The linemen left standing at this point in the season are a hardy group. Or a lucky bunch, whichever. Truth is that everyone is banged-up right now. The tricky part is figuring out which guys are going to be able to play through their bumps and bruises, and which aren't. The roundup follows.
The Bengals are in bad shape. Defense terrible, lost Andy Dalton, haven't had A.J. Green of late. And on the offensive line, left tackle Cordy Glenn got hurt in practice last week, and missed Week 12 (and will probably miss Week 13). Unfortunately, Cincinnati just placed backup tackle Jake Fisher on IR. Favorable fantasy playoff schedule for Joe Mixon, but he'll be working behind a damaged line. Cincinnati signed Andre Smith on Thursday. The former Bengal was released by Arizona (not a good sign).
Green Bay left tackle David Bakhtiari injured a knee against the Vikings. He's not practicing, and is iffy for Green Bay's game against the Cardinals on Sunday. Cardinals have a pretty good pass rush, so that could be a concern for the Packers.
Piece of good news: it appears Washington will get Trent Williams (ribs) back for the Eagles game on Monday.
The Jets placed guard James Carpenter (shoulder) on IR this week. Carpenter isn't a good player, but he's been starting for New York the last several years. New York will replace him with Spencer Long.
Guard Andrew Norwell was one of the big offseason signings last March, but he's done for the year with an ankle injury. It's a downgrade for Jacksonville's line, obviously, but it also didn't have much further to fall after losing a pair of starting tackles and their center along the way. Just a lost season for the Jaguars.
The Cowboys didn't have Tyron Smith for last night's win over the Saints, but they managed. The Saints didn't have Terron Armstead, and maybe that was a bigger deal. Some chance those guys are back for next week, so we're not docking those lines severely.
Current line rankings are below; colorful table posted on our Facebook page.
| OFFENSIVE LINE RANKINGS | |
|---|---|
| Rk | Team |
| 1 | LA Rams |
| 2 | Philadelphia |
| 3 | Pittsburgh |
| 4 | New Orleans |
| 5 | LA Chargers |
| 6 | Dallas |
| 7 | New England |
| 8 | Atlanta |
| 9 | Indianapolis |
| 10 | Tennessee |
| 11 | Green Bay |
| 12 | Kansas City |
| 13 | Carolina |
| 14 | Seattle |
| 15 | Baltimore |
| 16 | Chicago |
| 17 | Tampa Bay |
| 18 | San Francisco |
| 19 | Minnesota |
| 20 | Oakland |
| 21 | Denver |
| 22 | Cleveland |
| 23 | Miami |
| 24 | Houston |
| 25 | NY Jets |
| 26 | Detroit |
| 27 | Washington |
| 28 | Jacksonville |
| 29 | Buffalo |
| 30 | NY Giants |
| 31 | Cincinnati |
| 32 | Arizona |