Eagles offensive line ranked outside of the Top 20 by an NFL writer
The Philadelphia Eagles offensive line apparently did not show up big on the NextGen stat sheets.
The 2017 NFL season may be over, but we are still seeing power rankings from the regular season. The underdog Philadelphia Eagles ended up on top of the league. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t getting snubbed in some power rankings. Just a few weeks back, Eagles center Jason Kelce made perhaps the most legendary speech in Philadelphia sports history. He did the ultimate underdog move and called out anybody and everybody who discredited the Eagles.
Apparently, the speech did not make anyone shy away from discrediting the Eagles as another power rankings list came out about the top offensive lines in the NFL. Now everybody with even a small knowledge of football knows that the Eagles have been phenomenal in the trenches this past season.
Their offensive line was recognized as the best by Pro Football Focus. Their right tackle Lane Johnson was named First-Team All-Pro and earned his first Pro Bowl nod. The right guard Brandon Brooks was also voted into the Pro Bowl. Jason Kelce might’ve been snubbed from the Pro Bowl, but he also earned First-Team All-Pro honors for his position.
While the left side of the offensive line wasn’t as strong without Jason Peters. They still did an excellent job of keeping their quarterback protected and opening lanes up for the run game. After all, the Eagles had one of the most productive offenses when it was all said and done. And to say that the Eagles could’ve accomplished what they have done without help from their elite offensive line would be bogus.
Where did the Eagles rank?
NFL Editor Matt Harmon put together the list earlier in the week. The article only displayed the top ten teams when it came to the offensive line. Assuming the Eagles would be top-five, at least. They were actually nowhere to be found within the top ten. As a matter of fact, Harmon had it noted at the end of the article that the Eagles would be outside of the top 20! Here’s what he had to say about the Super Bowl Champs:
"I was more than a little surprised when the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles checked in outside the top 20 offensive lines in both Next Gen Stats measurements.It was the top-ranked unit by Pro Football Focus and named Offensive Line of the Year at NFL Honors. The team did give up more pressure than most noticed in the first few months of the season, which made Carson Wentz‘s excellence at escaping broken pockets and shaking off rushers all the more impressive. Additionally, subbing in Halapoulivaati Vaitai at left tackle for an injured Jason Peters did prove to be a significant downgrade. The Eagles gave up 129 pressures from the left side of their offensive line, the third-most among any team in 2017."
Say what?!
We could all probably agree that statistics could be very misleading at this point. Sure, the big men up front have had their struggles at times. But to say that this offensive line hasn’t been excellent most of the time based off of numbers just sounds ridiculous.
Next: 10 Safeties the Eagles should consider scouting
On tape, the Eagles offensive line has been dominant. Even after Carson Wentz went down with an injury, they did a great job keeping Nick Foles protected. Although the offense as a whole did great during the regular season and beyond. We could say that the offensive line was the heart and soul of the offensive unit. Without their dominance up front, it’s tough to assume that they could move the ball the way they did all season.