These are not our rankings, of course. Thus, the asterisk. We’re not going to sit down and try to grade every single offensive lineman in the league, but Pro Football Focus did. They say Green Bay Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari is the best pass blocker in the in the NFL.
You would get no argument from us. We didn’t think much of Bakhtiari’s performance in past seasons. He was really just a middle-of-the-road guy. This season, he became a top-tier left tackle, as evidenced by his second-team All Pro nod.
Nowhere was Bakhtiari better than in pass protection. What’s even more impressive is that for much of the season, the Packers were no threat to even try running the football. So opposing defenses knew pass was coming probably 70 percent of the time. Throw in Aaron Rodgers’ desire to hold the ball and extend plays and what Bakhtiari was able to do is nothing short of amazing.
(Bakhtiari) was charged for fewer total pressure (23 combined sacks, hits and hurries) than his own quarterback (24 total for Aaron Rodgers) was over the season. Given that Rodgers held the ball longer on average than every QB in the league outside of Buffalo’s Tyrod Taylor, Bakhtiari’s performance as a pass protector was astounding, and earned him the highest PFF pass-blocking grade (93.4) of any offensive tackle. Over the entire season, and including the playoffs, he was responsible for Aaron Rodgers hitting the ground just four times.
It now seems like ancient history when we were talking about 2016 second-round draft pick Jason Spriggs one day replacing Bakhtiari at left tackle. Obviously, the Packers have canned that notion as well. They did so when they wisely extended Bakhtiari’s contract early in the season.
Spriggs better start learning to play right guard.
EN 
ES 
DE
Yes, Rodgers holds the ball longer than most QB’s. He also goes out of the pocket and extends plays better than anyone. He also completes 82% of his passes outside the pocket. So yes, when he does that, he also takes the ball with him.
Not being a threat to run the ball, is not a positive thing. The 0 line is partially responsible for that. Which i’m assuming is why we don’t talk about grades of the 0 lineman run blocking.
This point i’m going to make might be very complex for some to understand, but i’ll try to keep it simple.
Rodgers has a large part in raising the grades of the offensive line. His stats have a lot to do with the formula in grading.
Rodgers feet……Evades sacks. Rodgers sliding and slipping tacklers evades sacks. Rodgers rolling out and out running tacklers evades sacks. All these things help the lineman achieve the scores they get.
Other pocket QB’s take all those sacks. Tom Brady dreams of doing what Rodgers does, like most other QB’s.
I’ve given some of the 0 line their praise for what they do, and how hard it is, so don’t even go there if this reality of facts is hurting your feelings.
Now…the Packers reached the NFCCG. When that happens, the competition up at the line gets stiffer. The weak get weeded out.
Go back and watch the game again, only watching 2 things.
1) Watch our 0 line against the Falcons pass rush.
2) Watch the Falcons 0-line against our pass rush.
Tell me what you saw.
NFL Network is replaying it all the time.
So, you are telling me that it isn’t hard to pass block for a QB that takes off out of the pocket without your knowledge and you have to somehow be able to block the person that has a view of this happening and Bahktiari has to react to this. But go ahead and shit on the rest of the team as much as possible and give Rodgers more credit.
“I’ve given some of the 0 line their praise for what they do, and how hard it is, so don’t even go there if this reality of facts is hurting your feelings.”
Now run upstairs and go have a cookie.
No. You are trying to downgrade them as much as possible. “His footwork evading sacks helps them out gradewise.” Sorry, I was too lazy to look at your exact quote. But basically it reads as such: “yeah the packers pass blocking has been decent this year but not a top unit. Rodgers has been better at eluding the rush at age 33 than he was at 28 when overall, his offensive line was mediocre.” Oh, do tell me more. Watch the NFCCG when they were down by three scores in the second quarter when their defense has shown the ability of stopping the falcons much like a wet paper towel stopping a bullet. Please, tell more about about Aaron Rodgers cock gliding in and out of your prolapsed colon.
