It’s entirely possible to misuse advanced analytics; contrary to popular belief, numbers do lie, especially when you don’t know how or where that number came from. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be incredibly useful.
When it comes to Pro Football Focus’ grading system or Football Outsiders’ DVOA, they shouldn’t be the end-all-be-all; instead, they should be a reference point in your own evaluation. For the vast majority of us, we don’t have the time or ability to sit and break down every single snap from our team’s swing tackle; that’s where PFF comes in.
When Broncos fans spent all of last Sunday wondering whether Michael Schofield was the worst left tackle on planet earth, they can validate that by checking his grade from PFF. On the other hand, when it looks like Evan Mathis is getting his lunch handed to him on every other play, but PFF has him graded as a top five guard in the NFL, it makes you take a second look at his performance.
Now, a few days removed from the debacle against Oakland, let’s see what the advanced analytics taught us about the Denver Broncos’ performance:
The offensive line was abysmal
As a whole, the Denver Broncos offense graded out at -30.3 last Sunday according to PFF, and -16.9 of that came from the offensive line alone; as you might imagine, Michael Schofield’s -7 grade (worst among all tackles in Week 14) was a major factor.
But it wasn’t just Schofield; Evan Mathis’ 5.1 grade was his worst of the season, by far. In fact, the only other time Mathis scored a negative grade was back in Week 1 (-2.7).
The entire unit was so bad on Sunday that it’s really difficult to put much blame on Brock Osweiler or Denver’s running backs. With a -12.0 team pass blocking grade and a -15.0 team run blocking grade, Denver’s skill players hardly had a chance.
This is quickly morphing from a problem to a detrimental flaw; the Broncos aren’t going anywhere, no matter who’s at quarterback, if they’re going to keep having performances like this on the front line.
And still, with all that said, if Demaryius Thomas or Vernon Davis caught one more pass, the Broncos probably come out on top.
