Are PFF pass protection rankings a sign of concern for Rams?
This year’s crop of NFL playoff teams seem to have something in common: most of them rank towards the top of Pro Football Focus (PFF)’s pass blocking rankings for offensive lines.
The Los Angeles Rams rank towards the bottom of the league in this important metric, and are the worst of this year’s postseason entrants. There are ways to possibly explain this away, but on the surface this could point towards an early exit for LA.
PFF regular season pass blocking rankings :
1 – Denver Broncos: 83.7
2 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 82.5
3 – Green Bay Packers: 81.8
5 – Buffalo Bills: 74.7
6 – Philadelphia Eagles: 73.8
7 – Los Angeles Chargers: 73.3
7 – Baltimore Ravens: 73.3
13 – Kansas City Chiefs: 70.7
15 – Minnesota Vikings: 69.3
18 – Detroit Lions: 68.6
19 – Houston Texans: 66.8
22 – Washington Commanders: 64.5
24 – Pittsburgh Steelers: 60.8
30 – Los Angeles Rams: 54.2
How pass blocking correlates to team success:
Seven of the top eight teams in PFF pass blocking grade all made the playoffs. The lone exception is the Arizona Cardinals (#4 at 75.8) and that’s generally because their defense ranked 23rd by PFF.
Putting the Rams aside, most NFL fans would say that the Broncos, Texans, Commanders, and Steelers are amongst the weakest in the playoff crop this year. Aside from Denver—who are led by a rookie quarterback—it’s probably no coincidence that the rest of these teams find themselves at the bottom of PFF’s list.
Why this metric could be misleading for Rams:
Los Angeles have been at the bottom of the pass blocking rankings since the beginning of the season, and injuries and absences played key roles in this outcome.
The Rams were without LT Alaric Jackson for the first two weeks because of suspension. Steve Avila and Jonah Jackson suffered injuries early, and mid-ear the Rams plugged in rookie Beaux Limmer at center. In the final weeks, RT Rob Havenstein missed time with an arm injury.
There haven’t been many games where the LA offensive line has been at full force; however, they seem to have a clean bill of health heading into the postseason.
That could mean that the Rams’ pass protection is better prepared for the playoffs than what this metric shows on paper. If we go back to Week 16 against the New York Jets where the five starters were all on the field, the offensive line finished with a pass blocking grade of 80.0. This may very well be cherry picking, because the preceding game when this unit was together, they finished with a lowly mark of 41.7 versus the San Francisco 49ers.
If the Rams fall short on Monday Night Football against the Vikings, we could look back and say that shortcomings in pass protection was the difference.
On the flipside, if LA makes a deep postseason run, we could point out that their regular season rankings weren’t an accurate reflection of the players that took the field for the playoffs.