Bringing in Jason Peters to fortify the offensive line is a worthwhile roll of the dice. But until he clears COVID-19 protocols and starts taking reps with his Bears teammates, Chicago is left to boogie with the ones they brought to dance in the first place.
But, for what it’s worth, that group was pretty good on Saturday against the Dolphins:
Highest-Graded Pass Blocking Units from Week 1 of the preseason:
1. Broncos – 93.3
2. Jaguars – 82.0
3. Saints – 80.9
4. Bears – 80.6Check out all the preseason grades here ⬇️https://t.co/WjGrExGNLM pic.twitter.com/EVbrB5OrL6
— PFF (@PFF) August 16, 2021
https://twitter.com/PFF_George/status/1427060989346918407
Grading offensive line play is one of the hardest things to do in football. Trying to understand everyone’s assignments and execution is a challenge on its own. But then sculpting it into an overall assessment is one of the biggest challenges any NFL analyst, insider, or content creator comes across every season. And that is why I appreciate Pro Football Focus’ efforts in putting it all together and giving players and position groups a catch-all number. Is it perfect? No, but having analysis based on eyes that watch (and re-watch) games before grading provides fair insight and puts a number to it. That’s easy enough to digest.
You know what else is easy to digest? These numbers: 0 QB sacks, 0 QB Hits, and just 2 tackles-for-loss by Dolphins defenders. Those three stats really help put into perspective the line’s quality work last week. So, let’s put aside obvious caveats and tip our caps to the line for a job well done.
Virtual fist bumps are in line for Elijah Wilkinson, Cody Whitehair, Sam Mustipher, Alex Bars, and Lachavious Simmons. Air-high-fives los go out to backups Dieter Eiselen, Arlington Hambright, Dareaun Parker, Adam Redmond, and Badara Traore. Because as much as I’d like to give a head nod to Matt Nagy for scheming plenty of quick hitting throws and Justin Fields for displaying mobility that can keep sack numbers down, a healthy bulk of the credit should go to the dudes in the trenches. This has been a much-maligned group over the years. So they deserve to receive praise when their play warrants such attention.
Again, we’re discussing a small sample in an exhibition game. So I don’t want to take too much from what is out there after 52 offensive snaps. But that we have a set of data and perspective in front of us that suggests good things were put on tape on Saturday allows me to feel better about this situation now than I did before Preseason Week 1.