If a QB, eludes sacks, the 0 line won’t be penalized per pff’s scoring formula.
Conversely, if a imobile QB can’t elude, and takes those sacks behind that same line, those sacks will penalize the 0 line, per pff’s scoring formula.
You go ahead, and pout, cry, and think about Rodgers cock all you desire.
But this stuff isn’t that difficult to understand. So, here’s the problem. Not all alleged Packer fans are intelligent, not all of them have reasonable thinking skills. I’m sorry you fall into that category, but it’s not my fault, and all your homosexual references will not change that.
I can try and explain these things to you, but i can’t make you smart enough to understand them.
HAH! PFF ‘s number includes pressures and hits, which would be included in Rodgers plays where he evades sacks. So you are telling me Rodgers taking 3-4 or more seconds to throw the ball is going to help an offensive linemans rating? It is painfully obvious that you have neither played nor coached football. Rather, you are an Aaron Rodgers fan, and a casual football fan at best.
No…i’m telling you to run upstairs and go get a cookie.
Yea, i’m a Rodgers fan, and yes, i’m sort of just a very basic casual fan. You seem to know me well.
As i’ve said numerous times before Kato, i’m barely a casual fan. I have nowhere near the knowledge and expertise of most of the writers and readers here.
On a 1-10 scale, my football knowledge is about a 3.
But like i’ve said, i appreciate just being able to come in here and read and learn from you and all the rest of the fine people in here.
Thank You again.
Finally Bak gets the recognition he deserves. That’s it. Now you two can continue your boring pissing contest.
I don’t do pissing matches, i put morons in there place. She sought me out, not vice versa.
“She” very nice. Go make me a sammich
Fuck dude, sorry, i thought you are a chic, excuse the hell out of me, but you don’t have to be such a dick about it.
I don’t buy into PFF’s methodology and I frequently take issues with their scoring, but looking at all their “best of”s it all looks pretty solid to me.
Pick a game and we can bring up reels of video where Bak is blocking his man for 4, 5, 6 seconds as Rodgers skips around in the pocket. Everyone on the line gets credit for staying with their blocks as well as any line in the league, but Bak gets the most credit because he is usually blocking the best pass rushers.
I would say that Rodgers’ ability to avoid the pass rush is about a push for the O-line. He avoids about as many sacks as he runs into, sacks that wouldn’t have happened if he had just stayed put. So, with that being a zero net, Rodgers’ proclivity for holding onto the football does make it harder to block for him than for a guy like Brett Favre, who typically didn’t give up many sacks because he got the ball out faster.
It is tough to be good at something you don’t do a lot of; so the run blocking is pretty much where you should expect it to be. Only 3 teams in the NFL ran the ball less than the Packers did in 2016. And that was with Ty Montgomery averaging 5.9 yards per carry and Eddie lacy averaging 5.1. Even so, Bakhtiari’s run blocking was also clearly better than prior years.
True, Rodgers would face less pressure if the Packers ran the ball more, but have you ever heard Rodgers complain about not running the ball enough? I haven’t. We typically line up in the shotgun because that is how Rodgers prefers to line up. Obviously, that limits what we can do with the run game.
In other words, Rodgers is not a victim of our weak run game. More like, our running game is a victim to Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy. We don’t use it enough, and those two are the reason why.
Ok, Lacy’s stat was a short sample size, Lacy isn’t a 5 yard back(you know that), even when he didn’t weigh 260lbs. He wasn’t going to get better as the season progressed.
Ty surprised defenses in a new position. He ran well. But in the last 5 games including the playoffs, he averaged 3.7 ypg. I’m not even sure TY stays at running back, he’s learning how punishing that position is.
Christine Micheal = 3.4 ypc
To be fair, the Packers aren’t a running team. No matter how much McCarthy pretends they are. With Aaron Rodgers rushing yards, we rank 20th. Without Rodgers yards, we rank 29th.
I have never heard anyone anywhere, say what a good run blocking line we have. Nor have i seen any PPF’s scores on run blocking.
