Heading into the 2022 season, the Detroit Lions emphasized winning at the line of scrimmage on both offense and defense. In the Week 1 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the lines did not fare too well overall.
ESPN’s Seth Walder calculates the win rate percentages for each lineman on both sides of the ball and the overall lines in each game. It’s a pretty good metric for seeing who played well and who struggled.
Sure, some Lions had very nice individual performances in specific metrics. Right tackle Penei Sewell finished second in run block win rate for all offensive tackles, and center Frank Ragnow tied with several others at his position with a perfect win rate in pass blocking. Ragnow’s win rate here starkly contrasts with his Pro Football Focus grading for the game, incidentally.
The team success rates, however…
Detroit’s defense ranked 24th in pass rush win rate at 35 percent, and a dismal 29th in run stopping at 25 percent. On offense, OL coach Hank Fraley’s group was 22nd in pass block win rate at 58% and 23rd in run blocking with a 69 percent win rate. The Eagles line had the highest pass rush win rate of any team in the league in Week 1.
Note that linemen don’t always square off directly against other linemen, which makes the percentages look funky.
