PFF ranks Marshawn Lynch the No. 8 best player in the NFL

[bigtrain21]

Btw. That was fantastic blocking on that play you posted. He blocked 2 guys on that play. I am not sure any of those qualify as broken tackles.

 

[hawknation2015]

Lynch has so many more broken tackles than anyone else, in part, because he had more opportunities to break tackles due to mediocre line play.

He has more opportunities to break tackles because he is good at breaking tackles. A tackle is attempted on almost every running play, regardless of how good the line is.

Here, as an example, you have last year's rookie RT Justin Britt, normally very good at finishing blocks, who allows the edge defender to disengage and thereby attempt a tackle on Lynch. If Britt finishes this block, then Lynch would not have even had the opportunity to break this first tackle. With better blocking, perhaps from a more experienced player, there would have been only one broken tackle on this play instead of two.

Okay first off by breaking the first tackle that gave him another opportunity to break another tackle so by virtue of being a beast he sets himself up to break more tackles.

Second, you don't really think one play from an entire season has anything to do with this discussion do you? Every single running back has examples of a lineman disengaging too quickly. If I posted a .gif of marshawn going untouched into the endzone and said it was proof of great run blocking you wouldn't pay very much credence to it would you?

We need to keep in mind what we are actually arguing. Of course, Lynch's large number of broken tackles is mostly attributable to his extraordinary ability to break tackles.

In addition, I was saying that it is also PARTLY attributable to the fact that he had more opportunities to break tackles than the average RB, due to the many missed or whiffed blocks by our offensive line throughout the season.

if you truly believe missed or whiffed blocks have ZERO effect on a RB's total opportunities to break tackles, then how do you explain the play above -- or the countless other examples from last season that I could catalogue? Each of them increased the number of opportunities Lynch had to break tackles; basically, it made his job as a RB more difficult.

From the PFF article, "Including the playoffs, Lynch averaged 1.6 yards before contact, tied for the lowest figure of any 1,000-yard running back this season. Few can do it all by themselves, but there was many a time this season that that was precisely the case for Lynch."

Did you title that .gif?

No, it was just a random google image search . . . and a fortunate coincidence. :th2thumbs:

http://www.fieldgulls.com/2014/8/29/608 ... beast-mode

 

[theincrediblesok]

Beast Mode will never say that he does it all himself, he will always congrats the O-line for helping him out, with that said hell yeah he breaks so much tackles, Beast Mode makes his own line :lol:

 

[bigtrain21]

We need to keep in mind what we are actually arguing. Of course, Lynch's large number of broken tackles are almost totally attributable to his extraordinary ability to break tackles.

In addition, I was saying that it is also PARTLY attributable to the fact that he had more opportunities to break tackles than the average RB, due to the many missed or whiffed blocks by our offensive line throughout the season.

if you truly believe missed or whiffed blocks have ZERO effect on a RB's opportunities to break tackles, then how do you explain the play above -- or the countless other examples from last season that I could catalogue? Each of them increased the number of opportunities Lynch had to break tackles; basically, it made his job as a RB more difficult.

I don't think missed or whiffed blocks have anything to do with number of tackles missed. Regardless of the quality of line play, a tackle is attempted on almost every play. If you get tackled you're done with the broken tackle category. If you break the tackle you have an opportunity for more broken tackles.

The .gif you showed I don't even think qualified as a broken tackle. He didn't juke anyone and he was barely touched. It was great blocking by Britt. Lynch cut back. If Britt would have stayed engaged holding would have been called.

 

[hawknation2015]

We need to keep in mind what we are actually arguing. Of course, Lynch's large number of broken tackles are almost totally attributable to his extraordinary ability to break tackles.

In addition, I was saying that it is also PARTLY attributable to the fact that he had more opportunities to break tackles than the average RB, due to the many missed or whiffed blocks by our offensive line throughout the season.

if you truly believe missed or whiffed blocks have ZERO effect on a RB's opportunities to break tackles, then how do you explain the play above -- or the countless other examples from last season that I could catalogue? Each of them increased the number of opportunities Lynch had to break tackles; basically, it made his job as a RB more difficult.

I don't think missed or whiffed blocks have anything to do with number of tackles missed. Regardless of the quality of line play, a tackle is attempted on almost every play. If you get tackled you're done with the broken tackle category. If you break the tackle you have an opportunity for more broken tackles.

The .gif you showed I don't even think qualified as a broken tackle. He didn't juke anyone and he was barely touched. It was great blocking by Britt. Lynch cut back. If Britt would have stayed engaged holding would have been called.

Now you're really splitting hairs. Britt did a great job initially engaging the defender, knocking him off the ball, but he needed to maintain outside leverage to finish that block. If he had, that is one less tackle Lynch would have needed to break. If you truly do not believe that was a broken tackle, I am sure you can imagine a scenario in which a whiffed block would lead to an additional tackle-breaking opportunity.

 

[bigtrain21]

We need to keep in mind what we are actually arguing. Of course, Lynch's large number of broken tackles are almost totally attributable to his extraordinary ability to break tackles.

In addition, I was saying that it is also PARTLY attributable to the fact that he had more opportunities to break tackles than the average RB, due to the many missed or whiffed blocks by our offensive line throughout the season.

if you truly believe missed or whiffed blocks have ZERO effect on a RB's opportunities to break tackles, then how do you explain the play above -- or the countless other examples from last season that I could catalogue? Each of them increased the number of opportunities Lynch had to break tackles; basically, it made his job as a RB more difficult.

