on their own, as opposed to a UNIT that is not playing well as a UNIT.
The thing is, if all the individual players are BAD, then you can't improve much.
But if it's unit coherence you CAN improve.
And I think it's the latter.
Here's Rich Hammond for example from a recent article:
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This is the most obvious of all. Early in the season, the entire Rams’ offensive line was kind of a mess, and that surprisingly included veteran tackles Andrew Whitworth and Rob Havenstein. Their play has picked up of late, and first-year center Brian Allen has been relatively steady, but the two guard positions still need some work.
Let's pretend for a moment that we agree Hammond is right about the OTs and OC. (Hammond, notice, does not share the view you see around which says that Allen is just a liability).
You can then add that Blythe came back early from an injury and hasn't been 100% yet, and that Edwards is a rookie in his third start but shows a lot of promise. There's room for improvement there.
Now, what does this have to do with NB?
NB played in the earlier "OL lacking coherence" phase, and to me anyway, it's going to be inaccurate to judge his individual talent based just on that. Too many people do that though--the OL is stressed and out of sync as a unit but then people pick on individual players as if the issue were individual talent.
Which brings me back to PFF. They are not much help when the UNIT struggles for UNIT reasons and they don't have the mechanisms to make the distinction. They just paint individual players with bad grades and then express amazement when the unit later improves.
I don't reject PFF and I usually say, their grades and rankings are ballpark-- you don't have to take their exact grade or ranking as set in stone but they're usually more or less in the ballpark.
But when it comes to assessing an OL that is struggling
as a unit for reasons above and beyond individual talent, PFF is not that useful IMO.
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Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/2019 07:16PM by zn.
