The most-improved offensive line of 2009?

One of the perks of writing as part of the fanball network is the connection to Bryan Douglass, writer for the Broncos’ Stable and resident optimist in the Josh McDaniels Mind Game (TM). And any good student of the Denver Broncos knows three things:

1. How to do the John Elway helicopter spin at the goal line
2. How to do the sideline steely glare, patented by Coach Shanahan
3. How to evaluate an offensive line.

And it’s this third piece of wisdom that is pertinent to the Rams, owners of one of the most disappointing offensive lines in team history. Without naming names, this sounds like it should have been a halfway-decent line:

“What’d you say? We were supposed to be decent?”

LT – a 7-time pro-bowler
LG – well-regarded free agent signed from the mighty Titans
C – journeyman veteran, should be capable enough
RG – young nasty blocker who’s not afraid to play dirty
RT – 2005 #1 draft pick, and heir apparent at LT

Instead, everything that could go wrong did, with the notable exception of catastrophic injury, such as those that felled Orlando Pace in ‘07. Bulger’s passing lanes collapsed, Steven Jackson got off to a very slow start from his petulant training camp holdout, and Jim Hanifan found out all the words he’s not allowed to say on radio. The line didn’t develop anything close to a rhythm until the final five games of the season, and by then it was far too late.

The Offensive Line stats at Football Outsiders give us numbers to fuel our perceptions: the Rams’ line rated 28th-best as a run-blocking unit, and 23rd as a pass-blocking unit, allowing sacks on 7.8% of pass plays. Additionally, one can lay blame for the Rams’ ineffective Drive Stats (23.5 yards per drive, 28th in the league) directly at the line’s feet as well. (However, the teams’ 1.3 points-per-drive rating, second-to-worst in the league, is more the fault of our departed coaches than the line itself, which generated the red zone opportunities but didn’t call the plays inside them.)

Early in the offseason, Billy Devaney took a stand in saying that he wanted to transform the Rams. [City of St Louis: "Amen!"]

He wanted to return them to glory. [City of St Louis: "Amen! Bring back Kurt Warner! Bring back the Greatest Show on Turf!"]

He wanted to turn them into a power running team. [City of St Louis: "A- ... wait, what? who with?"]

So the Rams poached a coach from one of the premier running teams in the league, in Steve Spagnuolo. They took their medicine while purging the roster of its aging holdovers from the past, including the now underwhelming Pace and underutilized Torry Holt. And Devaney reiterated the mantra, leading up to the draft:

This was after making two impact free-agent signings in mammoth center Jason Brown, and reliable blocking back Mike Karney. And despite media smoke-screens about the Rams drafting Marc Sanchez, or fan outcries for drafting future superstar linebacker Aaron Curry or superdiva Michael Crabtree, it was obvious on draft day that the Rams intended to put money where Devaney’s mouth is — adding beef to the offensive line. Hence, Jason Smith became the “safe pick,” even with reports of animated discussion in the war room.

Getting back to our horse-loving friend, Bryan has been working on an in-depth analysis of all 32 offensive lines for the Fanball, in a three-part subscribers-only feature. (Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3)

Without cheating the content — and the articles are very good reads — here is how the NFC West stacks up by Douglass’ analysis:

While I could quibble on a couple of his choices — for example, Bryan is reasonably bullish on the Jaguars despite their terrible showing last season — it’s hard to argue with these rankings or his rationale. It’s also hard not to notice how poor this division is as a whole. But one thing is notable: no other team in the league improved as much in these rankings as the Rams.

As a wrapup to this post, and a segue into further encouragement into reading the whole series, here’s a snippet of Bryan’s take on the Rams’ offseason:

We’ll be following this up in the coming weeks with a graphic look at the offensive line stats, for both rushing and passing. Stay tuned….

Tags: Alex Barron, Jacob Bell, Jason Brown, Jason Smith, offensive line, Orlando Pace, Richie Incognito