Greatest Offensive Lines in NFL History, Ranked
AP Photo
There are metrics for just about everything in football these days, but that’s why I love offensive linemen. They are throwbacks to simpler days when the only criteria was simply whether you got the job done or not.
While attempts have been made to quantify line play in recent years, I only trust yards gained and touchdowns scored. Along with sack percentage, which has more gray areas but is generally useful, they’re the old reliables that I used to compile this list of most dominant o-lines of the expansion era.
Let’s give the big uglies some love, shall we?
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30. 1998 San Francisco 49ers
From left to right: left guard Derrick Deese, left tackle Ray Brown, center Chris Dalman, right guard Kevin Grogan (Pro Bowl), right tackle Kirk Scrafford
Rush yards/game: 159.0 (first)
Rush yards/attempt: 5.2 (first)
Rush touchdowns: 19 (third)
Sack percentage: 8.7 (23rd)
Bottom line: Thirty-seven-year-old Steve Young posed a challenge in pass protection, but Garrison Hearst ran wild behind road graders Brown, Dalman and Grogan between the tackles.
29. 2001 Pittsburgh Steelers
From left to right: Wayne Gandy, Alan Faneca (First Team All-Pro, Pro Bowl), Jeff Hartings, Rich Tylski, Marvel Smith
Rush yards/game: 173.4 (first)
Rush yards/attempt: 4.8 (second)
Rush touchdowns: 17 (seventh)
Sack percentage: 6.4 (19th)
Bottom line: The Steelers ran for at least 120 yards in all except one of their first 16 games. Seven times they went over the 200 mark. Then, they were limited to 58 in the AFC Championship Game. Hey, that’s what can happen when the New England Patriots cheat their butts off.
28. 1985 Chicago Bears
From left to right: Jimbo Covert (First Team All-Pro, Pro Bowl), Mark Bortz, Jay Hilgenberg (Pro Bowl), Tom Thayer, Keith Van Horne
Rush yards/game: 172.6 (first)
Rush yards/attempt: 4.5 (fifth)
Rush touchdowns: 27 (first)
Sack percentage: 9.1 (19th)
Bottom line: The best o-line over an extended period in the expansion era? The 1984-86 Monsters of the Midway have my vote. All three appear on this list, and all had Covert, Bortz, Hilgenberg and Van Horne in lead roles.
27. 1974 Dallas Cowboys
From left to right: Ralph Neely, John Nyland, John Fitzgerald, Blaine Nye (Pro Bowl), Rayfield Wright (Pro Bowl)
Rush yards/game: 175.3 (first)
Rush yards/attempt: 4.5 (first)
Rush touchdowns: 22 (second)
Sack percentage: 10.9 (22nd)
Bottom line: Neely, Nyland, Nye and Wright were back in the saddle for a fourth consecutive season. The group struggled to keep 32-year-old codger Roger Staubach upright at times, but the ground game rolled up 200-plus yards on five occasions.