I don't think missed or whiffed blocks have anything to do with number of tackles missed. Regardless of the quality of line play, a tackle is attempted on almost every play. If you get tackled you're done with the broken tackle category. If you break the tackle you have an opportunity for more broken tackles.

The .gif you showed I don't even think qualified as a broken tackle. He didn't juke anyone and he was barely touched. It was great blocking by Britt. Lynch cut back. If Britt would have stayed engaged holding would have been called.

Now you're really splitting hairs. Britt did a great job initially engaging the defender, knocking him off the ball, but he needed to maintain outside leverage to finish that block. If he had, that is one less tackle Lynch would have needed to break. If you truly do not believe that was a broken tackle, I am sure you can imagine a scenario in which a whiffed block did lead to an additional tackle-breaking opportunity.

Britt pushed his guy into the linebacker. He didn't create an opportunity to break a tackle. He took away an opportunity to break a tackle because the linebacker couldn't get there. Great job by Britt on the play. Thanks for posting the .gif

 

[Jville]

I wouldn't judge that as a broken tackle. The initial defender threw a late arm out there .... but he was late .... delayed by an effective block. The linebacker was also delayed and late getting an angle on the running back. I would think Cable was pleased with Britt's work on that play.

 

[Scottemojo]

Lynch has so many more broken tackles than anyone else, in part, because he had more opportunities to break tackles due to mediocre line play.

He has more opportunities to break tackles because he is good at breaking tackles. A tackle is attempted on almost every running play, regardless of how good the line is.

Here, as an example, you have last year's rookie RT Justin Britt, normally very good at finishing blocks, who allows the edge defender to disengage and thereby attempt a tackle on Lynch. If Britt finishes this block, then Lynch would not have even had the opportunity to break this first tackle. With better blocking, perhaps from a more experienced player, there would have been only one broken tackle on this play instead of two.

You shittin me? He pushes his guy a yard and half back, gets inside leverage, commits no penalty, and frees Marshawn for a good run.

That was a good block.

 

[Ruminator]

Eighth best player in the NFL? Hell yeah! That is pretty incredible recognition. Some of it is Seattle's run block, but most of it is pure Marshawn freaking Lynch. He is a very special back whose determination to get every yard possible is unquestionably second to none. Love, LOVE seeing him get this recognition.

 

[kearly]

Did you title that .gif?

Laughing my ass off. I can't even hate him for that, that is hilarious.

And yeah, Lynch touched the ball 385 times last season and that play is just one of them, so it has a significance of 1/385. Actually, it's an even smaller number since that play happened in the preseason, and I wasn't counting preseason touches. Good or bad, there's just not that much evaluative significance to a single play.

But like you said, that was a pretty good block by Britt. A very easy score for Lynch... I'm guessing most NFL RBs would score on that play, assuming that they remembered to tie their shoes first.

Though credit to Lynch, it looks like he was supposed to run between the guard and the tackle and broke outside instead. Great decision by Lynch.

 

[irocdave]

To steal a line from PC "doesn't it feel great" to know the Hawks have the best running back in the NFL? Seriously, were in the doldrums of the sports year. Basketball can F it self. The M's are near the bottom and don't look to be able to live up to the glimmer of hope / hype they had coming in to 2015 and the NFL offseason hasn't been all peaches and cream for the Hawks.

Man it was great to hit up youtube and watch a couple of Lynch highlights. Lynch is the heart and soul of the most successful rendition of the Seahawks. The Hawks have had a couple backs that had the speed and open field elusiveness of Lynch, but never a back with the consistent toughness to take big hits, stay on their feet and grind out a 2 yard loss and turn it in to a 2 - 4 yard gain on every down. Most backs that could didn't have the speed, moves, awareness and same hard as hell to take downess at full elite speed like Lynch. Those T-Rex arms pack a huge jab at full speed. Never seen another back with all these attributes. There have been better backs in the NFL, but none with the same skill set.

 

[ZagHawk]

I'm having a major brain fart. When did the Bears come into town? I really can't remember.

 

[bigtrain21]

I'm having a major brain fart. When did the Bears come into town? I really can't remember.

Pre-season week 3.

 

[justafan]

I would be interested to see what his yards before contact are compared to Dallas last year.

 

[WilsonMVP]

I love how Lynch has overtaken AP as the NFL's best back in eyes of the public. He deserves it.

My only nitpick with PFF's essay is the narrative of Seattle's run blocking being bad. Robert Turbin averaged 4.2 YPC, Christine Michael had 5.1 YPC, and Russell Wilson averaged over 8 yards per carry on designed runs. FO has given consistently high marks to Seattle's run blocking.

As the top comment points out, Lynch was an average RB by PFF's own scoring system before Wilson and Cable showed up. And after that point, he's been sensational. It was the day that Lynch approached Cable about learning to run better in the system that his career really started to take off in 2011. Lynch is the NFL's best RB, he's very special. But Seattle's running game would still be good even without him. Not historically good like it is now, but good.

The bad run blocking narrative isn't correct, but if it helps Lynch's reputation then I guess that's probably a good thing. Whatever it takes to get Lynch in the HoF some day, it's all fine by me.

Well considering AP didnt even play last year....