RZ34 Rushing/O-Line Relationship

by AST1N | 7 years ago | 0 Comments

There has been much debate on whether your offensive line really matters in Madden this year. To find out, I looked at each team's starting offensive lines, and compared the average's of their starting 5 against their team's total rushing yards. By using the total yards instead of individual RB's stats, it will better offset the RB's overall rating by averaging it out with the backup RBs abilities, giving us a better outlook of line play vs. RB abilities.

It is not a perfect model, however. Teams may have more total rushing yards because they have the lead more, meaning they run the ball more. However, an argument could be made that these teams also run the ball more because they are also more successful at it. Or you could be Jake, have a losing record, but still run the ball really well with a sub-par offensive line.

That being said, lets take a look at the graph and its trend line. Please note that the r^2 is about .5, meaning it's not a perfect representation.  

 

 

Now you may ask, how do I interpret this? Here is how I see it: the trend line shows what the average RB + average user RB skill in the league should expect to perform with their given offensive lines. Teams above the line have outperformed their line's skills, and those below have underperformed. This over/under-performance can be attributed to any combination of the following:

1) RB ability. If your RB is a 90 OVR, you should, in theory, expect to be above the trend line if you have average RB skills. 

2) Gameplay. If you are throwing the ball 50 times a game, you will likely not get the yards/game to meet the trend line's numbers.

3) User skill. If you have an 84 OVR average offensive line and an average RB, you should expect about 1400 yards. If you end the season with 1600 yards, I personally would attribute that to user skill in most cases.

So the big question remains. Is Zeke good? Or is it his line? I would say Zeke played to his abilities. An average RB with the Cowboys offensive line would help contribute to his team to get them to around 2250 yards. This is why you see the Bengals (with nearly an identical line) ran for that amount with average RBs. However, Dallas has an elite RB (99 OVR) which helped contribute to an additional 200 team yards. In my personal opinion, expected results do not necessarily mean you are the league MVP. Would Dallas be much worse with 200 less rush yards per game (12.5 yards per game) if they had any other RB? It's hard to say how it would affect their overall record.

Take these stats with a grain of salt. It's not highly conclusive, nor is it perfect. There are many factors that affect the run game, but I truly feel that your offensive line's ratings do help, even with the all of the nay-sayer's opinions.