We don’t run the ball because we not good enough at it to win games. We have to score, and score a lot, to overcome the defense and outscore our opponents. Running the ball is a good thing to do, when the team is ahead, and you want to close out playoff games in past years.
And you’ve seen what happens then.
When we have 4th and 10 inches and we run the ball, and get stuffed for a 2 yard loss. Don’t tell me we run block well.
Good analysis. It’s good to know that someone else is sane enough to know that Rodgers does have some help, and that “he does everything, and overcomes bad players, bad coaches, and a bad GM to win 10-12 games every year
I was upset at the performance our of oline against the Falcons. Well until I read that Atlanta’s defensive cordinator told his dline to ignore any possibility of the run and head straight upfield on the snap of the ball. They even practiced it during the week. Unfortunately MM fell right into it and his refusal to run the ball early helped Atlanta win the battles up front. I still dont buy TY as a legitimate long term, full time RB and honestly Lacy is never going to be reliable with his weight and 2 bum ankles. This means the Packers MUST either draft a RB early in the draft or use FA. Considering the help we need on defense the smart move would be to find someone in FA.
Also Shawn has it right: Arodges pension for leaving a solid pocket when there is no reason to do so, and then basically ‘walking into a sack’ does make it a push when it comes to looking at his protection statistics.
Leaving a solid pocket?…..ummmmm ok then.
Has anyone heard the term “extending the play”?
Let me explain what that means.
If you stay in the pocket and get pressure, you can..
A) Throw the ball away
B) Take a sack.
C) slide, scramble out of the pocket and extend (give a QB more time) the play.
Some plays are planned play action and roll outs.
I’m almost 99.9999% sure, that Rodgers is smart enough, that if he leaves the pocket, he has good reason to do so.
But then again, maybe he doesn’t have a clue and leaves it for NO REASON. In that case, maybe some bloggers could reach out to him and offer him some guidance on his flaws.
Rodgers got his ass kicked staying in a (solid) pocket against the Falcons. Watch the game!!!!
The last thing a team playing the Packers wants is Rodgers leaving the pocket. Do you think they might have very good reason to think that? It’s not because he’s easier to sack.
“He avoids about as many sacks as he runs into, sacks that wouldn’t have happened if he had just stayed put. So, with that being a zero net”
So you think Rodgers causes as many sacks as he eludes? You seriously believe that?
Simply amazing Itarion.
Go away. Rodgers wants his afternoon door massage with happy ending
Grow up you little piss ant, and quit stalking my post like a little internet bitch.
Awww. I am sorry I hurt your feelings. A few people, whose football opinions I respect highly, in essence agreed with me, or at least made a similar observation. You can be a Rodgers fanboy, that is your right. I am just going to call you out when you are wrong, that’s all. Because I am a Green Bay Packers fan. I call things like I see them. If I see other players playing at a high level, an elite level, I will give them those kudos.
You call things like you see them huh?
Lets take a look at that.
KATO
10/11/2016 at 11:51 am
People thought I was crazy a few weeks ago when I suggested they bring in Hundley the last game or two of the season depending on the situation with the playoffs. Anyone still think that is impossible? This team is very good. The offense maybe doesn’t have the talent at the skill positions it possessed a couple years ago, but still above average. The defense is good enough to win a super bowl if the offense can score 28 ppg.
KATO
09/20/2016 at 11:30 am
He has been off, there is no question. And it is becoming a trend. I am definitely beginning to lose faith in him. Is it too early to start thinking about moving on from him? Hundley has looked pretty good, and is much cheaper. They aren’t gettim elite level production from him anymore.
So according to Kato, the Packers offense doesn’t have talent, is that what you said?…lol
The defense is good enough to win a Super Bowl….That was you saying that right?….lol
Move on from Rodgers. That’s good thinking Kato. Put in Hundley. Pure genius little man….lol
Do you have anymore of this expert analysis to educate us with? From you, a Packer fan who “calls things like he see’s them”…..lmao
Now go upstairs and get yourself a cookie little man.