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Factoid

Offensive line play

Sacks not the whole story

When it comes to evaluating offensive lines, quarterback sacks are certainly telling, and from a team perspective, the most significant issue. If the quarterback is getting sacked a lot, the offense is taking a lot of negative plays that take yards and ultimately points off the scoreboard. But they're not the entire story.

Another important statistic is quarterback hits -- not only sacks, but the number of times the quarterback is hit even on plays where he's able to get rid of the football. Because even if he wasn't sacked, the most important player on the field is still taking a beating out there.

That's why it was particularly impressive that Deshaun Watson was able to get through last season healthy. No team's quarterback was hit more than Houston's last season, and no quarterback was hit on a higher percentage of his team's pass plays, either.

OFFENSIVE LINE PLAY, 2018
Team P.Att Sacks P.PlaysQB Hits%Hits
Houston 5066256812622.2%
San Francisco 5324858012521.6%
Miami 4555250710721.1%
Arizona 4955254710919.9%
Seattle 427514789419.7%
Jacksonville 5365358911118.8%
Buffalo 4994154010118.7%
Dallas 5275658310718.4%
Washington 509445539817.7%
Kansas City 5832660910617.4%
Atlanta 6174265910816.4%
Tampa Bay 6254166610916.4%
Philadelphia 5994063910216.0%
L.A. Chargers 512345468615.8%
N.Y. Giants 583476309715.4%
Green Bay 6405369310214.7%
Minnesota 606406469514.7%
Oakland 556526088914.6%
Denver 588346229114.6%
Tennessee 437474846914.3%
Detroit 574416158413.7%
N.Y. Jets 524375617413.2%
Carolina 563325957813.1%
Cincinnati 542375797112.3%
L.A. Rams 568336017312.1%
Chicago 512335456411.7%
Indianapolis 644186627711.6%
Cleveland 574386127111.6%
New England 574215956811.4%
Baltimore 556325886611.2%
Pittsburgh 689247137210.1%
New Orleans 51920539529.6%

I got thinking about this from the Aaron Rodgers discussion yesterday. The Packers gave up 53 sacks; only two teams allowed more. Note, however, that their quarterbacks were hit on 14.7% of pass plays, and that's right at the middle of the league (16th). At least in terms of getting their quarterback hit, Green Bay wasn't one of the worst teams in the NFL last year.

Back to Houston. The Texans were certainly poised to select Andre Dillard in the first round of the draft, one of the draft's best pass protectors. Instead, the Eagles traded ahead of them to take him; Houston ended up selecting Alabama State's Tytus Howard. Who knows, maybe he'll work out better than Dillard. But offensive line will most likely be a concern again for Houston.

--Andy Richardson

Fantasy Index